I saw in the Guardian last week that Bob Johnson of the folk-rock band Steeleye Span had died.

This track of theirs – the band’s first UK hit – seemed appropriate for the time of year; doubly so since it was Johnson who brought the song to the band. It was the first UK hit to be sung entirely in Latin and one of only a handful of a capella hits.

Steeleye Span: Gaudete

Robert (Bob) Johnson: 18/3/1944 – 15/12/2023. So it goes.

Originally on the album Heavy Horses (1978) this was later included on The Jethro Tull Christmas Album (2003.)

Jethro Tull: Weathercock

Fox’s last UK hit. Noosha Fox (Susan Traynor) certainly had a distinctive – if perhaps weak – voice.

Fox: S-S-Single Bed

Peter Gabriel’s first solo single. From 1977

Peter Gabriel: Solsbury Hill

The song that introduced Alice to the UK

And the sound of summer 1972.

Alice Cooper: School’s Out

Another week, another sad death. This time Robbie Robertson, singer, songwriter and guitarist for The Band. Coming to fame as Bob Dylan’s backing band they found success on their own after releasing their first LP Music Fom Big Pink.

For me Robertson’s masterpiece will always be The Weight which I posted about here and have already featured their UK hits Up on Cripple Creek and Rag Mama Rag. In retrospect surprisingly, these were their only UK hits.

This is another of Robbie’s compositions for The Band. (From 1971.)

The Band:The Shape I’m In

Jaime Royal (Robbie) Robertson: 5/7/1943 – 9/8/2023. So it goes.

And now Randy Meisner has left us.  He is of course best known as a founder member of US band The Eagles but had previously been in Poco whose Rose of Cimarron I featured here.

This is a live version of the Eagles song most associated with him.

The Eagles: Take It to the Limit

Randall Herman (Randy) Meisner March 8/3/1946 –26/7/2023. So it goes.

It’s been some week, though, rivalling 2016 in that regard.

First Tony Bennett, then Vince Hill and and lately Trevor Francis have all also left us.

I knew that Bennett’s signature song I Left My Heart in San Francisco hadn’t been a big hit in the UK but was still surprised to see it had only reached no 25 and also that he had so few hits here.

Vince Hill of course had a no 2 with Edelweiss, riding on the back of the success of the film of The Sound of Music with a song whose title my young self had no idea how to spell until I finally saw it written down.

Trevor Francis was simply one of the most talented footballers of his generation.

Anthony Dominick Benedetto (Tony Bennett;) 3/8/1926 – 21/7/2023. So it goes.

Vincent (Vince) Hill; 16/4/1934 – 22/7/2023. So it goes.

Trevor John Francis; 19/4/1954 – 24/7/2023. So it goes.

I Feel Free was the first Cream song I ever heard. I was immediately impressed. Like quite a few of Cream’s early songs its lyric was written by Pete Brown who died recently.

Cream: I Feel Free

I remember Brown more though for his perhaps unforgettably named band Pete Brown and Piblokto! who were responsible for one of the longest album titles in pop history, their first, Things May Come and Things May Go but the Art School Dance Goes on Forever  (though it wasn’t quite as long as this one.)

This is the B-side of Piblokto!’s second single.

Pete Brown and Piblokto!: Broken Magic

Peter Ronald (Pete) Brown: 25/12/1940 – 19/5/2023. So it goes.

It was just about impossible to miss Tina Turner – either in her performances or in the outpouring of regret and appreciation when she died.

As an example of someone transcending her life circumstances to come out triumphant she will be just about impossible to top.

This is a slice of vintage Tina. She also wrote the song.

Ike and Tina Turner: Nutbush City Limits.

Anna Mae Bullock (Tina Turner) 26/11/1939 – 24/5/2023. So it goes.