Radio

The Goon Show “The Ying Tong Song “

by

by Johnny Foreigner

Here are The Goon Show’s Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe, and Spike Milligan performing “The Ying Tong Song.” You will either forever love me or hate me for delivering you this precious British earworm.

The Goon Show was an extremely influential British radio comedy program, broadcast by the BBC throughout of the 1950s. John Lennon once said, “I could go on all day about the Goons and their influence on a generation” – high praise from a jealous guy.

Wrote NY Times in 1972 : “Goon comedy was in equal parts the harmless violence of Warner Brothers cartoons, the wordplay of James Joyce and the lowbrow japes of the English music hall.”

Monty Python’s Terry Jones has called The Goon’s Spike Milligan ”the father of Monty Python.” John Cleese called him the ”great god of us all.”

BBC Radio 2 – Johnnie Walker’s Sounds of the 70s, Clash City Rockers, The Clash chat with Johnnie

by

Johnnie is joined by Mick Jones, Paul Simonon and Topper Headon from original punk rockers The Clash who talk about their role in the seventies punk explosion, the genesis of their biggest hits and the lasting impact of their music on artists today.

They discuss:
– I’m So Bored With The USA
– Police And Thieves
– Safe European Home
– Julie’s Been Working For The Drug Squad
– Train In Vain
– London Calling

The guys also discuss punch-ups,  ghetto blasters, Bernie Rhodes, and of course their former bandmate Joe Strummer.

Give a listen:

Source: BBC Radio 2 – Johnnie Walker’s Sounds of the 70s, Clash City Rockers, The Clash chat with Johnnie

BBC Radio 2 – Johnnie Walker’s Sounds of the 70s, Elizabeth McGovern

by

Johnnie hears 70s memories from the Countess of Grantham and lead singer with Sadie and the Hotheads Elizabeth McGovern. She shares her memories of the decade including her love for Joni Mitchell and Lou Reed.

Elizabeth McGovern – My 70s

Source: BBC Radio 2 – Johnnie Walker’s Sounds of the 70s, Elizabeth McGovern, Elizabeth McGovern – My 70s

Kathy Burke meets Joe Strummer in Little Crackers’ Better Than Christmas

by

By Johnny Foreigner

I knew actress Kathy Burke mainly for her brilliant performance in the 1997 film Nil By Mouth, when she played a battered woman terrorized by her brutish husband (played with equal brilliance by actor Ray Winstone.) As comedienne, Bates also played “Magda” on  AbFab, and delivered a hilarious line in Sid and Nancy – “John got beaten up by fascists.” (wonderful!)

When I came across this great short biopic from 2010 about a young London schoolgirl (Ami Metcalf portraying a teenaged Kathy Burke) meeting her rock n’ roll hero Joe Strummer – it left me wanting to see the rest of the series. IMDB describes Little Crackers as “a series of short comedy-dramas with a Christmas theme, written by British artists recalling moments from their childhoods.”

Read more