The Song For Today by Jimmie Oliver (free ebook reader for ipad TXT) 📖

JULY 18TH
Flowers Of Romance by Public Image Ltd (1981)
from the album The Flowers Of Romance
Keith Levene from Public Image Ltd was born on this date in 1957 (eighteen months after Johnny Rotten). Levene may not have scaled the heights of chart success or even plumbed the depths of notoriety that John Lydon's previous collaborators had encountered, but he was still partially responsible for a number of tremendous Public Image Ltd recordings. Few bettered the short (but far from sweet) 'Flowers Of Romance'. Released as a single in 1981, there was nothing remotely floral or romantic about this peculiar tune. Built around the throbbing rhythm of the percussion, there is something unsettling and disturbing about this track: “Now it’s summer/ I could be happy or in distress.” Quite simply, Johnny is in one of his mischievous moods as he pours scorn on the very concept of a love affair, pointing out that relationships are not always what they are cracked up to be: "I can't depend on these so-called friends." They just don't make them like this anymore.
{Also on this day, German singer Nico dies at the age of forty-nine in 1988}

JULY 19TH
Play The Game by Queen (1980)
from the album The Game
Mr. Brian Harold May was born on this day back in 1947 in Hampton, Middlesex. Three decades later he would be one quarter of the regal rock group, Queen. With his songwriting and his own customised 'May Axe', Brian May had a huge impact upon the Queen success story of the 1970s and beyond. I meanwhile am fascinated by the choice of inspirational tune that football clubs select when their gladiators enter the arena at 2.55 pm on a Saturday afternoon. From Van Halen's 'Jump' to 'The Theme From Z Cars' through to 'Simply The Best', there is an array of predictable material designed to usher in the competitors. Queen in particular are past masters at composing terrace anthems, as exemplified by 'We Will Rock You' and the triumphal 'We Are The Champions'. However, I remain a little disappointed that the band's minor hit 'Play The Game' has never been adapted for the terraces. True, Freddie and company are urging the listener to play the game of love, but I like to think that this worthy sentiment could still find its way into football grounds as the assembled masses engage in a little arms swaying. Such a momentary lapse into harmony might dilute the otherwise simmering hostility. Oh well, one can but dream.
{Also on this date, in 1979 the Sandinista rebels seize power in Nicaragua}

JULY 20TH
Silly Thing by The Sex Pistols (1979)
available on the album Kiss This
Paul Cook emerged from his mother's womb on this date in 1956 in west London. He was described memorably by Malcolm McLaren as "a phenomenal acrobat; always on time, he had to provide the beat." Therein began young Cook's association with the infamous Sex Pistols. At the height of their notoriety in the summer of 1977, Cook was the victim of a knife attack as both he and Johnny Rotten experienced the thuggish backlash from the Pistols' unique tribute to Her Royal Lowness's Jubilee. After Rotten jumped ship in January 1978, Cook stayed on board with his mate Steve Jones and together they knocked out a number of belting tunes for 'The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle'. Prominent among them was 'Silly Thing' which invaded the Top Ten in the UK charts in 1979. The song was originally intended to be called 'Silly C**t', but common sense prevailed over commercial suicide, and Cook could be found singing this tune on the 'Swindle' movie. With the money that he and his fellow rogues managed to 'swindle', Paul Cook was certainly no silly thing.
{Also on this day, King Abdullah of Jordan is shot dead in Jerusalem in 1951}

JULY 21ST
My Love by Paul McCartney & Wings (1973)
from the album Red Rose Speedway
You've got to hand it to Sir Paul McCartney, because he knows how to create a fine love song or two, whether it be 'Here, There And Everywhere' or 'I Will' from his Beatles days, but did anything in his huge assembly line of hits come close to the sheer beauty of 'My Love'? At a time when his sparring partner John Lennon was branching out into radical politics with 'Sometime In New York City', Macca risked losing credibility by confining himself to the same old formula of easy listening ballads, gentle rockers, and love songs, collectively dismissed by a contemptuous Lennon as 'muzak' fit only for shopping arcades. Let us however be thankful that Paul stuck to his guns, because 'My Love' is one of the great romantic tunes from the history of popular music and not merely another of McCartney's 'silly love songs'. Contributing on guitar to this American Number One hit was Ulsterman Henry McCullough (born on this day in 1943) who served a brief stint as a co-pilot on Wings. In an odd twist of fate, Paul was evicted from the Billboard No.1 spot by a certain George Harrison.
{Also on this date, in 1969 Neil Armstrong takes "one giant step for mankind"}

JULY 22ND
The Boys Of Summer by Don Henley (1984)
from the album Building The Perfect Beast
Don Henley proved that he could cut it on his own when the Eagles ceased to fly. Proof of this was delivered in spades by the majestic 'The Boys Of Summer'. The lyrics and the singing are quite good, but it is the delicious guitar input that elevates this single onto a new plateau where only classic recordings are granted residence. Here was another of those tunes that has continued to grace radio airplay many years after it made a splash in the charts. Henley himself was born a boy of summer on this date in 1947 in Texas. Like countless other artists, he perhaps suffers from the fact that all his other solo tracks were dwarfed by the giant in the repertoire, namely 'The Boys Of Summer'.
{Also on this day, the golfer Nick Faldo wins the British Open in 1990}

JULY 23RD
Master And Servant by Depeche Mode (1984)
from the album Some Great Reward
Today is the anniversary of the birth of Martin Gore in 1961. Gore went on to co-star in Depeche Mode who found themselves back amongst the British Top Ten hit parade with the masterful 'Master And Servant'. This single about the art of love-making was a far cry from any standard romantic offering that one cares to mention. Opinion was divided on the merits of Depeche Mode, but I for one emphatically consider 'Master And Servant' to be one of the most memorable and original releases of the 'eighties.
{Also on this date, in 1986 Prince Andrew marries Sarah Ferguson}

JULY 24TH
Telstar by The Tornados (1962)
from the album The Original Telstar: The Sounds Of The Tornadoes
Heinz Burt was born in Germany in the middle of the Second World War on this day in 1942. In the early 1960s he enjoyed a brief invasion of the British singles charts as a solo artist, but his most recognisable contribution to the UK's music scene was his guitar work on the stunning instrumental 'Telstar'. Burt was a protege of the legendary pop producer Joe Meek, and one could almost argue that Meek's composition (the first-ever American chart-topper by a British group) was the first example of space rock. Even Margaret Thatcher was sufficiently impressed to nominate the song as one of her Desert Island Discs. At a time when the likes of Yuri Gagarin were journeying into space, the Tornados found themselves in the stratosphere with this formidable museum artefact of the 1960s.
{Also on this day, the Apollo 11 splashes down safely in the Pacific Ocean in 1969}

JULY 25TH
The Carnival Is Over by The Seekers (1965)
available on the album The Best Of The Seekers
Bruce Woodley from the Australian singing combo The Seekers was born on this date a day after Heinz Burt, in Melbourne. His folk group found themselves occupying the pole position in the UK singles chart no fewer than twice in 1965 with 'I'll Never Find Another You' and the terrific 'The Carnival Is Over'. It took the all-conquering Beatles to de-throne The Seekers from Number One just as this weepy ballad seemed almost set to be the Christmas chart-topper. The carnival wasn't quite over as the quartet achieved more success with 'Georgy Girl', although perhaps 'The Carnival Is Over' represented their finest effort. It remains among the 50 biggest-selling singles in the UK.
{Also on this date, in 1994 Israel and Jordan sign the Washington Declaration}

JULY 26TH
Fool To Cry by The Rolling Stones (1976)
from the album Black And Blue
One of the greatest icons of popular music, Mr Michael Jagger (Dartford's most famous son), was born on this day back in 1943. Jagger and his fellow Rolling Stones confounded most expectations by continuing to perform together long after the likes of the Beatles, Cream, the Doors, or the Animals had gone their separate ways. 'Fool To Cry' demonstrated a welcome retreat from the standard riff-driven formula that the infamous five usually made use of. Jagger is at his untypically sensitive best with this transatlantic Top Ten smash, at a time when he was effectively carrying the Stones whilst his partner in crime Keith Richards descended into a heroin-induced oblivion. A year after the deserved success of 'Fool To Cry', Richards was arrested in Canada for drugs possession. The uncompromising guitarist has recalled how he had to be woken from his stupor to be informed of his arrest. For a while, 'Fool To Cry' threatened to be the Stones' last hit single. In the event, Jagger continued to record and entertain both with and without his group for the next three decades, as these semi-senile delinquents defied the assumption that rock and pop was exclusively a young man's game.
{Also on this day, Eva Peron dies in 1952, aged thirty-three}

JULY 27TH
I'll Never Fall In Love Again by Bobbie Gentry (1969)
from the album Touch 'Em With Love
American singing star Bobbie Gentry was born this day in 1944 in Mississippi under the name of Roberta Lee Streeter. 25 years later she would have cause for celebration when 'I'll Never Fall In Love Again' sat at