Themed Music Evening
On Thursday 15th August we held a Themed Music Evening for our weekly get-together at the Scout Hall. We first tried this back in June and it could vaguely be described as successful, so we thought we'd put another one on the programme. The theme this time was Gemstones and I'd received 15 suggestions, plus I had the two songs that I'd whittled my shortlist of 150+ down to.
Whilst everyone got tea / coffee and biscuits, so that I could check I had correctly connected the speakers to my laptop and therefore had sound working properly, we started the evening with a Neil Diamond medley that encompassed the two songs suggested, in absentia, by Brian. We then settled down to business. In turn, each person who had submitted a suggestion explained why they'd chosen it, I played the song and then we had a brief discussion as to whether anyone had heard the song before / whether we liked it. Many of the songs that were played, and even some of the artists, were new to several people in the group.
Although two of them were then asked to come up with an alternative choice, three people suggested "Diamonds and Rust" by Joan Baez and two people suggested (different) songs by Caro Emerald, yet our eclectic selection still managed to cover pearls, emeralds, jet, rubies and diamonds and we had a mix of jazz, blues, country, pop and rock. It was a fun evening that could have gone on for a lot longer than the time we had available - it was such a shame that we had to cut Glenn Hoddle and Chris Waddle's "Diamond Lights" short!
Our playlist consisted of the following:
Pearl in the Shell by Howard Jones
Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond
Absolutely Me by Caro Emerald
Diamonds and Rust by Joan Baez
Jet by Paul McCartney & Wings
The Birth of the Blues by Pearl Bailey
Emerald Eyes by Fleetwood Mac
Back It Up by Caro Emerald
Diamond Smiles by The Boomtown Rats
Hollywood by Marina and the Diamonds
Diamond Lights by Glen Hoddle & Chris Waddle
Leaving on a Jet Plane by John Denver
Diamonds on the Water by Enya
Diamonds are Forever by Shirley Bassey
Ruby by Kaiser Chiefs
Beautiful Noise by Neil Diamond
Rock n Roll Ruby by Johnny Cash
I look forward to adding another evening, with a different theme, when we plan the next programme.
Jill S. 19th August 2024