Only two more weeks of summer mixes to go - pressure is on us to pick two that are as good as tonight's cracking selection chosen by Mike in Shropshire. If you missed it you can listen again on the iplayer, but make sure you keep Mike's sleevenotes handy...
"My choices either remind me of Summers gone by or are simply 'chill-out' tunes that I love to listen to on the Summer afternoon drives home or while sitting out at home on the decking, on the long Summer evenings, often around the old wood-burner."
Leaving on a Jet Plane: Peter, Paul and Mary
This is one of my mums favourite songs.... Scottish school Summer holidays in those early years in Scotland often meant days spent indoors waiting for the rain to ease. There was always a wee transistor radio playing in the background and this song reminds me of those early days.... I think we all subconsciously inherit music from our parents and this would be one of my inheritance tracks. It‚s not until you listen to it years later and on a more sophisticated sound system that you really appreciate the wonderfully complex harmonies of the trio. I played Peter, Paul and Marys 'Puff the Magic Dragon' to my girls and they loved it... maybe they are destined to inherit the music of the trio too.
Fields of Fire: Big Country
Growing up in Dunblane in the eighties. Big Country arrive on the scene and it's fantastic to see a Scottish band take the national music scene by storm. All the Dunblane gang have a copy of 'The Crossing' recorded from vinyl to tape. We have all just passed our driving tests, and dressed in obligatory tartan shirts worn over white T-shirts, we cruise the town in our mothers borrowed cars. Summer sun, all the windows all the way down, and 'Stuart Adamson and the boys' booming from the car tape deck... Cooler than Tom Cruise in Top Gun... or so we thought.
Caravan of Love: The Housemartins
The Summer of '86: Our higher exams are over at last. A group of good friends share a final few beers in the old Kings Stables pub in Stirling. We are all soon to go our separate chosen ways... University, College, the Army. All of us with great ambition but none knowing what really lay in store ahead. For a few Summer weeks we had no cares, no responsibilities, no bosses or timetables or little-ones to be responsible for. This Housemartins track was a favourite choice on the pub jukebox, and when I hear it now it takes me back to that Summer when we were all together, and care-free for the last time.
The L&N Don‚t Stop Here Anymore: Michelle Shocked
Summer 1988; I was a design student in Aberdeen. My flatmate bought the album 'Short Sharp Shocked' and I remember this track had an instant hold on me and I played it non-stop. Twenty years later and it still sounds fantastic. It's got that distinctive 'deep south' steel guitar sound that conjours up images of long, hot summer nights on open porches... you can almost hear the crickets chirping in the background. Some people may be familiar with the Johnny Cash version. Infact although the lyrics of the song are from a male perspective, it was actually written by a woman... the 'Mother of Folk' Jean Ritchie, who was prominent in the 1940s and 50s. Interesting that Michelle Shocked stayed faithful to the male references in the lyrics when recording it.
A Pair of Brown Eyes: The Pogues
An opening line that only Shane MacGowan could have penned... 'One Summer evening, drunk to hell'... The Pogues were very much part of the soundtrack of my later teenage years. Times of male-bonding and wild, music gigs... And there weren't many wilder gigs than The Pogues. The Pogues were instrumental in me discovering more traditional forms of Irish music. Their modern interpretations of songs by people such as Ewan MCall, Eric Bogle and The Dubliners have led me to discover a whole wealth of great music.
I have heard different opinions about which war the song is set in, but at the end of the day, its about the pointless suffering and waste of all wars. I always think that it's a pity that Shane MacGowans delivery sometimes masks his prolific song-writing talents... But prolific they are!
Longer Boats: Cat Stevens
When I first met Stella in the Summer of 1989, she drove an old, orange MG Midget sports car. Quite a novelty for a humble Dunblane lad, and I simply had to have a hurl in it. I plucked-up the courage to ask her out and off we went for a spin, racing through the Hampshire countryside. The car stereo was on full volume to compensate for the wind-noise created by the convertible soft-top roof. I thought that my music tastes were fairly diverse and that I had heard most artists, but this was the first time I had heard Cat Stevens. As we drove and the 'Tea for the Tillerman' album played, I was instantly hooked. Subsequently whenever I hear this track it takes me back to the heady days of that Summer and falling head-over-heal in love with the wonderful girl who shares my life today.
Fields of Gold: Sting
He comes in for a bit of stick, poor old Sting, but he has definitely had his moments. I can't hear this one without it reminding me of French holidays with my wife Stella in the years BC (That's Before Children). We bought the 'Ten Summoner's Tales' album in Le Supermarché, and played it all over rural France... A fresh baguette, some local wine and cheese and fields of golden wheat and sunflowers as we explored the deserted back roads. Fantastic memories! We have returned to France a couple of times since, but those subsequent trips never quite recaptured the special ambiance of that first visit on our meagre budget.
Cry Me a River: Julie London
No particular Summer memories for me here... Just such a sultry delivery from such a pure voice. It definitely sounds best through the headphones of the ipod, swaying gently in the hammock under the big, old willow tree in the garden. The fact that it still sounds sensational after more than 50 years is a true testament to the songs writer Arthur Hamilton. Many great divas have recorded this one, including Barbra. Streisand and Ella Fitzgerald, but for me, no-one quite carries it off like Julie London.
Summer of '69 (MTV Unplugged/live): Bryan Adams
Canada 1999 and the most fantastic holiday with my wife, my brother-in-law and my wonderful younger sister Fiona. Tragically we lost her this year at the all-too tender age of 37, but the amazing memories will thankfully last forever. Whenever we all got together we would laugh and joke from the first minute, to the last parting hug. The banter would be relentless.
Cruising the wonderful open space of Eastern Canada in our hired SUV listening to the 'local boy' Bryan Adams‚ on the in-car CD player and all singing along big-style. Everyone we met in Canada seemed to be called 'Mike‚' for some reason, and this tune became known to us as 'The Summer of '69' by MIKE Adams. This acoustic performance gives a rock anthem an almost ballad-like quality. If you‚re listening Fi... this one's for you.
Who Knows Where Time Goes: Sandy Denny (Fairport Convention)
Recently voted the most influential folk track of all time in a Radio 2 poll I think... And no wonder. Living in such a mixed climate as we do we seem to long for the Summer, and then as soon as it's over we long for the next one. But let's not wish the time away, it will pass soon enough. There are a good few versions of this song but the one for me is the classic version which appeared on Fairport Convention 'Unhalfbricking' album and features a beautiful obligato guitar by the legendary Richard Thompson. They say 'only the good die young' and surely Sandy Denny is testament to that. You can only imagine what musical gems she might have gone on to create.
The Sun's Comin‚ Over the Hill: Karine Polwart
A great opening line that sets this one up as a Summer tune 'Six rain-ridden Summers, and he still had an eye for me'. Both our daughters (Francesca and Georgia) are Summer babies and this was the first 'grown-ups' song that they learned to sing along to. The lyrics in the first verse go on to say 'He ran off the road, full of whisky and irony'...and of course when you're 5 and 7, you simply need to know what every word means... What fun trying to explain the meaning of the word 'irony' to a 5-year old! My wee girls have since become huge Karine Polwart fans and have chatted with her in her dressing room, before a gig, on more than one occasion. What a lovely lady and what a song-writing talent. Mike Harding maintains that this song will remain as one of the all-time folk classics, and I can't disagree with that.
The only downside of doing a show between 6 and 8pm is that it plays havoc with your mealtimes. I am one of these people who has to eat at the 'usual' time. Having breakfast late and stopping for sandwich at 4pm brings me out in a cold sweat. It's called 'lunchtime' for a reason!
We're up against the football tonight with live coverage of the Rangers match on medium wave. I like the idea that we can offer an alternative. Mind you as our theme is 'songs that remind you of your first kiss' I don't imagine we will have too many hardcore Gers fans calling in to bare their emotions.
