Thanks, Aled

Aled Jones rocks my socks!

I'm sure that a lot of you are puzzled by that statement. There is one group of you that is puzzled because you don't know who Aled is. The other half does know, and are puzzled because Aled is who he is, and doesn't seem like the type of person I would even care about. But this morning, Aled started my day off right.

For those of you not familiar with Mr. Jones, he is a 39-year old singer and radio presenter from Welsh Wales, bach, the valleys boyo! and is well known in the UK for becoming famous as a boy treble with his cover of "Walking In The Air" from the Raymond Briggs animated classic The Snowman. He was 14 at the time, and it hit number 5 in the UK chart. A lot of his recordings are classical and churchy due to the fact that he was Lead Soloist of Bangor Cathedral at age 11. He has released a bunch of albums (over 25, in fact), and he also presents BBC Radio 2's Good Morning Sunday, a show that features a lot of spiritual music and religious and ethical discussion.

Well, today wasn't Sunday but it was Bank Holiday Monday, so that means all your TV and radio schedules are a bit different, and this morning Aled was presenting the breakfast show when my alarm went off.

The first record I heard him play was this one:



Nicely bringing me to consciousness. Lovely song from Freddie et al.

Now I had gone to bed in a pissy mood. I had written a blog post that I was unable to publish because the topics it was about (censorship was one) were compounded by the fact that I had to censor myself in order to be able to write it. I know that doesn't make sense but I was still mad at myself and a lot of other people as I awoke. What I needed was an anthem, and dear Aled did not fail me.

He was talking about a recent Stereophonics gig, wherein the lead singer was struck in the face.... by a flip-flop. Yes, a flip-flop. So what did the Stereophonics do? Quit playing and walked off stage until the culprit was found and escorted from the building. Aled remarked that it would never have happened in The Who's heyday. He said, and I quote, "Roger would have jumped into the crowd and punched the fella in the face. And he actually did." And then Aled laid it on me. The anthem I was seeking...



I joined in noisily!! I know all the words!! Even the bit about 'the north side of my town faced east and the east was facing south' which I can only assume was written without a compass. I was lying in bed loudly singing at 6:21 am! That never happens! My mother popped her head round the door to see if I was OK. I have been singing that song all day! Can't get it out of my head!! Sub-sti-tute! Your lies for facts! I can see right through your plastic mac! I look all white but my dad was black! My fine lookin' suit is really made outta saaaaack!

Ah, that was good! Thanks, Aled.