BowAndArrowMan

Little Willie John: Here is my next post in the series in which I'll argue that the cover is better than the original version of the song. This time I'm going to compare Little Willie John's original version and The Cramps' cover version of the song, Fever . Written by Eddie Cooley and Otis Blackwell, Fever was first recorded by Little Willie John, an American R 'n' B singer, for his debut album in 1956. When the song was released as a single, it became a hit in America. Little Willie John's Fever : There's a stellar cast of musical artists who have covered the Fever song. Elvis Presley, Helen Shapiro, James Brown, Rita Coolidge, Suzi Quatro, Boney M., Sylvester, Christina Aguilera, Madonna, Michael Bubl é, Beyonc é  and Dua Lipa have all covered the song, and many of them had hits with their cover versions of the song. But Peggy Lee's 1958 rendition is often held up to be the song's signature cover. So out of fairness, I'm uploading her co...

With the increasing popularity of online dating, Lincolnshire County Council launched the 'Ask for Angela' scheme. The scheme has now been rolled out in many other areas in Britain. It is a scheme designed to protect people if they feel threatened on a date in a bar or pub. Under the 'Ask for Angela' scheme, women (and men) if they feel threatened on a date can approach a member of staff in a bar and pub and ask for Angela. That is the codeword for the member of staff to take action to help ensure their safety by, for example, calling a taxi, providing a safe place and even contacting the police. Though I've had many dates and even a few bad dates, I've never had a date in which I felt threatened. And I sincerely hope my date never felt threatened by me. I always ensured my first date was held in a public place like a bar, pub or restaurant. However, I never went out of my way to tell a friend about the details of a date (eg location of date, time due back home,...

A chav is a pejorative English term referring to an anti-social young man often wearing sportswear or a hoodie. The term is particularly aimed at young men from a working (or more likely non-working) class families and with very few school qualifications. The term, chavette, is used to refer to a chavvish young woman. I'm sure other countries have similarly pejorative terms for these groups of young people. Though often called a snob by many in my wife's family, I see my wife's family as distinctly chavvish. Yesterday was one of those days when I realised I'm hanging out with chavs. My wife was driving her son, two grandchildren and myself to a restaurant for a Sunday lunch. It was a hot day so all the windows of the car were open. My oldest grandson, aged 12, was sitting between me and my stepson in the back seat of the car. My youngest grandson, aged 6, always wants to sit in the front seat - to keep the peace, it's easier to let him take the front passenger seat....

John Lennon: Here is my next post in the series in which I'll argue that the cover is better than the original version of the song. This time I'm going to compare John Lennon's original version and Roxy Music's cover version of the song, Jealous Guy . Jealous Guy was written by John Lennon; the song was not initially released as a single but appeared on his Imagine album released in 1971. John Lennon said that the song was about his possessiveness of his wife, Yoko Ono, but a few music critics have suggested the song was also about his jealousy of Paul McCartney who was idolised more than John Lennon during The Beatles' years. John Lennon and The Plastic Ono Band's Jealous Guy (not John Lennon's original version): Following John Lennon's murder outside his New York home on 8 December 1980, Roxy Music added a cover of his Jealous Guy song to their set while touring Germany. The band later recorded the song and released it as a single in February 1981....

To mark International Sushi Day on 18th of June, a London art gallery very recently exhibited a series of celebrity busts. The food artist Michelle Wibowo, from West Sussex on the English south coast, used traditional sushi ingredients like sushi rice (aka shari and sumeshi), smoked salmon and pickled ginger, to create the busts of many famous British celebrities. The artist made sushi heads of celebrities like Alison Hammond, Benedict Cumberbatch, Bukayo Saka, Dermot O'Leary, Ed Sheeran, Elton John, Harry Kane, and Lorraine Kelly. Unfortunately, there are quite a few spelling mistakes of the names of several celebrities. I must admit I'm not too impressed with her art and I certainly wont be rushing down to London to see Michelle Wibowo's sushi heads at that art exhibition. Have you eaten sushi? If so, do you like eating sushi? I've never tried eating sushi and I'm not tempted, mainly because sushi is often made with seafood and even raw seafood.

"What's it all about Alfie" is the opening line of the Alfie song, a song penned by Burt Bacharach and Hal David to promote the Alfie film, released in 1966, starring Michael Caine. Cilla Black (see photo below) sang the song that was first recorded in 1965 and released as a single in 1966 - Dionne Warwick also later had a hit with this song. Burt Bacharach later said Alfie was one of the best songs he had written. I now sing this song in my head with the opening line, what's it all about Ali! I've been looking back at the ban of the four exiles from Adult FriendFinder (AFF). All four of us have now been reinstated. It just doesn't make sense, or at least it makes little sense to me. I cannot fully understand why we got banned in the first place. I couldn't fully understand Jon Buckheit's role in proceedings. It seems clear that Ali R was behind our ban and subsequent reinstatement. I couldn't fully understand whey we all weren't reinstated ...

Peggy Seeger and Ewan MacColl: Here is my next post in the series in which I'll argue that the cover is better than the original version of the song. This time I'm going to compare Ewan MacColl with Peggy Seeger's original version and Roberta Flack's cover version of the song, The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face . In 1957 the British folk singer Ewan McColl wrote the The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face song for (and probably about) Peggy Seeger, an American folk singer. They were lovers at the time; they did go onto marry. Peggy Seeger sang the song when they both performed in folk clubs around Britain. Ewan MacColl with Peggy Seeger's The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face : Though the song was written by Ewan MacColl and performed live by Ewan MacColl with Peggy Seeger, I believe the song was first recorded by The Kingston Trio, an American folk group, for their 1962 album, New Frontier . I'm uploading both The Kingston Trio's version and Ewan MacColl with P...

Last Friday my stepson returned from Thailand. He said it was the best experience of his life and met many people there especially when he was travelling on his own going from one beach to another. I'm very pleased he enjoyed the Thailand experience and even hoped that it could be a turning point in his life. On the same day he arrived back in England, my stepson popped into my home to collect some things. On leaving he said he was going to pop in later that evening to show me and his mother photographs he took on holiday. No problem, I thought. When my wife returned home, she told me that her son was going to stay the night because he will struggle to get some sleep at his Dad's house while he's jet-lagged. No problem, I thought again. After crashing out for two nights I had a conversation with my wife about her son's intentions. The conversation went okay; quite often discussions about her son lead to arguments. My wife explained that her son will stay here until his ...

Almost everyone, or at least everyone I've known, have always said they have a good sense of humour. Humour is very much rooted in one's culture and where one lives. Often humour doesn't travel well. Quite often my attempts at humour fall on deaf ears or even cause slight offence. This is particularly true when blogging where bloggers come from many different countries and the written word unlike the spoken word is a bit more restrictive in conveying humour. Emojis and exclamation marks rarely make up for the lack of body gestures or facial expressions. How would you describe your sense of humour? And what sort of humour do you find funny? What makes you laugh? My sense of humour is quite dry and often self-deprecating; that seems to be a British trait. I also like a good pun, another British trait. I often use irony when speaking and satire when writing as humour. I never use sarcasm; that's something I leave sulky teenagers to do! I also like farce and slapstick as hu...

Eddie Floyd: Here is my fifth post in the series in which I'll argue that the cover is better than the original version of the song. This time I'm going to compare Eddie Floyd's original version and Amii Stewart's cover version of the song, Knock on Wood . Knock on Wood was a hit song for Eddie Floyd in 1966. The single was released by Stax Records, an American soul music record company. Eddie Floyd's Knock on Wood : In 1979 Amii Stewart, an American soul and disco singer, had a massive hit with her cover of Knock on Wood . Her song is widely regarded as one of the classic disco songs of its time, the late 1970s/early 1980s, the heyday of disco. Amii Stewart's Knock on Wood : As a diehard disco man, I'm obviously going to like Amii Stewart's disco version more than Eddie Floyd's soul version. I can dance to Amii Stewart's cover version whereas I can only listen and maybe tap my foot to Eddie Floyd's original version. Many artists have covere...

My stepson only has one day to go before he flies back home from Thailand after nearly three weeks away. Since my last update here, he had a big row with his friends in Bangkok after the third day of their holiday. It seemed they wanted to spend loads of money getting drunk and going off with prostitutes. My stepson, concerned that the prostitutes looked very young, was concerned that his limited budget wouldn't last the holiday. Though he though about curtailing his holiday and flying back home, he decided to make his own way without his friends from Bangkok to Phuket. On balance, I (but not my wife) thought he would get in less trouble being a beach bum without his friends in Phuket than with his friends in Bangkok full of temptation. My calculation was based on a balance of probabilities though. In Phuket my stepson befriended a few fellow tourists, sampled Thai food and even visited a Buddhist temple. He said he was having a good time. Two weeks into his holiday, my stepson pho...

Girlfriend #21 shares a first name with the three famous women shown in the photos above and below. Girlfriend #21 worked as an administrator in the same department in which I worked at the University of Portsmouth, how many times have I opened with that line! Whenever I ventured into the office, I would often chat with girlfriend #21. She often did me favours like last-minute photocopying. She was an attractive married woman. She invariably came to watch me play football every week. We started to occasionally go out for lunch at a place far from our workplace and soon she started coming round to my house. We could never go out together in the evening because of her marriage situation. During our many conversations, it was clear that girlfriend #21 wasn't happily married. And, because I fancied her rotten, I suggested that she she should have an extramarital affair with me. I'm sure I put my proposition to her in cruder terms! Much to my surprise, she said she would think about...

Aerosmith: Here is my fourth post in the series in which I'll argue that the cover is better than the original version of the song. This time I'm going to compare Aerosmith's original version and Run-D.M.C cover version of the song, Walk This Way . Released in 1975 (and re-released in 1976) and co-written by Steve Tyler and Joe Perry, Walk This Way was a hit single for the American rock band, Aerosmith. Aerosmith's Walk This Way : Though not a rocker, Aerosmith's Walk This Way is one of my favourite rock songs along with Bon Jovi's Livin' on a Prayer , Ram Jam's Black Betty and Thin Lizzy's The Boys Are Back in Town . However, I prefer Dun-D.M.C.'s hip hop cover of Aerosmith's song over the original. Run-D.M.C. ft Aerosmith's Walk This Way : While and perhaps because Run-D.M.C.'s cover features Aerosmith, their version keeps and even accentuates the brilliant guitar riff of the original song and their New York rap vocals give the s...