The Ex Expat

25 January 2013

Today is Robert Burns Day, also known as Burns Night, the day when the life and works of Scotland’s national bard get celebrated. Of course, we’ll be celebrating tonight too. Sadly, it’s the second year running that we’ve been unable to convince any of our German friends to join us for a haggis supper - and this in a nation obsessed with sausages, which really isn’t that much different from haggis when you consider what goes in them - but the boy loves haggis and one of our best friends is over from Scotland too, so we’re good.

Of course, no dinner party is complete without a good dessert, so let me recommend my Cranachan recipe to you that I posted last year: a heavenly combination of whipped cream, oats, whisky, honey and (Scottish) raspberries. Omnomnom…

And it’s been a while since I posted a play list, mostly because my external hard drive, which housed my iTunes music collection, died and I just haven’t found the time to re-rip all my CDs. But no Scottish celebration without some music, so here’s a little collection of both Burns’ songs and other Scottish tunes to get you going:

Track listing:

1. Slave’s Lament - Chantan
2. Charlie Is My Darling - Eddi Reader
3. The Soldier’s Return - Emily Smith & Jamie McClennan
4. Wild Fiddler’s Rag - Jennifer & Hazel Wrigley*
5. Om my luve’s like a red, red rose - Davy Steele
6. Ye Banks and Braes - The Cast
7. Thaney - Malinky*
8. Three Craws - The Singing Kettle*
9. Hamnataig - Fiddler’s Bid*
10. Willie Stewart/ Mollie Rankine - Eddi Reader
11. A Man’s A Man For A’ That - Emily Smith & Jame McClennan
12. Auld lang syne - Ronnie Browne

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* These four tracks are not Burns songs, although Thaney is also sung in Scots and Three Craws is a traditional Scots children’s song. The Wrigley Sisters are from the Orkney and Fiddler’s Bid from the Shetland Islands, neither of which were traditionally Scots speaking.

25 May 2012

So, are you ready for the Eurovision Song Contest tomorrow night? Here’s half an hour of Eurovision golden oldies through the years to get your Eurovision party started!

Track listing

1. Puppet On A String (1967 UK 1st place) - Sandie Shaw
2. Boom Bang-a-bang (1969 UK joint 1st place) - Lulu
3. All Kinds of Everything (1970 Ireland 1st place) - Dana
4. Jack In The Box (1971 UK 4th place) - Clodagh Rogers)
5. Waterloo (1974 Sweden 4th place) - ABBA
6. Dschinghis Khan (1979 Germany 4th place) - Dschinghis Khan
7. Love Shine A Light (1997 UK 1st place) - Katrina and the Waves
8. Guildo Hat Euch Lieb! (1998 Germany 7th place) - Guildo Horn
9. Take Me To Your Heaven (1999 Sweden 1st place) - Charlotte Nilsson
10. Hard Rock Hallelujah (2006 Finland 1st place) - Lordi
11. No No Never (2006 Germany 14th place) - Texas Lightning
12. The Worrying Kind (2007 Sweden 18th place) - The Ark

25 April 2012

It’s been raining on and off so far all week, so I thought “if you can’t beat them, join them” and made a playlist all about rainy day songs. Of course, now the sun is shining and the forecast is for temperatures to keep rising. Perhaps my playlist helped;-)

Track listing

1. Waiting for the Rain - Roxette
2. Rain Must Fall - Queen
3. I’ll Take The Rain - R.E.M.
4. Why does it always rain on me? - Travis
5. We Know It’s Gonna Rain - Judy Small
6. The Rain In Spain - Marni Nixon & Rex Harrison
7. Naked In The Rain - Red Hot Chilli Peppers
8. The Rain - ETSU Bluegrass Pride
9. Raindrops keep falling on my head - B.J. Thomas
10. Come Rain Or Come Shine - Ray Charles
11. No rain, No rainbow - Aqua Timez
12. Rhythm of the Rain - The Cascades

14 February 2012

Another really busy week, writing a big article about museums and social media for a museum education journal, so I’ve got to sideline this blog a bit. But since today is the day we celebrate all things love (something we should do every day, in my opinion, though I guess it’s nice to make some extra fuss about it once in a while), I’ve put together another wee playlist, this time with some of my favourite love songs:

Track listing:

1. Love Is An Arrow - Aberfeldy
2. I Believe In Love - Dixie Chicks
3. Falling In Love With You - UB40
4. I’m Confessing That I Love You - Warner Williams with Jay Summerour
5. My Heart Beats - Hafdis Huld
6. Almost Unreal - Roxette
7. My Love Is Like A Red Red Rose - Eddi Reader
8. Love Me Tender - Elvis Presley
9. That’s How Much I Love You - Frank Sinatra
10. Love Is Eternity - They Might Be Giants
11. The Longest Time - Billy Joel
12. Love Is Here To Stay - Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong