´óĎó´ŤĂ˝

My guest on tonight's was recently introduced as someone who has "survived seven wives, fifty arrests and a monstrous drugs habit." OK, you'll have guessed by now that it isn't Daniel O Donnell.

Instead, I'll be devoting the second hour of tonight's show to an interview with the man dubbed America's greatest living songwriter, Steve Earle. He'll be talking about his brand new album Washington Square Serenade, which was inspired by his love of New York.

However, if the absence of D.O.D. has left you devastated, then fear not as you can check out his home on the . In Daniel's diary, I note that he is heading off to Portugal on holiday and is making sure he packs his "Speedos". Now, there's a mental picture that's going to stay with you all weekend!

Where do you Get It On? I’m always interested to know how our listeners listen. Going by your texts and e-mails, most of you are either in the car or in the kitchen making the tea.

Jim in Nairn, e-mailed me to say that he listens to the show in the gym. “ You cannae hang about on a cross trainer when you lot are blasting out things like Heatwave, Ballroom Blitz and Status Quo!”

Sounds like good fun Jim, but the wide ranging music mix on Get It On must make for a pretty varied workout. One minute you’d be on pounding out the miles on the treadmill listening to Lust For Life, the next you’d be flat on your back doing gentle stretches to Nat King Cole.

Paula Radcliffe has published a list of the songs she listens to when she wants to clock up the miles. It includes Robbie Williams, Shania Twain, James Blunt and Britney Spears. Don’t know if it makes me want to run a marathon, but an hour spent with Britney and co. would make me want to run off a cliff!

I “workout” to a playlist called Get It On Weird Stuff which covers anything from The Pixies to Peter, Paul and Mary. It’s a collection of the most eclectic stuff we get asked for on the show and is brilliant for taking my mind off the job in hand.

I try to get to the gym after the show and if it all goes well I can be packing my bag at seven o’ clock and pumping my biceps by half past.

I am not blessed with what they call ‘ripped abs’ so it’s always a struggle for me. And why so many mirrors at the gym??? I caught sight of myself last night and it was a sobering vision. I have finally woken up to the fact that dressing like an American college football player does not mean I have a body like an American college football player.

Still, I might not have the best body on the gym, but I have got the most impressive playlist.

The daily Get It On production meeting has just ended and we've been going through the early e-mails for tonight's show. The theme is 'great endings' and it was suggested by Paul Grant, although he says credit must go to his girlfriend who had been singing Yellow Dog's 1978 hit, One More Night. " I hadn't heard it in nearly 30 years," said Paul. " I'd forgotten how good the ending was and hence the inspiration."

It's one of these themes that really gets you thinking. Aztec Camera's Oblivious, Rezillos' Top of the Pops and Bowie's Gene Genie immediately spring to mind for me, but top of my list has to be Kenny Rogers doing Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town.

Despite it's 'pub singer' reputation, it's actually a dark and tragic song, about the frustrations of a disabled Korean War veteran who's trying to hold on to the woman he loves. It was written by country singer, Mel Tillis and was allegedly inspired by the story of a World War 2 soldier who lived near him in Florida.

Towards the end of the song it gets increasingly dark. Ruby leaves and the guy in the song wishes he could get his gun "and put her in the ground". In the last line there's real despair in Kenny Rogers' voice as he growls, " For god's sake turn around..." The drums fade out and we're left not knowing what happened next...

Saying that, several months after Ruby hit the charts, a woman called Geraldine Stevens recorded a follow up hit. It was called Billy, I've Got To Go To Town which makes it sound less like a tragic love song and more like she's just popped out to M & S to get the shopping in.

I met Kenny Rogers last year when we were in Nashville doing . Just before the interview, I was told that I might not recognise Kenny as he'd...er...been taking very good care of his appearance!

Although he's been making records since the 50's, he's got the wrinkle free face of a twenty year old. Maybe when Ruby went to town Kenny asked her to get some of that magic moisturiser so beloved of stars of a certain age...

That was a busy one. As always, the range of stuff you ask for blows me away. Tonight we got everything from Iron Maiden's Run To The Hills, to Laurel and Hardy's On The Trail of The Lonesome Pine!

Good outdoor puns tonight as well. Several folk asked for Hike and Tina Turner, Doug in Aberdeen suggested Matt Munro, and Scott McFarlane e-mailed to ask for anything by Midge Ure.

Keep them coming in folks.

Just finished our daily meeting at which Paul and I go through the e-mails that have come in during the day and then try to second guess what might be asked for during the show. Past experience has told us this is an almost impossible task.

For tonight’s ‘great outdoors’ theme, songs like Running Up That Hill and Nature Boy are proving popular, but then someone like Mike from Fife throws us a curved ball like “The theme from 'Picnic at Hanging Rock' by Gheorghe Zamfir.”

Still, I’d rather be caught out by a suggestion like that than do a show that’s predictable.

BTW, does anybody know a song which mentions the Murray River on Australia? Kay in Renfrew thinks it would be perfect for tonight’s show but has no idea what it is. I’ve just done an internet search for Murray River lyrics and all I got was Anne Murray doing Cry Me A River. Somehow I don’t think that’s the track Kay had in mind.

Thanks for all your fairground anthems tonight. It was a real high energy ( as opposed to Hi NRG, although we had some of that as well) show.

Stuff I wish we had time for included: Speedy Gonzalez requested by Alastair in Perth, CCR's Up Around The Bend suggested by Keith in Aberdeen and The Everly Brothers' Ferris Wheel, suggested by Mike in Bute and also by Raymond who said, " It's the best song written about fairgounds ever".

Going through some of the songs we played, I just realised that one guy produced three of the bands that we featured on the show. Question is, who was he and what were the bands?

Post your answers and I'll reveal all tomorrow. ( BTW - The ´óĎó´ŤĂ˝ has suspended all quizzes for the moment, so let me point out this is not a quiz. It's just a chance for you to show off your extensive musical knowledge...)

Posted @ 19:30

Tonight:
As it's a holiday Monday ( for some folk!) we normally try and fill the show with an hour of your feel good favourites. When I am in studio, I always try and imagine people driving back from a day out in the sunshine and cranking up the radio full blast to sing along. The plan for this evening is to return to your fairground anthems. These are the songs that used to play as you were being spun round on the waltzers. We got some brilliant suggestions last week but you can still get yours in...

Tuesday:
We've just launched some brand new podcasts, including one featuring the best of Landward, Out of Doors and Grassroots. “It's the essential guide to the Scottish countryside,” the producer tells me. She also suggested we do a Get It On theme to celebrate the launch. So, thanks to ‘Claire in Aberdeen’, tonight's theme is the great outdoors. Nature Boy, The River and Green Green Grass of Home could all feature, and it could be my one opportunity to play Climb Every Mountain...

Wednesday:
This one should be good...It's great endings, which was suggested by Paul Grant. We've already done a show of great intro's, so it was only a matter of time before we did this one. kd Lang's live version of Crying has an absolutely spine tingling ending, but I'd love to hear your suggestions...

Thursday:
The response to last week's 'story songs' theme was overwhelming, so we had to do it again this week. It's a chance for me to include some of the terrific suggestions I didn't have time to play and if there's any that you now come to mind then get in touch and get them on...

As usual, you can e-mail anytime. The address is: getiton@bbc.co.uk. During the show you can text 80295 or call 0500 929500.

Americans now spend as much time online as they do watching television. Mind you, anyone who has watched much of output of the big US networks will not be surprised by this statistic. In fact if the survey said Americans spend more time sticking needles in their eyes than they do watching television it would not surprise us.

Apart from the brilliant stuff like Weeds, Studio 60, Six Feet Under, West Wing, The Wire etc there are hours of un-watchable nonsense. Although amusingly, I did an internet search for America's worst TV shows which brought up a site run by The Parents' Television Council. It's an organisation which exists to “promote and restore responsibility and decency to the entertainment industry" and which helpfully, flags up the shows that "push the limits of decency". Deal Or No Deal, you will be glad to hear, is "completely devoid of sex and violence". Phew.

I'm one of those people who spends more time online then I do in front of the telly, although it seems that may not be healthy. I felt somewhat chastised yesterday after reading in my favourite newspaper that "a life lived online is not a real life".

I was already anxious after learning earlier in the week that pensioners spend more time online than anybody else. I got to thinking that maybe by spending hours online I was just demonstrating another one of my pensioner tendencies, of which there are many.

Yesterday, for instance, I texted my senior producer to get her to ask her mum if it was OK to freeze scones*. This is not normal Saturday afternoon behaviour for an urbane,media man in his 40's. I should be down Soho House with Jude and Sadie, not at home wondering how to deal with a scone surplus.

Mind you pensioners ain't what they used to be (Mick Jagger and Paul McCartney being good examples) and drinking tea, watching Richard and Judy and surfing the net all day is not the sole preserve of the over 60's.

I was reminded of this when I bumped into my friend Jimmy Irvine this afternoon. Jimmy is 72 and is still running. He can run a half-marathon in 1h:33m, a time that most men half his age would struggle to achieve. So much for pipe and slippers…

It’s time to sing if you’re glad to be grey! What about the pensioners of pop as a theme?

*By the way, the answer is yes, for up to 3 months - but why would you? Thanks for that Mrs Aitken.

Just driven from the Get It On studios in Aberdeen to the ´óĎó´ŤĂ˝'s new HQ in Glasgow, where I present my Friday night country show. It's been a lovely day for a drive and on the way down was listening to our new sitcom, Having It All, which was written by Jackie Bird. I thought it was great and it stars the brilliant Michelle 'Green Wing' Gomez, a real coup for Jackie and Radio Scotland.

I also listened to a recording of my session guests on tonight's , who are the all-girl Canadian band, The Wailin' Jennys. The name makes it sound like they are screaming banshees, when in fact the opposite is true. They make the sweetest sounds together, especially when they do a cappella numbers as you'll hear tonight.

Talking of 'wailers' though, my producer Karen has unearthed a version of Act Naturally which features Ringo Starr duetting with Cilla Black. What happens when the legendary Liverpool larynx is let loose on a country classic? Tune in to find out, but you can bet your life it won't be pretty...

Just come off air and in great mood after an hour of your summer tunes. Loved hearing Strathaven Dave's memories of Year of The Cat, and Sunny by Bobby Hebb was an inspired choice from Jamie D.

Rod in Glasgow sent a text to ask for Steely Dan song , but he doesn't know what it's called. " It had something to do with walking in the rain,"says Rod.

After the stunning success in identifying Lorrie Morgan's 'Something In Red', I've come back to the blog for your help with this one. Any ideas?

Posted at 19:10

Last night’s show was such a buzz, there was no way I was going home to a solo macaroni cheese in front of The Bill. We decided to have a team night out last night after Paul managed to wangle a table at Aberdeen's hottest restaurant.

It’s a brilliant Japanese place, and although I am not allowed to do commercial plugs on this blog, it shouldn’t be too hard to track down if you like the sound of it. It’s Aberdeen…how many Japanese restaurants can there be?

We have been making everyone else in this office jealous with tales of soft shell crab sushi and lemon sole tempura. We must have had around a dozen different dishes and each was just as spectacular as the one before.

Joanna Blythman ( the Lester Bangs of restaurant critics) was knocked out by it and said it was “ a big leap forward, not just for Aberdeen, but for Scotland.”

I am being summoned to the Get It On daily meeting now. Despite the Japanese beers consumed last night, young Paul is as enthusiastic and perky as a holiday camp redcoat. But, that’s youth for you….

Just come off air after an exhilarating hour. Even before the show started we were swamped with your suggestions of great story songs. The stuff we played on air was just the tip of the iceberg and as Russ and Jenn in Aberdeen have just said “When you think about it, there are so many too choose from”.

It’s a theme I really want to return to. Do you fancy doing this one again next Thursday instead of summer songs?

I promised that I would put DJ Mac’s list of suggestions on the blog so folk can see the effort our listeners put into their e-mails. It’s a great list, and I hope one that makes you want to go and listen to them.

"We now need a whole series of programmes just to accommodate this idea!!
Maybe when the summer Thursday series ends, we can have a 'songwriters' series??
Anyway, some suggestions:
You just cannot get away from the wonderful Alice's Restaurant by Arlo Guthrie and I challenge Radio Scotland to play the full version - at what some 20 mins long. Well, I did hear it first on commercial radio where the deejay broke all the rules and played it without interruption!!! Give us even 5 mins!!??

Then there are some real classics that you may have already:
Bobbi Gentry: Ode to Billie Joe;
Billy Joel: New York State of Mind;
Billy Joel: Scenes from an Italian Restaurant;
Don Maclean: Miss American Pie;
Don Maclean: Vincent

Plus the great songwriters offer any choice you may want to make:
Bob Dylan; Maggie's Farm; Highway 51; Highway 61 Revisited; Subterranean Homesick Blues;
Gordon Lighfoot; Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald is a wonderful, wonderful song, but maybe too heavy?? Try Canadian Railroad Trilogy!
Randy Newman; (Maybe the quirky Beach Cleaning Machine?)
Janis Ian; Carole King; Laura Nyro

Rita MacNeil's tribute to the miners: It's a Working Man I Am - play this and the whole country will sing along to the chorus) etc;
Susanne Vega: My Name is Luka;

Plus some oldies:
Battle of New Orleans - Johnny Horton
Lonnie Donegan; Battle Hymn of the Republic/John Brown's Body!!;
Alan Price: Geordie Lad;
The Animals: House of the Rising Sun;
Plus some Scottish:
The Proclaimers: Letter from America and Sunshine on Leith;
Dekes: Dignity;
Most Runrig!

Some less 'deep' but more pop:
Van Morrison: Cleaning Windows;
Michele Shocked: Anchorage, Alaska;
Robbie Robertson: Somewhere Down the Crazy River;
Paul Simon: Graceland;
Susanne Vega: My name is Luka;
Blood Sweat and Tears: Beware of the Naked Man and And When I Die;

Plus almost every blues record ever made, but let's just suggest Johnny Cash and Folsom Prison Blues (to curry favour with someone!!) but you get the idea!! Or even may I say Jeannine C Riley and Harper Valley PTA - tells a real story!!

And that still leaves
Jackson Browne;
The Bee Gees (Mass Mining Disaster)
Stevie Winwood;

The barrel has not even been opened - we need a full series of songs by songwriters!!
DJM."

Whether your contribution to the show is long or short, it is really appreciated. It may be a tough job it is trying to fit everything in, but you can see why there’s no job I’d rather be doing.

Posted @ 7:15

During last night's technical crisis, we got a text from Charlie: " I'm sure I still have my old FAL DJ decks in the lock-up. I'll bring them round."

FAL DJ decks were what all us mobile DJ's in the 80's used to use. They weighed a ton and lacked any kind of useful features. However they were incredibly reliable - which is more than I can say for the equipment I was using last night at the B**.

I bet Charlie's decks are still in good working order. Who knows, maybe we can get them out and the Get It On mobile disco could do a tour of Scotland.

Well I don't know if life is a rollercoaster, but it certainly has it's ups and downs.

On the downside:
We had huge technical problems tonight as almost all the faders on my mixing desk were out of action. It meant that I was doing the show on just one fader instead of the three or four I would normally need. I only discovered this at five past six as we went on air.
What you heard was something like:
"...and now, here's Bryan..."
...Silence...
...bit more silence...
.... sound of two songs playing at the same time...
And finally, the sound of the cd that happened to be in the machine which was thankfully Martha Reeves and not the Moira Anderson album that Robbie Shepherd's team had left in there that afternoon.

On the upside:
What a great response to 'fairgrounds'. What I enjoyed the most was not the fairground themed songs, but the tunes that you remembered hearing being blasted out as the waltzers whirled you round. Songs like Ballroom Blitz, I Love Rock n Roll, The Only Way Is Up and The Rah Band doing The Crunch, which Mags from Orkney remembered from her childhood holidays at The Red Lion Caravan Site in Arbroath.

I grew up in Aberdeen, so the Codonas 'carnies' were never more than a ten minute bus ride away. Pun of the night went to Ronnie, also from Aberdeen who texted to suggest that The Knack and My Codona might be appropriate to play!

Bryan @ 19:30

Just getting ready for tonight's fairground theme and have asked Paul to have a bucket and some sawdust standing by. I've never been great on fairground rides and any trip on the waltzers has left me a bit green around the gills.

I once had to be filmed for a television programme while riding the big dipper at Blackpool Pleasure Beach. The footage was unusable as it was ten minutes of me crying like a wee girl and swearing alternately.

I guess my fairground songs would be Crying, A Whisper To A Scream and Coward of the County. Looking forward to see what you come up with tonight.

Bryan @ 17:09

Elspeth in Glasgow has just sent an e-mail for Wednesday's 'story songs' theme. It's a track that she heard ages ago, and doesn't know what it's called.

" I was driving at the time," writes Elspeth "and couldn’t write down the name or the singer but…it was about a woman who wore a red dress and went out on the town. She met a guy, married and wore a white dress. He was unfaithful so she wore a green dress as she was jealous. They split, so she wore a black dress. She got herself together, put the red dress on again…….etc."

We have 48 hours to find this track and all I can think of is Alvin Stardust's Red Dress. It's clearly not the song in question but it's all I've got so far.

Get It On listeners are great at this kind of thing, so I'm hoping you can help out. Any suggestions?

Welcome. Today is the day when the Get It On blog goes live. As you’ll see I've been blogging away for a week now, although up until this morning, I’ve been the only person able to read it. ( Sad or what?)

One of the most enjoyable aspects of presenting Get It On has been the way that our audience interacts with the show. I hope you’ll take part in the blog with the same enthusiasm you do the show. Click on the comment button at the bottom of this post and join in.

Let’s start with this week’s themes:

Tonight we are finally getting round to 1967. This was meant to be the theme for last week, but after the death of Tony Wilson last week, Monday night’s show aired as a tribute to the man behind so many Manchester bands.

Tuesday is Fairgrounds. Is life really a roller coaster as Ronan would have had us believe?

I’m really looking forward to Wednesday which is going to be story songs. Can there be a finer example of than the genre than the tale of of how “my momma socked it to the Harper Valley PTA” ?

I hope you enjoy reading my blog and are able to check in from time to time. My plan is to take you behind the scenes of the show and update you daily with the bits and pieces we don’t have time for on air.

Now, who’s going to have the honour of being the first person ever to leave a comment on the Get It On Blog....

I’ve been reducing listeners to tears again. I’m afraid it goes with the job when you present a country music show. Brand New Country specialises in melancholy and misery. If it’s not Billy-Jo Mcallister throwing himself off the Talachachie Bridge, it’s what country singer, Brad Paisley referred to as “another one of them double-suicide-drinking songs!”

A guy called Nick e-mailed tonight to say how much he’d enjoyed hearing our session with Jim Reilley. He particularly enjoyed The Man Who Had Everything. “I cried my eyes out,” said Nick. “ There’s nothing makes you feel better than a great sad song.”

This track is an especially despondent ditty about a man who had everything but his whole world has now fallen apart. I love it, as did Nick.

“ I bought the album and played the track over and over, but the session version was more raw and immediate – I only greet sometimes when I listen to the CD.”

We once did a whole show of the saddest songs in country music. It was a great listen but I was a blubbering wreck by the end of it. I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry was hard to take, but it was Nobody’s Child that finished me off.

Brand New Country is repeated on Sunday night, so tune in if you can. Just remember to keep the Prozac handy…

19:40 ( On the train from Aberdeen to Glasgow)

Thursday night on Get It On is devoted to your favourite summer songs. As always, tonight turned up some great suggestions. Billy Bragg, Buddy Holly and Bryan Hyland’s Sealed With A Kiss were particulary enjoyable.

Problem with commiting to do summer songs every Thursday is that I don’t know when it’s appropriate to stop. Halfway through ‘Twisting By The Pool’ I had a gut feeling that it was time.

Just like wearing white shoes after Labour Day, it somehow feels wrong to be playing songs about frolicking on the beach when the schools are back. How do you know when summer’s over? Let me know please.

My hunch is to get back to normal next week, but then again, do I really want to be known as the man who killed summer?

15:41

Great response to our gardening theme last night. Spookily, our studios are built on the very spot where the old Beechgrove Garden used to stand.

The punners were out on force last night. My favourites included ‘Hi Hoe Silver’ and something by ‘Lou Weed’! Puns aside, here’s the Get It On Gardening Top Ten...

1.ROSE GARDEN
Lynn Anderson

2. FLOWERS IN THE RAIN
The Move

3.GOOD YEAR FOR THE ROSES
Elvis Costello

4.POISON IVY
Lambrettas

5.FEED THE TREE
Belly

6.DIGGING YOUR SCENE
The Blow Monkeys

7.LOVE GROWS WHERE MY ROSEMARY GOES
Eddison Lighthouse

8.GARDENING AT NIGHT
REM

9. LAUGHING GNOME
David Bowie

10.ACE OF SPADES
Motorhead

Lots of folk seemed to enjoy the 'Manchester' theme on Monday night which we decided to do as a tribute to the music mogul, . Tony had been suffering from kidney cancer and died on Friday aged 57.

Get It On regular, Neil Martin was among one of the many listeners who wrote. "I was at the James concert on Friday evening" said Neil, "where they announced that Tony Wilson had died. I was a bit taken aback, and was really rather sad to hear it.

"Tim Booth paid handsome tribute to Tony Wilson, saying that he (Tony) had never bad mouthed them, even when they left him, and this struck me as a key feature of him. I may be wrong, but I don't recall him being publicly disparaging about too many, if any. He was always so incredibly positive about bands, and that may well have been what lead him to bring so many acts to everyone's attention."

I realise that the last minute change of theme didn't suit everyone. Those of you who were expecting 1967 night should tune in this Monday and we'll do it then. Last word goes to Neil...

"I think that it is a good thing to react occasionally to news items, but would ask that you give us a bit of pre-warning, ie you could announce that the following night's theme was changing. This would give the likes of us, who generally drive during the show, the chance to contribute as normally the only way to contribute during the show would require to pull over and write some three word text."

BB

I now have caffeine on the brain. Trying to convince the boss that the Get It On budget should stretch to a proper coffee maker to replace the chicken soup machine, especially as at the ´óĎó´ŤĂ˝ in Glasgow they have freshly prepared barrista coffees!

BTW, what's fat and drinks a lot of coffee? Java the hut!

BB

Paul has taken to rationing my pre-show caffeine intake. He claims that if I have too many cups of coffee I become cranky and wired to the moon. As if!

I'm not quite up there with Robbie Williams and his thirty-six espressos a day habit but I've just been reading about the teenager who was taken to hospital after overdosing on coffee, and maybe the time has come to cut back.

According to this the department of health recomends that you drink no more than seven cups of instant coffee a day. Mind you, I would never drink instant coffee, especially when it come from the machine at the ´óĎó´ŤĂ˝ in Aberdeen which also dispenses chicken soup out of the same nozzle. Bleughhh.

According to the report, indulging in too many coffees could result in symptoms such as restlessness, nervousness, excitement, delirium and a flushed face. Which is kinda how I feel when I do the show most nights! Better make mine a hot chocolate tonight...

Hugh in glasgow has just suggested Elvis Costello's Alison! ( If you live on the southside of Glasgow, you will think this is hilarious...)

Killermont, Bourbon or Positively Fourth? John McAllister suggests ‘streets for tonight’s theme, so take stroll down memory lane and let Bryan know your favourites

Just had production meeting for tonight's show. Some great suggestions coming in including Alphabet and Killermont but really hoping someone asks for the classic cheatin song, Dark End Of The Street.

Paul thinks we should open it out and include other thoroughfares, but I suspect that's only so he has an excuse to play Electric Avenue by Eddy Grant.

Be honest, how tired and humiliated do I look in this photograph? This is me with my running mates, moments after taking part in the hill race at the Aboyne Highland Games on Sunday. Embarrassingly I was still in the queue for the lavvies when the race started, so had to make a mad dash through the kilted hordes to join the others on the punishing run up 'The Fungle'.

My shame was complete when the following report appeared in the diary column of The Aberdeen Press and Journal. I should point out that my real name is not Barron, I'm not fair haired and have never been close to becoming the ´óĎó´ŤĂ˝'s Asia correspondent.

"COMIC Billy Connolly, who keeps a wee pad at Candacraig up Strathdon way, was not the only surprise VIP at Saturday's Aboyne Gathering. Also there was Brian Barron, one-time Asia reporter for the ´óĎó´ŤĂ˝.

He had entered the hill race but, incredibly, managed to miss the start.

The crowds were treated to the sight of the fair-haired hack racing across the park in pursuit of the pack. Commentator Robbie Shepherd didn't miss a trick as he said: "Hurry up, Brian, and jist join in onywye."

Needless to say, the tail-end Charlie of the 72-strong field did not feature in the prize list. Indeed, he may still be running."

So what links Andy Warhol to the Alexander Brothers? Both handy with a brush and a tin of emulsion apparently, as Tom and Jack were painters and decorators before they got sucked into showbusiness.

Don't think we will get asked for them tonight though. However, we have been asked for Brian and Michael, number 1 in 1978 with Matchstalk Men and Matchstalk Cats and Dogs. Not only did they deprive Gerry 'Baker Street' Rafferty of a chart topping slot, they were also the writing team behind this ghastly hit from 1986.