Songwriterobit: Jackie Trent

Jackie Trent, singer, songwriter, and actress, has died.

It's perhaps a shame that the obituaries are hanging her on the peg as 'the woman who wrote the lyrics for the Neighbours theme song'; it's a fact, sure, but the real-life soap opera played out in her earlier lyrics which reflected her first-affair-with, then-marriage-to, eventually-divorce-from Tony Hatch is far more interesting and artistically accomplished than the plodding, sodding Erinsborough jingle.

As a taste, her website tells the deeper story behind Couldn't Live Without Your Love, a hit for Petula Clark:

I wrote the lyrics in 1966: simply expressing my love and commitment to Tony Hatch – the man I would marry the following year. The lyrics speak for themselves.

Angela Kon’s (unauthorised) biography of Petula Clark: ‘Colour My World,’ page 178, allegedly records conversation of the 1980’s between the author and Tony Hatch: where he speaks of my loving words defining our relationship ‘from my point of view.’ If true, how deceitful and cold-blooded; with 25 years of marriage then ahead of us?

Eve Taylor, my manager did warn me: ‘Don’t marry him. He’ll just use you!’

Mind you, I still love those lyrics...

(Trent's website is well worth a visit; she's generous and open with anecdote, although writes in the overblown showbiz style parodied by Alan Partridge.)

Jackie Trent was 74; she died March 21st in Menorca.

Carrie Underwood slowly seeping through the week

May 7th:

May 9th:

Be worried, Monday Night Football. You're next.

Gordon in the morning: Rolling closing credits in the deep

Gordon pulls together a bunch of creepy-stalkery details on Adele's movements that he thinks links her to the next Bond movie:

She first hinted that she’d been offered the 007 spot in a chat with Jonathan Ross last year.

Soon after that Adele started preliminary sessions with producer Paul Epworth.

Her visit to the historic Abbey Road facilities suggests she’s been recording with Thomas Newman, the man director Sam Mendes has hired to take charge of the Bond music.

"Also, I found a dog-eared copy of the novelisation of Moonraker lying on her bedside cabinet, and I collected some hair from her hairbrush which I used to make a locket which... uh... no, forget the hair bit."

But hang on a moment, is Smart really piecing this together?

BOND bosses are being more secretive than MI6 over who will sing over the closing credits of the latest 007 flick Skyfall.

The appearance of the word "closing" there is curious - wouldn't the normal assumption be that you'd be hiding in the bins watching Adele record the opening theme? Unless, of course, you weren't really using deductive skills and were just trying to disguise some sort of leak.

24 Hours from David: 23. We Have All The Time In The World

Hal David worked with John Barry for the theme tune to On Her Majesty's Secret Service. It then got reworked all over me by My Bloody Valentine. This appeared on an album Peace Together, a 1993 attempt to solve the Troubles in Ireland through the power of indie guitar music. It wasn't all Bond covers - it included Curve doing Ian Dury and Therapy? having a go at being the Police. But the Valentines doing Bond was something of a highlight.

Altogether now: "No, Mr Bond, I expect you to disappear for twenty years burning through Alan McGee's money."

[Buy: Peace Together]
[Part of 24 Hours from David]

24 Hours from David: 16. Wishin' And Hopin'

This is from the opening credits of My Best Friend's Wedding. Oh, but you've probably spotted that already. It's by Ani DiFranco, which you might also have spotted.

Wikipedia suggests that this pairing was responsible for the resurgence in popularity of the Bacharach and David catalogue, which gets a well-deserved "by whom" tag. It should probably also get a "when were they not popular?" tag, too.

[Buy: Wishnin' And Hopin']
[Part of 24 Hours from David]

Steven Tyler: toy story

Steven Tyler has written a theme song for a forthcoming movie, and is proud of his work:

The band's frontman thinks their track, 'Legendary Child', is the perfect song to accompany the forthcoming [...] movie [...] because its theme of the group struggling to overcome adversity in the music industry is reflected in the film characters' onscreen battles.

And what is this titanic onscreen battle?

It's, erm GI Joe: Retaliation. Surely the only way to really capture that film in music is by using a toy piano?

Gordon in the morning: No, Mr Smart, I expect you to lie

Dan 'lost' Sales has a red-hot exclusive for Gordon's page today, claiming that Noel Gallagher is going to write the new Bond theme:

The Wonderwall writer, 44, is to meet 007 bosses within the next few days to discuss writing the title track.

A source told The Sun: "They're going to talk about potentially writing and performing the song for next year's new Bond film.

"Nothing is signed or official, it's just being discussed at the moment."

This might come as a surprise to Bizarre readers, who were assured by Gordon hi'self last month that Adele was doing the theme:

ADELE's voice must be back to its best – she has started trying to match Shirley Bassey's huge vocals.

She's warming up her pipes ready to start recording the next James Bond theme.

Perhaps it'll be a duet.

Or maybe The Sun is just making stuff up.

Seriously: Gallagher doing a Bond theme? Don't they usually for someone the American audience have heard of?

Radiobit: 'Big' George Webley

George Webley - known as Big George - has died suddenly.

George had two long-running stints with BBC Radio London, in its GLR and 94.9 incarnations - he was currently presenting overnights on weekdays - and a spell at Three Counties Radio on breakfast. He was 2002's Sony Music Presenter of the Year.

His time on GLR had come to a dramatic halt when he had a heart attack during a programme - although he finished the show, he took a long break from radio to recover; he also became patron of the Milton Keynes Community Cardiac Group as a result of his experience.

His other career was as a producer, arranger and composer - he worked for EMI producing chart hits during his 30s; a move into television came as bandleader for Derek Jameson Tonight, the short-lived attempt to turn Derek Jameson into a new Michael Parkinson.

Webley would go on to become a go-to guy for programmes in search of a theme tune or arrangement; his work still graces Have I Got News For You and the residuals from having done the version of Handbags And Gladrags used by The Office must have been quite nice.

George Webley was 53; the cause of his death has not been announced.

Bookmarks: Some stuff to read on the internet

Bob Stanley tells The Times about the time Saint Etienne tried to nab the gig theming the Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies:

Along with our arranger Gerard Johnson we booked a day in a London studio and worked out a demo called Tomorrow Never Dies. Clearly, this entailed us avoiding most of our favourite lyrical subjects (cars with the top down, escaping the city, listening to the radio, sitting in the pub) and contemplating some less familiar to our world of pop – cars with ejector seats, escaping from megalomaniac baddies, having sex with eight women in 96 minutes.

Quantum leaps

So, not Winehouse. Not Duffy. The next Bond theme will be done by Alicia Keys and Jack White. It's a duet, you see - the first time the Bond theme has been done as a duet, which we're given to understand is in some way significant.

The pairing seems a little clunky, but we expect they had Keys signed up before realising they'd need someone who could think of a rhyme for Quantum. And Solace.

If it wasn't Amy Winehouse...

We wouldn't want to be as cynical to suggest that the entire entertainment industry - prompted by a "Did you mean Adele?" message - have done a find and replace throughout everywhere to take out the words "Amy Winehouse" and drop in "Duffy" instead, but - oh look - Duffy is now being mentioned as the likely singer of the new Bond theme.

Not stirred

So, after more packing in more flip-flops than a busload of British tourists heading to Orlando, it turns out that Amy Winehouse won't be doing the new Bond theme. Because - surprise - she's too screwed:

Speaking to Sky News, Mark [Ronson] explained: "We tried to work for a little bit. I'm not sure she's ready to work on music yet."

Asked if the track would ever be completed, he replied: "I don't think so unless by some miracle of science it gets recorded and someone sings a vocal on it so probably not. We did work on it but we never finished it so that's about it."

Amusingly, Winehouse's people have countered the project foundered on "muscial differences". Like Ronson wanted to make some, Winehouse wanted to just score.

Something to listen to: The Travelling Library Service

New pop thrills: The theme from Sorry, Ronnie Corbett's sitcom about a mentally ill adult being slowly smothered by his mother, has been discoed up by Kick And The Teeth.

It'll refresh memories of feeling slightly uneasy on Thursday evenings wondering why his friend with the motorbike didn't ever think to contact social services.

[via Digicreamtimes]