The Song For Today - Jimmie Oliver (the lemonade war series txt) 📗

from this military folly would impact upon Waters many years later, as this bitter experience was at the core of his songwriting. Waters's last major project with 'his' band before acrimony replaced any semblance of harmony was 'The Wall'. Essentially a Roger Waters solo album, with contributions from his colleagues, 'The Wall' was an ambitious concept which proved another huge seller in the album charts on both sides of the Atlantic. What was not envisaged by its creator was that the long player would not only yield the group their first foray into the British singles chart in twelve years, but that the issue of 'Another Brick In The Wall, Part II' would spend five weeks at Number One, becoming the 1979 UK Christmas chart-topper in the process. The quartet has the brilliant guitar input of David Gilmour to thank for this, as well as the peculiar cameo of Islington Green schoolchildren singing "we don't need no education."
{Also on this day, in 1997 the funeral of Princess Diana takes place}

SEPTEMBER 7TH
Join Together by The Who (1972)
available on the album Join Together
Several hours after celebrating the anniversary of the birth of Buddy Holly in the company of the likes of Paul and Linda McCartney, Keith Moon was found dead on this day in 1978. The Who's infamous sticksman was both an acclaimed drummer and the scourge of hotel owners, with his legendary fondness for causing mayhem. Before becoming the latest victim of alcohol and drugs excess, Moon had featured in the wondrous 'Join Together' recording. Featuring a cameo by the Jew's harp, this track is arguably the Who's best effort from the 1970s. 'Moon the loon' was only thirty-two years of age when he fell permanently asleep.
{Also on this date, the Google internet service is created in 1998 in California}

SEPTEMBER 8TH
Tears Of A Clown by The Beat (1979)
available on the album What Is Beat? The Best Of The Beat
Along with Madness, Birmingham's the Beat released their first single on the Two Tone Records label, just before the Christmas of 1979. This was a decent attempt at a cover of the 1970 chart-topper for Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, and it provided the Beat with a Top Ten hit at the first time of asking. The group's bass guitarist, David Steele (also known as 'Shuffle', on account of his footwork on stage) was born this day in 1960, on the Isle Of Wight. Steele once recalled how after the group had invited him all the way from the Isle Of Wight to Birmingham, they felt so guilty about putting him to so much trouble, that they felt morally obliged to hire his services. Steele would later depart with guitarist Andy Cox to form the Fine Young Cannibals with Roland Gift.
{Also on this day, in 1986 the Oprah Winfrey Show is first televised}

SEPTEMBER 9TH
King Creole by Elvis Presley (1958)
from the album King Creole
Today is the anniversary of Elvis Presley's appearance on the hugely popular American 'Ed Sullivan Show' in 1956. Generation gaps were well and truly created as adults were dismayed by the sight of this young rock 'n' roller, while teenagers were in awe of their new hero. From the 1950s, I would venture that Elvis's best recording was 'King Creole', surpassing even 'Heartbreak Hotel' and 'One Night'. The composers of this tune were Leiber and Stoller, who had written other Elvis items such as 'Hound Dog', 'Jailhouse Rock', and 'Don't'.
{Also on this date, a riot begins at the prison in Attica, New York in 1971}

SEPTEMBER 10TH
Stay by Shakespears Sister (1992)
from the album Hormonally Yours
In the same year that 'King Creole' hit the cinema screens, Siobhan Fahey was born on this particular day in Dublin. She had originally found fame as one-third of Bananarama, enjoying a succession of hit singles in the 'eighties. Fahey, who married Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics, would go on to new territory with her new project, Shakespears Sister, when she found herself at the summit of the UK singles chart at the beginning of 1992, when the quirky love song 'Stay' remarkably stayed at Number One for a stay of eight weeks. Along with her musical partner Marcella Detroit, Fahey cultivated a vampish image. She then later suffered from mental problems, as years of recording and performing began to take their toll.
{Also on this day, in 1977 the Guillotine claims its last victim in France}

SEPTEMBER 11TH
Bitter Sweet Symphony by The Verve (1997)
from the album Urban Hymns
Richard Ashcroft, the lead vocalist of the Verve, was born this day back in 1971 in Lancashire. His group may have hailed from rugby league playing country in Wigan, but the Verve swerved the oval ball in favour of the recording studio. This was a good decision, as their magnificent single, 'Bitter Sweet Symphony', is a strong candidate for the best song of the 1990s, featuring a bizarre video in which the peculiar Ashcroft walks straight through 'passers-by' on the pavement. The success of this hit was also bitter sweet, as the band were forced to cede songwriting royalties to the impoverished duo of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards for alleged sampling of 'The Last Time'.
{Also on this date, General Pinochet seizes power in Chile in 1973}

SEPTEMBER 12TH
Biko by Peter Gabriel (1980)
from the album Peter Gabriel (his third untitled LP)
On this date in 1977, South African civil rights campaigner Stephen Biko died whilst in police custody. The international community are in little doubt concerning the nature of his untimely death. Three years later, the great Peter Gabriel provided his own musical version of that tragic event. Assisted by a host of African singers and an ominous drumbeat, Gabriel delivers one of the finest songs in the history of popular music. Gabriel announces in mid-song: "You can blow out a candle/ But you can't blow out a fire/ Once the flame begins to catch/The wind will blow it higher." This is a truly powerful tune, with defiant lyrics, and atmospheric music to boot. Phil Collins also assisted on this track, which included the sound of bagpipes. Biko was only thirty years of age.
{Also on this day, in 1974 Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia is ousted in a coup}

SEPTEMBER 13TH
If You Leave Me Now by Chicago (1976)
from the album Chicago X
Peter Cetera was born on this day in 1944. His band Chicago, from where Cetera originates, climbed to the top of the British singles chart in the autumn of 1976 with the tearjerker, 'If You Leave Me Now'. This desperate plea to a lover to keep the faith featured a beautiful strings arrangement, which made its own contribution to this fine ballad. Penned by Cetera himself, this tune is almost certainly one of the best UK Number Ones of the 'seventies. The song also reached the top of the American and Australian hit parades.
{Also on this date, Albania resigns from the Warsaw Pact in 1968}

SEPTEMBER 14TH
Take On Me by A-ha (1985)
from the album Hunting High And Low
Today represents the anniversary of the birth in 1959 of Morten Harket. His Norwegian pop group, A-ha, made a massive splash on the British singles chart when 'Take On Me' fell narrowly short of the top position in the autumn of 1985. This catchy tune was clearly one of the best pop songs of the 'eighties, and it featured a video 'promo' where the visuals shift from real people to animation and back again. Ironically, although A-ha reached the UK pop summit soon after with 'The Sun Always Shines On T.V.', Harket and his outfit will be best remembered for 'Take On Me'.
{Also on this day, Grace Kelly dies at the age of 52 in 1982, after a car crash}

SEPTEMBER 15TH
Baby, I Love You by The Ramones (1980)
from the album End Of the Century
'Johnny Ramone', alternatively known as John William Cummings, died on this date in 2004, at the age of fifty-five. His New York combo was a unique institution, not least because they were a long-haired punk band. The Ramones made a name for themselves for their formula of thrashing out short, fast-paced anthems that compensated with energy for what they lacked in subtlety. The 'brothers' then made a rare appearance in the pop charts with a sweet cover of 'Baby, I Love You', when they surprisingly attempted their own re-interpretation of the Ronettes' classic single. The tune was a far cry from their usual repertoire, but I guess that they had bills to pay.
{Also on this date, in 1959 Nikita Khrushchev begins a visit to the United States}

SEPTEMBER 16TH
Life's A Gas by T Rex (1971)
available on the album Born To Boogie - The Collection
'Life's A Gas' is a little known album track from the 'Electric Warrior' long player, produced by Tony Visconti, and released in the autumn of 1971 at a time when T Recstacy was gathering momentum amongst the young generation in Britain. Not only is it another decent T Rex song, but it contains the ironic lyrics: "Life's a gas/ I hope it's gonna last." Six years later on this fateful day, the song's author Marc Bolan was killed in a car accident, when the Mini he was travelling in crashed into a tree in south-west London. Bolan was a passenger in his partner Gloria Jones's car. She eventually recovered, and her own song 'Tainted Love' became a huge chart-topping single for Soft Cell in 1981. Bolan died just two weeks short of his thirtieth birthday. In all probability, he was unlikely to re-discover his past greatness, but nevertheless the new punk generation regarded him as a founding father.
{Also on this day, Argentine President, Juan Peron, is deposed in 1955 in a coup}