Andy's 60s Music Blog - Now 14 During Covid Quarantine On 21.11.21 Singapore

This Blog Celebrates 

Its 14th Anniversary 

On 21st November, 2021.

21.11.21 😆

This year is a fast moving one.  It seemed like only yesterday I was thanking everyone for the support given. So again dear people, truly appreciate the success of this Singapore music blog because of the solid backbone of viewers, visitors, friends, folks, contributing writers, readers , What's App. phone kakis, not forgetting Facebook, Twitter  and StatsCounter too.

Special thanks to Blogspot.com n Google.

It's coming to 3 million views soon.

Thank you.

The list below shows wonderful friends from all over the globe, who helped to guest-write, although quite a number have been doing so many times before.

I guess writing is also a mental remedy to ease the pain of a Covid-19 quarantine that comes around this season. Writing is a balm for the mind, eases the pain somewhat...

Their articles have approximately between 1,000 to 2,500 viewership each and written between December 2020 to November 2021.

Thank you all so much.

Guest Writers

Mrs. Elaine Sung-Tang

Mr. Henry Gan [California]

Ms. CY Lin

Mr. Stephen Han

Mr. Chow Wen Hing

Mr. Horace Wee

Mr. Tan Soo Khoon 

Dr. Phil Chan 

Mr Robert Suriya [Boys/Guam]

Mr. Paul Ibrahm [Tanya]

Mr. Jimmy Chng [Decibels]

Mr. Joey Koh

Mr. Daniel Abidin [Dukes]

Ms. Eunice Chua [SG uni]

Ms. Megan Lye [SG uni] 

Mrs. Judy Chong-Lee

Mr. Martin Ong [Cliff R/Sarawak]

Mr. Fred Ching

Ms. J. Dick [Manitoba]

Mr Cedric Collars [Perth]

Mr Suituapui [Sarawak]

Mr Scott van Dort [Melbourne]

Their articles can be read by writing their names on the SEARCH BOX on the right column of the blog page.  

In My Life - Beatles

YouTube video from The Beatles Stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqpysaAo4BQ&t=61s

There are places I'll remember

All my life, some have changed

Some forever, not for better

Some have gone and some remain.

All these places have their moments

With lovers and friends I still can recall

Some are dead and some are living

In my life I've loved them all...

[by John Lennon/Paul McCartney]

     TURNING 14     

   IN QUARANTINE 

   WITH COVID-19  

Andy roams the streets of Brisbane, Australia, 

chatting with youthful buskers who play 60s music. 

Cheers. [June, 2019]

Images - Google.

November Music Posters - Andy 60s Blog: Rid Covid.

  UP TO 1,200 VIEWS  

24 CHATS, COMMENTS

2021

Friendship Endurance Love Time

(FELT) posters below.

November Notes

November Never Says No.

This posting is a potpourri of themes to do with the Friendship, Endurance, Love and Time - FELT posters. It's the beginning of the  ending of another year. So with wet November, we're still home bound with the rain. Hopefully with age we won't get nuttier but to check each other out time and again? 

Singapore 60s music-makers are mostly seniors now and they visit the doctor more often than before. So as friends keep the connection going; there's not much time left for some.

I think this blog has achieved its goal to get like-minded music folks together for a kopi-tiam [coffee-house] chit-chat. So we ask Covid-19 to leave soonest...

Thanks again.

The YouTube video is below.

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

End Of The Year

Wet November's Here.

With Covid Around

We're Really Homebound...

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

It's November, My Month...

Sagittarius In Waiting.

November Twilight - Julie London [1956]

Blogger Andy [white shirt] with 

the late Mike and Bobo, on his right. 

2008 VivoCity Concert - Sentosa Area.

Make It A November

Just To Remember... 

With Music To Play 

And Covid To Stay.

Images - Random designs taken from the internet and SMS-Greeting icons.

Andy Young with The Silver Strings 

Ceylon Sports Club.

YouTube Video by Fabian Foo.

A 60s Music Recording from Singapore.

This post is  from October, November, 2021.

Covid-19 Masks 9 Singing n Movie Stars. Guess Who? Quiz

Guess who the singers and movie stars are. No prize for the winners. But it's fun and too easy. NINE of them.

If you want to try this quiz, DON'T check the comment page.

UP TO 900 VIEWS, 25 COMMENTS/ANSWERS

Images from GOOGLE.

Someone Needs Help Badly, Will You Give Some? Covid Days

                                                                 

 Ralph McTell: Streets of London Video: wildfiremedia.   

UP TO 1800 VIEWS                

[This article has been updated from 29th December, 2012. Perhaps we could give away some, if we have a little to spare...]

Used as a teaching aid in a Singapore school textbook some years ago, this international pop anthem about the street poor was first recorded in 1969.  It is the third time I am posting *Streets of London on this blog. I would probably post it again in another year to remind us of the squalor, deprivation and loneliness of many homeless people in this world today. Some things never change.

When you are sipping that glass of champagne and slurping the caviar, tucking into succulent chicken rice and downing it with Tiger or just watching the ushering in of New Year 2021 on  TV please remember the very poor who need our help.

I am not being hypocritical but perhaps just two Singapore dollars placed in the hands of someone who needs the money is sufficient. Or more if you wish. Depends on how much your heart (not head)  is willing to give. Don't force yourself. If you can't, don't.

Watch the above video to the end because it's different from the others available on You Tube. wildfiremedia who produced the clip had an interview with Ralph McTell on the streets of  London. 

If you can spare something, check out the list below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_voluntary_welfare_organisations_in_Singapore

Video: from wildfiremedia on You Tube.

The streets of London today - 2020 and now. We have the poor in charity homes in Singapore. Do help them if you have some to spare. 

Streets of London is written by Ralph McTell, first recorded for his 1969 album Spiral Staircase but not released in the United Kingdom as a single until 1974. It was his greatest commercial success, reaching number two in the UK singles chart, at one point selling 90,000 copies a day.

As McTell explains on the video it could be any street in any big city in the world. He was inspired by an older song called, Poor People of Paris (1954) made good by Les Baxter and Orchestra. I remember this one, do you?

Over two hundred artists have made covers of this song including Cliff Richard, Blackmore's Night, Mary Hopkin, Raffi, Sam Hui, Sinéad O'Connor, Schooner Fare, Anti-Nowhere League, Roger Whittaker, Cleo Laine,  Cat Stevens Oskar Weise/Tom Brner, Tommy Korberg  and Liam Clancy. Its popularity was also the subject of a comedy sketch on BBC show Big Train.

McTell celebrated his 70th birthday with a concert at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London, on 7 December 2014 (video clip below).

Read more from wikepedia.^.

Ralph McTell with John Williams 70th Streets Of London Live. On YouTube since 2016. Video from the man himself. Thank you sir.

1956 HITS ARCHIVE: The Poor People Of Paris - Russ Morgan. Video by the45prof.

Images: Google.

Happy Lunar NIU [ 牛 Cow] Year 2021 - 新年快乐 - No COW-VID.

UP TO 1,600 VIEWS

Good Moo-ning Everyone

Happy NIU [牛] Year - Ox Nostalgia - Singapore 1950's

The streets, roads, avenues and lorongs [lanes] in Singapore today are mostly clean and well-paved for the expensively paid vehicles that use them 24/7. During this country's early years from about the 1940's onwards, the roads were not heavily utilised so, beside vehicles, we had animals too, parading the grounds as these creatures were used to move people and goods. The horse was well-known and even today, laboured to carry people, pull wagons and carriages.

It was no surprise then, as a child that I used to watch another domesticated animal go by on Singapore roads lugging heavily laden wagons, possibly in pain and misery. It is the bullock. There's usually a man sitting in front of the cart, directing the poor creature to its destination. And they were in the middle of vehicular traffic. And frankly, like most animals, would soil the streets whenever they wanted to. It's a fascinating sight but I would just run away.

The scene that I used to witness as a boy is not to diminish the image of this creature but to explain that it's one up for the bull, cow, ox, bison, cattle, bovine or whatever you might want to call this sure-footed beast that has been useful to Man generations on. Yes, the milk you drink, etc. - how now brown cow - that's from a bovine too. It is surely one of the most useful animals created. 

It took a few years before bullock carts were taken off the roads in Singapore together with the animal itself to pave for a modern metropolis. There's even a road on this island named after it - Buffalo Road at Little India in the Serangoon district.

A creature humbled by Man, yet tough, will resist the enemy that is still lurking in our midst this Chinese new year... It's the Lunar New Year of the Ox - a symbol of power, determination, fertility and even stubbornness [how true]. This creature warrants praise and is even sacred across many cultures.

We should hope to have a wonderful ox year this 2021, especially in getting rid of the virus. Hopefully not another cow-vid year, seeing the rat scuttling away to remain unseen for another 12 years.

A HAPPY LUNAR YEAR OF THE COW 2021 EVERYONE. 

STAY SAFE, 8 TO A VISIT. 🐮

12022021 - a palindrome - read it forward and backward - that's 12 February, 2021.

邓丽君 - 新年好 [Teresa Teng - Xin Nian Hao].

From LIFE RECORDS Chinese.

The symbolic truth of the ox lies in its multi-nationalistic popularity; it's been painted, put up as a statue, represented in country stamps, sung about and so it goes. I have seen the Manitoba bisons [above image] in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, and they are huge. The ones that provide milk are from New Zealand, the dairy farm kind.

[Manitoba - minotaur - in Greek mythology - body of a man, head of a bull].

Here's one pop country western by Elvis that not many people know about. I have a copy but on an EP with a different vinyl cover. A lovely song indeed, the type that all Elvis Presley fans in Singapore would love to listen to during a Chinese New Year get-together. No. Believe me. Yes.

Milk Cow Blues was composed by Kokomo Arnold in 1934. Subsequent changes led to 4 more versions. Elvis Presley did his version based on Johnny Lee Wills and made it rock-a-billy style, turned the cow with a boogie beat and recorded the version in 1954.

Images - Google.

Unmask Singapore's Music Celebrities. Andy's Good Friends Quiz!

The portraits put together are not  in any order of preference but one thing is sure, they are all music makers and very popular in Singapore's pop scene. But it's a mixed group of 3 posters, purposefully done, hopefully to make it more difficult.

Regular blog readers will recognise them since they are in many of the articles found on the postings. They are also good friends so the immediate response was, 'Yes,' when I asked them if  they could feature their covered faces on this blog. 

No real clues needed but if you want a few:

 

They are band leaders, singers, lead guitarists, a percussionist, rhythmist  and bassists. One musician writes for the blog regularly while another organises shows and manage their own groups. And there are pianists too with a rocker and a music ambassador! Some singers can mimic Tom Jones, Louis Armstrong and other famous artistes like Cliff Richard.

Are there ladies in the group? You need to check carefully. Can they perform Malay and Chinese songs too? Truthfully yes. Many are recording artistes from yesteryear.  Who are these SG stars?

UNMASK THEM!

Write your answers by clicking on the comment page below. If you can please post it on your Facebook account too. But don't tell them who you are.

GOOD LUCK.

'People' by Barbra Striesand: "'People who needs people are the luckiest people in the world..."

And again a big thank you to the 12 friends above who responded immediately to my request for their covid masks photographs, which came within 2 hours.

It's too difficult for many readers so here's the list of their names. Try to match them:

WINSTON KOH (SINGER WITH TRAILERS, FLYIING PHANTOMS)

CLARENCE PERERA (DRUMMER PREVIOUSLY WITH THE DUKES)

JIMMY YAP (SINGING AMBASSADOR)

MICHAEL BANGAR (GUITARIST PREVIOUSLY W SILVER STRINGS, OWN BANDS)

IRENE YAP (SINGER, RECORDING ARTISTE)

STEVE HO (SINGER/BUSKER)

JERRY FERNANDEZ (SINGER, LEADER OF NEW FACES)

AUDIE NG (BASSIST, LEADER OF SILVER STRINGS)

TONY NG (PIANIST, PLAYED WITH NUMEROUS BANDS)

CHARLIE YAP (BASSIST, LEADER OF LOCOMOTION)

JOHNNY YEOW (GUITARIST WITH SILVER STRINGS, FLYING PHANTOMS)

UNKNOWN GUY 

Cheers!!!

Images: belong to the artistes. Copyrights Reserved.

Elvis, Beatles, M. Jackson: Mask, Wash Hands, Come Together? Mother Earth Retaliates!

A long time ago, MJ wore a mask, the Beatles self distanced and Elvis believed in the clean hands habit. You may ask why. Here's a theory.

Michael Jackson, The Beatles and Elvis Presley apparently were well aware of the Corona Virus pandemic years before it happened?

The pictures show the Beatles practise self-distancing measures when walking, during their Abbey Road recordings; Elvis was always keeping his hands clean, metaphorically and literally, as his song explains. In fact Jackson predicted that there would be a major outbreak of a virus he thought would occur from way back in the early nineties. 

Jackson had reasons for the mask. He was always worried about getting sick and concerned for both himself and his fans, their crowding him during his appearances, etc. 

His genuine love for Mother nature had him recording, 'Heal the World' and 'Earth Song', powerfully presented on video-clips. Many fans love these two hits but how many heeded the message?

Treated carelessly and so wantonly, Nature hit back in retaliation with a force so great we see 14 million helplessly sick individuals (July 2020), suffering the consequences of Covid today. Currently more than half a million people are dead! And bodies are still falling.

Elvis' song was a warning by a father to his son about being tracked by bloodhounds and imprisoned because the father didn't "keep his hands cleaned". Today we know what "bloodhounds" mean. The virus comes after you and envelopes your insides if you washed your hands in muddy water. So don't "fall in with bad companions".  

"Come Together", an Abbey Road track gives the opposite advice. We shouldn't, should we, come together during these unseemly times? A song meant for a presidential campaign ended up so unique and different. But it became a hit and one of the first few songs I learnt a long time ago.

When you get cooped up too much at home, this blog post is what you finally try to get away with. 

Keep well guys.

Come Together: The Beatles. Thanks to the artist too for creating such imaginative and beautiful live caricatures of the four lads from England. I cannot imagine how it's done but I hope the creator will allow me to share it with my readers. 60 million views! Wow! 

[Copyrighted 2015 Calderstone Productions Limited (Universal Music Group/Apple Films Ltd.)]

Truly one of Elvis' most fantastic songs ever recorded. Not many of his fans know this song because when I asked around, there was silence. It's everything Elvis.

I Washed My Hands In Muddy Water: Elvis Presley.

VIDEO BY: Y.D. ENTJES.

One of his most prized video-clips ever recorded was 'The Earth Song'.

You can watch it full blast if you haven't but view it to the end. 

260 million views to date.

Thanks to the people who loaded these pictures and videos without whom this posting could never have been possible.  If copyrights have been infringed, please write in under Comments below  and pix/videos will be deleted.

Stay Home Comfort Music Series By Perry Brady

I've heard Perry sing. And he's good. The first time was at a night club in town. Then we met again at a private club in the East Coast with good friends Alfred, Laurence and their kakis (buddies). That's when I found out Perry's dad is the famous Walter Koh, the Pat Boone of Singapore. 

Perry is unassuming, with great looks and a sultry, sexy voice that resonates when he sings what he's most comfortable with i.e., jazz standards and pops.

Thanks Perry for the gift of songs for the households in Singapore during this  rather unstable moment when everyone's roosting and relaxing in their nests.

UP TO 300 VIEWS

Stay Home Comfort Music series by Perry Brady

The mention of the word Home should always denote a sense of happiness and comfort and it is my utmost hope that that is true for everyone.

What comforts us? For some, it would be reading a good book, the joy of hearing the laughter of our little kids, the smell of the wife’s home cooked food etc.

Yet that daily journey of comfort is almost usually accompanied by the music we love- whether played over our home stereo or heard quietly over our earpiece.

In that light, I’ve decided to share the music that many of us grew up with while paying tribute to music icons. Share these “comforts” with me as I relive the magic, memories and melodies of yesteryear through the Perry Brady Stay Home Comfort Music series. God bless us all!!

Best regards,
Perry Koh.

Perry Brady sings Cliff Richard songs for us home bound earthlings, imprisoned by Covid aliens. 

Below is Perry singing selections from Nat King Cole. Perry must have been a baby when Nat Cole came out with his hits.  Enjoy guys; it's not everyday someone sings free for you. 

We're all just hoping the CV evil will leave us. It's gonna end soon - I hope.

Perry Brady sings songs he enjoys with his dad and family. Thank you Perry.

Covid-19 Pandemic: Perth Musicians Rise To Meet Challenge: Cedric Collars Writes From Australia

I'd like to thank Cedric Collars, who writes from Perth (Australia), for this informative piece about how we can meet life's challenges positively with a musical upbeat. Thank you Cedric.

UP TO 2,200 VIEWS

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit the world and it is at the moment of human frailty that the best of God's given gifts appear. Talent that lay dormant suddenly takes a life of its own and like a spring or a blossoming flower it rises to meet the challenge. 

Music is the medication for all illness and within its web lives the cure. Yes my friends musicians come together and like a jigsaw puzzle the intimate web of music is woven and presented for all to enjoy and be touched in some form or another. A certain calm will arise and all will be well once again. 

Here they are folks. Perth Musicians United in Iso 2020 - 'Heal The World'. Video: AViiDA Duo.

These musicians played their parts and my brother in law complied them to get the final picture you now see. Enjoy it for what it means and live life like our good God had intended it to be. 

The bassist is Marc Pereira, my brother-in-law and a professional musician here in Perth.

Written by Cedric Collars.

Thanking everyone who participated in the music video and for allowing it to be posted on this blog.

Musicians in the video:

Reilly Stewart - Percussion

Sidney Harvey - Cello

Kathryn Lee - Violin

Marc Pereira - Bass

Michael Tan - Organ

Andrew Suhatam - Keys

Paul Millard - Tenor Sax|Horn Chart

Bill McAllister - Trombone

Mark Underwood - Trumpet

Singers On the video

Paula Parore & Clay Darius - The Voice 2012 & 2015, Musical Theatre, Soul Singers

Jordan Anthony - The Voice 2019 Top 4 Finalist

Amanda Dee - Soothe Vocalist - Queen of Perth RnB

Bloom - International & National Touring Artist

Sabrina D - PINked Perth Artist

Maera Paki - Lead Vocalist | Guitarist Ora

Holly Denton - Musical Theatre, Pop Superstar, MC & Actress

Blake Williams - Proof The Band | Radio Announcer 94.5FM - The Scene

Ella Bourne - Perth singing sensation

Jamie Mercanti - Slim Jim Enterprises

Video Editing - Reilly Stewart

Category

Music

Corona Virus Covid-19: No April Fool Joke

Bob Dylan:

For Times They Are A Changin'

Come Senators, Congressmen... 

Please heed the call.

PEANUTS: Charles M. Schulz.

Peppermint Patty: 

What surprises you most about this Corona Virus predicament?

Charlie Brown:

It has done what no woman has been able to do. Cancel all sports,

shut down all bars and keep men at home.

"They're kidding me. It's gonna take more than 14 days to flatten the curve."

Cary Cooper during a scene in 'High Noon' (1952). Looks somewhat familiar today.

Husband:

We are told to stay safe, stay home!

Wife:

Yes, so keep your social distance!  10 metres away!

It's Corrine, Corrina by Ray Peterson and not Corona, Corona. She's another.

Seriously? It's not an April Fool joke. So listen to what the authorities and health specialists are telling you. Stay home because the times are a changin'.

The Seekers: A World of Our Own. YouTube Video by awhwong. Thank you.
Some good advice from this 60's group:

Close the door, light the lights
We're stayin' home tonight
Far away from the bustle and the bright city lights
Let them all fade away, just leave us alone
And we'll live in a world of our own...
(Composer: Tom Springfield)

Boy Dylan: For Times They Are A Changin' YouTube

Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside
And it is ragin'.
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'.
(Composer: Bob Dylan)

Images: Google, pluspng.com