Bowie and Burns

Me with the powder-blue suit Bowie wore in the iconic music video for Life On Mars

Back in 2013, the V&A staged one of the most comprehensive and mind-boggling exhibitions dedicated to the life of one person, ever - the wonderful David Bowie Is..., the most visited exhibit in the museum’s history. I went along, and was blown away by it!

Then in 2023, thanks to a donation from the Blavatnik Family Foundation and Warner Music Group, and in collaboration with the great man's estate, the entire archive around which that exhibition was based was acquired by the V&A for the nation - and for a permanent [albeit with items on rotation] display at the new David Bowie Centre in Stratford, which officially opened in September 2025, with tickets strictly limited, and members a priority.

So it was that Madam Arcati and I (V&A members) were able to snaffle tickets - for us and for John-John [Hils, for whom we also booked a ticket, couldn't make it] - for a viewing yesterday!

The V&A takes great pains to emphasise that this is not solely an "exhibition" - and indeed, in comparison to their usual dazzling multi-room, multitudinous-exhibit events (dozens of which we have been to, and thoroughly enjoyed), it is quite tiny; just one room, with ten visual display cases, a big screen and floor-to-ceiling shelves around a table. 

It's the latter part that makes clear the true purpose of the centre - for anyone, by request in advance, can take a closer look at any of the 90,000 items in the collection! If you want to handle Bowie's platform boots, his fedora from The Man Who Fell to Earth, or his personal diaries, you can do so!

Of the items currently on display [as I mentioned above, many of these will periodically be refreshed and changed], I was enthralled by the variety and range, from all eras of his career. Highlights: That suit [pictured at the top of the post] from Life On Mars (and the cream suit from the Serious Moonlight tour I went to see in 1983, and his "Ziggy Stardust" costume), a pair of letters - one a "reference" written by David's dad, the other a very curt rejection letter from Apple Records - his high-drama metal "wings" from the Glass Spider tour in 1987, the handwritten lyrics to Heroes (and the synths played in those "Berlin sessions"), the Stylophone he played on Space Oddity, and, and, and... everything!

It was a brilliant day!

[Click any pic to embiggen]

About the David Bowie Centre

[PS We also took a wander around the V&A East Storehouse itself, which is a stunning (and bewildering) warehouse-scale display of objects of all types and from all eras, that are a mere part of the museum's gargantuan collection, which visitors walk around, under and above - worthy of another visit, and another blog post all of its own - read the review from the ever-wonderful The Londonist instead.]

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Meanwhile...

...happy Burns Night!

Bringing the two things together nicely, here's Scotland's uncrowned Queen, Lulu singing the song Bowie wrote for her (together with the great man on backing vocals):

Lulu - The Man Who Sold The World

We passed upon the stair, we spoke of was and when
Although I wasn't there, he said I was his friend
Which came as some surprise; I spoke into his eyes
I thought you died alone, a long long time ago

Oh no, not me
I never lost control
You're face to face
With The Man Who Sold The World

I laughed and shook his hand, and made my way back home
I searched for form and land, for years and years I roamed
I gazed a gazely stare at all the millions here
We must have died alone, a long long time ago

Who knows? not me
We never lost control
You're face to face
With the Man who Sold the World

Of knights, Queens, Auntie Beeb, totty, Sir David, explosions and Lulu again

Arise, Sir Becks (and Lady Posh)! I'd kneel before him.

It's another snippets post, dear reader:

• Stylish Queens news: To mark the centenary year of the late HM The Queen, an exhibition titled Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style will arrive in the King's Gallery, Buckingham Palace in April 2026. We will be booking to see this! From an article in Artnet:

  The show will be the largest display to date of the former monarch’s clothing, some of them never before seen. The checklist of nearly 200 pieces features items from all 10 decades of her life alongside outfits by contemporary British designers Erdem Moralioglu, Richard Quinn, and Christopher Kane, who took inspiration from her royal wardrobe. These pieces confirm the queen’s enduring influence on British fashion, even in the wake of her 2022 passing.

• The BBC axe falleth again news: The excellent journalist and broadcaster Matthew Sweet is departing Radio 3’s Sound of Cinema, a programme he founded. As Chris Bennion in The Telegraph says:

  All good things must come to an end, even in radioland where maintaining an illusion of permanence is paramount to the gentle rhythms of our day. So, just as we are processing the news that In Our Time will be presented by someone other than Melvyn Bragg, we learnt last week that Matthew Sweet is departing Radio 3’s Sound of Cinema, 12 years after he launched the programme. Much as In Our Time is Melvyn Bragg, Sound of Cinema is Matthew Sweet. His successor, Edith Bowman, has a tough job on her hands. Will she be more Roger Moore or George Lazenby?

  In Saturday’s final episode, Sweet referenced that radio-specific aversion to anything that looks like change. “When we began the show in 2013,” he said, that Hull accent jumping in every now and then like an eager child, “some people thought Radio 3 wasn’t the right place for a film-music programme. Twelve years later, I don’t hear that argument so much”. I would wager that’s because 12 years ago, the Radio 3 listeners didn’t know Sweet so well. “Film music demands serious attention,” said Sweet. And that’s exactly what he brought.

  A film-music programme on Radio 3? We all had the same sinking feeling. John Williams, The Lord of the Rings, Hans Zimmer, more John Williams, Chariots of Fire, The Godfather, yet more John Williams. We’ve got Classic FM for that soft-soap stuff, thank you very much. Yet Sweet defied us all, combining a cineaste’s enthusiasm with academic depth, delving far below the surface to add serious value to your listening.

• Too sexy for his shirt news:

The lovely Jonathan Bailey - whose career has rocketed from the West End [he did the most brilliant Not Getting Married Today when we saw him in the gender-reversed production of Sondheim's Company in 2018] via Bridgerton to big-screen stardom in Wicked - has been named as People Magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive" 2025.

• Greed is good news: Computer chip manufacturer Nvidia's value now exceeds the GDP of every country except the US and China, according to data from the World Bank.
• World-famous dog news: The original image upon which the iconic HMV record shops logo is based - a painting titled His Master’s Voice, of "Nipper" the dog listening to a gramophone - has been purchased by The Huguenot Museum in Rochester.


• National treasure comes to the rescue news: The Wildlife Trusts and Northumberland Wildlife Trust bid to complete the purchase of the Rothbury Estate - a 15-sq-mile (38.8-sq-km) tract of former grouse moor, woodland and farmland, with plans to boost wildlife, restore bogs and promote nature-friendly farming - has seen a massive surge in donations since Sir David Attenborough released a video backing the appeal.
• And finally: Happy Bonfire Night! Yes, every year, we Brits celebrate the arrest and execution of Guy Fawkes and his gang, caught trying to blow up the Houses of Parliament in "The Gunpowder Plot" of 1605 - by lighting bonfires and igniting the wicks of thousands of tons of, erm, explosive fireworks! To celebrate, this:

Lulu with Take That - Relight My Fire

And the weather? Still exceptionally mild for early November.

When stout-hearted men can stick together man to man

Yep. Back to the old routine...

Another enjoyable weekend has gone boom! - and it's back to the office time again... Hey ho.

Today, alongside fellow celebrants Dame Anna Wintour, John Barry, Adam Ant, Monica Vitti, Charles Bronson, Roseanne Barr, Lord Kenneth Baker, Dolph Lundgren, Jeremy Brett, Vincenzo Bellini, Robert Miles, Ben Fogle, Ian Wright, Viscount David Linley (2nd Earl of Snowdon), Dylan Moran, Gary Olsen and Benvenuto Cellini...

...it's Lulu's birthday!

So, to cheer us up, and to give us a bit of a wake-up call on this Tacky Music Monday, how about the great lady herself with this "safety-gay-heavy" number?

Lulu - Stout-Hearted Men

Have a good week, dear reader.

And you got me wanting you

Oh no...!

The reverie is over, dear reader. Back to work time has arrived...

Hey ho. As long as we have Mama Cass, Dudley Moore and Lulu on a Tacky Music Monday, there's still hope left for this world!

Cass Elliot, Lulu & Dudley Moore - Sugar Sugar [It's Lulu, 25th July 1970]

At least it's a short week, thanks to Easter. Have a good one, folks.

Mama's good to you

The Daylight Savings Bill was only brought into law in 1916 to help farmers increase food supplies.

British Summer Time is officially here, dear reader - the clocks went forward yesterday, and everyone spent Sunday feeling slightly "jet-lagged" as a consequence - and, true to form, temperatures are set to plummet.

Just in time for my planned annual leave which starts on Wednesday (yay!)... [So it's a very short week for moi, but today and tomorrow are bound to be manic as I try to get a handover sorted.]

Yes, I know Mothers' Day was yesterday - but on this Tacky Music Monday, I felt a bit of Lulu and her magnificently be-quiffed safety gays wouldn't go amiss:

Lulu - When You're Good to Mama

Have a good week, folks.

Meanwhile, at the Palace

Monday again.

Grrrrr... Another fab weekend over too soon.

Never mind, eh? The fact that today happens to be the birthday of the lovely Jo Anne Worley gives me the perfect excuse on this Tacky Music Monday to revisit a mightily-odd-yet-glittering cavalcade of ill-matched stars, of which she was one, pretending to like Mr Anthony Newley...

Anthony Newley, Dyan Cannon, Lola Falana, Jo Anne Worley and Lulu - What a Man [on Hollywood Palace

Bizarre, but faboo!

Have a good week, dear reader.

Arise...

...Dame Prue Leith, Sir Jonathan Pryce, Dame Arlene Phillips (of "Hot Gossip" choreography fame), and Our Patron Saint of Shout, Lulu (Kennedy-Cairns) CBE!

Joining them among the 1,129 awardees in HM The Queen’s Birthday Honours today are - CBE: tennis pundit Sue Barker, TV's Crimewatch host Nick Ross and the legendary Rick Wakeman; OBE: Skin (of Skunk Anansie), Julian Lloyd Webber and poet Lemn Sissay; and MBE: Englebert Humperdinck, trumpeter Jess Gillam, BBC Wales "easy listening" show host Beverley Humphreys and former Radios 1 and 2 stalwart Simon Mayo...

...and, last but not least, house fave here at Dolores Delargo Towers Alison Moyet MBE!

Alison Moyet - Love Resurrection

Congratulations, all.

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Postscript:

Today also happens to be World Gin Day!

Clink, clink, dear reader...

Get yer neeps and tatties oot!

My kind of meat pudding

It's Burns' Night - the day when our brethren [or not if "Wee Jimmy Krankie" Sturgeon gets her way] north of the border hold parties to celebrate the great poet by eating bags of offal and sinking "the amber nectar". Not too many parties this year, methinks.

Never mind, eh? It's a far more familiar tradition round these parts - Tacky Music Monday! And here's Scotland's finest, Lulu (and her safety gays), with a bewildering number to lift our mood at this murky start to another dreary week...

Lulu - Harden My Heart

"Sláinte Mhath!"

Have a good week, dear reader.

Don't be surprised by the way that I am

Heavens. "National treasure", triumph of art over nature, and our Patron Saint of Boom-Bang-A-Bang Lulu turns seventy years old today!

In her six-decade career the former Miss Lawrie has turned her hand to just about everything, from pop to blues-rock, from disco to musical theatre, comedy and mainstream drama, Hollywood movies to Ab Fab - and remains one of the most beloved and familiar faces here in the UK. Even though she's reached three-score-years-and-ten, the lady shows no signs of stopping - earlier this year she did a sixteen-week stint as the lead in the West End hit production of 42nd Street, and currently she's back on the road in (another) massive tour, taking in venues in France, Tokyo, New Orleans and Edinburgh. She is truly inexhaustible...

Facts about Lulu:

• She was only fifteen when she released her version of the Isley Brothers' Shout, which became a mega hit here in the UK; it remains her most-lauded song, and indeed her "theme tune".
• Despite being the biggest single of 1967 in the United States, selling well in excess of 1,000,000 copies, and the song that made her internationally successful To Sir With Love was actually released in the UK as the B-side of Let's Pretend and only reached number 11 in our charts.
• She became a staple on prime-time telly when she landed her own BBC One TV series in 1968, which ran until 1975, and made numerous guest appearances on shows hosted by others, such as Morecambe & Wise, Dick Emery, Les Dawson and Bruce Forsyth.
• Her song I Don't Wanna Fight became a worldwide smash for Tina Turner.
• Not only was Lulu married for four years to Maurice Gibb of the BeeGees, but she also apparently had affairs with Davy Jones of the Monkees, and with David Bowie.
• She won Eurovision, sang a Bond theme song, was one of only two performers (Cliff Richard being the other) to have sung on Top of the Pops in each of its five decades, appeared in an Adam & the Ants video and in an episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus, and has performed alongside a variety of artists including Take That, Chaka Khan, Marianne Faithfull, Elton John, Jools Holland, Bobby Womack, Paul McCartney, Tom Jones and French & Saunders!

Whew.

I have featured the lovely Lulu many times here - not least a cornucopia of her hits on her 60th! By way of a tiny tribute on her 70th, here are a couple of her less well-aired numbers. First up is a rare gem that I went crazy over a few years back:

The Knievels vs. Lulu - Love Loves To Love Love (Hoxton Whores mix)

...and here she is again, giving the likes of Lisa Stansfield, Rick Astley and their ilk a run for their money back in 1993:

Lulu - Independence (Brothers In Rhythm 7" Mix)

Don't be surprised by the way that I am
By the way that I feel and I act
There's too many rules, I really can't choose
I can't let those chains hold me back

I've never known what it's like on my own
But I'm takin' a chance anyway
It may not be right like some moves in the night
But I've got to do it my way

I want my independence
I want my freedom right now
I want my independence (independence)
I want my freedom right now

Many happy returns, Lulu Kennedy-Cairns OBE (born Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie, 3rd November 1948)!

Once upon a song

"A man will never grow old if he knows what he’s doing tomorrow and enjoys it. There are many who treat it as just a business, but it’s more than a business. Unless you get goose bumps listening to ‘Porgy and Bess’ or ‘Carousel,’ then you’re in the wrong game.”

“A lot of people don’t love writing as much as I do. I would rather write a song than do most things in life. When I have a song to write I’m very happy.”

Madam Arcati and I were thrilled to bag tickets for the BBC Radio 2 recording of An Evening With Don Black, hosted by Michael Ball, at the Radio Theatre (in the glittering Art Deco surroundings of BBC Broadcasting House) last night. Don Black, the lyricist who has won an Oscar , two Tony awards, a Golden Globe and six Ivor Novellos! We haven't ben in such esteemed company since Stephen Sondheim...

Needless to say, it was an excellent, often funny, often poignant tribute to one of our greatest living songwriters - and featured not only a lengthy in-depth exploration of his life and work, and a selection of the great man's own choices from his estimable back catalogue, but also special performances by Lee Mead, Marti Webb and Mr Ball himself!

We loved it.

...but, what of that back catalogue? Well, it is indeed quite remarkable how many songs that are dear to everyone's hearts - whether pop chart hits, numbers from musicals or Bond (and other) movie themes - were actually written by Mr Black. He wrote the theme song from Born Free, Sam for Olivia Newton John, The World Is Not Enough (as recently featured here) for Garbage, Surrender for kd lang, Ben for Michael Jackson, Love Changes Everything - the song that made Mr Ball a star - and indeed all the songs for the theatrical blockbusters Aspects of Love, Tell Me On A Sunday/Song And Dance and Sunset Boulevard (with Andrew Lloyd-Webber), I'll Put You Together Again for Hot Chocolate, The Man with the Golden Gun for Lulu, just about the entire repertoire of Matt Monro (he was the crooner's manager and great friend, after all), songs for True Grit, Out Of Africa and Dances With Wolves; and he worked with a vast range of composers in the process, including John Barry, Charles Strouse, the aforementioned Mr Lloyd Webber, Quincy Jones, Jule Styne, Henry Mancini, Meat Loaf, Elmer Bernstein, Michel Legrand, A. R. Rahman, Marvin Hamlisch and Debbie Wiseman...

...and here's a roll-call of just some of them:

Elaine Paige - As If We Never Said Goodbye (from Sunset Boulevard

Shirley Bassey - Diamonds Are Forever

Preeya Kalidas and Raza Jaffrey - Shakalaka Baby (from Bombay Dreams)

Lulu - To Sir With Love

Matt Monro - On Days Like These (The Italian Job main titles)

Marti Webb - Take That Look Off Your Face (from Tell Me On A Sunday)

Tom Jones - Thunderball

Bernadette Peters - Unexpected Song (from Song and Dance)

...and, finally, possibly my favourite of all of 'em [and certainly one that I would love to think would be played at my funeral]:

Shirley Bassey - If I Never Sing Another Song

In my heyday
Young men wrote to me
Everybody seemed to have time to devote to me
Everyone I saw all swore they knew me
Once upon a song

Main attraction, couldn't buy a seat
The celebrity celebrities were dying to meet
I've had every accolade bestowed on me
And so you see

If I never sing another song
It wouldn't bother me
I had my share of fame
You know my name

If I never sing another song
Or take another bow
I would get by, but I'm not sure how

Always posing, but you love it all
Though you have to learn to act like you're above it all
Everything I did the world applauded
Once upon a star

Framed citations, hung on every wall
Got a scrapbook full of quotes, I can recall them all
There were times I felt the world belonged to me
And so you see

If I never sing another song
It wouldn't bother me
I had my share of fame
You know my name

If I never sing another song
Or take another bow
I would get by, but I'm not sure how
But I'm not sure how
But I'm not sure how

Not bad for a humble Jewish boy from Hackney!

Don Black OBE (born 21st June 1938)

Save your Waterloo Ding Dong Phoenix for Me

Our little gang had another faboo night out on Sunday - the return of the extravaganza that is West End Eurovision!

Basically, the premise of the event - a major fundraiser for the charity Make A Difference Trust (aka TheatreMAD), which supports HIV and AIDS projects that build awareness and provide care, support and education in the UK and Sub-Saharan Africa - is that the casts of renowned West End musicals all perform song'n'dance numbers from former entries in the Eurovision Song Contest, before a panel of judges, with votes from panels from each competing show and an audience vote at the end to decide the winner. A bit like the real thing, but with a West End twist.

And just like the real thing, the audience was about 99% composed of gay men! Understandably so, as just about every second of it - from our MC, veteran Music Hall player Richard Gauntlett, to the judges: former Hot Gossip chorographer and stalwart of Strictly Come Dancing Arlene Phillips, former Eastenders actor and West End star John Partridge, and, campest of the lot, comedian, actor, and writer Tom Allen; the performances themselves, and the plethora of surprise guests (in person and in the "ident" videos) - was as camp as knickers, dear...

Here, for your delectation, is a summary of the contest highlights, courtesy of Scott Matthewman, in his excellent review on The Reviews Hub [how I despise that word!] website:

...While the cast of Hamilton start strongly, with a rendition of 2014 Denmark entry Cliché Love Song that is mashed up with their show’s own The Schuyler Sisters, it is pleasant enough but no more. One almost wonders whether, if this is all West End Eurovision has to offer, its revival was worth it...

...A couple of shows’ choices, both of song and creative performance, veers towards the traditional Eurovision style of presentation. In particular, Kinky Boots’ choice of Warrior, Georgia’s 2015 entry, fits in with the musical’s message of acceptance and defiance, while Mamma Mia! seems to step away from its everyday life of Abba-infused camp with a rendition of Undo (Sweden, 2014) that is rather too serious.

At the other end of the scale, the cast of Young Frankenstein perform a rendition of Sweden’s 1999 entry Take Me To Your Heaven with a tongue-in-cheek rendition that seeks to cast show’s matriarch Lesley Joseph in the role of God, while Aladdin’s performance of the Danish 2007 entry Drama Queen relies on muscular men in leather harnesses and an oversized drag queen – performance staples that go down well amongst an audience which is predominantly composed of gay men.

The best performances tend to be those that take a well-known Eurovision number and take it in a new direction. 42nd Street chose UK winner Boom-Bang-a-Bang for this treatment – initially performing it reverentially in a 1969-style performance, until an interruption from Lulu (the song’s original singer, and who has recently joined the 42nd Street cast) causes the cast to break out into a samba-infused version.

But this is eclipsed by the cast of Dreamgirls, who similarly start with a “straight” version of Making Your Mind Up, before junking it in favour of a hyped-up, soulful rendition that is both 100% Dreamgirls and also a thrilling and faithful interpretation of the original.

Good as it may be, though, it is the cast of The Phantom of the Opera that dominates the proceedings...

...Choosing Rise Like a Phoenix, Conchita Wurst’s 2014 winner for Austria, [it] initially looks like it is going to be a straightforward performance, the combination of beautiful golden dress and full facial beard channelling Wurst’s signature look. But as the backing performers emerge, it is clear the Phantom team are running with the idea. Women from other West End shows, including Donna from Mamma Mia! and Elphaba from Wicked, are recreated with their own beards, before being joined by other hirsute theatrical characters – Harry Potter’s Dumbledore, The Greatest Showman’s Bearded Lady, even Cousin It from The Addams Family.

It’s a performance which is simultaneously bonkers, bold and brilliantly executed. It comes as no surprise, then, when in the scoring part of the evening Phantom takes an early lead and only pulls further ahead with each round of scores. It is an appropriate win, as guest Graham Norton points out as he hands over the trophy: in recent weeks, Conchita Wurst has been forced to discuss her HIV status in public after facing blackmail threats from a former boyfriend, and her refusal to treat her diagnosis as a source of shame is the sort of message that TheatreMAD works hard to promote.

The show concludes with two genuine Eurovision performances. As with previous West End Eurovision shows, a former entrant is invited to perform. Last year’s entrant, Lucie Jones, is an appropriate choice for the event’s revival, as she is enjoying a career in musical theatre herself, currently on tour with Legally Blonde. And kicking off what is hopefully a new tradition for subsequent charity events, the UK’s current entry SuRie performs her entry, Storm.

But great as these performances are, it is the companies of the West End shows who deserve the greatest attention. With each performance predominantly undertaken by the junior members of each show’s ensemble, the evening is both a celebration of the depth of talent within the West End and a valuable fundraiser for HIV charities.

Long may it continue.

Amen to that!

There is (unfortunately) no footage of any of the actual performances from the night itself, but here is the "official ident" from Phantom crew, done in the style of [the improbably popular Channel 4 telly show about - erm - people watching telly] Gogglebox:

West End Eurovision Ident 2018 - The Phantom of the Opera

And here, again, is the UK's entry for the real, official Eurovision Song Contest in Lisbon 2018:

SuRie - Storm

She was great - and let's hope she does well! Lucie Jones was great (with her "big gay hands in the air poppers o’clock remix of 'Never Give Up On You' to quote Eurovision blogger Monty on the OnEurope site). Graham Norton was great. Lulu was great. Phantom was great. In fact, everything about this was an absolute hoot - roll on next year (and roll on our Eurovision party in just a few weeks' time)!

TheatreMAD

Champagne for Lulu!

Eddie Monsoon: "Lulu! What would you like, Lulu?"
Lulu: "Three courses and a pudding, and don't talk to me."
Eddie: "Champagne for Lulu! Fantastic, isn't it? Like a reunion.
...You know what you need? You need a really good publicity machine. Who does your PR?"

Lulu: "You do."

And here - fresh from The "Edina Monsoon PR agency", sweetie! - is the birthday girl herself:

Lulu - Take Your Mama For A Ride

Many happy returns, Miss Lulu Kennedy-Cairns OBE (born Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie, 3rd November 1948) - and Thank Disco It's Friday!!!!

It's such a lovely feeling

Darlings! It's Lulu's birthday!

What better way to ease our safe passage back into work on this Tacky Music Monday than with the "Glasgow Belter"'s 1969 Eurovision Song Contest-winner?

Lulu - Boom Bang A Bang

Works for me...

Have a good one!

Lulu (Kennedy-Cairns, OBE, born Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie, 3rd November 1948)

Home of the Stars

It has turned quite wintry, cold and damp out there. I am sheltering from it, trying to get my head around studying for an exam on Friday.

To lift the spirits this Tacky Music Monday, let us escape the gloom and visit the ever-classy Hollywood Palace, here featuring the fab combination of Dyan Cannon, Lola Falana, Jo Anne Worley and Lulu with Anthony Newley on What A Man (with a bonus word from our sponsor featuring today's birthday girl Brenda Vaccaro, to boot!).

How much more camp do you want it?

Anthony Newley and friends on Hollywood Palace

Have a good week, folks!

I never lost control

Many happy returns to that marvel of smoky vocals and classy soul the diminutive Lulu - (gulp) 65 years old today!

Suffice to say, I have blogged about the lady many times before so, without further ado, let us wallow in the gorgeousness of her fantabulosa collaboration with David Bowie - The Man Who Sold The World...

Lulu - The Man Who Sold The World

We passed upon the stair, we spoke of was and when
Although I wasn't there, he said I was his friend
Which came as some surprise; I spoke into his eyes
I thought you died alone, a long long time ago

Oh no, not me
I never lost control
You're face to face
With The Man Who Sold The World

I laughed and shook his hand, and made my way back home
I searched for form and land, for years and years I roamed
I gazed a gazely stare at all the millions here
We must have died alone, a long long time ago

Who knows? not me
We never lost control
You're face to face
With the Man who Sold the World

Lulu Kennedy-Cairns, OBE (born Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie, 3rd November 1948)

Razzle

I may be on leave for the next fortnight, but as always, it is another Tacky Music Monday here at Dolores Delargo Towers - a chance to marvel at some sparkling dance histrionics; maybe some OTT wannabee divas of times gone by with their safety gays - or in this case, both at the same time in the tiny personage of our own, dear Lulu!

Lulu - Razzle Dazzle

Razzle dazzle, indeed.

Lulu's official website

L-U-V

Before we get to the smash of smashes, let me indulge myself in just a few of the recent newer hits that have passed this way...

Only on Gaydar Radio could possibly the best new choon in a long time - given their playlist's dreary descent of late into "Rap but remixed" territory à la David Guetta's recent output - be a remix of a 45-year-old song by Lulu! It's the Hoxton Whores/The Knievels masterful mix of Love Loves To Love Love:

The Knievels vs Lulu - Love Loves To Love Love

Here's a little blast from the past - it's a the excellent new single from St Etienne (their first in eight years apparently), the rather sweet and boppy Tonight, produced by Xenomania and mixed by Richard X:

St Etienne - Tonight

Arch gayer Mr Sam Sparro returns with a vengeance with the fabulously funky The Shallow End:

Sam Sparro - The Shallow End

Just because we need a little reminder that somewhere in the world there is some warm weather - here's the latest smash sensation from Brazil, the should-be-sexy-but-actually-isn't Michel Teló with the snappily-titled (and quite contagious) Ai se eu te pego (meaning 'Oh if I catch you' in Portuguese):

Michel Teló - Ai se eu te pego

And so, finally, here it is - the new one from "Our Glorious Leader"! It's the long-awaited new single from Madonna - Give Me All Your Luvin'! But was it worth the wait?

Madonna feat. M.I.A. and Nicki Minaj - Give Me All Your Luvin'

Thoughts..?

Marco, Merrick, Terry Lee, Garry Tibbs and yours truly

So tired of anarchists looking at me
Don't need their credibility.

Destroy
they say
Defy! Condemn!
As long as you don't destroy them.

With twenty years of drugs and drink
I thought the time had come to think
About standing up and saying that
It's a tragedy and such old hat.

Not a great day for a boy with an online passion for trivia and tackiness...

Firstly, our internet (and TV) went down again this morning, thanks to the gnomes at Virgin Media. It was still down when I got in this evening (after trying to avoid the Tube strike rush-hour mania by attending a new LGBT reading group in Islington Library). After a few re-boots it is (obviously) at last back again...

I went on to the web in work, and found that some bizarre individual, apparently masquerading as someone else, had decided his way of getting his rocks off was to post multiple videos as a blog comment on my MySpace profile - all of them a repetition of a news item about someone on Facebook who expressed their wish that all gay people were dead. Charmed, I'm sure. Thus I was not really in the mood today to do any more except block the cunt and log off again.

However, now that I seem to have lanced that particularly vile carbuncle, we at Dolores Delargo Towers feel the need to pay due homage to two of our icons, who happen to share a birthday today - the divine Adam Ant and the stupendous Scottish belter Lulu. Did they ever work together? Of course they did...

Adam & the Ants - Ant Rap

Gee, Lulu - wish I could dress like you!

The sunny weather is apparently going to turn to showers from today, and we're all back to work - yuk. On this Tacky Music Monday, who better than Lulu - in her ill-fated Disco Years - to entertain us out of the gloom?!

Enjoy!

Lulu - I Love to Boogie

You make me wanna shout

Happy 60th birthday yesterday to that "National Treasure"™, Marie MacDonald McLaughlin Lawrie, known to the world as Lulu.

In an amazing five-decade career that began when the lady was a wee bairn of 15, Lulu has made a big impact on both sides of the Atlantic with her original "white soul" voice, her effervescent personality and her sense of humour (often the "foil" for French & Saunders and other comedians).

Probably due to that very ability to take the piss out of herself, and her innate sense of showbiz style, she has carved a niche as a bit of a gay icon. From her early collaborations with David Bowie and Elton John, to her work on behalf of the latter's AIDS Foundation, via some very camp appearances with Take That and on stage at G.A.Y., she has always been seen as our ally. She was married to society hairdresser John Frieda for heaven's sake! And since that marriage broke down, our Lulu has admirably attracted a succession of men many years her junior.

All hail the little Glasgow girl with the big voice!

Lulu - To Sir With Love

Lulu - The Man Who Sold The World

Lulu with Take That - Relight My Fire

Lulu - Shout

Article in the Glasgow Evening Times

Lulu on MySpace