There is no one quite like John Lennon

There was no one quite like John Lennon. Having been in The Beatles, he had a prominence that few others had, but he also had a rebellious nature. He was clever but insecure and very unpredictable. 

It is difficult to know what would have happened if he had not been shot in December 1980.

He was just reviving his music career with the release of the album Double Fantasy and was already working on future albums. The electronic keyboards of the time would have been fascinating to him. 

He would have been amazed by the politics of the 80s and no doubt campaigned against the policies of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher.

He would have wanted to be involved with Live Aid which would have provided an obvious opportunity for a Beatles reunion, although John would probably have been happy just to play his own music.

The rivalry with Paul McCartney would have continued but it would have lead them both to produce better music and it is likely they would have collaborated together at some point.

There is no one quite like John Lennon. Paul is conventional in comparison, He does have his rebellious moments but he wants to be liked too much to be as outrageous as John.

Other rock and pop stars have adopted causes, such as Bob Geldof, Bono and Sting, but they have not been as anarchic as John. Punk Rock seems tame in relation to the political movements in which John got involved.

To have that success and yet to be so rebellious seems to make him different from the rest. Who knows what would have happened if he had lived but you can not help wishibg that he had lived longer. All we can do is imagine.

Rose Royce

So why is a group represented by a picture of a carwash?


The group was originally formed under the name Total Concept Unlimited by Kenny Copeland (vocals and trumpet) and Henry Garner (drums) while graduating from high school. They were hired as backing band by Edwin Starr They then became involved with ex-Motown producer and songwriter Norman Whitfield and signed with his Whitfield Records label. They was renamed Magic Wand and performed as backing musicians with several different artists such asYvonne Fair, the Undisputed Truth, and the Temptations.


During a tour stop in Miami, Undisputed Truth leader Joe Harris came upon a singer Gwen Dickey, a member of a local group called The Jewels. Dickey was flown to Los Angeles to audition for Whitfield.  He gave her the stage name Rose Norwalt and she was added to Magic Wand who now prepared their debut album.


Film director Michael Schultz offered Whitfield the opportunity to score his next picture Car Wash. Whitfield saw the film as an opportunity to launch his new group and the music for the soundtrack was written as the picture was been filmed. The band's name was also changed to Rose Royce to  reflect the movie's car theme, but also the name of the new singer.


On the back of the release of the film, the single Car Wash made the top 10 in the UK. Since the band were still in the US, the band were represented on the Top of the Pops countdown by the picture above of a car wash.

Self-Reflexive Songs

Self-Reflexive Songs are songs whose lyrics refer to the song itself as though it was a separate entity.


Examples are:


Carly Simon's "You're so Vain" with the lyrics "You're so vain, you probably think this song is about you."


Elton John's "Your Song" with "And you can tell everybody this is your song It may be quite simple, but now that it's done."


The Beautiful South's "Song for Whoever" with "I wrote this song for you".


David Bowie's "Five Years" with "I think I saw you in an ice-cream parlour, drinking milk shakes cold and long; Smiling and waving and looking so fine, don't think you knew you were in this song,"


Bobby McFerrin's "Don't Worry, Be Happy" with "Here is a little song I wrote. You might want to sing it note for note."


Spamalot's "The Song that Goes Like This" with amongst almost completely self-reflexive lyrics "For this is the song that goes like this. Yes it is. Yes it is!"


The Song That Never Ends with "This is the song that goes on forever, Cause it never ever ends"


It is not the same as self-relection where the writer refers to themselves but where the writer refers to the song itself. Often the lyrics are self-reflexive in a knowing, humourous way so as to emphasise the artifice in the song.


Note: There use to be a list of Self-Reflexive Songs on Wikipedia. A copy of that list can be found here.

Home - Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes

I keep on hearing on the radio the song Home by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes. The song originally came out in 2009 on the album Up from Below. It is about time the song was a hit.


I saw the band play an acoustic set in Victoria Park, East London, in August 2009. They have a really good sound and some very catchy songs, especially Home.





Video of the song Home on YouTube.

UK Christmas singles - million sellers

There have been a few Christmas singles that have sold over a million in the UK:
Slade - Merry Christmas Everybody (first released 1973)
Harry Belafonte - Mary's Boy Child (1957)
Band Aid 20 - Do They Know Its Christmas?  (2004)
Wham - Last Christmas  (1984)
Boney M - Mary's Boy Child / Oh My Lord  (1978)
Band Aid - Do They Know Its Christmas?  (1984)


White Christmas by Bing Crosby may or may not have sold a million in the UK depending whether you include sales from reissues.


Wham was never a number one being released the same week as Band Aid and is the biggest selling single never to reach number one in the UK.


Boney M's song is a medley including a version of the Harry Belafonte song.


Ref: everyhit.com UK christmas songs
List of UK million-seller singles.

Go-Jos usurped by Pan's People on Top of the Pops

Stories from the Radio 2 documentary, Super Troupers, 19 December 2011:


The first dance troupe on Top of the Pops were the Go-Jos created by Jo Cook. There had been appearing regulaely on the show for over 3 years when in May 1968 Pan's People were given a chance. The first that the Go-Jos knew of it was seeing them on the show. The producer, who had taken out for a drink by members of Pan's People, told the Go-Jos that he just felt like trying a new troupe. The new troupe stayed for nearly 8 years.


Pan's People were always signed to the show as individuals. So there were always paid standard union fees for their performances and never made much money from the show. 


Ruby Flipper so upset the bosses that it was agreed soon after they started that they would only have 6 months on the show while a new all-female troupe was recruited to replace them. Apparently they had a particular problem with a coloured man dancing with white girls. After 6 months they were indeed replaced by the all-female Legs & Co. It was not until Hot Gossip that the racial issue was overcome.

TOTP 1976 - Why "Legs & Co" ?

The dancers performing to Lalo Schifrin's Theme From Jaws, 28/10/76

So here you are dancing on Top Of The Pops in 1976, the men of Ruby Flipper have been ditched along with the name after less than six months and you are going to have a new name thought up by a member of the public. For three weeks you have been cleverly credited as ??????, there being 6 dancers. There are lots of entries so there has to be at least one good name amongst them. But the name that is chosen is "Legs & Co". It must have been such a disappointment. There are accountancy firms with better names than that. Pans People was a much better name in comparison even if it was a very Sixties name. If that was the best entry what were the other entries like? At least the BBC has managed to wipe the edition were the name was announced. I guess the name reflects the poor taste of the mid-Seventies.

Top Of The Pops dance troupes:
Dec 1964 - May 1968   GoJos
May 1968 - Apr 1976    Pan's People
May 1976 - Oct 1976    Ruby Flipper
Oct 1976 - May 1981    Legs & Co
Nov 1981 - Sep 1983    Zoo

From Pan's People onwards, the choreographer was Flick Colby. The Go-Jos created by Jo Cook and Pan's People formed by Flick Colby existed before appearing on the show but the other troupes were created for the show.