Rainy Days and Songdays – singing in the Welsh Valleys

The old land of my fathers is dear to me, A land of poets, singers, famous celebrities; Her brave warriors, ardent patriots, for freedom they lost their blood – Welsh National Anthem Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau (Land of My Fathers)  

Dydd, Gwyl, Dewi, Hapus as you need to say in a North Wales pub today, St David’s Day…

Only they’re not open (probably) because of lockdown.

I know more about Wales’s lock-in rules than their lockdown regulations.

I spent much of my year in Cardiff as a post-graduate student in lock-ins in Kildare’s Bar.

There was much singing there.

And as a Scots fan at the rugby, although we were drowned out by the Welsh chanting before our biennial drubbing.

So on this day of days for the Welsh, and with a rugby victory over England fresh in their memories from the weekend…

A celebration here of Welsh singers.

You can count on Bassey

Shirley Bassey: And what better introduction to life for a new-born baby boy than Shirley Bassey belting out at you?

And Son and Heir you can thank me later for playing the Queen of Tiger Bay to you when you came out of hospital.

You were put on Earth to be, a part of this great world is thee, and thy life.

The Jones Boyo

Tom Jones: Take a Biblical story, give it a Mariachi feel and employ a Welsh heartthrob crooner.

And you’ve got Tom Jones’s Delilah.

The Jones Boyo is, of course, legendary in Las Vegas.

But, in truth, has a residency at any and every party around the world.

And on cruise ships wandering aimlessly around the English Channel.

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!

Welsh Preachers and Phonics

Manic Street Preachers and Stereophonics: Tread Caerphilly, the Manics are pure rat-a-tat-tat rock.

With a skill for a title which we love…

Motorcycle Emptiness, A Design for Life, If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next.

While the Rhondda Valleys’ finest, the Phonics make it on the list.

For raspy Kerry Jones and his rendition of the old classic Handbags and Gladrags.

Daddy’s Little Girl called it the Black Black Song… ‘four and twenty blackbirds in a cake and bake them all in a pie.’

Church music

Charlotte Church: Only the Voice of an 11-year-old Angel can sound good over the telephone on TV’s This Morning.

Charlotte went on to sing at Rupert Murdoch and Wendy Deng’s wedding and had a celebrity marriage herself to rugby star Gavin Henson.

The Llandaff, Cardiff lass’s signature tune… Pie Jesu.

Time to say

Kathrerine Jenkins: Beauty, grace and gravitas, that’s Neath‘s finest Kathryn and Pisa‘s Andrea Bocelli.

And their haunting Time To Say Goodbye.

Of course Time To Say Goodbye is inexorably ties up with Italy.

And it played out in the piazza in Bergamo the last time I was allowed out of the country.