Advent song for December 4

On December 4, 2010 By Laura MorganIn Christmas, Music

Girls Aloud’s Sound of the Underground, in 2002, was the first reality TV Christmas number one. None of us realised then that Cowell would have the slot sewn up for most of the rest of the decade.

I like this song a lot, but I think the video is misjudged. It should have been cool and edgy, not slow-motion and faux-sexy, although faux-sexy seems to be what Girls Aloud mainly do, stylewise, which is a shame because if they weren’t forced into dressing like a teenage boy’s idea of a prostitute they would all be – they all are – properly sexy anyway. At least they all have their own hair in this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnLrNHCQPP0

Advent song for December 3

On December 3, 2010December 3, 2010 By Laura MorganIn Christmas, Music

This was originally on the rejects pile, but the song I was going to have today isn’t on YouTube, except in a long and tedious version, so instead here’s Whitney, UK Christmas number one in 1992, when she was still insanely beautiful. I hope that whoever cast Kevin Costner, the most insipid man in the world, as (a) a bodyguard and (b) Whitney Houston’s love interest has since found a job better suited to their talents.

This version cuts the song off a little before the end, but if you’re like me you’ll find you won’t mind that a bit. Perhaps you can use the spare time to listen to Dolly Parton’s superior version (just don’t read the comments underneath).

Advent song for December 2

On December 2, 2010 By Laura MorganIn Christmas, Music

2003 was a vintage year for Christmas songs. We were treated to Avid Merrion’s Proper Crimbo, which was fun, but which I now discover has a very long and mostly stupid video, and The Darkness’s Christmas Time (Don’t Let The Bells End), which was properly brilliant. And instead we chose to make Gary Jules’ melancholy and slightly drab version of Mad World our Christmas number one. The two reasons to be grateful for this are that (1) it gave us a mesmerisingly terrifying performance from the much-missed Aiden in this year’s X Factor, and (2) it’s given me a reason to check out the video, which is actually quite lovely:

(Also, just be pleased that the other two inhabitants of that week’s top five, Happy Christmas (War is Over) by the Pop Idols and Changes by Ozzy and Kelly Osbourne, missed out on the top slot.)

Advent song for December 1

On December 1, 2010December 1, 2010 By Laura MorganIn Christmas, Music4 Comments

I’ve been so busy with real life (about which more in the new year, I expect) that I’ve barely had a chance to post recently, so it’s with a sigh of relief that I realise it’s time to resurrect the annual Gladallover musical advent calendar. I’ve already used up all my favourite Christmas songs, so rather than resorting to all my least favourite Christmas songs, this year I’m introducing a theme. All the songs this year will be UK Christmas number ones from my lifetime, counting down in order from the 24th-best to the best. Since I have been alive for 34 Christmases I have dropped the ten worst, but I’m not going to tell you which they are until Christmas Eve, otherwise you’ll be able to work out what’s coming.

So without further preamble I present the UK Christmas number one from 1980, The St Winifred’s School Choir singing There’s No-One Quite Like Grandma. It’s pretty awful, but it’s sort of mesmerising at the same time. I was four that Christmas, which means these children are probably only a couple of years older than me. What strikes me, when I watch the video, is how completely of their time they look. You could date it to within a couple of years just by the haircuts. Good old the 1980s.

Holiday time

On October 23, 2010 By Laura MorganIn Films, Music, Reasons to be cheerful

I’m accidentally got a Christmas head on me two months too early, having been to see a charming snowbound Norwegian film called Home For Christmas at the LFF this week, and it’s been exacerbated by my having just made the Christmas pudding. Now is about the right time to do it, but it puts me into the festive spirit too soon.

So I am remedying it with this summer song by Hildegard Knef, which raises my spirits in quite a different way. Enjoy.

Green Grow the Rushes

On September 2, 2010September 2, 2010 By Laura MorganIn Language, Music4 Comments

I’ve had this song in my head for a week. We used to sing it around the campfire at the Russian church camps I went to as a teenager, and I loved the words, which are a mixture of obvious Christian references (“ten for the ten commandments”) and lines so obscure that nobody has ever worked out what they mean (“two, two, the lilywhite boys, clothèd all in green ho ho”).

It’s also terrific fun to sing, and can last the full length of a shower or even quite a hefty round of washing up. This video gives you the guitar chords for added activity value.

NB: he has some of the words wrong. In addition to the lilywhite boys, who in his version are “all dressed up” in green ho ho (much less poetic), he seems to sing “five for the simples at your door”, which is charming but incorrect. It’s symbols. Here are the complete lyrics, should you want to sing along (this is just the last verse, but you can extrapolate):

I’ll sing you twelve ho

Green grow the rushes ho

What is your twelve ho?

Twelve for the twelve apostles

Eleven for the eleven that went to heaven

And ten for the ten commandments

Nine for the nine bright shiners

And eight for the April rainers

Seven for the seven stars in the sky

And six for the six proud walkers

Five for the symbols at your door

And four for the gospel makers

Three, three, the rivals

Two, two, the lilywhite boys, clothèd all in green ho ho

One is one and all alone and ever more shall be so

Lambeth Country Show 2010

On July 19, 2010 By Laura MorganIn Arts, London, Music, Photos, Reasons to be cheerful

I usually wring every last available drop of fun out of the Country Show, but this year, for a variety of reasons, I only spent a couple of hours there each day and as a result I felt I missed quite a lot of it. I went to bed last night feeling faintly sad and anxious at not having spent more time there, like a child who suddenly realises that when she wakes up it won’t be Christmas any more.

But when I awoke this morning I remembered that it’s quality, not quantity, that counts; and this year’s show was one of the best I can remember. The weather was perfect – sunny and warm but not hot – and the music was super (Alabama 3 in particular were brilliant, as they always are); the atmosphere was better than ever and despite record attendance it felt completely relaxed and friendly everywhere I went. It was nothing at all like that year that we had to dive out of the way of a bunch of teenagers trying to stab another bunch of teenagers. (But then, I was child-free this year, so I didn’t have to go to the funfair.)

Here’s a girl dancing in front of a parade that popped up out of nowhere while we were buying books for 20p each from the library van:

And here’s another shot of the same parade:

According to the South London Press, 180,000 people attended the show over the two days. So it was doubly odd to find myself back there this morning, one of perhaps half a dozen people whose daily business takes them into Brockwell Park at 7am. It looked empty and silent, but also kind of beautiful:

Forget Cyprus, I never want to live away from here.

(The full sets of photos are here and here.)

Onward and upward

On July 12, 2010July 12, 2010 By Laura MorganIn London, Music, Reasons to be cheerful

Dang. I was so close to being right about Holland winning the World Cup! But I’m glad Spain won it, because they deserved to, and because I have more Spanish than Dutch friends. Although I have just inspected my bank balance and it turns out the cash I would have won had Holland beaten Spain would have been very useful (payday is Thursday). Oh well.

Anyway, I’m going to move on and pretend none of it ever happened, and I’m going to start looking forward to the event of the year, the Lambeth Country Show at Brockwell Park this weekend. The Lambeth Country Show is worth our council tax on its own. There’s live music, actual animals, jousting, fruit and vegetable shows, craft stalls, cake, cider, a funfair and sheep-shearing demonstrations. It is the most fun in the world, and it’s all free and on my doorstep. Who needs holidays?

Outdoor gladrags

On June 30, 2010June 30, 2010 By Laura MorganIn Music, Small pleasures, Stuff

Last Sunday was the hottest of a run of hot days in London. It was also the day the England football team lost to Germany in a 4-1 thriller in the second round of the World Cup, Kevin Pietersen’s 30th birthday, and the third and final day of Hard Rock Calling, the misleadingly-named music festival which this year featured, among other hard rockers, Stevie Wonder, James Morrison, Crowded House, Elvis Costello and Crosby, Stills and Nash.

But it was the promise of Paul McCartney which had me eagerly pressing the “refresh” button on my browser the morning tickets went on sale. I tried to get tickets to see him at the Dome back in December, but the good seats were insanely expensive and anyway, it sold out before I could buy any. Day tickets to Hard Rock Calling are £60 and you get to sit anywhere you like and see lots of other acts, so this was a much better choice.

Well, it was great and the photos are here, but in the long minutes between acts I found myself fascinated by what people choose to wear when it’s hot and they’re going to be outside all day, because if you live in or near London (or any British city), neither of those things is very often true. It’s hot today, but I am spending eight hours of it inside an air-conditioned office, so I am wearing a dress with sleeves. On Sunday, we were all exposed to bright sun and 30C temperatures for about the same amount of time. In those circumstances, deciding what to wear can be quite tricky. So I inspected the choices of some of my fellow revellers, and have come up with some guidelines, which I now present to you for free, with nothing in mind but your welfare and happiness:

1. As in so many areas of life, I agree with Baz Luhrmann. Rule number one is wear sunscreen.

2. With no shade and barely a cloud in the sky, hats are the order of the day:

3. Be careful with straps. Straps are good, but ill-fitting or competing straps are bad. However, if you have no choice but to show off your bra straps, do it with chutzpah, so it looks like you meant it:

4. It’s better to wear too many clothes than too few. You recover faster from being hot than you do from being burnt (I have tried both, so I can say this with certainty). And if you wear light, loose clothes you probably won’t be much hotter than you would have been in a bikini. I liked this outfit very much:

5. Do not, under any circumstances, wear a bikini. Bikinis are strictly for the beach.

I should come clean at this point and tell you that I was wearing a jumpsuit.

In many ways they are ideal hot-weather outdoor wear: they are durable, you can sit cross-legged without risking your modesty, and they keep all the ungainly bits covered while allowing arms and legs unfettered access to the air. However, they can be tricky to go to the toilet in. I think the answer to this is to wear a baggy-ish one with no complicated fastenings, and to stay on the fuzzy side of sober. You’ll be pleased to know that I more or less managed both.

However, based on extensive research I have decided that the IDEAL festival-going hot-weather outfit is a strapless top, elasticated shorts, a hat, sunglasses, sunscreen and a wrap which you can sit on when your legs get tired and put around your shoulders after the sun goes down.

Shoes are more problematic: you need something sturdy and comfortable which you won’t get sweaty in. I wore Crocs, but I am the only person I know who looks good in Crocs, and the only reason I think I look good in them is that I never on any account look at them once they’re on. I just revel in the squish of the tread and the swish of the air as it cools my toes. The real answer is probably flip-flops on soft grass and light plimsolls on rough grass. But I will leave that to your discretion.

Sorry for only talking about girls’ clothes. I have no advice for boys, although the hat and sunscreen rules are unisex. If you are a boy, I suggest you dress like this: