Sunday 6th May

Turn on your radio, not to radio 1, but maybe Capital or Heart or Magic and before long you will probably hear one of these three songs.  The first one is Brown-eyed Girl by Van Morrison.  A catchy tune, but I wouldn’t have said it was the best song ever written, or even the best that Van Morrison has written either.  My favourite of his is Madame George, but there you go.  There is something infectious though about Brown-eyed girl, especially the chorus, with its Sha-la-la-la-la, di-la-di-da, in case you forget the words.  This is also one of those songs which have been covered by all and sundry, including a charming version by The Senators, an East London mid-eighties duo, who wrote great little songs but recorded this for I think their eponymous debut.

Another song which just won’t go away is Stuck in the Middle with You, by Stealers Wheel featuring the late departed Gerry Rafferty.  It came off their first album which was a classic and was filled with any number of hit singles which could have been chosen instead of this one.   The band recorded one other album and then spilt up with Gerry going on to record the almost as classic Baker Street.  The sentiment of the song which is quite downbeat belies the upbeat tempo and happy sound of the record, which may be a clue to its longevity, there isn’t much else quite like it.

The other song I keep bumping into is Make me Smile (come up and see me) by Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel.  I was bowled over by Cockney rebel when they first burst onto the scene, around the same time as Bowie and T Rex were happening, and loved their first album with Sebastian, Death Trip and What Ruthy Said.  Their second was a bit heavier and rockier but still great.  After that the band broke up, or Steve sacked them all (depends which story you believe).  Steve quickly formed a new band and recorded his third ‘The best years of our lives’, and this was on it.  In some ways it is the weakest song on the album, and certainly not one of my favourites, but it is so popular and you hear it all the time that whenever it comes on it does makes you smile.

And I wonder just why it is that these three, and there are probably a few more like them, are perennial radio favourites peppering the airwaves with their familiar and joyful sounds.  Who knows what it is about certain songs that mean they just keep getting played year after year, and just will not go away.  Not that I particularly want them to, which is probably the answer to the question.