I didn’t watch the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest. Judging from the reports on the BBC and Sky News, I’m glad I didn’t. It’s about spectacle, not song.
Rewind 60 years ago to 1965. Here’s runner-up Kathy Kirby (née Catherine Ethel O’Rourke), who represented the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest.
Wow. Just wow. I love my female singers. Why hadn’t I heard of her before?
And here is France Gall (née Isabelle Geneviève Marie Anne Gall), the winner of the 1965 Eurovision Song Contest. Her entry was Serge Gainsbourg’s song Poupée de cire, poupée de son (wax doll, rag doll):
The good old days, when the Eurovision Song Contest was about music and songs. 🎵
This week’s choice is the infectious hit Have I The Right? by The Honeycombs (1964).
Watch The Honeycombs perform Have I The Right?
The group’s lead vocalist was Dennis D’Ell. Anne (‘Honey’) Lantree in the girly pink pussy bow blouse 👚 was the drummer. I read that watching Honey Lantree on TV inspired Karen Carpenter to pick up the drums.
It’s been a long time since I posted a #MusicMonday video. Today I present The Rascals at their induction into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. They performed a 9-minute medley of their hits:
Good Lovin’
Groovin’
How Can I Be Sure, as sung by Eddie Brigati
People Got To Be Free (a favorite 😍 of mine when I was a kid)
I didn’t realize what killer musicians Felix Cavaliere (vocals, organ) and Dino Danelli (drums) were.
The Bee Gees (whom I love, love, love) were also inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. Their performance was a disappointment 😞 just snippets of their songs 🎵.
On the Fresh Air radio show, Robert Plant said that The Rascals were very influential to budding musicians in the UK in the 1960s (begin 2:59).
Paraphrase:
The Rascals had a fantastic reputation amongst all musicians and still do. The quality of writing and the performance fantastic vocals and there was a great dynamism in their work. When I first started singing that song, I was 16, and to try and get anywhere near the quality and the style of the rascals in England at that time was virtually impossible. We just didn’t have the Italian stuff in the blood or the street corner stuff that they’d come out of.
Carly Simon mourns the deaths of her sisters Lucy and Joanna.
Joanna Simon died of thyroid cancer on Wednesday, October 19, 2022. Lucy Simon, 82, died of metastatic breast cancer on Thursday, October 20, 2022.
Joanna was an opera singer. Lucy was nominated for a Tony Award for the score of the “The Secret Garden.” musical. Carly and Lucy performed together as the Simon Sisters in the 1960s.
Lucy and Carly as The Simon Sisters
“I have no words to explain the feeling of suddenly being the only remaining direct offspring of Richard and Andrea Simon,” said Carly.
On February 9, 1964, The Beatles made their U.S. debut on the Ed Sullivan TV show – and popular music hasn’t been the same since!
My parents, brother, and I were attending a dance performance – was it the Tamburitzans from Duquesne University? 🤔 Who knows? 🤷 All I was thinking about was getting home in time to see The Beatles. I overheard someone else mention The Beatles as we left the hall. I remember the buzz and excitement in anticipation of the event.
Even today, hearing the opening chords of I Wanna Hold Your Hand fills me with happiness. 🥰
Thanks to my interest in Syd Barrett, I’m expanding my music horizons to include other British musicians. Lately, I got interested in Pete Doherty, someone who is also English in his orientation, has poetic sensibility, and is renowned for his drug use: for Syd, it was LSD and cannabis and later Mandrax (Quaalude); for Pete, it was heroin and cocaine. Pete claims he’s been clean since 2019.
I’ve had fun watching videos featuring Pete Doherty and his band The Libertines. As I learned, Pete Doherty was co-frontman of The Libertines: the other co-frontman being Carl Barât. Bassist John Hassall and drummer Gary Powell rounded out the Libertines. Pete and Carl have had a tumultuous friendship: Carl kicked Pete out of The Libertines for his drug use and Pete burgled Carl’s home.
The Libertines (L to R): John Hassall, Carl Barât, Gary Powell, and Pete Doherty
The interplay between Pete Doherty and Carl Barât is fascinating to watch: it almost borders on homoeroticism.
Pete Doherty (left) and Carl Barât (right)
Here for your viewing (and listening) pleasure is a playlist that I assembled of videos featuring The Libertines:
If you follow my blog (ha-ha), you’ll know that I have a laser focus on the late Syd Barrett, formerly of Pink Floyd. When I sat down to enjoy my espresso con panna and biscotti at Caffe Amouri, I found this poster for a Pink Floyd concert at Fillmore East, post-Syd but pre-Dark Side of the Moon. What a coincidence.
Syd Barrett is one of the most renowned casualties of Rock ‘n’ Roll. He was a co-founder of Pink Floyd, but contributed in a major way only to Pink Floyd’s debut album Piper at the Gates of Dawn.
Syd Barrett was really handsome. Smoldering, or could it be the kajal that he wore? Even after over 50 years, his looks could melt. 🥰
Gorgeous Syd Barrett
At the cusp of stardom, Syd Barrett had a major breakdown. He dropped copious amounts of acid (LSD), and reportedly, his hangers-on spiked his coffee with acid. He might have also had schizophrenia, although he was never diagnosed as schizophrenic. His sister Rosemary claimed that he wasn’t schizophrenic, but the behaviors that other Pink Floyd members observed were consonant with schizophrenia. Among other things, Syd often had catatonic episodes.
When Pink Floyd “made it,” Syd Barrett was about 21 years old. Schizophrenia often manifests itself in early adulthood. His erratic behavior led to his dismissal from Pink Floyd.
Syd Barrett left London for good, and walked 50 miles to his mother’s home in Cambridge. A counselor friend told me that his walk might indicate that he had bipolar disorder: he might have made the walk during a manic episode. I wonder if he was trying to salvage what remained of him. 🤔 He died at age 60 in 2006.
Syd Barrett playlist: music and commentary
The playlist includes both music and commentary. Highlights include:
Classical music critic Hans Keller interviews Roger Waters and Syd: “Why does it have to be so loud?” Syd is lucid and engaged: you can tell by the way he leans into Hans Keller.
Pink Floyd performs its first hit See Emily Play. It is coupled with Pink Floyd’s lip-synching Apples and Oranges on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand. Notice the blankness in Syd’s eyes. It’s telling how Dick Clark walked past Syd to engage Richard Wright instead.
Syd and Pink Floyd perform Jugband Blues. The opening lyrics are: “It’s awfully considerate of you to think of me here | And I’m much obliged to you for making it clear | That I’m not here.” Was Syd self-aware of his breakdown?
Dr. Todd Grande dismisses the theory that psychedelics cause schizophrenia, as it is based on old research. He works on the premise that Syd Barrett had schizophrenia, and Syd might have used psychedelics to self-medicate. Or maybe there wasn’t any connection between psychedelics and schizophrenia, after all. 🤔
Fanny was an all-female rock group active in the early to mid 1970s. The group was founded by sisters June Millington (guitar) and Jean Millington (bass), who moved from the Philippines to California in the early 1960s.
The Millington sisters joined Wild Honey, an all-female rock band founded by drummer Alice de Buhr. Wild Honey planned to disband after one final open-mic appearance at the Troubadour Club in 1969. However, the secretary of prominent music producer Richard Perry spotted Wild Honey at this gig.
Perry convinced Warner Bros. Records to sign the group to Reprise Records. The label signed Wild Honey without hearing them play, as it regarded them as a novelty act. Prior to recording their first album, the band recruited keyboardist Nickey Barclay. Wild Honey was renamed Fanny for their first album Fanny.
Here is Fanny performing the title cut from their second album Charity Ball on the Sonny & Cher TV show.
As you can see, the members of Fanny were crack musicians. So why didn’t these women get the fame that they deserved for their musicianship? I’ve read comments on their YouTube videos and some blame anti-Asian hate due to the Millington sisters’ Filipino origins.
I think that the reason that Fanny didn’t get the fame and accolades that they deserved is that they were considered a novelty act and people weren’t ready for a hard rocking all-female band. Remember, this was before The Runaways, The Go-Gos, and The Bangles.
Cold Cream 'n' Roses 
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