It was the last pitched battle on British soil and it was a bloody rout.  The Battle of Culloden spelt the end of the long, brave attempt to overthrow the House of Hanover (established through “parliamentary interference”) and restore the exiled House of Stuart to the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland.

Taking its name from the exiled King James II, the Jacobite Movement (Latin for James is Jacobus) ultimately brought forth King James’ grandson, the dashing 26-year-old pretender, Charles Edward Stuart, aka “Bonnie Prince Charlie.”  But on 16 April 1746 near the highland city of Inverness the out-gunned and under-trained Jacobites were slaughtered by the loyalist troops commanded by William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, aka “the Butcher.”

Forced to flee into the moors, Charles’ flight became the stuff of legend.  Helped by many a highlander, despite the £30,000 on his head (big money to this day), he managed to elude his pursuers and barely evaded capture by making it to the Isle of Skye.  There he was spirited away by frigate to France where (except for a brief return to London incognito) he remained in exile for the rest of his life.

While on a trip to the Isle of Skye in the 1870s, musicologist Anne Campbell MacLeod was being rowed over Loch Coruisk when the rowers broke into a striking Gaelic song called “Cuachag nan Craobh.” MacLeod later set down what she remembered of the melody with the intention of using it in a book she was to co-author with fellow musicologist Sir Harold Boulton.

Boulton then added in the story of Bonnie Prince Charlie’s escape in which he was rowed to Skye disguised as a serving maid, with the aid of the Jacobite heroine Flora MacDonald (who was later imprisoned in the Tower of London before emigrating to North Carolina). “The Skye Boat Song” was indeed published in that co-authored book, “Songs of the North” by Boulton and MacLeod, London 1884.

This is yet another track from the prodigious Hollie Smith on her 1999 album of Celtic music “Light From a Distant Shore.” A singer-songwriter of Māori descent, it was recorded when she was 16.

 LISTEN TO TODAY’S SELECTION – Sunday 9 December

The Skye Boat Song

 Speed bonnie boat, like a bird on the wing

Onward the sailors cry

Carry the lad that’s born to be king

Over the sea to Skye

 Loud the winds howl, loud the waves roar

Thunder clouds rend the air

Baffled, our foe’s stand on the shore

Follow they will not dare

 Speed bonnie boat, like a bird on the wing

Onward the sailors cry

Carry the lad that’s born to be king

Over the sea to Skye

Though the waves leap, soft shall ye sleep

Ocean’s a royal bed

Rocked in the deep, Flora will keep

Watch by your weary head

Speed bonnie boat, like a bird on the wing

Onward the sailors cry

Carry the lad that’s born to be king

Over the sea to Skye

 Many’s the lad fought on that day

Well the claymore could wield

When the night came, silently lay

Dead on Culloden’s field

 Speed bonnie boat, like a bird on the wing

Onward the sailors cry

Carry the lad that’s born to be king

Over the sea to Skye

Burned are our homes, exile and death

Scatter the loyal men

Yet, e’er the sword cool in the sheath

Charlie will come again

Speed bonnie boat, like a bird on the wing

Onward the sailors cry

Carry the lad that’s born to be king

Over the sea to Skye

Although the Inner German border had been closed throughout the country since 1952, from Czechoslovakia to the Baltic Sea, Berlin itself was still administered by the post-war occupying powers.  With no barriers and a still-active subway system throughout the city,  East Germans continued to find a portal to the West. In fact by 1961 fully 20 percent of the East German (GDR) population had emigrated, with a disproportionate amount being professionals and skilled workers.

And then…as the clock struck midnight on Sunday 13 August, GDR troops sealed-off the East/West border while pavement was torn up and barbed wire entanglements installed along it’s entire 43 kilometer length through the city.  The same happened along the 156 kilometers of border that separated the three western sectors of the city from the surrounding GDR.

Next came improved wire fencing and a second, parallel fence that created a 100 meter No Man’s Land, blithely called the “Death Strip.”  Covered with raked sand, to reveal footprints, and eventually incorporating anti-vehicle trenches, guard dogs, watchtowers and bunkers, the Death Strip also offered clear lines of fire.

Through the years the Wall itself, or the Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart as GDR authorities called it, continued to evolve until it consisted of 45,000 sections of reinforced concrete, each 12 feet high, with strategically placed “break through” points for Warsaw Pact armored vehicles in the event of war.   Not that they didn’t welcome visitors and their money.

By the spring of 1984, when I took this picture near the sadly positioned Brandenburg Gate, NATO citizens could purchase a day visa, along with a requisite minimum of 25 East German Marks at Checkpoint “Charlie” for a venturesome stroll through the Iron Curtain.   And while the airwaves reverberated with separate versions of today’s selection back in the West, here in the Soviet Sector there was a grand opportunity to put that currency to good use at an Alexanderplatz café.

“Herr Ober, Ein bier bitte” (Waiter, a beer please). 

Born in 1960 in the West German city of Hagen, Gabriele Susanne Kerner acquired her nickname, “Nena” (German pronunciation for “niña’) while on a family holiday in Spain.  After moving to Berlin in 1981 she and some friends formed a New Wave band, also dubbed Nena, and it quickly became popular throughout the country.

However the group’s international breakthrough (rare for a German band) came the following year after guitarist Carlo Karges attended a Rolling Stones concert in West Berlin.  At one point a bunch of balloons had been released and Karges watched them as they floated away in slowly shifting clusters.  When they began to look a lot like aircraft he wondered what might happen if the wind were to change and they floated into the Soviet Sector.

Recorded and released in Germany in 1983 (with music by keyboardist Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen) the resulting “99 Luftballoons” shot to the top of the domestic charts and received a great deal of airplay throughout Europe.  In 1984 an English version, “99 Red Balloons” using the same music but with lyrics written by Belfast-born Kevin McAlea, topped the UK Singles Chart while in the US, where the original German version resonated most, “99 Luftballoons” hit Number 2 on the Billboard Charts.

Both versions follow below. Although not direct translations, each describes the advent of a nuclear war, triggered by faulty GDR radar equipment that registers 99 balloons as incoming weapons. Intriguingly, it was later documented that after the song’s initial release in 1983, a Soviet early-warning system operator willfully disregarded a false attack alarm (from shining clouds, rather than balloons) and is roundly credited with preventing a nuclear holocaust.

Hmmm, what’s the German word for another?  Oh right, it’s “noch”…. “Herr Ober! Noch ein bier bitte!!”

 LISTEN TO TODAY’S SELECTION – Friday 7 December

99 Luftballoons

 Hast Du etwas Zeit für mich

Dann singe ich ein Lied fuer Dich

Von 99 Luftballons

Auf ihrem Weg zum Horizont

Denkst Du vielleicht grad’ an mich

Dann singe ich ein Lied fuer Dich

Von 99 Luftballons

Und dass sowas von sowas kommt

 99 Luftballons

Auf ihrem Weg zum Horizont

Hielt man fuer UFOs aus dem All

Darum schickte ein General

Eine Fliegerstaffel hinterher

Alarm zu geben, wenn es so war

Dabei war da am Horizont

Nur 99 Luftballons

 99 Duesenjaeger

Jeder war ein grosser Krieger

Hielten sich fuer Captain Kirk

Das gab ein grosses Feuerwerk

Die Nachbarn haben nichts gerafft

Und fuehlten sich gleich angemacht

Dabei schoss man am Horizont

Auf 99 Luftballons

 99 Kriegsminister

Streichholz und Benzinkanister

Hielten sich für schlaue Leute

Witterten schon fette Beute

Riefen Krieg und wollten Macht

Mann, wer hätte das gedacht

Dass es einmal soweit kommt

Wegen 99 Luftballons

 99 Jahre Krieg

Ließen keinen Platz für Sieger

Kriegsminister gibt’s nicht mehr

Und auch keine Düsenflieger

Heute zieh’ ich meine Runden

Seh’ die Welt in Trümmern liegen

Hab’ ‘nen Luftballon gefunden

Denk’ an dich und lass’ ihn fliegen

 LISTEN TO THE ENGLISH VERSION

99 Red Balloons

 You and I, and a little toyshop

Buy a bag of balloons with the money we’ve got

Set them free at the break of dawn

‘Til one by one, they were gone

 Back at base, bugs in the software

Flash the message, “Some thing’s out there”

Floating in the summer sky

Ninety-nine red balloons go by

 Ninety-nine red balloons

Floating in the summer sky

Panic lads, it’s a red alert

There’s something here from somewhere else

 The war machine springs to life

Opens up one eager eye

Focusing it on the sky

Ninety-nine red balloons go by

 Ninety-nine Decision Street

Ninety-nine ministers meet

To worry, worry, super-scurry

Call the troops out in a hurry

This is what we’ve waiting for

This is it boys, this is war

The President is on the line

As ninety-nine red balloons go by

 Ninety-nine knights of the air

Riding super high-tech jet fighters

Everyone’s a super hero

Everyone’s a Captain Kirk

With orders to identify, to clarify and classify

Scrambling in the summer sky

As ninety-nine red balloons go by

Ninety-nine red balloons go by

 Ninety-nine dreams I have had

Every one a red balloon

Now it’s all over and I’m standing pretty

In this dust that was a city

 If I could find a souvenir

Just to prove the world was here

And here is a red balloon

I think of you and let it go

Formed in Los Angeles in 1965 by blues aficionados Alan “Blind Owl” Wilson and Bob “The Bear” Hite, the provocative name comes from a 1928 Tommy Johnson song, “Canned Heat Blues” about a poor inebriate who turns to drinking Sterno, or “Canned Heat” as it’s commonly known.

Derived mainly from ethanol, methanol and a dyed gelling agent that allows it to be burned directly in the can, Sterno has been used to heat chafing dishes and camp stoves for over a century.  Although the methanol is added to make the stuff too toxic to drink, it famously has not deterred those at their wit’s end from using the inexpensive Canned Heat as the high-test ingredient of “Jungle Juice.”

Ever providing interesting conversation around the dinner table, I well remember my father, who made a study of such things, describing how such a concoction is made, first by cutting off the ends of a loaf of bread, and then squeezing the Sterno through the loaf. The resulting liquid (aka “Squeeze”) is then blended with Kool-Aid or fruit juice and those who imbibe quickly become “blind” (sometimes permanently so) drunk.

While the life expectancy of a Sterno drinker is sadly marginal, the life span of Canned Heat, the full-tilt-boogie band now in its fifth decade, has been a marvel to behold. Although none of the original ’65 line up remains (and dozens of musicians have come and gone through the years) three members from the group’s “hippie era” still do: Larry “The Mole” Taylor, Adolfo “Fito” de la Parra and Harvey “The Snake” Mandel.

Thanks in large part to the Monterey Pop and Woodstock festivals, Canned Heat acquired a worldwide reputation for its exhilarating live performances. And “Going Up the Country” which reached Number 11 in the US and Number 19 in the UK, would go on to become the unofficial Woodstock theme song as featured in the opening credits of Michael Wadleigh’s 1970 documentary of the festival.

Sung by Boston-born “Blind Owl” Wilson (who would tragically OD soon after Woodstock) it first appeared on the group’s 1968 album “Living the Blues”.  Although Wilson is credited with writing the song, the flute part is a note for note rendering of “Bulldoze Blues” as recorded in 1927 by Blues musician Henry Thomas.

 LISTEN TO TODAY’S SELECTION – Tuesday 4 December

Going Up the Country

 I’m going up the country, baby, don’t you wanna’ go

I’m going up the country, baby, don’t you wanna’ go

I’m going to some place where I’ve never been before

 I’m going, I’m going where the water tastes like wine

I’m going where the water tastes like wine

We can jump in the water, stay drunk all the time

 I’m gonna leave this city, got to get away

I’m gonna leave this city, got to get away

All this fussing and fighting, man, you know I sure can’t stay

 Now, baby, pack your leaving trunk, you know we got to leave today

Just exactly where we’re going I can not say

But we might even leave the USA

‘Cause it’s a brand new game, and I want to play

 No use of you running or screaming and crying

‘Cause you got a home as long as I’ve got mine

I discovered “Harry” back in the ‘70s, at Cheapo Records in Cambridge’s Central Square; amazingly still there; although I remember it as being under the ‘W’ of the long-gone neighboring Woolworth’s. Anyway, with its odd blend of ballads, nostalgia and Tin Pan Alley numbers “Harry” was a favourite album in college, its cover featuring a schoolboy portrait of Harry Nilsson himself.  If I were ever to put out an album, that’s what I’d do.

Released in 1969 it was Nilsson’s first LP to land on the charts, reaching Number 120 and remaining there for 15 weeks, its best known original hit being “I Guess the Lord Must be in New York City”. Then there was this one.

Written by Nilsson at Paul McCartney’s request, “The Puppy Song” was first recorded by Mary Hopkin (perhaps you remember her hit, “Those Were the Days”), who became McCartney’s protégé after the model Twiggy (remember Twiggy?) saw her on ITV’s Opportunity Knocks and gave him a call.  Hopkin’s version of the song was featured on her debut album, “Postcard” which was released a few months prior to Nilsson’s “Harry”.

Through the years there have been other covers, including one by the amazing Astrud Gilberto (perhaps you remember her hit, “The Girl From Ipanema”). But for me this silly song has been something to sing to myself, Harry’s way, when things are at their worse…dubiously trying to reach some of the notes he himself managed to hit.

Years ago I well remember being stuck in the desert, forced to hitchhike late at night. I was exhausted, yearning to get the hell out of there and wondering, once again, how I managed to get myself in such a situation in the first place.  Nothing had come along for hours and the prospects of any form of salvation seemed pretty dim. So I resorted to singing this song as blithely as I could.

Eventually a work crew in a beat-up, old truck came along and slowed down just long enough for me to hop into the cargo bed for the long lift into the next town… Thank you Harry.

 LISTEN TO TODAY’S SELECTION – Monday 3 December

The Puppy Song

Dreams are nothing more than wishes

And a wish is just a dream you wish to come true

If only I could have a puppy

I’d call myself so very lucky

Just to have some company

To share a cup of tea with me

I’d take my puppy everywhere

La la la la I wouldn’t care

But we would stay away from crowds

With signs that say no dogs allowed

Oh we… I know he’d never bite me

We… I know he’d never bite me

 If only I could have a friend

Who’d stick with me until the end

And walk along beside the sea

To share a bit of moon with me

I’d take my friend most everywhere

La la la la I wouldn’t care

But we would stay away from crowds

With signs that say no friends allowed

Oh we…we’d be so happy to be…

We…we’d be so happy to be together

 But dreams are nothing more than wishes

And a wish is just a dream you wish to come true

Dreams are nothing more than wishes

(Your wish will come true)

And a wish’s just a dream

(Your wish will come true)

You wish to come true

(Your wish will come true)

Founded in Cincinnati, Ohio as trade paper for the bill posting industry in 1894 it’s now one of the oldest trade magazines in the world, but its initial name reflected its initial focus, Billboard Advertising.  As circuses, fairs, carnivals, minstrel shows and amusement parks were major billboard advertisers the publication began to carry news about them and then live entertainment in general.

In time its name was changed to The Billboard broadening its coverage to include motion pictures in 1909, then radio in the 1920s. With the rise of the jukebox industry in the 1930s The Billboard  began to publish music charts for Pop, Rhythm & Blues and Country & Western, and in 1940 published its first weekly Music Popularity Chart based on sales and radio play.  Still carrying news of outdoor entertainments until 1961, when they were spun off into a separate weekly magazine, The Billboard was renamed Billboard Music Week and then in 1963, simply Billboard.

Billboard currently publishes more than 100 music charts every Thursday, each tracking the most popular songs and albums in various categories, but the two most notable charts are the Billboard 200, for the week’s top 200 albums based on sales, and the Billboard Hot 100 which, since 1958 has served as America’s music industry standard for ranking the week’s 100 most popular songs, regardless of genre.Initially combining singles sales and radio airplay to establish a song’s placement, Billboard now combines digital sales,radio airplay, and Internet streaming data.

While “Poor Little Fool” by Ricky Nelson was the Billboard Hot 100’s first Number One Song on August 4, 1958 and “Diamonds” by Rihanna, is its current Number One (as of this Billboard week ending on December 8, 2012) the chart has had 1,020 different Number One hits since it’s inception. However there have been only nine songs to have topped the charts with different versions recorded by different artists:

“Please Mr. Postman” – The Marvelettes (1961) and The Carpenters (1975)

“The Loco-Motion” – Little Eva (1962) and Grand Funk (1974)

“Go Away Little Girl” – Steve Lawrence (1963) and Donny Osmond (1971)

“You Keep Me Hangin’ On” – The Supremes (1966) and Kim Wilde (1987)

“When a Man Loves a Woman” – Percy Sledge (1966) and Michael Bolton (1991)

“Venus” – Shocking Blue (1970) and Bananarama (1986)

“I’ll Be There” – The Jackson 5 (1970) and Mariah Carey (1992)

“Lady Marmalade” – Labelle (1975) and Christina Aguilera/Lil’ Kim/Mýa/Pink (2001)

And (naturally) today’s selection, “Lean on Me” – Bill Withers (‘72) and Club Nouveau (‘87)

Born on the Fourth of July in 1938, William Harrison Withers, Jr.’s childhood in the coal-mining town of Slab Fork, West Virginia was the inspiration for “Lean on Me” which he wrote in 1971, after he’d moved to Los Angeles and found himself missing the strong community ethic of his hometown.  Despite such classics as “Ain’t No Sunshine”, “Just the Two of Us”, “Lovely Day”, and “Grandma’s Hands” it was Withers only Number One single (albeit twice) on any of those Billboard Charts.

LISTEN TO TODAY’S SELECTION – Sunday 2 December 

Lean On Me

 Sometimes in our lives

We all have pain

We all have sorrow

But if we are wise

We know that there’s always tomorrow

Lean on me, when you’re not strong

And I’ll be your friend

I’ll help you carry on

For it won’t be long

‘Til I’m gonna need

Somebody to lean on

Please swallow your pride

If I have things you need to borrow

For no one can fill those of your needs

That you won’t let show

 You just call on me brother, when you need a hand

We all need somebody to lean on

I just might have a problem that you’d understand

We all need somebody to lean on

Lean on me, when you’re not strong

And I’ll be your friend

I’ll help you carry on

For it won’t be long

‘Til I’m gonna need

Somebody to lean on

You just call on me brother, when you need a hand

We all need somebody to lean on

I just might have a problem that you’d understand

We all need somebody to lean on

If there is a load you need to bear

That you can’t carry

I’m right up the road

I’ll share your load

If you just call me

 Call me (if you need a friend)

Call me (Call me)

Call me (if you need a friend)

Call me (if you ever need a friend)

Call me (Call me)

Call me

Call me (if you need a friend)