Magna Carta

On this day in 1215 King John was forced to sign the Magna Carta , to in theory create a fairer society for the people and not subject to the whims of a despotic ruler. Well actually it was more about maintaining the barons' interests than actually being for the good or the people as a whole. Much like every government since up to the present day. Here's an audio of the event.

So obviously that should have influenced my June's Tunes choice for today. Problem being that the first band that come to my mind are the seventie's beardy folkies Magna Carta who never really set my world alight. There was a song called "Lord Of The Ages" that went on a bit with portentious spoken bits , which is  available on Youtube here and is just as toe curlingly awful as I remember. Anyway was trying to think of a related song , maybe "Sign Your Name" Terence Trent D'Arby or "Signed, Sealed , Delivered I'm Yours" by Stevie Wonder or "King" by UB40. Decided to go with Stevie Wonder:

Still Awake Listening To The Rain

Was going to mow the lawn , looked out and it was very wet. It's been raining all night so no lawn mowing tomorrow. Still will have the finales to Da Vinci's Demons and The Fall to look forward to. Of course if I tag The Fall now, it will fall in with Mark E Smith's Mancunian Juggernaut of a band rather the tale of murder, psychology featuring the excellent Gillian Anderson. C'est la vie.

Anyway it looks like another Pink Floyd tune has found it's way into June's Tunes as my friend John posted about the album More the soundtrack to the 1969 film by Barbet Schroeder. The track is the main theme is which is one of my favourite uses of stereo panning along with Jimi Hendrix's "May This Be Love" the opening track from the second side  of "Are You Experienced" . Anyway, if you have headphones, I suggest you stick them on now, turn up and drift away:

Back Home

After a great week , relaxing wise , back home from Ampleforthwith a garden to mow. The journey back was uneventful and easy . There's a few photos from last week here .

My friend Julie posted a Springsteen Spotify playlist which included Rosalita , the first song I heard by Bruce Springsteen when he was the "future of rock'n'roll". This is today's June's Tune. Can't find the orignal Whistle Test broadcast but this is close enough. Enjoy, I just love it:

Black Sabbath on Holiday

Today was the last day in Ampleforth, and tomorrow it's time to go home. Certainly needed time away from work to recover from the cough and cold, which I'm still not fully over, but am majorly impressed with Hardwick cottage and Ampleforth. Quiet, relaxing, but with all you actually need.

Anyway need to post my Tune for June, and today's the 13th, which should give me some inspiration. The lot's of numerically related songs which is how I started this sequence. Then I remembered Black Sabbath have just released "13" , not heard it but I'll use it as a springboard and choose "Hard Road" as it's one of my favourite Sabbath tracks and I'm driving back to Newcastle tomorrow! Oh and just found out that , to my knowledge , no Black Sabbath track has been used in a TV advert!

Thing about Yorkshire ...It's Big

Today I've driven about bit's of Yorkshire , visiting Rievaulx Terrace and Abbey before scurrying off to visit The Durham Ox at Crayke.

Rievaulx is a brilliant walk which includes woodland , sculptures , two impressive Temples at either end of the terrace, a wire horse in the middle and fighting wire hares at the end. Plus impressive views of the Abbey ruins all of which will eventually appear on my Picassa pages when I get home.. Here are some from a few years back.

Anyway was trying to think of a tune for today and it will be "Adventures in A Yorkshire Landscape" by Be Bop Deluxe featuring the genius of Bill Nelson. You can download it here. Enjoy:

Back In The Night

One AM this time and for some reason can't sleep. Yesterday was a relapse and today intend to stop and maybe just have a bath and do some catch up TV. The title comes from the opening song on the Wilko Johnson interview which should still be on 6 music here til next Sunday and I would recommend to go a listen to it , failing that get a copy of Oil City Confidential the brilliant Julien Temple

Anyway, this a short one and an excuse to include Dr Feelgood's Back In The Night in my June's Tunes series. Obviously, my back in the night and the songs' subject are quite different he said with a chuckle.

Hardwick Cottage, Ampleforth

These days I seldom do specific posts about cottages we've stayed in, but this one is exceptional. The owner Rose is very welcoming and the cottage was her father's house. The renovations are documented in one of the welcome books you see as you walk into the large airy dining room and kitchen.

The front room features a book filled tall boy which belonged to Ros's grandmother as well as a modern TV and DVD , player and dedicated wifi , plus an incoming land line. Some cottages are provisioned with cast offs , but in this case whatever is best for the cottage has been provided. Even the selection of films , in my opinion is faultless : Amelie , The Motorcycle Diaries , Withnail & I and Tea With Mussolini and more (including the very disturbing In The Night Garden - CBeebies have a lot to answer for)

There's no need for any photographs as you can look round it here.

I can highly recommend this cottage.

Oh by the way the spiders seem to have vacated the premises!!

Anyway I also need to post an approprate song of the day for June's Tunes, and you think of Our House by Madness or CSNY or Country House by Blur but thinking a bit further on it and decided on the idyllic "Village Green Preservation Society" by the Kinks , then I saw this Kate Rusby version and decided to go with that one which sort of goes with the feeling of the place: