Houses iced in whitewash guard a pale shore-lineCornered by the cactus and the pineHere I wander where sweet sage and strange herbs growDown a sun-baked crumpled stony road. These opening lyrics to the 1969 song “Formentera Lady” by British band, King Crimson helps to explain why many musicians have found inspiration on the tiny island …
Category Archives: Europe
Solsbury Hill
Solsbury Hill was written and performed by former Genesis frontman Peter Gabriel. It was his debut single after his split from the band, and it is widely acknowledged that the song is about his thoughts around his decision to leave them. Solsbury Hill itself is a small flat-topped hill, that was once an iron age …
Porto
This official video for the track Porto by the French DJ and musician Kevin Rodrigues, who is better known as Worakls gives a really good flavour of the city of Porto. There are no lyrics the images say it all. Porto is the second largest city in Portugal and lies along the Douro River estuary …
Journey to the Centre of the Earth.
Jules Verne’s 1864 novel “Journey to the Centre of the Earth” tells the story of a German scientist and his nephew who believe that they can journey to the centre of the earth by descending into Iceland’s inactive volcano “Snæfellsjökull”. Snæfellsjökull can sometimes be seen from the Icelandic capital of Reykjavík, a distance of 120 …
Tenerife Sea
Ed Sheeran’s 2014 song “Tenerife Sea”, is a reference to the island of Tenerife which according to Sheeran, the blue colour of the sea, matched the colour of the eyes of his girlfriend at that time. Tenerife is the largest and most heavily populated of the Canary Islands which are located off the north-west coast …
Viva Malta
The track below is entitled Viva Malta and is performed by the Maltese singer Freddie Portelli. As well as writing songs and performing in a number of bands, Freddie represented his country at Waterpolo. The song is a patriotic one, written on his return to the island after a worldwide tour. The lyrics sing of …
An der schönen blauen Donau
The literal translation is “On the Beautiful Blue Danube”. It is known in the English speaking world as “The Blue Danube”. It is one of Johann Strauss II most famous pieces. The video below is the instrumental version. There is also a choral version which starts “Danube so blue, “so bright and blue. Personally, I …
Should I stay or should I go (2).
That is the dilemma facing most of us at this time. The UK government is yet to decide whether to change the May 17th for international travel and even then the list of destinations that UK residents can travel to is likely to be limited. So we are faced with 1982 eternal dilemma of staying …
Sofia
Sofia is the name of a track by the Bulgarian hip hop stars Akaga and Spens. You may not have heard of them or this track, but they are famous household names in their native Bulgaria. The chorus translates in English to “Sofia, the Memory of our Childhood, Sofia, Sweet memory, Sofia, the Memory of …
Streets of Bucharest
“We danced on the streets of Bucharest” sing the Romanian pop stars Florian Rus and Maria Mirabela Cismaru, better known as MIRA.The song “Strazile din Bucuresti“ is about young lovers who meet on a Bucharest city street. Bucharest is home to the world’s biggest parliamentary building. Originally at The Palace of Parliament but more commonly …