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Friday 31 December 2021

The Ghosts of 2021

 


Last year on Hogmanay I posted an entry called Things Can Only Get Better. Well that worked out well, didn't it?

I suppose things did pick up for a few months in the summer and early Autumn but we now seem to be back to where we started from struggling with a pandemic and an inept Westminster Government.

At this time of year  it is easy to get melancholy with thoughts turning to times past and to those who are no longer with us. This got me thinking about ghost songs and how they may apply today.

Lau's song Ghosts is about migration a generation or so ago but is still as relevant today. Indeed has the line there's ghosts on the sandflats as the water gets higher and higher ever been more relevant with the situation in the Channel and idiots being openly hostile to the RNLI?

The Ghosts of Cable Street by the Men they Couldn't Hang is a reminder about the rise of fascism in London in the 1930s.Sounds familiar?

Ghost Town can be looked at in two ways - the deserted streets caused by locktown or its original  cry of despair around youth unemployment. Again sounds familiar, eh?

Finally Ghosts by Japan reflecting David Sylvian's personal feelings:

Just when I think I'm winning

When I've broken every door

The ghosts of my life blow wilder than before

Hey , hopefully thinks might indeed get better. Stranger things have happened. So I will raise a glass around the bells and wish you and yours a happy and healthy 2022.

Lau -Ghosts

The Men They Couldn't Hang - The Ghosts of Cable Street

The Specials - Ghost Town

Japan - Ghosts



7 comments:

  1. Let's hope next year is everything you hoped this year would be. Hope you and Mrs CC have a good one.

    PS I'm about a 30 minute walk from Cable St. Inspired by your post I might pop down there over the weekend and pay my respects. Always worth it to admire the mural commemorating the battle

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  2. Happy New Year to you & yours, CC. As someone once wrote: "Let's hope it's a good one Without any fear..."

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  3. Happy new year to you and yours CC.

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  4. Just looked back at your post from last year - Yes, we were all a bit naive back then. Your song choices this year are clever but the themes are sadly all too relevant. Let's be positive and think that in 2022, things really will get better. (Convinced? No me neither.)

    Anyway, Happy New Year to you and Mrs CC.

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  5. Great selection of songs. I vividly remember first seeing/hearing Japan when they performed 'Ghosts' on OGWT and being bowled over. It was very haunting (no pun intended!)
    Just looked back at that post from last year too - well at least we stayed hopeful...
    Happy New Year to you both.

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  6. Happy New Year troops
    Lang may your lums reek

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