Songs from D of E

 Hello!

 I will start this post by explaining what D of E is, as readers outside the UK may not have heard of it. D of E stands for Duke of Edinburgh's Award. It is a programme available to 14-25 year olds in the UK, which involves volunteering, learning new skills, doing a physical activity on a regular basis and the expedition. 

 The expedition involves spending one to four days walking eight hours a day in a scenic part of the UK - with me it was the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales - and spending the nights camping.

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 There are three levels of D of E; Bronze, Silver and Gold. I did Silver between the ages of fifteen and sixteen, and Gold between the ages of sixteen and eighteen. Each level involves different lengths of expeditions. For my Silver I did two practices of one and two days and an assessed expedition of three days. 

  For Gold I undertook three practices of between one and three days, one assessed that ended prematurely due to bad weather, and finally the assessed that I saw through to the end.

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 The reason that I am doing this post isn't to promote D of E, although I would recommend doing it if you live in the UK as I found it to be a great experience. 

 No, the reason I am writing this post is because there are various songs that remind me of my D of E expeditions for various reasons, and I wanted to share with you these songs and the stories behind them, and to demonstrate how powerful music can be in bringing back memories.

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 My first ever experience with D of E expeditions was my one-day practice walk for Silver, which took place in the Yorkshire Dales, near Malham to be precise. As we travelled there by minibus I was nervous about the day ahead; I didn't know what to expect or whether I would be able to keep up with the others, navigate well enough, etc. 

 This song came on the radio, and I think I had heard it before but I had never realised how much I liked it.

 Now this song reminds me of that first journey to the Yorkshire Dales for D of E.

 That day turned out to be really enjoyable; we saw lots of sheep and some really nice views from the top of hills. It was good to get to know the group with whom I'd be doing the rest of my Silver expeditions.

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 Next came our two day practice in the Lake District. We saw some cows this time, which made a nice change to sheep, and some more lovely scenery. 

 This had been playing on the radio on the way there and it stayed with me throughout the weekend.

 Somehow it turned into "I walked all night" in my head, what with all the walking we did!

 We spent the night camping at Gibraltar Farm, one of the best campsites I have ever been to. It was big and spacious, with amazing stars due to lack of light pollution, and a view of the sea. The sunset was sensational.

 At night I had to find my way to the toilet block by torchlight - and it was quite a long way from where we had pitched our tent. I was slightly scared of falling over or walking into something, when I heard someone playing "Telephone" by Lady Gaga and Beyonce in their caravan. 

 I won't post the video as I know people who don't like it, and I find parts of it questionable. But it was kind of reassuring to me to hear a familiar song in such an unfamiliar place, and I stopped feeling scared and realised how wonderful the stars were, and altogether felt much better.

 I survived that trip to the toilets and back, and in the morning I was sad to leave Gibraltar Farm. I'd love to go back there some day.

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 My next adventure was our final and assessed Silver expedition in the Yorkshire Dales. We saw some beautiful places - including Malham Cove, which I was pleased to later see feature in one of the last two Harry Potter films - but I was very homesick and felt ill during the weekend.

 I got through it, and got my Silver Award. But during that expedition I couldn't help playing this over and over in my head.

 I had got into a tradition of having my mam's homemade pizza and listening to Nick Grimshaw and Annie Mac on Radio 1 the Sundays I returned from a D of E expedition. When I got back from my Silver assessed, this was on the radio and, bizarrely, will always reminds me of D of E:

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 The next year I started my Gold expeditions. The first was a day's practice near where I live, and it was an enjoyable day. 

 We then had a two-day practice in Yorkshire and that was also nice - I had a new team this time, different to my group for Silver, and we played cards and word games (I went to the moon and I brought...). 

 This song by Jean-Jacques Goldman really reminds me of that weekend; it's a song about setting out on an adventure and leaving all the baggage behind.

 We then had our assessed expedition in the Lakes which went pear-shaped due to bad weather but while it lasted, Losing My Religion by R.E.M. - again, it had played on the minibus radio on the way to our starting point - was its soundtrack for me. 

 As I plodded on through the rain I played it over and over again in my head, even though my grasp of the lyrics was shaky and I only knew parts of it. What I did know, I held onto. It kept me going through what was for me a very challenging couple of days.

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 Happily I got the chance to finish my Gold D of E expedition the next summer. We would be in the Lake District again, which suited me as I love that part of the world.

 I have written a blog post describing the practice expedition and the two songs I associate with it in more detail, which you can reach via the green link above.

 I will recap here though: the two songs were We Don't Need Another Hero by Tina Turner, which stuck in my head at a particular point - it was the third and last day and we were gradually ascending a mountain and it was drizzling rain and it generally wasn't very nice, and I used this song to spur me on.

 The other song was in my head more generally over the three days, and was These Days in an Open Book by Nanci Griffith. As this song has other significances for me, it is weaker as a D of E memory song than others such as Losing My Religion which I associate more with D of E than with anything else. 

 It's not the song's fault, it's just that I happen to have other memories linked with it. Still, it certainly played a part in motivating me during that Gold practice expedition.

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The day arrived of my Gold assessed expedition. It's strange, I had to hope this would be my last one as that would mean I had passed Gold D of E, as opposed to having to redo it. Yet in another way I wished it wasn't my last, as D of E had been such a big part of my life and the expeditions had been so special and I would be sad when they were over.

 I felt really comfortable with my group after the practice, and really enjoyed travelling with them through the Lakes. The first night we camped on a farm by Lake Ullswater, and across the lake was what I think must have been either a hotel or some kind of party boat, and it played 80s music so we could hear it clearly all the way across the lake - either sound carries really easily or they were just playing it really loud!

 Among the songs were Livin' on a Prayer and Sweet Child of Mine, and it was nice drifting to sleep in our tents with these old, familiar songs playing in the background.

 We walked around Ullswater, we saw Aira Force, we followed the old coach road and felt like we were walking on the top of the world.

 Overall it was a really brilliant weekend, we passed, and I'm so glad that my last D of E expedition was probably the best I've ever been on.

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 Music for me played a huge part in the D of E expedition experience, as it has in all aspects of my life. I can hear a song and I'm back there, in the hills or the forest or the meadow or at camp. I'm glad I have this musical memory, as it means I can bring back magical moments in seconds just by listening to a song. Never underestimate the power of music!

 Thanks for reading,

 Liz x

Songs:

Gravity - Pixie Lott - 2010

I Drove All Night - Roy Orbison - 1992

Home - Michael Bublé - 2005

Rock That Body - Black Eyed Peas - 2010

On Ira - Jean-Jacques Goldman - 1999

Losing My Religion - R.E.M.- 1991

We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdome) - Tina Turner - 1985

Starring on Steve Wright!

 Dear readers,

 On Tuesday I was made extremely happy by the fact that my Oldies were featured on Steve Wright's Non-Stop Oldies on BBC Radio 2 in the afternoon!

 Here is a link to the show - my Oldies start at about 1 hour 3 minutes into the broadcast.

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01pt4sg

 I thought I would talk you through my Oldies, why I chose them and what they mean to me.

 Firstly, First Time (very apt for the first song) by Robin Beck.

 I first heard this song on one of the music channels on TV, and I really liked it - it is very much the archetypical 80s love song: big-haired, big-voiced singer; moody video; strong beat and a really catchy tune. I love the lyrics and find them a lot deeper and more sensitive than many 80s love songs; I particularly like:

"Like a break in the clouds, in the first ray of sun, 

I can feel it inside; something new has begun."

 And, 

"It's an uncharted sea, it's an non-opened door, 

But you gotta reach out, and you gotta explore."

 I love this song; I had forgotten about it for a bit and then something recently reminded me of it and I fell in love with it a second time. Brilliant song. And I'm glad they put it on first out of the Oldies; whether it was an intentional pun or not, it amused me.

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 Secondly, we have the Rah Band and Clouds Across the Moon. 

I first heard this at the gym, on some mix-tape they had of old songs. I'd hear snippets and really liked the chorus, but with machines whirring it was hard to hear the rest of it properly, so I went home and looked it up. 

 I really liked the song when I heard it through; however this was on Spotify, so I remained blissfully unaware of the bizarre video until I finally thought of looking for it on YouTube.

 Though I do think the end of the video is really touching; you can see her despair at having to wait a whole year to hear her loved one's voice again.

 Some people may see this as some sort of novelty song - a woman calling her husband who is fighting a space war is certainly an interesting concept - but I think it stands on its own as a really good song, novelty or otherwise. Certainly, as Steve says, there "doesn't seem to be a hint of irony." 

 I like to think this song is a serious exploration of what a space war could mean for the people left on Earth. To be honest this song could be used as an exploration of war generally and its effect on civilians; before I heard this properly I did think it was about a woman talking to her soldier husband in a more conventional war.

 I also found out that the singer is called Liz! ♥

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 Next we have Maria Vidal with Body Rock.

 I can remember exactly where I was when I first heard this - doesn't that tend to be the way with songs that are special to us? I first heard Body Rock while on the way to badminton practice one night; we were driving past the DW Stadium except it was probably the JJB at the time; I remember the song reminded me of Rhythm of the Night by DeBarge at the time, though now I can't hear that much of a similarity.

 It was me and my Mam in the car and I think I remarked to her that I liked this song; it has since been played on many car journeys. It just makes me want to dance! Not easy in a car, I know, but when I listen to it at home I do confess that I usually end up dancing about to it.

 This seems to have been Maria Vidal's only big hit; I think it's a shame as she had a lot of potential. She was pretty in a way that seems far more natural than some other female pop singers of the era and she had a really nice and quite unusual voice. 

 I think she wrote this song, though I don't know for definite; if so she is a talented songwriter. I'm surprised she didn't achieve greater success in the 80s, as this is another song that epitomises the 80s for me!

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 The next of my Oldies is Crazy For You by Madonna.

 I included this in my choices partly for my Mam, as it is one of her favourite songs, and also for myself as I love it too, and as I like a lot of Madonna's music I was keen that she be represented in my Oldies. 

 I love her voice so much in this song, and she looks so beautiful in the video. The production of this record is also gorgeous; from the beginning it it just a real pleasure on the ears. 

 In fact, the beginning of this song is one of my favourite song-beginnings, and it is pretty unmistakeable, especially in the video where it starts with an alarm clock ringing!

 Whenever I see the video I ponder watching Vision Quest, the film featured, but never actually get around to it. If anybody has seen it and could let me know whether it is any good, that would be much appreciated.

 Regardless of the merits of the film, Crazy For you is a really beautiful song and one of my favourite Madonna songs, as well as one of my favourite love songs of the 80s.

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 My next Oldie is Ella Elle L'a (Ella, she has it) by the French chanteuse France Gall.

 As you may have guessed from the fact that she features in the video, this song is a tribute to Ella Fitzgerald. It was written by France Gall's husband Michel Berger. I love how happy and carefree France looks in this video, dancing around and looking like she is having a really good time - in her early career she came across as rather shy and demure, but here she seems to be coming out of her shell.

 I love this song; I discovered it when looking for French music to listen to sometime when I was at sixth-form college and a combination of my really inspiring French teacher and a wonderful college trip to Montpellier in the south of France made me really love French culture, music included. As well as France Gall I love Jean-Jacques Goldman, Lio, Niagara and many other French or Quebecois musicians and bands.

 Steve Wright commented on how high he finds France Gall's voice to be; I don't find it particularly high but maybe that is just because I am used to it as I have listened to this song so many times. Anyway, high or low I really love her voice and this remains one of my favourite songs in any language.

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 Next is R.E.M. with Bad Day.

 I have already done a blog post discussing this among other R.E.M. songs, which can be found by clicking above; however to re-iterate, I really like this song; it was one I heard and loved years ago, then lost, then rediscovered and now love as much as ever. And the video is really original and quirky; clearly a lot of effort went into the making of it. I love this song and always end up singing along to it!

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 My penultimate Oldie is Don Henley with The Boys of Summer, which was my favourite song for a while when I was in early high school, maybe 12 or 13 years old.

 We were doing some sort of project in our Music lessons about DJs, and I did DJ Sammy, and through doing so found his version of this song, which brought me right back to finishing primary school, when people were singing it on karaoke - either that or we were just listening to the song, I can't remember - but it was certainly popular at the time and I really liked it. 

 I then heard it in a bowling alley on one of our high school bowling trips, and wondered who sung it. I found out through doing my DJ project, and I re-listened to it and enjoyed it. Seeing that it was a remix of an older song by Don Henley, I listened to the original, convinced I couldn't like it more than the remix. I was wrong. It became my favourite song and I listened to it endlessly.

 The fact that the original is sung by a man makes the sentiment a lot nicer, I feel - the DJ Sammy one seems to be a woman declaring without much shame that she is cheating on her lover but still expects him to be there for her "when the boys of summer have gone," whereas the Don Henley version seems to be a man bitterly acknowledging that his lover is cheating on him but saying he'll always love her and will still be there for her at the end of it all.

 I still love this song and it was lovely to hear it on the radio and to share it with the listeners of Radio 2.

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 My final Oldie is Is This Love? by Alison Moyet, which, again, was my favourite song for a bit - it may still be my favourite song. I have trouble deciding on a favourite at the minute, but this is certainly in contention.

 I have a blog post all about my love for Alison Moyet in which I discuss this song and video, so feel free to check that out. For now I'll just say that I absolutely adore this woman and her music, and this song is so happy and upbeat, and the video just puts a smile on your face; they are all having so much fun on the beach. 

 And the dance they do at the beginning and end is contagious - I find myself doing the actions whenever I hear the song!

 I love Alison Moyet ♥ And I love that my selection of Oldies ends on such a happy note with this jolly little song.

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 I am really chuffed at my Oldies being chosen, and cannot stop listening to that half-hour of all my favourite music ♥ And I have a badge saying, "I chose the Non-Stop Oldies on Steve Wright in the Afternoon." I am very happy.

 I hope you have enjoyed listening to my Oldies as well - please feel free to add any comments below. 

 Thank you so much for reading my blog and letting me share with you the music I love.

 Liz x

Songs: First Time - Robin Beck - 1988

Clouds Across the Moon - Rah Band - 1985

Body Rock - Maria Vidal - 1984

Crazy For You - Madonna - 1985

Ella Elle L'a - France Gall - 1987

Bad Day - R.E.M. - 2003

The Boys of Summer - Don Henley - 1984

Is This Love? - Alison Moyet - 1986

 Lots of 80s songs - I clearly love 80s music! ♥

 Thanks for reading x

R.E.M. and Paul Young

 Hi

 I know you may be wondering what R.E.M. and Paul Young have to do with each other; the answer is: not a lot, really, except that I've recently been listening to and enjoying music from both of them.

 When I first heard that R.E.M. had split up, it didn't really mean a lot to me. I wasn't really familiar with R.E.M.; the only song I could have named as being by them was Everybody Hurts.

 However, I quickly found out that they were the ones who sung Losing My Religion; a song that has gained special significance for me this summer. And further investigation revealed that they were also the band behind Bad Day, the iconic video for which I had seen once on TV; I had enjoyed the song since but never really knew who it was by.

 So, it turns out I have enjoyed R.E.M.'s music for a long time without realising it. Bad Day, I am so happy to have rediscovered. It is what it says on the tin really; just the perfect song to listen to when you've been having a bad day.

 And I still find the video really impressive. It is one of those where you keep spotting new things everytime you watch it. I would post the official video if I could but it seems you can't post it on Blogger : ( So you will just have to YouTube it, I'm afraid.

 Losing My Religion I first heard properly on a minibus on the way to a Duke of Edinburgh's Award expedition in the Lake District. It therefore stuck in my head the whole time I was there; trekking through forests, scrambling over walls, fighting my way through ferns taller than me which made me feel like a fairy or a pixie.

 The group I was in were really lovely, and so were the places we walked through. But the weather was terrible the second day, and I was slowly losing the will to live and wishing I could go home, and this song was in my head, playing over and over, the only bit I really knew...

 "I thought that I saw you laughing,
I thought that I heard you sing,
I think I thought I saw you try..."

 Except I thought the last line was, "I think I thought I saw your smile."

 And those few lines became the soundrack to that D of E expedition for me. It has a special significance for me now. I don't know what the supposed religious connotations are; I haven't listened to the whole song enough for that, nor seen the video properly. I listen to it because of what it means to me. It gave me hope and it kept me going. It will always be special to me now.

 I also like Shiny Happy People, which I discovered through Bad Day, and I really like it and especially the female singer(Kate Pierson?)'s voice, which I think is beautiful and adds so much to the song.

 Now for Paul Young... I was listening to Senza Una Donna, which I have enjoyed since I was a child, even before I understood what the Italian lyrics meant, and I saw in the related videos Everytime You Go Away, which I was pretty sure I had heard once on the radio in the car, and which I had liked. 

 So, I listened to it, and yes, it was the same song, and yes, I did enjoy it - even more, in fact, now that I heard the intro, which I think is one of the the most beautiful intros to a song that I have ever heard (it also reminds me of Love and Regret by Deacon Blue), and which epitomises the very best of the synth sound of the 80s. It is a simply beautiful song.

 So, this week I have discoevered - or re-discovered, a great deal of good music. It's just a shame that it took R.E.M. breaking up for me to realise how good they were, and how much I had always enjoyed their music without even knowing who they were.

 Thanks for reading.

 Liz x

Songs: Bad Day - R.E.M. (2003)

           Losing my Religion - R.E.M. (1991)

           Shiny Happy People - R.E.M. (1991)

           Senza Una Donna - Zucchero and Paul Young (1991)

           Everytime You Go Away - Paul Young (1985)

P.S. I hadn't realised they were all from 1991! Must have been a good year for music! But then I guess every year is.

 Liz x