It is heavenly birthdays for both: One) for the man who probably was only ever overshadowed by some Glaswegian frontman or other for my musical affections (for many a year) – Mr David Robert Jones. He’d have been 77 today.
Two) for Mr Elvis Aaron Presley who would have been turning 99 today had he still been with us. These days when I think of him, I am usually drawn into thinking of him by listening to this (see below). It took me a little while to warm to this track but Hamish won me over with his fantastic wordplay. The man is a lyrical dynamo. I love the way he uses language and words. My favourite part of the song comes towards the end of the first verse… “Just one yawn from the crowd, the sun went down behind the clouds / And I put it down to the clown with the frown, doing the sound” – all delivered with a delicious Scots lilt. All those words with ‘our’ sounds to them – gorgeous!
That all said, today I miss David, a lot! Conscious also that we are coming up to it being eight years since he left us. I hope that no matter where you are now, Starman, you can still feel how very much you were loved by so many of us.