I would guess no band in history has spawned as many covers as the Beatles. Some covers are mediocre but there are others which transcend the original.  Australia has produced some memorable Beatle covers such as John Farnham’s impressive version of Help. The Zoot’s heavy rock version of Eleanor Rigby was praised by John Lennon. Johnny Young also impressed with his sumptuous cover of All My Loving. Lesser known but still good covers are David and Jonathan with Michelle and the Truth’s Girl. And who can forget Shirley Bassey’s heart rending version of the George Harrison classic Something.

 

PLAYLIST

* Here Comes The Sun – Nina Simone

* The Fool On The Hill – Bobbie Gentry

* Dear Prudence – Doug Parkinson In Focus

* She’s A Woman – Jeff Beck

* Something – Shirley Bassey

* Help – John Farnham

* Eleanor Rigby – Zoot

* Day Tripper – ELO

* Michelle – David and Jonathan

* Get Back – Ike & Tina Turner

* Girl -The Truth

* All My Loving – Johnny Young

This week we say farewell to Australia’s Broderick Smith of the Dingoes and Broderick Smith’s Big Combo along with American favourite Gordon Lightfoot.

Are You an Angel or a Devil? Everyone has at least some angelic qualities and everyone has some devilish ones and songwriters over the years have written a variety of songs around these qualities. This week’s theme reveals songs that refer to the word DEVIL or its antonym ANGEL in their titles. Impish songs include Cliff Richard’s and Marty Robbins‘ ‘Devil Woman’. Saintly songs have both Charley Pride and Merrilee Rush seeing Angels in the morning while Bobby Vee just can’t decide between ‘Devil or Angel‘.

 

PLAYLIST

* Teen Angel – Mark Dinning

* Devil Woman – Marty Robbins

* Devil Gate Drive – Suzi Quatro

* The Devil Went Down to Georgia – Charlie Daniels Band

* Blue Angel – Roy Orbison

* Angel of the Morning – Merrilee Rush

* Devil Woman – Cliff Richard

* My Special Angel – Bobby Helms

* Devil in Her Heart – Beatles

* Devil or Angel – Bobby Vee

* Kiss An Angel Good Morning – Charley Daniels

* Devil in Disguise – Elvis Presley

In its 30th year JOY once again asks for support to keep us on air. Yesterday Once More is in its eleventh year and we want to keep on going. All of our specially selected songs this week are to promote togetherness starting with the Beatles’ classic Come Together. Al Green’s Let’s Stay Together and Bryan Ferry’s Let’s Stick Together echo the theme of the importance of togetherness. John Lennon’s anthem for world togetherness is his classic song Imagine. Sister Sledge sum up the whole experience of togetherness with an LGBTIQ+ favourite We Are Family.

 

PLAYLIST

* Come Together- Beatles

* Let’s Stay Together – Al Green

* Everyday People – Sly & The Family Stone

* We Go Together – Olivia Newton-John / John Travolta

* Imagine – John Lennon

* We Are Family – Sister Sledge

* Stand By Me – Ben E King

* What A Wonderful World  – Louis Armstrong

* Let’s Stick Together – Bryan Ferry

We are heading in various directions this week as we include songs that reference the cardinal COMPASS POINTS North, South, East and West. The show kicks off with Cold Chisel’s Ita from their award-winning East album. In North America Patsy Cline is heading south to Mexico, Johnny Horton prefers the northern chill of Alaska while Albert Hammond is concerned with the rain in southern California. West is the popular choice of direction for the Australian Dingoes, American Village People, the English Escape Club and Benny Hill with Ernie . Tony Fisher sings of the west in relation to the Berlin wall, Max Merritt makes reference to the telecommunication system in Western Union Man, Herman’s Hermits sings of the good life in East West and Chris Farlowe has all points covered in his song North South East and West.

PLAYLIST

* Ita – Cold Chisel

* North South East West – Chris Farlowe

* Wild Wild West – Escape Club

* Ernie, The Fastest Milkman in the West – Benny Hill

* Go West – Village People

* Western Union Man – Max Merritt & the Meteors

* Way Out West – Dingoes

* It Never Rains in Southern California – Albert Hammond

* West of the Wall – Toni Fisher

* North to Alaska – Johnny Horton

* East West – Herman’s Hermits

* South of the Border – Patsy Cline

Many songs fall naturally into the Past, The Present or The Future category. We start off with the present and Aussie super group Men At Work with their debut international hit Who Can It Be Now. Then we peep into the future with the great female sixties band The Shirelles with their Gerry Goffin and Carole King penned classic Will You Love Me Tomorrow. The Past is rich pickings for many songwriters as it appeals to the nostalgia in us. Mary Hopkin sings her huge Paul McCartney produced Those Were The Days And ex pat Aussie, Frank Ifield sings and yodels his way through I Remember You and legend, Barbra Streisand sings her classic The Way We Were.

PLAYLIST

* Who Can It Be Now – Men At Work

* Will You Love Me Tomorrow – The Shirelles

* The Way We Were – Barbra Streisand

* Tomorrow – Sandi Shaw

* Tomorrow Never Knows – The Beatles

* Someday We’ll Be Together – The Supremes

* Those Were The Days – Mary Hopkin

* In My Life – The Beatles

* Baby Now That I’ve Found You – The Foundations

* Who’s Sorry Now? – Connie Francis

* Right Now – Johnny O’Keefe

* I Remember You – Frank Ifield

AUSTRALIS OUR ISLAND LAND, the focus of this week’s program, comprises a variety of wonderful Australian artists.

The 60’s Strangers from Melbourne, the 70’s group the Reels from Dubbo, and the Brisbane Saints inject distinctly different sounds. Also contributing to the show are Jeff St John (who teamed up with the Id), the everlasting international duo Air Supply and the diverse voices of soloists Olivia Newton John, Kate Ceberano, Marcia Hines, Rene Geyer, Doug Ashdown, Ross D Wyllie and Frank Ifield.

 

PLAYLIST

* My Melanie Makes Me Smile – Strangers

* Love Don’t Live Here Any More – Kate Ceberano

* Every Woman in the World – Air Supply

* Fire & Rain – Marcia Hines

* Know Your Product – The Saints

* And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda – Doug Ashdown

* Say I Love You – Renee Geyer

* This Guy’s in Love With You – The Reels

* Banks of the Ohio – Olivia Newton John

* Big Time Operator – Jeff St John & the Id

* Funny Man – Ross D Wyllie

* Lovesick Blues – Frank Ifield

This week’s program features two artists; New York’s Melanie and Aussie icon Brian Cadd. Melanie’s biggest hit was Brand New Key. But she also found popularity with other songs like Look What They’ve Done To My Song Ma and Lay Down, accompanied by the Edwin Hawkins Singers. Don’t miss her knockout version of the Rolling Stones’ song Ruby Tuesday. Brian Cadd achieved solo success with Let Go and Ginger Man. He was also the lead singer of Axiom performing the hit songs A Little Ray Of Sunshine, My Baby’s Gone and Arkansas Grass.

PLAYLIST

* Beautiful People – Melanie

* A Little Ray Of Sunshine – Axiom

* Look What They’ve Done To My Song Ma – Melanie

* Show Me The Way – Brain Cadd

* Ruby Tuesday – Melanie

* Let Go – Brian Cadd

* Lay Down (Candles In The Rain) – Melanie

* Ginger Man – Brian Cadd

* Alexander Beetle – Melanie

* My Baby’s Gone – Axiom

* Brand New Key – Melanie

* Arkansas Grass – Axiom

ACROSS THE SEASONS, this week’s topic, could well have been named the summer show given we included seven Summer themed songs from ABBA, Johnny Rivers, Bobby Goldsboro, Seals & Croft, Sherbet, the Lovin’ Spoonful and the Percy Faith Orchestra.

The complementary seasonal songs include  David Essex’s A Winter’s Tale, Tony Pass’s Spring Fever, Nat King Cole’s beautiful version of Autumn Leaves, Jimmy Durante’s September Song and Liv Maessen’s Snowbird.

 

PLAYLIST

* ABBA – Our Last Summer

* Summer Rain – Johnny Rivers

* Summer Love – Sherbet

* A Winter’s Tale – David Essex

* Summer Breeze – Seals and Croft

* Summer the First Time – Bobby Golsboro

* Spring Fever – Tony Pass

* September Song – Jimmy Durante

* Summer in the City – Lovin Spoonful

* Autumn Leaves – Nat King Cole

* Snowbird – Liv Maessen

* Theme From a Summer Place – Percy Faith Orchestra