Yes. I used to look like this. Time's a terrible thing.
As it's my 60th birthday today, I thought I'd indulge myself with some of my favourite music...
How about six decades' worth?
1960s:
1970s:
1980s:
1990s:
2000s:
2010s:
Then there are the songs that transcend decades. The likes of Soft Cell - Tainted Love [and just about anything Marc Almond has ever done], David Bowie - Queen Bitch [and just about anything Bowie ever did (check out the "Queen Bitch" link for my week-long tribute to the man on the news of his death)], Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill [and an endless list of beloved works by her], Grace Jones - Private Life [and, again, just about anything else in her repertoire], Raffaella Carra - Do It, Do It Again, White Town - Your Woman, Visage - Fade to Grey, Patti Smith - Because The Night, Liza Minnelli - Mein Herr, Erasure - A Little Respect, Shakespear's Sister - Stay, Tom Robinson - War Baby, Dead Or Alive - You Spin Me Round...
...and gazillions of others from the likes of Doris Day, Eartha Kitt, Bette Midler, Dalida, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Divine, Style Council, Gary Numan/Tubeway Army, All Seeing I, Petula Clark, Ofra Haza, Dinah Washington, Laura Branigan, Ian Dury, Lisa Stansfield, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Nina Simone, Three Degrees, KLF, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Cilla Black, Associates, Caro Emerald, Régine, Postmodern Jukebox, Talking Heads, Elaine Stritch, Simple Minds, Celia Cruz, Beautiful South, S-Club 7, Carol Channing, Sam Brown, Jimmy Somerville, Vikki Carr, Donna Summer, Blossom Dearie, ABC, Mika, Etta James, Duran Duran, Lou Reed, Scissor Sisters, Cher, Pearl Bailey, Fangoria, Hot Chocolate, Rocio Jurado, Queen, Klaus Nomi, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Mitzi Gaynor, B-52s, Loleatta Holloway, Adam and the Ants, Gina G, Gina X, Eurythmics/Annie Lennox, Roisin Murphy, Chaka Khan, Conchita Wurst, Edith Piaf, Human League, Rose Royce, Dolly Parton, Depeche Mode, Faithless, Monica Naranjo, Ethel Merman, Alison Jiear, Ysa Ferrer, Divine Comedy, Peggy Lee, Steps, Ella Fitzgerald, Mamas and The Papas, George Michael/Wham, Baccara, Yma Sumac, New Order, Puppini Sisters, Take That, Ultra Nate, Bananarama, Isabel Pantoja, Heaven 17, Diana Ross, Kirsty McColl, Roxy Music, Tina Turner, Flying Lizards, The Cure, Marianne Faithfull and so on. And on. And on...
[All searchable on this very blog]
Then there are the musicals - including Sweet Charity, Chicago, La Cage Aux Folles, Gypsy, Cabaret, Little Shop of Horrors and everything by Stephen Sondheim [that link takes you to the week-long series of tributes I did when he departed for Fabulon] - and the classical and operatic stuff [too numerous to mention].
However, dear reader, I still have one more beloved song by one more - the ultimate - diva to play. It's rather appropriate, you see:
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
