Kites

My Beloved and I were talking about inheritance tracks and Desert Island Discs and I was remembering songs I'd loved as a child or teenager but that seemed to have vanished now. This was one of them.



A clearer version of the video (but not available for embedding) is here.

Other songs I remembered included a couple by Manfred Mann: My name is Jack, and There is a Man.

Do you have any songs you remember that seem to have disappeared? Maybe they haven't. It's amazing what you can find online now.

U2

We went to see U2 live last night. I've always wanted to because I love their early songs, especially With or Without You. My Beloved thought it was great. I was disappointed because the sounds levels were all wrong for me and I found it hard to appreciate their music in the onslaught of sound. They seemed to have focussed more on the special effects, which were impressive, than on the music.

The supporting band Elbow, on the other hand, were wonderful. Warm, low-key and purely enjoyable. They had violinists on stage for their last song.

Clarinet again

I have now played a tune that someone else recognised without me telling them what it was meant to be. Progress at last.

Clarinet

I had my second clarinet lesson yesterday evening and my teacher told me that I'd made progress, so my daily practice is clearly paying off. I can now play both parts of Duet for Clarinet and Duck simultaneously. Previously I could only play Duck Solo with Long Silences. I still get the silences but not as many.

When I manage the occasional good note, or even a succession of good notes, I get a real sense of achievement.

Albatross

Inspired by Kevin Musgrove I thought I'd bring you one of my favourite pieces of music. It was the first single I ever bought, back in the days when hardly anyone could afford to buy a whole album.

I'd like to say that my musical taste was always up to this standard. Just imagine it is, OK?

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The original video was removed by YouTube for copyright problems. This podbean is based on an mp3 that I bought.

Why I didn't write this weekend

Boating at Oxford

I was at a wedding in Oxford this weekend, my fourth this year.

It was a special wedding for a special friend and I met some interesting people and learnt about the English quarter pipes which are played using a bellows rather than by blowing into them. I'd love to learn to play but I'd probably be better off learning the clarinet and I would never be much good, starting at my age.

There's no charge for dreaming though.