10 Popular Songs based on words of Scripture (more or less)

1. Turn Turn Turn (Ecclesiastes 3) The Byrds, etc
2. The Lord's my Shepherd (Psalm 23) Judy Collins
3. Psalm 33 (Psalm 33) Sinead O'Connor
4. "40" (Psalm 40) U2
5. Hineimatov (Psalm 133) Miami Boys Choir
6. Rivers of Babylon (Psalm 137) The Melodians, Boney M (Also Don McClean)
7. The Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6) Sister Janet Mead
8. The Millennium Prayer (Matthew 6) Cliff Richard
9. While Shepherds watched (Luke 2) Bing Crosby
10. The four horsemen (based on Revelation 6) Aphrodite's Child

(There is also Awake, awake by Steeleye Span, very much based on Song of Solomon)

Two interesting biographical documentaries

I have watched two interesting biographical documentaries recently. First, on ITV there was one on Cliff Richard - Sir Cliff Richard: 60 Years in Public and in Private. There was not much about Cliff's faith but there was one section suggesting he is a man who still prays and professes Christ. It is very easy to criticise such a person but he does seem to be seeking to live up to the light he has.

The other one was on the BBC more recently and was intended to be overtly religious as it is part of a series called My faith and me. No mention of Gavin's few months at London Seminary understandably but sadly. It was interesting nevertheless as he went from place to place capturing memories and telling his story so far. the move to Canada makes a great deal of sense and highlights how difficult celebrity can be.

Both are still available on iplayer or whatever at the moment.

Sir Cliff Exclusive

This screenshot shows a link to the recent itv documentary on Sir Cliff Richard. The picture shows Trevor MacDonald on deathrow next to a bed where men are executed. This is where Sir Cliff's opponents would had him placed had they had their way. Allegedly.

Gerry Anderson Tribute

Gerry Anderson inventor of supermarionation died yesterday. I used to love Thunderbirds as a boy.

Christmas CDs 07

Besides books this year (and clothes, etc) there were a few CDs. I bought the red and the blue albums by the Beatles with money from my dad. This is a completist thing I guess. (See here for a complete discography). I also had the George Harrison led Concert for Bangla Desh (the first benefit concert of its kind) from my sister-in-law, which I am enjoying. It includes Ravi Shankar, Billy Preston, Bob Dylan, etc, and is a fascinating recording. (There is a website here.)

I'm also planning to download tracks from my son's album by The Fray (more here) and one or two from a Cliff Richard Greatest Hits that Eleri bought (Out in the country and Wired for sound). While we were still in Aber my eldest and I went into Siop Y Pethe looking for Welsh Rare Beats. It turns out there are now two volumes so we had to shell out for both. It's basically a history of Welsh pop music (Tebot Peuce, Heather Jones, Edward H, etc) thankfully presented in a way that is accessible to the monoglot. Rhodri knows less than I do about it so we have enjoyed the sleeve notes (with appreciated references to Focus and Horslips) and the CDs too. (More here)