<songbook>
From the off, let me be upfront. I don’t personally hold truck with the concept of guilty pleasures. I’m fully on board with New York Times journalist Jennifer Szalai, who wrote in The New Yorker that:
If you want to listen to Rihanna while reading the latest from Dean Koontz, just go ahead and do it. Don’t try to suggest you know better. Forget the pretense and get over yourself. You have nothing to lose but your guilt.
The New Yorker, September 2013
For me, good music is good music. Just because some critic or some friend somewhere may have judged something less worthy, less culturally edifying, less highbrow, less on-trend, doesn’t mean it is without merit. And certainly doesn’t mean that anyone should feel guilty about it. And I’m not talking in an ironic way either – if you enjoy it, then own it. The opinions of others shouldn’t have any bearing on it.
Having said all that, however, the phrase “Guilty Pleasures” is a useful shorthand for those songs which have, over the years, been somewhat denigrated and judged as somehow naff or unworthy, despite having accrued significant measures of popularity and commercial success. Often these are songs that have gone against the grain of contemporary trends, and yet have been embraced and loved – at the time, at least – by a significant group of off-trend, couldn’t-care-less punters. Sometimes these songs and artists have been re-evaluated in retrospect (Abba being a case in point), but often these songs end up languishing in a kind of artistic purgatory, forgotten and unloved.
All the songs in this collection are ones that have, at one time or another, fallen into these categories. Some have been, or are in the process of being, rehabilitated – the likes of Toto’s MOR classic Africa, Rick Astley’s Stock-Aitkin-Waterman stormer Never Gonna Give You Up, or Journey’s pop-rock barnstormer Don’t Stop Believin’ have all had their credibility restored of late (as an aside, I do find that the younger, Spotify generation have less hang-ups about these kind of things – maybe because they are distant from their origins and less likely to engage in “culture wars” – and are happy to just go with what they enjoy). Some – notably Bryan Hyland’s angsty, teenager-woe-is-me Sealed With A Kiss, or Terry Jack’s adaptation of Jacques Brel’s death ballad Le Moribond (Seasons In The Sun) – still seem to languish in the not-really-credible pile, despite both having been hits again when covered by others (Westlife and Jason Donavan respectively – OK, I can see why that might not have garnered them additional respect!). And some seem to languish still in relative obscurity – nobody is expecting a David Soul or Gilbert O’Sullivan revival any when soon.
But every song in this collection is one that I will argue strongly for. And every song in this collection is one that nobody should feel bad about singing – in fact many of these songs are, in my book, at least, the kind of song that just feels great being belted out – alone or in a group. These are pleasures that nobody should feel guilty about.
<songbook>
As well as links to the songbook above, below is the list of songs, with links to individual song sheets:
- 9 To 5 – Dolly Parton
- Africa – Toto
- Angel Of The Morning – Juice Newton
- Angels – Robbie Williams
- Cracklin’ Rosie – Neil Diamond
- Dancing In The City – Marshall Hain
- Dancing In The Moonlight – Toploader
- Devil Woman – Cliff Richard
- Don’t Stop Believin’ – Journey
- Escape (The Pina Colada Song) – Rupert Holmes
- Get Down – Gilbert O’Sullivan
- Girls Just Want To Have Fun – Cyndi Lauper
- Is This The Way To Amarillo – Tony Christie
- Leaving On A Jet Plane – John Denver
- Love Is In The Air – John Paul Young
- Never Gonna Give You Up – Rick Astley
- Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now – Starship
- Rhinestone Cowboy – Glen Campbell
- Sealed With A Kiss – Brian Hyland
- Seasons In The Sun – Terry Jacks
- Silver Lady – David Soul
- Total Eclipse Of The Heart – Bonnie Tyler
- Venus – Bananarama
- White Horses – Jacky
Uke Tunes 