Of peanut farmers, sperm and other bollocks

The longest-lived US president in history.

I like "snippets posts", so here's another...

• Birthday news: Many happy returns to centenarian Jimmy Carter, as well as former newsreader Sandy Gall (a mere whippersnapper at 97), Dame Julie Andrews (89), conductor André Rieu (75), Cyprus, Nigeria and Tuvalu...

  ...and Youssou N'Dour (65)! Any excuse (if one were needed) to play - again - one of my fave songs of all time:

Youssou N'Dour ft. Neneh Cherry - Seven Seconds

• Sperm shortage news: The UK fertility regulator has announced a shortage of sperm donors, and has raised its "expenses" payment to £45 per clinic visit. That's more than some rent boys earn! According to the Daily Mash: Nathan Muir, a regular donor, said: "My bollocks just got a 22 per cent pay rise. Beat that, junior doctors!"

• Fucking weird old British traditions news: Sexy ginger-minge film star Damien Lewis was just the latest in a long line of famous people who took part in the annual herding of sheep over the River Thames by the Freemen of the City of London last Sunday. I wonder who they'll get next year? After all, Dame Joan Collins, Henry Winkler, Luciano Pavarotti, Ed Sheeran, Dame Judi Dench, Stephen Sondheim, Dame Vera Lynn and Stephen Fry (among many others) have all done it!
• Cosmic news: A comet that has not been seen from Earth since Neanderthals were alive has reappeared in the sky, with astronomers saying it might be visible to the naked eye.
• Please save us from a 1970s home decor revival! news: Apparently "Avocado" bathroom suites are back in fashion. Bleuuurrrggh!
• I wonder if it's ripe? news: The world's oldest piece of cheese was found in a 3,600-year-old sarcophagus in China.
• And finally - Sports news: Premier League football club Blackburn Rovers began using a 90s rave track last month as their walk out song in the 2024-25 season. Despite the fact it was released 34 years ago in 1990, I only heard it myself for the first time on the radio fairly recently - but it's rather fab!

Together - Hardcore Uproar

And the weather? Absolute torrential-downpour-grey-miserable-shit!

Always posing, but you love it all

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:

Dusty Springfield - You Don't Have To Say You Love Me

1970s:

Blondie - Picture This

1980s:

Pet Shop Boys - It's A Sin

1990s:

Youssou N'Dour ft. Neneh Cherry - Seven Seconds

2000s:

Madonna - Hung Up

2010s:

Kylie Minogue - All The Lovers

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:

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

So you better sober up for just a second

Almost forgot - let us wish a belated happy 50th birthday (yesterday) to the ever-lovely Miss Neneh Cherry!

Excuse enough (if any were needed) to post this - one of the most beautiful, most haunting, most utterly brilliant songs ever in the the history of popular music (you'd never guess I adore it!).

It's Seven Seconds:

Youssou N'Dour ft. Neneh Cherry - Seven Seconds

Love, love, love that song.

Blank Project, Neneh Cherry's first studio album for sixteen years, was released on 24th February 2014 - read the review by Alexis Petridis.