Skip to main content

Sing-along Café 2024-09-05

Our theme was fun! September and School, and Summer too.

I'm not going to list all the songs, but you can find them in my Apple Playlist, which you can access here.

I had fun making this week's playlist, and we can keep using it for school-themed songs and for summer and fall, and even new beginnings. In fact, we'll use it next week again. We didn't listen to some key songs, so we can do them first (See You in September, She Blinded Me With Science)

The fist song, the one that started the list, was September by Earth, Wind and Fire. Later, I found another version which I absolutelty adore. Lots of songs with a school theme came next, and we noticed that most of them had a negative or rebellious tone. School for me was fun and interesting and I loved it. I didn't break rules, I loved them, and thrived among rules and patterns and details. I'm not a rock star. Another thing that stood out in the school theme was love stories, and a focus on the opposite sex (mostly girls). I do remember that obsession with dating and couples and falling in and out of love all the time in school. The biggest thing about September for me is that it marks a new beginning, even more clearly than January first. A new school year, with new clothes and new friends, and new after-school activities is a really big deal. The difference between summer days, summer schedules, and fall ones is huge. The song Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield gives me those vibes. We went off on tangents as usual. For a few songs, we listened to a band that Josh likes, Vulfpeck, which was so cool. Sometimes, a song reminds you of another song and then you wander down a different path, and it's wonderful. I'm happy to stray from my playlist. 

We enjoyed cinnamon apple tea and two kinds of cookies while we sat comfortably on the sofa and armchairs in the fellowship room. I was very happy to see my friend Robin from the York Region Community Choir again and it was extra special to welcome Josh from church for the first time. Because we were such a small group, we could do lots of talking and it was excellent.

Here's a list of some of the songs we listened to and sang along with:

  • September by Earth, Wind, and Fire
  • September by Campside Dream
  • Be True to Your School by The Beach Boys
  • Rock'N'Roll High School by The Ramones
  • Smokin' ni the Boys Room by Brownsville Station
  • Getting Better by The Beatles
  • Don't Stand So Close to Me by The Police
  • Wonderful World and Only Sixteen by Sam Cooke
  • Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield
  • ABC by the Jackson5
  • To Sir With Love by Lulu and Glee Cast
  • Summertive Sadness by Lana Del Rey
  • Sealed With a Kiss by Bobby Vinton
  • Autumn Leaves by Eric Clapton
  • 1612 and Dean Town by Vulfpeck









Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Thursday, April 18 Sing-along Café Review

The theme for the evening was: Songs with La-las (and other nonsense: ooh, doo-dah, na-na, scoobie-doobie, bum-ba-bum, hey!). I call all of these little non-word lyrics la-las. They're often my favourite part of a song. Everyone can sing those words, usually. With scat singing, not usually, and with yodeling, not everyone. But, think about the Beatles song Hey Jude. At the end, everyone can sing along with the na-nas and some of us even like to harmonize with them. When my daughter was writing songs, I urged her to put some nonesense la-las in her songs. Don't worry about finding beautiful, powerful words for all the verses, or all the lines of the chorus. Sometimes, the lack of words makes a melody more powerful.  Here's the list of songs we sang and listened to: Can't Get You Out of My Head   by Kylie Minogue Everything   by Michael Bublé Those Were the Days   by Mary Hopkin Hey Jude   by the Beatles Tom's Diner   by Suzanne Vega &DNA De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da

Thursday, April 11 Sing-along Café Review

The theme for the evening was: Songs with Instumentals that We Sing.  The easiest way to introduce this theme is "Sweet Caroline, BA-BA-BA!". Everyone sings along with the brass section, singing like trumpets. There's also a little instrumental interlude that I sing along with. I almost always sing la-las (or ba-ba, da-da, nya-nya, doo, dit, bop...) for the instrumental introductions and interludes in songs. I sing with classical instrumental music, joking that "I know all the words." I'm not the only one. You do this too. Here's the list of songs we sang: Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond A Taste of Honey by Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass Wipe Out by the Surfaris The Fool on the Hill by the Beatles I'll Never Fall in Love Again by Dionne Warwick Windy by The Association Careless Whisper by George Michael True by Spandau Ballet Down Under by Men at Work Feeling Good by Michael Bublé More Than a Feeling by Boston Baker Street by Gerry Raffer

New Name of My Singing Night: Sing-along Café