Opinion

FRIDAY SONG: DORY PREVIN, THE LADY WITH THE BRAID (1971)

She wrote songs for Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, and Doris Day, co-composed with Harold Arlen (Over the Rainbow’) – and was a pioneering singer-songwriter of the early 1970s. She wrote a song called ‘Control Yourself‘, had a career defined by...

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‘Terence Blacker – Saved by a song’ A new profile in The Living Tradition magazine

In the latest edition of The Living Tradition magazine, Simon Haines has written a profile  of me to tie in with the release of the new CD Playing For Time. You can read it here: LT_Issue135_Terence Blacker

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FRIDAY SONG: JOHN SEBASTIAN, NASHVILLE CATS (1966)

Surprisingly few songwriters have a natural ability to convey warmth.  Performers can do it, and composers can turn it on when the lyric requires, but only now and then does one come across a songwriter who can put a smile...

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FRIDAY SONG: CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND, LET’S GENERALIZE ABOUT MEN (BLOOM, SCHLESINGER, DOLGEN AND BROSH MCKENNA, 2017)

It’s possible that you may not have come across one of the funniest and most innovative series to have been on our screens in recent years. It ran between 2015 and 2019 but, because it was on Netflix and was...

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FRIDAY SONG: Chip Taylor and Carrie Rodriguez, EXTRA (Chip Taylor, 2002)

The great lyricist Sammy Cahn  – he wrote the lyrics to many of Frank Sinatra’s best-known hits  –  published a funny, swaggering boastful memoir called I Should Care. Not a man to hid his light under a bushel, Sammy claimed that as...

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FRIDAY SONG, Charles K Harris, AFTER THE BALL (1892)

Many of my older Friday Songs –   notably, ‘Shine’, ‘The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea’, ‘Hong Kong Blues’ – have moved with the times. They have been adapted to our fretfully changing world by each new musical generation. This...

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FRIDAY SONG, Dillie Keane, LOOK, MUMMY, NO HANDS (1997)

Something great can happen when a funny songwriter decides to put humour aside and go for the heart. While the jokes are waiting in the wings, the song taking centre stage acquires a power all of its own. Think of...

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FRIDAY SONG, Annette Hanshaw, I GET THE BLUES WHEN IT RAINS (Marcy Klauber and Harry Stoddart, 1928)

The light, seductive voice of Annette Hanshaw has led me to a song whose history confirms, as well as any song of the 20th century, that music knows no borders of genre, tradition or colour. ‘I Get the Blues When...

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FRIDAY SONG: The Easy Club, THE AULD TOON SHUFFLE (Rod Paterson, 1984)

Almost seven years ago, I stood outside the gates of Charlotte Square in Edinburgh. touting for business beside a Big Issue seller and a young bloke handing out flyers for a new McDonalds. I was touting for trade, too. The...

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MY FRIDAY SONGS – THE STORY SO FAR

There’s no Friday Song today – it will be back next week – but several people have asked me about songs I’ve written about in the past. Since I haven’t yet assembled them all in one place on the website....

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