Sing Something Simple, Radio 2

[WildRosie]

Otherwise known as Something Simple Sings or Sing Something Senile. For those of us old enough to remember this weekly geriatric dirge, what songs can you think of that would have at least raised a bushy eyebrow or two or been utterly unsuitable ? For example...

Let's Get It Up by AC/DC
Male Stripper by Man2Man meets Man Parrish
Je T'aime Moi Non Plus by Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin.

Just about anything post 1980 that can't be sung chorally. I'd love to hear Anarchy in the UK done by the James Herbert Singers, or whatever the name was.

Oh God! I hated this! My mother, who would have been far younger than I am now, used to sing along to it too. Nothing! Nothing would be suitable. I feel traumatised just being reminded of it

It was the Cliff Adams Singers with Jack Emblow on accordion. Goodness knows when the programme started but it outstayed its welcome by about a hundred years.

@WildRosie

Otherwise known as Something Simple Sings or Sing Something Senile. For those of us old enough to remember this weekly geriatric dirge, what songs can you think of that would have at least raised a bushy eyebrow or two or been utterly unsuitable ? For example...

Let's Get It Up by AC/DC
Male Stripper by Man2Man meets Man Parrish
Je T'aime Moi Non Plus by Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin.

I remember male stripper.

Blasphemous rumours, depeche mode

Sing Something Simple is the music of Sunday night bathtime for me. It was on after the Top Twenty, and we'd have my dad's transistor radio in the bathroom and listen to the charts, then I'd splash about for a while with SSS in the background.

Takes me back... sigh.

Black Betty by Ram Jam
Ace of Spades by Motorhead
Louie, Louie by The Kingsmen
Double Barrel by Dave and Ansil Collins.

On the same note, don't forget Melodies for you and Family favourites for the full Sunday Radio 2 opioid effect.

I've heard of MFY and FF but I don't remember hearing them. Radio 2 reverted to type back in the day!

Oh god, you've taken me back! It used to be on the 'wireless' and it signalled time for bed on Sundays for me. Is it still on? It was around for years. I first heard it in the late fifties when I was little. I'm 65 now!

@Zaphodsotherhead

Sing Something Simple is the music of Sunday night bathtime for me. It was on after the Top Twenty, and we'd have my dad's transistor radio in the bathroom and listen to the charts, then I'd splash about for a while with SSS in the background.

Takes me back... sigh.

And was that your weekly bath @Zaphodsotherhead ?

Sounds familiar

In later years visits to my parents always involved Antiques Roadshow and Songs of Praise

I'm not too clear on the timeframes for all of these though .

Not a weekly bath, had to have 'bathtime' every night. But it was 'hairwash' night!

Oh my, you've just taken me right back to my 60s childhood. I'm now humming the theme tune.

With Charlie Chester for afters.

"With a box full of records and a bag full of post, it's radio Soapbox and Charlie your host"

with strange requests from listeners, elderly ladies requesting replacements for broken calculating machines, ribbons for obsolete typewriters and the like.

I don't know about Charlie Chester. I had to go to bed while SSS was on.

My dad loved their mournful dirges. He died nearly 30 years ago and they carried on a few years beyond that.

I can remember them doing "Uptown Girl"...
Sometimes you don't know whether to laugh or cry at such musical murder

SSS stopped when Cliff Adams died and the Cliff Adams Singers became simply 'The Singers'. Needless to say its time had well and truly passed and the programme wasn't directly succeeded. I believe Jack Emblow is still with us.

In order to decide whether to laugh or cry, you'd have to commit to listening to SSS in the first place and perhaps even confess to it afterwards. I was only aware of the programme coz Mum always had Radio 2 on during Sunday afternoon. Hence I got to know about Charlie Chester too.

It was an inescapable fact of dull Sunday Teatime. About the time after getting in from walking the dog, or if you were really lucky, a trip to the garden centre or the tip.

Oh god, it was the sound track to Sunday dinner washing up. Followed by tea with cheerful Charlie Chester.

Literal torture.

I'd like to have heard the CAS have a crack at I Feel For You by Chaka Khan. All those voices and synchronised scratching!

Yes, it was awful, and the sound of Sunday bathtimes.
The "senile" and "geriatric" comments are arguably worse.

Another old radio programme was on Sunday lunchtimes and was 'Round the world family favourites' with Judith Chalmers (and someone else) playing requests for forces overseas. It was many years before I discovered what a BFPO was. The smell of parsnips being peeled and the roast in the oven, and my dad opening a bottle of Mateus Rose to share with my mum.
I'm just an old fart reminiscing - ignore me...

Does anyone remember The Burkiss Way to Dynamic Living?

'Lowestoft - Eight out of Ten owners say their cats prefer it to a tray of dirt'.

'Tiny on the Bount' 'Widescreen films in small screen format...

Anyone?

Can't say I remember those, Zaphod.

But I DO remember - The Palm Court Orchestra. Used to come on after SSS. I think Radio 2 thought it was more mood music....

I have two vinyl LPs at home by Norrie Paramor and the Midland Radio Orchestra. I don't know anything about them but their name suggests they were a largely radio-based act in the Midlands. Perhaps they made it to the dizzy heights of Radio 2 but were seen off by Cliff Adams and his gang.

Norrie Paramor, BTW, was a staff producer and orchestrator at EMI Records. He produced a rival Cliff for many years.