Category Archives: Song Blog

35. Simple Pleasures

Song Blog

There used to be a fun radio program on WETA on Sundays in the DC area called Songs for Aging Children. One Sunday they played an entire episode (2+ hours) about Phil Ochs. I’d never heard of this singer-songwriter before this radio program introduced me to his music, but immediately went out and bought his Pleasures of the Harbor album. Later I bought the CD version of I Ain’t Marching Anymore.

Pleasures of the Harbor has a number of good songs – in fact I like them all.

I love Phil’s voice – it’s clear and lovely. I love his words – topical at the time they were written, and still mostly true.

Sorry – no links. Check out samples on Amazon.com though.

33. Underground, Overground, Wombling Free

Song Blog,

the wombles bandI remember being surprised that men dressed as large furry creatures could produce music good enough to be considered pop hit music, but then again – I wasn’t all that into music at the time.

I don’t remember when I first heard about the Wombles, but once I did, their catchy tunes had me interested enough to buy a 3-record set. It might have been the fact that I spent three months at college in London right across from Wimbledon Common (although I think I knew about the Wombles before that).

For those of you who don’t know what Wombles are – they are furry critters that live on Wimbledon Common. They pick up litter and make useful things out of it. There were the books by Elisabeth Beresford, then the television series, then the band. I understand that the series is back on UK television.

Anyway, I liked their music and played it a bit after I bought the 3-record set. One of the quirky things about my past, I suppose.

Here you go – a YouTube embed for you: Remember You’re a Womble – Enjoy!