Charlie on the MTA

“M.T.A” aka “The MTA Song” aka “Charlie on the MTA”, tells the tale of a man called Charlie, who is trapped on the Boston subway system.  So famous has the song become over the years that the electronic card based fare collection system on the Boston subway is known as the “Charlie Card”.  The Kingston …

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 …

One Night in Bangkok

One Night in Bangkok is a 1984 song from musical Chess, by Tim Rice, Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus.  Murray Head sings the rap verses and so he gets the credit as the singer. Within the song the chorus sings about the positives of Bangkok, whereas Head’s lyrics ridicule the city, describing those positives as …

St Augustine at Night

Have you been to Florida or planning a trip to Florida? Then you are likely to have been to Orlando or Miami.  How many of you have ever considered St Augustine?  This is where our song takes us this time. “St Augustine at night” was a single released in October 2020 by the Californian based …

I Imagine the Country

The song has its origins in the summer of 1989 just prior to the collapse of communism. At a local festival Dežo Ursiny sang John Lennon’s Imagine.  This was followed by a Slovak version written by Ivan Štrpka. The Slovak version became “Predstavujem Si Krajinu” (I imagine the country).  At the time it symbolised living …

Cheira a Lisboa

“Cheira bem, já tem sol, Cheira a lua, cheira a Lisboa” which translates as “Smells good, it’s sunny, smells like the moon, smells like Lisbon”. The song by Belgium born Wendy Nazaré and French singer Pep’s, is about the delights of Lisbon as well as referring to historical events such as the Great Earthquake of …

Rīga, mana Rīga, tevi mīlu es

“Riga, my Riga, I love you”, is a popular Latvian song written based upon the poetry of Aleksandrs Čaks, a famous Latvian poet. Čaks was born in Riga and much of his poetry was written about the wonderful city of Riga and its people. There is a street named after him. Arturs Maskats composed the …

We’re all going on a summer holiday.

“We’re going where the sun shines brightlyWe’re going where the sea is blue” So sung Cliff Richard in the film “Summer Holiday” as he drove his No.9 London bus from London to the South of France via Dover and Paris. With the lifting of restrictions on non-essential travel to certain overseas destinations we can all …