Zozimus says Zing went Ziggy's Zombies sung by Zap Mama!!

This is the last day of the 2014 A to Z Blogging Challenge 

I had great fun trying to find music connections for Z so I thought I'd do another list for this one ... I've done lists of songs for days of the week here and for months here and here but never for a letter before and there are some corkers.


In the Irish language, there is no Z in the alphabet so none of the songs begin with it .... but there was a balladeer ... popularly known as Zozimus.   Born Michael Moran (1794 - 3 April 1846), he was  born in Dublin and lived there all his life. At two weeks old he was blinded by illness. He made his living reciting verses which he had composed in his own lively if semi-literate manner.

Some of them still survive, such as

"Saint Patrick was a Gentleman"

Saint Patrick was a gintleman, he came of decent people,

In Dublin town he built a Church, and on it put a steeple;

His father was a Callaghan, his mother was a Brady,

His aunt was an O'Shaughnessy, and his uncle was a Grady.

Then success to bold St. Patrick's fist, He was a saint so clever,

He gave the snakes and toads a twist,

And banished them for ever.

One of my favourite female vocal groups is Zap Mama from French speaking part of Belgium ...  Have listen.

Some great Z songs (in my opinion anyway) ...

Zing Went the Strings of My Heart from Judy Garland (there are many other versions of this, but Judy has a special place in my heart)

Zombie - the Cranberries 

Ziggy Stardust - David Bowie

A is for April Songs

I'm taking part in a month of blogging from the A to Z blog challenge  for the month of April and as I've done several blogs about songs on a theme I thought it would be good place to start.

So A is for April songs  -  and they're surprisingly few and far between.   I guess there's a gap in the market :)


So here's some mellow listening for you to start the new month...  And I should point out that these are my choices ... so I'm leaving out songs that don't do it for me..

There's one or two obvious ones ....

First always is April Come she Will from one of my hero's Paul Simon

And a close second - the wonderful Ella Fitzgerald singing April in Paris - with a special guest appearance by Louis Armstrong.   Ella's voice turns me to jelly every time I hear her ...

Sometimes it Snows in April from Prince is a fantastic piece, although I'm guessing that some of you reading this in America are well fed up with snow by now.

I found April from Deep Purple (1969) doing a random search on the inter web thingy ....

The über talented Rufus Wainwright got the idea for - April Fool's -  in the bath!

and for something a bit more classic here's Al Jolson overdubbing to Larry Parks on screen singing April Showers

And Dionne Warwick singing The April Fools from 1969.

 * * * * * * * * * * * *

There you go .... all l have time for now .... I'd love to hear from you if you know any more April songs ... and I hope that no-one plays any April Fool's pranks on you today :)

October Songs

A little something for your listening pleasure today :)

It's a wet start to October here although it's still quite warm outside.

I spent most of the day preparing songs for my singing group which starts tomorrow and started looking for a song with October in the title.   Look at the state of my desk!!!!  (Just to prove I was working !!)

Anyway, as I was getting a bit distracted with harmony songs I decided to let my distraction do something useful for an hour and prepare this blog for you all.


So here we go - October Songs - all a bit melancholic as you would expect - reflection must have been on the agenda for these October songwriters ... And there were a few lovely surprises ... a few not so well worth noticing as well , but a few gems.   For example, I only really knew Julie London singing "Cry Me A River" which I adore, but never imagined her singing fun songs ... So "This October" from her album "Calendar Girl" is a treat - great backing vocals too.

In Irish folk music The Castle of Dromore starts off with the line "October winds lament around the castle of Dromore" and I love singing it ... click here to hear my version of it - and that's Finbar Furey playing pipes on it.

But back to songs with October in the title, here's a list of the best that I could find.

James Taylor (live with the Dixie Chicks) - October Road

U2 - October - a very freshfaced Bono and Co ... what a wonderful piano track.   They probably don't remember, but I gave them their first Belfast gig - back in 1979 - at the Queens University Fringe Festival - and they supported Squeeze and Dr Feelgood I think!! Ah those were the days :)

Amy Winehouse - October Song
I don't really get this song and most of the time I don't really get Amy either, but some of her stuff is so brilliant.

Robin Gibb - August October - a very old track, and another very fresh faced young man!

Pet Shop Boys - My October Symphony

Dave Cousins (Strawbs) - October to May

Julie London - This October

The Incredible String Band - October Song

And one more piano track ...
George Winston - October Moon

Are there any others that you can think of?  

Tuesday Songs

You don't see many great songs about Tuesdays ... Ruby Tuesday is the first one I can think of .... but that's about a person .... Mondays inspire a lot of things - anger, excitement, anguish, doom and gloom, the start of a diet ... but Tuesdays are just in the middle.

So I went searching  ..... here's the songs I could find about Tuesday .... I started off having a real laugh .... the David Bowie one is ridiculous. (and this from a real Bowie fan!!!) ... but then I a few gems followed .... Cat Stevens, Stevie Wonder  and Counting Crows really stood out for me ... and of course Ruby Tuesday ... in fact I probably like Marianne Faithful's version of it better than the Stones, so I've added it in at the end ....

Enjoy!!

David Bowie - Love You Til Tuesday  ( this must have been a precursor for the Laughing Gnome!! )
The Pogues - Tuesday Morning
Rolling Stones - Ruby Tuesday (live) - I want Mick's jacket!
The Moody Blues - Tuesday Afternoon
Cat Stevens - Tuesday's Dead
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Tuesday's Gone
Stevie Wonder - Tuesday Heartbreak
Counting Crows - On a Tuesday in Amsterdam Long Ago
Count Basie - Tuesday at Ten
T Bone Walker - They Call it Stormy Monday (But Tuesday's Just as Bad)  ( had to sneak that in)
Michelle Branch - Tuesday Morning
Marianne Faithful - Ruby Tuesday  (with a gorgeous wee film featuring Catherine Deneuve)



I hope you're having a great Tuesday :)

Day 13 of Effy's Blogalong Challenge