23 September 2026 — Life Is Hard Enough Without Goodbyes
About this track
One of the reasons I love this song is BECAUSE IT'S THE OSMONDS! (Don't judge me!) To have a track so good coming from the Andy Williams Mormon stage and put out a rock/blues number like this is brilliant. Forget Little Jimmy with his "Long Haired Lover From Liverpool" and Donny & Marie's stuff, THIS is the real Osmonds. Merrell Osmond takes the lead vocal (as he does on most Osmonds' songs), and it's sung extremely well. The groove in the music is awesome, and I find myself thinking of Led Zeppelin... it's not that far removed, in my opinion.
22 September 2026 — Lady Stardust
Me talking about why this song matters
About this track
Lady Stardust is the first track on side 2 of the album, The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars. A song recorded in sessions for the album on 12 November 1971. Featuring the Spiders — Mick Ronson, Trevor Bolder, and Mick "Woody" Woodmansey — it is a more gentle track compared to the rest of the album. A ballad, supposedly aimed at the glam-rock icon Marc Bolan, it describes seeing "the boy in the bright blue jeans" in a performance, and bemoans a "love I could not obey". Certainly the gender of the protagonist is blurred: "He was all right..." and "LADY Stardust sang HIS songs of darkness and dismay..." I find the track to be a beautiful interlude amongst the louder, more rock presentation of the rest of the album. A beautiful song!
21 September 2026 — I Started A Joke
Me talking about why this song matters
About this track
"I Started A Joke" is a beautiful track, written by Robin Gibb. Aside from it just being a lovely ballad, it also has that little "something" that makes me like it even more... The premise: "I STARTED A JOKE which set the whole world CRYING", and then "I STARTED TO CRY which set the whole world LAUGHING". Wonderful lyrics.