Celebration Time

It is a season full of celebrations for the Goggins family. Yesterday my dear old Dad turned 80, tomorrow my dear old Mum will do the same. In between we have the comparatively unimportant matter of New Year's Eve.

I don't understand the lyrics of the first song, but have rashly assumed that Asha Bhosle and R.D. Burman are strongly in favour of Daddy and Mummy. Let's hope so, anyway, because I am. Happy birthday to the best parents a boy could ask for.

"Hum Tum Daddy Mummy" - Asha Bhosle & R.D. Burman

"Another New Year's Eve" - Andy Ferrell

Today's video features a particular favourite of my Dad's (and is pretty much guaranteed to make my sisters blub).

Lest We Forget (2)

This is the second and final part of our inadequate tribute to just a few of the many fine performers that we lost this year. Let's hear it for: Hugh Masekela (23 January, aged 78); Mark E Smith (24 January, aged 60); Big Tom McBride (17 April, aged 81); Bob Dorough (23 April, aged 94); Rachid Taha (12 September, aged 59) and Tony Joe White (24 October, aged 75).

"African Secret Society" - Hugh Masekela

"Oh Brother" - The Fall

"My World's Come Down" - Big Tom & The Mainliners

"Three Is A Magic Number" - Bob Dorough

"Foqt Foqt" - Rachid Taha

"For Ol' Times Sake" - Tony Joe White

We'll close with performances from a couple of the finest Charles's ever to grace a stage: Messrs Aznavour (1 October, aged 94) and Hodges (22 September, aged 74).

Lest We Forget (1)

It's that time of year when we pay tribute to some of those we lost during the last twelve months, all of them too soon. In this part, we'll salute a few fabulous folks whose departures you may have missed at the time as they didn't get much if any news coverage (at least not in the UK).

So in order of when they left us, here are: France Gall (7 January, aged 70); Denise Lasalle (8 January, aged 78); Tom Rapp of Pearls Before Swine (11 February, aged 70), Clarence 'Count Prince' Miller (16 August, aged 84) and Winston 'Mighty Shadow' Bailey (23 October, aged 77).

"Teenie Weenie Boppie" - France Gall

"Love Me Right" - Denise Lasalle

"Grace Street" - Pearls Before Swine

"Mule Train" - Count Prince Miller

"Dat Soca Boat" - The Mighty Shadow

We'll round things off with a nod to Kenny O'Dell (27 March, aged 73). Kenny made a few decent records of his own, but had more success as a songwriter. Here's Charlie Rich with his best known song.

Single Song Sunday

As our Christmas present to you all, an increasingly rare edition of Single Song Sunday. The single song is "Help Me Make It Through The Night". There are literally hundreds of versions knocking about, but after extensive research and hours of agonising we've narrowed it down to ten.

We start, as we should, with Kris Kristofferson's 1970 original, and follow it up with the biggest selling versions in the US and UK - Sammi Smith took it to No. 8 in the US in 1971, and John Holt to No. 6 in the UK in 1974. John's version also doubles up as the Mandatory Reggae Version, although there are plenty more out there.

As for the rest, we have some country, some soul, some mid-tempo moody gloominess, some jazz, some Tex-Mex and a Korean language version. Something for everyone!

"Help Me Make It Through The Night" - Kris Kristofferson

"Help Me Make It Through The Night" - Sammi Smith

"Help Me Make It Through The Night" - John Holt

"Help Me Make It Through The Night" - Gladys Knight & The Pips

"Help Me Make It Through The Night" - Johnny Cash & June Carter

"Help Me Make It Through The Night" - Wilson Pickett

"Help Me Make It Through The Night" - Mark Eitzel

"Help Me Make It Through The Night" - Cornell Dupree

"Help Me Make It Through The Night" - Flaco Jimenez

"Help Me Make It Through The Night" - Kim Se Hwan

We are now closing down for Christmas. Hope you have a good one. And if you can't have a good one, hope you survive it, see you on the other side.

Major Undertakings

Three songs from men called Major. Unfortunately Major Look, Major Stare and Major Lose-Your-Underwear weren't available, but this lot are pretty good for a bunch of last minute stand-ins.

"Monkey Time" - Major Lance

"Babylon Boops" - Major Worries

"Love Won't Let Me Wait" - Major Harris

Building Site

In real life I am an international taste-maker - a surfer, if you will, of the zeitgeist. But like many bloggers I also have a shadowy secondary life offline.

In that less vivid world I used to work for a regulator, one which had a report on its efficiency published this morning. It is a dry, technical document, as you might imagine, but in the middle of the summary section this florid passage of purple prose appears:

"This is an institution constructed in a different era – a ramshackle house, cobbled together with all sorts of extensions over time. The house is serviceable up to a point but it leaks and creaks, sometimes badly. The inhabitants of the house have sought to patch and mend. But in the end, the house is built on weak foundations. It is time to build a new house."

I have no idea what that is all about - presumably the author of the report wanted us to know that beneath their dull professional exterior there beats the heart of a poet. But it has inspired today's playlist, which I dedicate to all my old pals at the ramshackle regulator.

"Babylon Broke Dun Me House" - Winston Jarrett

"This Property Is Condemned" - Mike Henderson

"Building A Home" - Oscar Perry

"Under Construction" - Jim Ford

Christmas Karaca

What better way to get through a dreary December afternoon than listening to Turkish psychedelia. Here are a couple of tracks from the mighty Cem Karaca, both taken from his 1975 album "Nem Kaldi?"

"Baba" - Cem Karaca

"Ihtarname" - Cem Karaca