The Slip Jig refers to both a style within Irish music, and the Irish dance to music in slip-jig time originating from England. The slip jig is in 98 time, traditionally with accents on 5 of the 9 beats — two pairs of crotchet/quaver (quarter note/eighth note) followed by a dotted crotchet note. The slip […]
Hornpipe
The Hornpipe is any of several dance forms played and danced in Britain and Ireland and elsewhere from the 16th century until the present day. The earliest references to hornpipes are from England, with Hugh Aston’s Hornepype of 1522 and others referring to Lancashire hornpipes in 1609 and 1613. It is suggested that the hornpipe […]
Missing Persons
Missing Persons is an American rock band founded in 1980 in Los Angeles by guitarist Warren Cuccurullo, vocalist Dale Bozzio (née Consalvi), and drummer Terry Bozzio. They later added bassist Patrick O’Hearn and keyboardist Chuck Wild. Dale and Terry Bozzio met while working with Frank Zappa, and they married in 1979. Cuccurullo encountered the pair […]
Malvina Reynolds
Malvina Reynolds was an American folk/blues singer-songwriter and political activist, best known for her songwriting, particularly the songs “Little Boxes”, “What Have They Done to the Rain” and “Morningtown Ride”. Her parents were David and Abagail Milder, Jewish immigrants. Her mother was born in Russia and her father was born in Hungary. They became socialists […]
Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ‘Round
“Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ‘Round” is a freedom song based on the spiritual “Don’t You Let Nobody Turn You Round” and became an American civil rights era anthem. It was sung during demonstrations for civil rights in the United States including during the Memphis sanitation worker strike in 1967. The song’s lyrics are […]
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
“The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” is a satirical poem and song by Gil Scott Heron. Scott-Heron first recorded it for his 1970 album Small Talk at 125th and Lenox, on which he recited the lyrics, accompanied by congas and bongo drums. A re-recorded version, with a full band, was the B-side to Scott-Heron’s first […]
Election Day
Today I have chosen a selection of songs to set you on your way to your polling station. If you are one of the many whose vote has already been cast via a postal ballot, I hope it will remind you of the choice that you have made. We begin with a song from the […]
People Get Ready
“People Get Ready” is a 1965 single by The Impressions, and the title track from the People Get Ready album. The single is the group’s best-known hit, reaching number three on the Billboard R&B chart and number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100. The gospel-influenced track was a Curtis Mayfield composition that displayed the growing […]
The Partisan
“The Partisan” is an anti-fascist anthem about the French Resistance in World War II. The song was composed in 1943 by Russian-born Anna Marly, with lyrics by French Resistance leader Emmanuel d’Astier de la Vigerie, and originally titled “La Complainte du partisan” (English: “The Lament of the Partisan”). Marly performed it and other songs on […]
Grace Petrie
Grace Petrie is an English folk singer-songwriter and guitarist from Leicester, England. She was hailed in The Guardian as “a powerful new songwriting voice” in 2011. She began performing in 2006 as a solo vocalist and acoustic guitarist, and self-released an eponymous album that year, followed in 2007 by second album Feeling Better. In 2010, […]