By The Landlord
“Hegel remarks that all great, world-historical facts and personages occur, as it were, twice. He has forgotten to add: the first time as tragedy, the second as farce.” – Karl Marx, The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, 1852
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” – George Santayana, The Life of Reason, 1905
“Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe.” – H.G. Wells, The Outline of History (1920)
“History is a vast early warning system.” – Norman Cousins, Saturday Review (1973)
“History repeats the old conceits
The glib replies the same defeats,
Keep your finger on important issues
With crocodile tears and a pocketful of tissues
I'm just the oily slick
On the windup world of the nervous tick ...” – Elvis Costello, Beyond Belief, 1982
“The prime minister is not under a desk.” – Penny Mordaunt, House of Commons, 2022
Wow, what a year. That went fast.
It only feels like a couple of weeks ago when Christmas 2021 was about to arrive, with the same decorations and similar preparations. So much has happened, but then again also, so little has changed. Perhaps the secret of slowing down time, and therefore making the most of it all, is to fill your life with as much variety as possible.
How has your year been, and what are your abiding memories of 2022? There have been some seismic, surprising events. Yet at the same time, they've all been weirdly predictable. They’ve also been played out on a media battlefield where popular delusion and self-interest have also smashed up against reality.
In a series of bizarre and farcical events far beyond even the imagination of any In The Thick Of It scriptwriters, in the UK we've had an unprecedented three prime ministers in one year. The first, Johnson, a lying, lazy buffoon finally ousted but still trying to cling on. The second, Truss, an absurd fantasist who promised vast tax cuts then crashed the economy. The third, Sunak, the result of a long drift into mediocrity and far-right nationalism. All coming at just the wrong time, and all puppets of wider wealth interests, tactically donating (bribing), manipulating, dividing, controlling.
Talking of which, the Russian leader and his elite oligarch friends at home and abroad. A crazy, disastrous invasion of Ukraine fuelled by a monstrous, murdering ego, who has got away with even more murder abroad (Salisbury, anyone?), so has just continued, and extended the trend. After Chechnya, and Crimea, and Soviet history generally, did we not also see this coming? But with the evil and clever comes also the incredibly stupid (see also Trump) – terrible planning and delusions about power, and also forgetting how badly things might go, as Chechnya proved.
Extreme temperatures, droughts and heatwaves and freezes, storms and floods. Everywhere. I think that has been predicted, hasn't it? For only the past 50 years it has. Now it's really, really happening, but the new Green King Charles III, who has shown an unusual interest in environment issues for decades, didn't go to COP27 because the shortest-serving prime minister ever, and oil-industry-sponsored Liz Truss said no. Pathetic, but also predictable.
Liz Truss was also the last prime minister to meet and shake hands with Queen Elizabeth II. Just two days before she died. I'm surprised it took that long.
The Queen dying, at a grand old age of 96, was not exactly a shock. People get old and pass away. Yes, that’s still ultimately sad. But the reaction was extraordinary. A country in a state of strange, and for some enforced paralysis, having lost a figure who was a sterling and stamp and souvenir plate constant in all living memory, but who lived in a parallel, other universe of extraordinary wealth and privilege and who barely said anything, and certainly not anything carefully scripted by others. Still, the Paddington marmalade sandwich moment made me laugh. That excited grin. Her finest ever performance:
And then, the funeral 10-day period. What did many of the British population do? Ah yes, what we do best. Queue.
Oh, the royals. Don't get me started. Such a talent for historic embarrassment. Harry and Meghan finally escaping. Prince Andrew.
But there are distractions. There's sport for example. The World Cup. Pure football joy, untainted by .. oh, hang on a minute. Qatar. Thousands of dead workers. But at least now that's over it's not as if football clubs are owned by any of these repressive, regimes is it? Sport and politics don't mix, they say ...
But of course everything is connected. I think that always been obvious, but even more by now, isn't it? Climate change knows no borders. And if there's a war in Europe, then your fuel prices will rocket. No supplies, more demand from gas to grain. If you sever ties with your trading partners then the economy will suffer. If you don’t invest in sustainable energy when borrowing was still cheap, then you’re screwed. Everything has consequences.
And here at the Bar, it's also all about connections, but hopefully good ones. Connecting themes, ideas, lyrics and people. We're a mere drop in the great swirling pond of the world, but onwards we turn, and at least we know our limits and what we like. I hope we can continue.
So please share your thoughts on anything about 2022, and include in particular your discoveries in music old or new. You may have discovered and shared much via our Thematic blogs and playlists, but also I hope, all the hundreds of items into which I've placed in the Albums section, which mixes the mainstream and the independent, and Song of the Day, which particularly seeks to deep dive into the smaller labels and the more hidden parts of the music's endlessly creative universe. They also connect us to the present as well as the past, and a wider world and audience.
You may also have seen some great gigs. And you might have even enjoyed the deliberate obscurity of Word of the Week, which this year has mostly looked into lesser known musical instruments. Nagelgeige, melochord, umrhubhe, xun, waterphone, byzanchy, cümbüş. There’s always so much to enjoy and discover.
There are always scratches, but the world keeps turning …
Inevitably, music has also lost many outstanding figures in 2022, some of whom lived long and successfully, others who were tragically cut short and still had much to offer. There are many, too many to mention as always, but let’s pay tribute to these too, including Ronnie Spector, Jerry Lee Lewis, Mark Lanegan, Nicky Tesco, Taylor Hawkins, Vangelis, Paul Ryder, Cathal Coughlan, Meat Loaf, Ricky Gardiner, Keith Levene, Wilko Johnson, Christine McVie, Jet Black, Martin Duffy, Mimi Parker and most recently, Terry Hall. Celebrate and remember them.
All of which leaves me to thank you all for your many contributions, whether that be in taking the playlist guru's chair, nominating songs, your general conviviality and of course any donations. All of these are invaluable to our special local and global gathering place. Happily we continue to attract a wide and ever growing readership.
So then, I look forward to hearing from you and wish you all the very best of health, a very Merry Christmas, or any other celebration, wherever you are in the world.
Save those marmalade sandwiches. I raise to you a glass.
Cheers!
Your Friendly Song Bar Landlord
One way to make sense of it all …
New to comment? It is quick and easy. You just need to login to Disqus once. All is explained in About/FAQs ...
Fancy a turn behind the pumps at The Song Bar? Care to choose a playlist from songs nominated and write something about it? Then feel free to contact The Song Bar here, or try the usual email address. Also please follow us social media: Song Bar Twitter, Song Bar Facebook. Song Bar YouTube, and Song Bar Instagram. Please subscribe, follow and share.
Song Bar is non-profit and is simply about sharing great music. We don’t do clickbait or advertisements. Please make any donation to help keep the Bar running: