British Expat Forum

There's about as much chance of me doing "Lilly the Pink" as there is of me wowing with a Chas'n'Dave medley. {Shudder}

One has standards...
Think posh wine bar, restaurant, hotel lobby rather than the Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club. Lordy, where did that come from??

Alan, can you do the Birdie Song?

We've got a CD called "The Sound of the Suburbs" - loads of good ones on that. Also the soundtrack to Shrek2 has some great stuff on it.

I dunno, my current favourite is a jazz CD a mate gave us. It's brilliant, happy music.

Maybe you could listen to Radio 2 on the Internet to give you an idea of the newer stuff people are listening to these days. (Apparently Radio 1 is mainly just for kids these days. Urghh! I must be getting old.)

Mmm, radio two. That's an idea. I always used to listen to radio two anyway. Never could stand radio 1 - bleedin' racket.

Of course, that would miss some US songs that don't make it international, but it's definitely a good idea. I'll look it up!

Alan, I take it that your local radio DJ doesn't inspire you... What do you get there? Country & Western?

Thanks, dee vee, for correcting me - Scaffold was the name of the band that recorded Lily the Pink, wasn't it? Now what brought Procol Harum to my mind?

I can't even think of a tune... My memory never was very good.

Alan, has your local music store got any books like this one
http://www.musicroom.com/se/ID_No/0407547/details.html

Would that give you a starting point?

Procol Harum, as mentioned earlier a whiter shade of pale and homburg, great ballads for a posh bar singer, The greatest song of all time imo must be Hotel California, by The Eagles, this song covered well would be appreciated everywhere and is worthy of having a forum of its own.

Thanks Dee Vee, but are we all showing our age here?

I said modern songs. All the classics like Whiter Shade, Eagles, etc... are a given - but they're oldies.

Ancient me Alan, I still listen to the Beatles on a daily basis. As they say about jokes the old ones are always the best same applies to music. Im no entertainer but have years of experience working with all kinds of talents in clubs all over England, a great world to be in and missing it loads. what in your opinion would be the age of a modern classic and what age group are you entertaining, Sorry i,m new to this forum so dont know who,s who yet. Dave.

Actually, I'm with you Dave. I was brought up on really old stuff (my dad was a pro pianist), so while other kids were listening to their pop stuff, I was surrounded with Jazz, Latin and Classical.

You're right. The old ones are the best. That's why I'm still convinced that most of the regular entertainers are mostly playing the same tunes they did ten or twenty years ago. That's good for us that have been doing it for years.

I'm just trying to at least pay some lip service to anything more modern. By that, I mean at least late eighties to the present - preferably the current century.

I know there seems to be proportionately less "musical" music the later one gets, but I'm trying.
The trouble I have is that there appears to be slim pickings and because I never bother to listen to "chart" music, I have no idea what's about.

My musical upbringing was a bit odd. As a child, I'd hear classical stuff on the radiogram, and father liked to play Chopin on a baby grand. However, I couldn't sing a note, failed miserably to learn to play the piano, and disliked music lessons. When I was 15, a pal gave me a uke banjo and I worked up from that to guitar & clarinet, playing in an amateur dance band with school pals. Around that time, I got my first deck and an amplifier from a secondhand shop, then went out and bought my first record - Eartha Kitt singing The Heel.

At university, I became a bigoted traditional jazz fan and amassed a collection of records, including a few 78s.

I'm still a useless musician, but I enjoy music - not like my early teens, when I'd cheer Ken Platt's "Oo-oo-oh I 'ate sing-gers" catchphrase on radio variety shows.

Hi again Alan, today i went through my more recent albums 2 years old and found a perfect selection of songs for a posh bar/hotel lobby, "the best of modern classics" and "as is now" both by Paul Weller, very easy listening and nothing too challenging also Paulo Nuttini has a good range of songs with great lyrics on the album, "these streets".

Thanks again Dee Vee. I'll look up Paul Weller.
Paulo Nuttini is exactly the kind of stuff I'm talking about. I have "these streets". Great album.

In fact, one of my favourite songs is by him: "Last Request". I spent a good deal of time transcribing that song, but it's quite a tough one to sing when you haven't got that much of a voice. .
I'm going to try some of his others though. Great suggestion.