May each day of the year be a good one - Andy Williams.

Well I've never been wished a 'fertile' Tuesday before ...thanks Simon ;)



Morning to all - a happy, if dull and damp, Mayday.



Oldies - a quick few while I have a proper 'thunk' for something more orginal:

Dance to the Music - Sly & the Family Stone

Round and Round - Spandau Ballet

Let's Dance - David Bowie

OOPs.... 'in the year!'

Morning Simon, team, NYM and smoky bacon bloggers



Already said hello on the old blog, but everyone ran away.



Pinch. Punch.



May Day oldies, you say?



ALL AROUND MY HAT - Steeleye Span



DANCE YOURSELF DIZZY - Liquid Gold



I GET AROUND - Beach Boys



COMING ROUND AGAIN - Carly Simon



S.O.S. - Abba (May Day, May Day, May Day)

Good Morning Simon, Team and Blogpoppets



Mayday oldies, you say? How about:



SOS by ABBA



Or possibly:



MAGGIE MAY by Rod Stewart



HERE COMES SUMMER by Jerry Keller



CELEBRATION by Kool and the Gang



CELEBRATION by Madonna



~X~

Good morning, again, everyone.



Seems aperfect opportunity to play:



MAY DAY by BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST



Never, ever, the "poor man's Moody Blues"!

#4 Haha! Great minds John - thought I was being clever with that Abba suggestion...



~X~

Good morning, over here today is called 'Fete du Travail' so on behalf of the workers can I suggest :-

PART OF THE UNION - STRAWBS

Doh! 'In the week' not 'year!'



That will teach me, for rushing in to get the first post!

#7 Deebee - ha! Seems like we need it with all these floods.





Fertility rites vs skipping round the May pole with a tankard of mead? A bit like the age old battle between an early night vs something good on the telly.





I LOVE TO LOVE (BUT MY BABY JUST LOVES TO DANCE) - Tina Charles





Go on, you'll make so many people happy. (And quite a few not so happy)

Blimey, Tina Charles comes up trumps again



DANCE LITTLE LADY DANCE - Tina Charles



*Goes away to practise John Travolta moves in bedroom mirror*

JOHN, I'M ONLY DANCING - David Bowie



DO YOU WANNA DANCE? - The Beach Boys



*goes to get coffee, to give others time to get on here*

So, to amend #1...



MAY each day in the week be a GOOD one - Andy Williams.



Nice moves John! ;)

#13 Sal - just call me Tony!



YOU SHOULD BE DANCING - BeeGees

PADSTOW - STEELEYE SPAN



SUMMER IS ICUMEN IN - RICHARD THOMPSON

Oh, for the May Queen, surely it has to be:



DANCING QUEEN - Abba



Really need coffee now. Where's King Buzz?

#8 As there are other other aspects to Labour Day than Trades Unions:



The people's flag is deepest red,

It shrouded oft our martyred dead,

And ere their limbs grew stiff and cold,

Their hearts' blood dyed its ev'ry fold.

Then raise the scarlet standard high.

Within its shade we'll live and die,

Though cowards flinch and traitors sneer,

We'll keep the red flag flying here.

Morning everyone



I'm sorry for people who still have awful weather and hope it improves soon!



FIRST OF MAY ~ Bee Gees



ROUND ROUND ~ Sugababes



LET'S DANCE ~ David Bowie



MAY THE SUNSHINE ~ Nazareth



DO YOU WANNA DANCE? ~ Cliff Richard



I GET AROUND ~ The Beach Boys

A few more.....



SCARBOROUGH FAIR ~ Simon & Garfunkel (I can picture a maypole there)



MAY IT BE ~ Enya (Not heard this in ages)



LET'S DANCE ~ Chris Montez (I'll see him sing this on Sunday night)

Good morning, everybody!



Mist rising off the river this morning, so I took the long way to work to take in the view. I ended up driving through the thickest pea soup I've experienced for many years.

I came back over the hill towards work, into glorious sunshine! I really enjoyed my journey in today.



Having said that, the 'soul-salve' has done nothing for my imagination: I'm struggling to think of any MAYDAY tunes.



#4/#5 JBG/Deebee

Thank you for reminding me of one of my favourite TV moments, from Red Dwarf:

"...

RIMMER: Mayday! Mayday! (To LISTER) I wonder why it's "Mayday?"

LISTER: Eh?

RIMMER: The distress call. Why d'you say "Mayday?" It's only a Bank

Holiday. Why not "Shrove Tuesday" or "Ascension Sunday?" (Mimics)

Ascension Sunday! Ascension Sunday! The fifteenth Wednesday after

Pentecost! The fifteenth Wednesday after Pentecost!

LISTER: It's French, you doink. It's m'aidez. Help me. Muh-aid-ay

(Sighs.)

..."



May be back with oldies, if my first coffee gives me inspiration...



--

kkcBzz

Is it too early to embarrass myself?



Dance Yourself Dizzy - Liquid Gold



Good morning Simon, Team and blogpoppets.



Hope all safe and dry.



x

Good morning, my fellow bloggers. Another grim and dreary day. Absent yesterday as I was working from home and simply had way too much to do to get on here. But back to normal today. Whatever 'normal' is...



The effect that the rain is having on the Thames behind our house is quite remarkable. It's quite a mature stretch of the river so normally quite slow moving and calm, but now it's muddy, turbulent and fast flowing. It's also risen about 3 feet and I suspect it will rise a little more yet. But water fascinates me, so I'm quite enjoying it, safe in the knowledge that the riverbank on this side is about 2 feet higher than on the other side.



I thought I'd be clever by interpreting Mayday as an emergency but it seems I wasn't the only one!



Anyhow, first thoughts for today, all based on the 'all-going-horribly-wrong' interpretation of Mayday...



BILLY OCEAN - Red Light Spells Danger



THE BEATLES - Help!



SPENCER DAVIS GROUP - Somebody Help Me



FONTELLA BASS - Rescue Me



THE PRIMITIVES - Crash

Leading to



Dizzy - Vic Reeves & his Wonderstuff



About time I returned to Viking shores I think



X

Hi Simon and everyone



Hope all not too wet.



Maybe some May Day frivolity will exorcise the dampness.



1. LABOUR OF LOVE - Hue & Cry

2. ROUND AND ROUND - Jakki Graham

3. MAKING WHOOPEE - Rod Stewart

4. MAGGIE MAY - Rod Stewart

5. Swords of a thousand men - TENPOLE TUDOR

6. DANCING IN THE MOONLIGHT - Toploader

7. COME WHAT MAY - Ewan Mcgregor in Moulin Rouge

8. THIS CHARMING MAN -MORRISEY

9. RING MY BELL - Anita Ward

10. CELEBRATION - Kool and the Gang



Oh well no rest for the wicked ...busy busy busy



Laters folks



Mandy ;)

The day after I bought my first single (Oliver's Army, Watford WHS 69p) I was emboldened and went back to buy three others one of which I suggest for today's Mayday theme, namely:



CLOG DANCE - Violinski



(for those remotely interested the other two were I Will Survive and Luck Number!)

Morning Simon,



How about:



SOWING THE SEEDS OF LOVE by TEARS FOR FEARS ? ;-)



madchick x

Let's Go Round Again - Average White Band



x

Mr M has just tweeted the theme "labour day, maypoles and fertility rites (emergencies at sea, less so)". Looks like Abba is out of the equation ;-)



x

This might fit the theme....





HERE WE GO ROUND ~ Traffic

Years May Come, Years May Go - Hermans Hermits.

Good Morning Simon and Poppeteers



Late start for me as I was washing my face in the dew for a couple of hours to look beautiful. It didn't work.



After dancing round the Maypole how about :



DIZZY - TOMMY RAE

#28 Ah. Back to the drawing board, then... :o)

Seven Fecunds by Youssou N'Dour and featuring Neneh Cherry

One more....



MONTH OF MAY ~ Arcade Fire

Dancing in the street - Mamas and Papas OR Bowie and Jagger.

Did somebody say "fertility rites"?



PENCIL FULL OF LEAD - Paolo Nutini



ALL NIGHT LONG - Lionel Richie



IT AIN'T WHAT YOU DO, IT'S THE WAY THAT YOU DO IT - Fun Boy Three & Bananarama

Morning all!



Might seem a strange choice, but:



LET YOUR LOVE FLOW - BELLAMY BROTHERS

DANCE - THE BRILLIANT THINGS



NORTH COUNTRY FAIR - BOB DYLAN



LET'S TWIST AGAIN - CHUBBY CHECKER



Sorry if they have been said already

#36... following on from your song choices, John I-m only dancing....



THE BABY ~ The Hollies

#36 Lol! I think I can hear the beckon of the norty step!

The only other one I can suggest is



MAY IT BE - ENYA



Only because it has 'May' in the title although as a song, it's not very jolly!



Shows how mis-aligned I am today. No sleep. I have a totally irrational fear of thunderstorms and was awake much of the night clinging to Husband Hoffs as the thunder rolled around the valley. Anyone got any match-sticks please?



Have a good day. Will be listening out for bloggers' names x

Once more Happy Tuesdays all round and Mayfest greetings Simon, the Drive Team and Constructors ..



CELEBRATION DAY - LED ZEPPELIN



IS IT LIKE TODAY - WORLD PARTY



DANCING IN THE STREET - MARTHA AND THE VANDELLAS



FIRST OF MAY - BEE GEES

A few more:



LOVE ACTION by HUMAN LEAGUE



OUT IN THE FIELDS by GARY MOORE



RIBBON IN THE SKY by STEVIE WONDER



MY NAME IS JACK by MANFRED MANN ( in Kent, Jack in the Green is woken by Morris Dancers on MayDay)

Good morning from a dry but dull Scottish Borders!



Dogs walked, mud scraped off, tea and toast consumed so now to the oldies....



ALL THAT SHE WANTS (is another baby) - Ace of Base (on the topic of fertility)



...and I'm struggling already.



Back later

J

Scoring big marks on the Vinatge Cheese-ometer:



TIE A YELLOW RIBBON - Tony Orlando & Dawn



I'M IN THE MOOD FOR DANCING - The Nolans

A couple more Mayday suggestions:

Work for the Working Man - Bon Jovi



....and to coin the old joke in relation to fertility



How Do You Like Your Eggs in the Morning - Dean Martin & Helen O'Connell

EVERYBODY DANCE - Chic



I WANNA DANCE WITH SOMEBODY - Whitney





May Day, pagan festivities, Rodmass, maypoles, fertility rites and May Queens..



COSMIC DANCER - T Rex

Has anyone else seen the headline news about Uncle Tony? I say Uncle Tony! Tut Tut.

#47 Listening to it now. Love the way he pronounces "dahhhnce".



*With apologies to bloggers north of Watford Gap*

Only 'Fertility' one for May Day that occurs so far...



JOHN PAUL YOUNG - Love Is In The Air

A meeting beckons.................



Catch you later

Have also tweeted this one:



THE ZOMBIES - Time of the Season (for Loving...)

Scraping the bottom of the barrel a little but how about



THIS IS THE DAY - The The



EVERYONE THINKS HE LOOKS DAFT - The Wedding Present (re Morris men)



BRING ON THE DANCING HORSES - Echo & the Bunnymen (well, if it doesn't happen on May Day it should!)



CEREMONY - New Order



SHE'S LOST CONTROL - Joy Division (dancing round the Maypole?)



I'M WAITING FOR THE MAN - The Velvet Underground (back to fertility)



LOVE ME DO or PLEASE, PLEASE ME or ALL MY LOVING or TWIST AND SHOUT - The Beatles



Think that'll do for today unless I have a blast of inspiration.

J

Morning everyone..................hope all is well with you on this................. cold......wet.......grey.......cold........wet......grey.........May Day...................

oldies today..............................................................................................



WORKING CLASS HERO - JOHN LENNON



SALT OF THE EARTH - THE ROLLING STONES



YOU CAN DANCE IF YOU WANT TO - MEN WITHOUT HATS



MAGGIE MAY - ROD STEWART



THE FIRST OF MAY - BEE GEES



MAY EACH DAY - ANDY WILLIAMS



MAYPOLE - PAUL GIOVANNI



LAND OF 1000 DANCES - WILSON PICKETT



THE CARNY - NICK CAVE



GYPSIES, TRAMPS AND THIEVES - CHER



YOU SPIN ME ROUND - DEAD OR ALIVE



THE VILLAGE GREEN PRESERVATION SOCIETY - KINKS



BUILD ME UP BUTTERCUP - THE FOUNDATIONS



Phew.................busy day for me.............so I'd best get back to that grindstone.............................................................................enjoy............



Dougal x..................................................................................................

Morning all :-)



LET'S GO ROUND AGAIN...AVERAGE WHITE BAND



DANCING IN THE STREET..MARTHA REEVES & THE VANDELLAS



I'M GONNA MAKE YOU LOVE ME...DIANA ROSS & THE SUPREMES



YOU CAN DO MAGIS...LIMMIE & THE FAMILY COOKING



PSL xxx still hugging my AGA...Brrrr!

#48 - Shona - Hmmm. Did you see: 'Blackburn also said today’s artists are better than bands in the 60s and 70s who “just stood there with guitars and sang”.



He added: “These days people like Rihanna can sing, dance and do everything.”



By the way - anyone going to try the BBC online pressure test today?

Bring me to Life - Evanescence

Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White - Modern Romance

Dance Little Sister - Terence Trent D'Arby

Holiday - MAdonna

Moon Dance - Van Morrison

Round and Round - New Order

Seasons in the Sun - Westlife

Helter Skelter - U2



Hope the floods aren't affecting listeners too much. Finally stopped raining in Cornwall/West Devon.



Off to London tomorrow to head office and hoping I don't get lost on the underground. Will miss the show unless I can pinch my Daughters IPod. Hope to be back on Thursday.

THE HIRING FAIR - RALPH MCTELL



COME ALL YE ROLLING MINSTRELS - FAIRPORT CONVENTION



PADSTOW - STEELEYE SPAN





:^)

#48 If Tony Blackburn isn't proud of his 500 conquests, why has he announced it to the world?



Wazzock!

Morning,



#4 & 5 Deebee and John, I'm on your wavelength where "May Day" is concerned and so, it seems, is Dryver with:



HELP by The Beatles



Or perhaps a childhood memory of the May Queen in our village:



DANCING QUEEN by Abba



This afternoon's Pre-School trip to a nature reserve has been postponed due to waterlogged paths. Us parents are secretly delighted but all the kids would have loved emulating their favourite kids tv character Peppa Pig by jumping in muddy puddles.



Have a good day. x

#20. KCBzz Ha! Have you seen this clip about the trainee German coast guard?



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yR0lWICH3rY



#33 Harry - I always think that word sounds very rude!



#45 Rostronposkett - classy choices. I have it on good authority they are both all-time favourites of Dr Mösh.

Good morning all - drizzly and grey but dryness is promised!



Hoping to get veg seeds planted today so Simon's hope for fertility is seconded by me!



Have a good day everyone - see you later.



JW

#61 John (i'mod), especially if you say it with an Irish accent :0)

#56 Hmmm indeed Hoffs.



His musical tastes were always questionable - considering his DJ status

The kindest thing I can say about the man.



;^D

Morning All



Jilly, nice to see you back



'Queen Of The New Year' Deacon Blue



Have a good day everybody

MAY I? by KEVIN AYERS

FIRST OF MAY by THE BEE GEES

MAY YOU NEVER by JOHN MARTYN

MAY THE BIRD OF PARADISE FLY UP YOUR NOSE by LITTLE JIMMY DICKENS

MAY BE I'M AMAZED by PAUL McCARTNEY

Morning all,



First thought:



'Ride a White Swan' - T-Rex



"Ride a white swan like the people of the Beltane..." Beltane is another name for the May festival.



N xx

Morning all from a storm-battered Oxford...can you hear me? feeling a bit like all communication is lost....our two house guests resolutely refused to get out of bed at 5.30am this morning to go down to Magdalen bridge and hear (above the rain, perchance?) the boys choir singing from the top of the tower in celebration of this most lovely of days...May Morning.

This is cos they were awakened in the night by the worst overhead storm ever - very little of the pear tree out front survives, sadly.

Early reports are that even though the river at Magdalen bridge is HIGHER than it has been for YEARS on May morning, jumpers into the river were still held back by the rain-sodden security forces!



Now onto the theme...thinking back to my days in a little village outside Oxford, where the school kids actually crowned and processed a boy and girl as King and Queen of the May up the High St, to the recreation ground where we all got dizzy doing the 'Wheatley Roll' (which is actually just hand in hand around the pole, getting faster and faster till your let go) : -



BILLY IDOL OR DEAD OR ALIVE and 'YOU SPIN ME RIGHT ROUND'



OR Kylie Minogue and her 'I'M SPINNING AROUND' ditty..



Or for the first day May:



'MAY' YOU NEVER by John Martyn (pretty please??!)



Now back to read back, see y'all later

#59 Ha! Have just refreshed and laughed at your description Harry. You are braver than I was in #64.

For anyone that hasn't seen this yet....



Some Uncle Tony dancing in there too Shona ;)



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkNRziSq6BM

'Back In The USSR' Beatles

#56 - this is the link for the stress test (and others, including morality...)



https://www.bbc.co.uk/labuk/experiments/

#27 Nice choon choice!



#31 Dew? We have a few pints of that around here, collected in handy, what-I-call puddles...



#38 Can I 2nd your Chubby Checker & TWIST AGAIN, for all those maypole dances that get teh ribbons horribly tangled and have to be undone by teachers!

#68 Sotto Voce Suzie - of course... the May morning celebrations in Oxford?

Expect it may be a bit soggy down in Padstow.



Hoping things will brighten up here for Her Maj's visit later on today - not for her necessarily - am not really a royalist - but for the hundreds of teachers and youngsters and community spirited folks who have been planning the festivities for literally months.



:^/

Shona, what's your uncle Tony been up to? I've been out walking my dogs in the sunshine *saying it quietly* so I've not read the papers or checked online news yet.... is he sitting out on the naughty step?



#56 Hoffs.... but will people like Rihanna still be singing 50 years on?



Last week I went to see The Hollies and Tony Hicks (still cute) and Bobby Elliott have been in the band for 50 years and have toured every one of those years. On Sunday I'm going to see a 60s show with Peter Noone, Chris Montez and Brian Hyland... and they must have been singing for getting on for 50 years... so will people like Rihanna, Kylie etc still be around then?



Marty Wilde is still touring and sounding good too... and he is from my mum's 50s era... he must be over 70-years old! I'm trying to picture what a 70-year old Rihanna might look like! ;o)

# 73 ARG for 'teh' substitute 'the', natch

I'll need to teach my Bassets to do this! :o))



https://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/537027_200354446744732_100003105356475_328992_1488596528_n.jpg



Work beckons!

#75 - exactly, Flo, which is why I was really surprised to see that he had said that.

#70 - Thanks, Sal. Good to see.



#74 - Katy - yes, same thoughts here - it looks like a lot of effort has gone into organising the event so hoping it is not a complete washout for them. There may be very soggy children later!

Quick coffee break and a blog catch-up...



Does anyone else check back on the previous day's blog? There's always a few late night/early morning folks, and I like to make sure I haven't missed anything, even after the new blog has appeared.



I did a bit of Maypole dancing at primary school. I remember it being quite complicated - you had to weave in and out, holding on to your ribbon for dear life and hoping that when the music finished everyone would be back in the place they started from.



#75 Flo, I saw your Hollies pics on FB at the weekend - reminded me that I briefly had a bit of a crush on Tony Hicks. It was in their 'Air that I breathe' days.



~X~

#69 Katy, however anonymous the conquests, someone should tell him that a gentleman never tells.



Bill Roache, Tony Blackburn, and their ilk, give men a bad name.

#80 - Hello Deebee - yes, I usually check the old blog first to see what I have missed.



LOL on the primary school maypole dancing. I can remember doing exactly that for the Queens Silver Jubilee in 1977 - it was all great fun at the time but looking back now, our teachers must have been so patient as we all whizzed around with our red, white and blue ribbons!

Not sure whether I can post this - it is from a poem about May, which seems to be unattributed - unless anyone knows better in which case I would be grateful for more info. Just thought the following words were quite amusing given the current meteorological situation:



'For the winds of March have had their sway,

And April damps no longer slay,

And winter storms are far away!'

#62 JIOD - Yes. But I'd forgotten about it! LOL



--

kkcBzz

Harry - on subject of poems, have DM'd you.

Or maybe:



'Safety Dance' - Men Without Hats



I'm sure I remember something about the HSE stopping schools dancing around Maypoles (could have imagined it though!)

THE WICKER MAN - IRON MAIDEN

#85 Hoffs, received and replied.

#83 - Amusing. Wrong choice of word given all the difficulties being experienced around the country. Substitute 'interesting'. Sorry for insensitivity. Not deliberate.

Someone just came in the shop and we had the following conversation:



"Are all these for sale?"

"Yes; this is a book shop."

"You mean they're all individually priced?"

"Yes; it's a book shop. It's not a library".

"Oooooo, that's great!. I live locally."



He then left, empty-handed.



I think I was quite polite throughout the brief exchange.



What's a boy to do? :0D

Whats it all about, Alfie? ;)

#90 It's good to know you have someone like that living locally, isn't it?

:P



--

kkcBzz

#90 - LOL! Strange.....

#92 They keep me amused even if they don't help keep the wolf from the door :0)

#90 Harry - maybe they just thought you were in your front room and read a lot.



Did you decide on your window theme for the Jubilee/Olympics?

#94 He wasn't after the shelving, was he?



--

kkcBzz

hi all



chain gang-sam cooke





#25 i also brought my first record from watford whs

#90 In the words of Billie, Bechod, Harry.



My day is even "brighter" than yesterday - *takes deep breaths* Is it too early for gin? And I don't even like gin ;(



Late finish and out for dinner tonight with colleagues/friends who are travelling up to Scotland through bad weather. At least the sun awaits them here. Hope it is shining where you are too;)

#98 - Shona - Poor you - sending virtual gin and bananas your way. Keep going!!

off to get my tablets