Talk4Meaning

Helping children to listen at storytime: with help from Bob Dylan & Johnny Cash, Kate Rusby and The Proclaimers!

Date posted: Saturday 21st September 2013

Und eff ah haver (Whaen ah haver),
Yeh, ah know ahm gonnie bee
Ahm gonnie bee tha mahn whuese haverin’ ta yue.

I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) by The Proclaimers

When I was at secondary school in Scotland my friends and I wanted to start a rock group. We split after two rehearsals: not because of ‘musical differences’, but because we couldn’t decide what to call the band. There were four name choices: Weaver’s Answer (Terry Weaver was to be our lead singer, but quit the band at lunchtime); Blasted Dawn (our drummer fancied a girl called Dawn, so that was a no brainer); Midnight’s Children (as I pointed out, Marc Bolan was briefly in a band called John’s Children, and there was no way I was going to be associated with a project that smelled like T Rex.) My suggestion, The Junkyard Angels was rejected out of hand because only bands from the early 60’s had names beginning with The. (This was a few years before Punk, with The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Damned etc.). Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and I can see now that we were doomed to failure from the outset, because we were asking the wrong questions about the group. Obviously we should have been thinking: ‘What accent are we going to sing in?’ (more…)

All Right Now! Engaging groups of children at storytime and in assembly, with help from Free, Queen and The Wiggles!

Date posted: Saturday 7th September 2013

In my early teens I spent a lot of time poring over photos like these and fantasizing. The main part of the fantasy was that I was an outstanding singer and guitarist who was onstage mesmerizing thousands of festival- goers. Each member of the crowd would be utterly enraptured by my stage presence. After the show I would be mobbed by fans, who would all buy my records as soon as they got home. (more…)