Hey Jude, don’t make it bad
Take a sad song and make it better
Remember to let her into your heart
Then you can start to make it better
Taken from the much-loved single Hey Jude by The Beatles in 1968, which unusually wasn’t on any studio album. It was their biggest hit in the US, spending nine weeks at number one, and topped the charts worldwide. It’s long been one of my favourite Beatles songs, along with Tomorrow Never Knows, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, In My Life and The End.
Please allow me to introduce myself
I’m a man of wealth and taste
I’ve been around for a long, long year
Stole many a man’s soul to waste
Taken from the song Sympathy for the Devil by The Rolling Stones, from their acclaimed studio album Beggar’s Banquet (1968). I just had to add in another post for the English rock band as I saw them live earlier this year, to add to the songs of Gimme Shelter, Paint it Black and Ruby Tuesday
Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget
falls drop by drop upon the heart
until, in our own despair, against our will,
comes wisdom through the awful grace of God
Aeschylus (525 BC – 456 BC) was a playwright of Ancient Greece. The lines were famously quoted by Presidential candidate Robert Kennedy when telling the audience about the assassination of Martin Luther King.
I’ve loved, I’ve laughed and cried
I’ve had my fails, my share of losing
And now as tears subside
I find it all so amusing
To think I did all that
And may I say, not in a shy way
Oh, no, no not me
I did it my way.
Famous for his distinctive voice, acting skills and Rat Pack membership, Frank Sinatra was one of the most important and influential showbiz figures in the 20th century. On what would have been his centennial, it is only fitting to quote Ol’ Blue Eyes’ most famous song. My Way (1968).
Alex Raphael 