Who would have thought, when I posted the first Tuesday Tunes on 24 March 2020, that the series would still be going strong more than four years later, and today reaches its 200th edition? There have been a few breaks along the way, but in that time I must have played well over a thousand tunes, even allowing for the few that have been aired more than once. I started by playing two songs each week, gradually worked that up to eight, and settled on the current quota of five around a year ago. I’m marking this milestone with a special post, in which I’m playing seven of my favourites from the past four years. Unlike regular posts, I won’t be giving you loads of detail on each song, but will leave the link to its previous appearance if you want to see more. This week, the music is at the forefront – then again, isn’t it always?
I usually like to begin with something rousing, and this was what opened Tuesday Tunes 122: Celebrate:
That was the wonderful Playing For Change organisation with their version of Kool and the Gang’s Celebration. 32m views can’t be wrong!
This next one has appeared twice previously in the series, the first of those being in Tuesday Tunes 93: Run, which is still one of my favourite posts of them all. There were some great songs in that and you may remember that it was the one which prompted a great response from Dax Pernick, whose song Run And Hide was one of those in the set. This is Soul Asylum, with a wonderful video which has achieved so much good:
A great song, which is still a favourite of mine, and fully deserves to be played for a third time.
This next one is the one that I played most recently – last September – in Tuesday Tunes 166: Celebrity. Another that I have always loved, from a band I think have been underrated down the years:
Ray Davies of The Kinks has a whole catalogues of songs with brilliant lyrics, and for me Celluloid Heroes is one of the absolute best – by anyone. This is the shortened version that was released as a single – if you want more check out the album cut, which is two minutes longer.
I ran a series of posts a couple of years back using Dance as my theme. This is another little gem that I played back then, in Tuesday Tunes 107: Another Dance? A beautiful song, by a band I’ve loved since they began in the Sixties:
Jethro Tull, with Said She Was A Dancer. You can almost feel his pain at the rejection, can’t you.
The post which has meant the most to me personally in the whole series has been the one I put together to pay tribute to my father after he passed away in January 2023. That was Tuesday Tunes 134: For Dad, and it would be remiss of me not to include one of the songs in this retrospective:
Mike + the Mechanics’ song The Living Years speaks to so many of us. Say it now, while you still can, and don’t leave yourself with regrets when it is too late.
I have played this next song several times, both in Tuesday Tunes and other posts. It is another beautiful song, which carries a great deal of meaning. I first played it in the early days of this series, all the way back in April 2020 in Tuesday Tunes 5: Kindness, Caring, Support, when it was very much a message for the early pandemic days:
Be More Kind is Frank Turner in his quieter, reflective mode, and the lyrics to this are simply beautiful and so very meaningful.
Having already played one more than my current ‘official’ quota of songs, I’m closing today with another that has been heard here more than once. I first played it in October 2020, in Tuesday Tunes 31: Sixties Albums, and it provides a fitting message with which to leave you today:
Led Zeppelin, of course, with Thank You, from their second album. I would like to leave you with my “thank you” for anyone who has ever read one of these 200 posts, has left a comment or has hit the ‘like’ button. Without your response and support there wouldn’t be much point in my doing these! I always enjoy playing music, and would probably have carried on even if the viewing figures had fallen off a cliff, but it is always better when you know that others are reading and enjoying your posts, isn’t it? Blogging is, by far, the most ‘social’ of all social media, and long may it remain so. And now it’s on towards the next 200 for me! Enjoy your week, and
Take It Easy 