Musical and geographical offerings from GeoBlogs: a 365 blog project for 2026.
"Timothy went to Blackpool for the day last Eastertide.."
What could be more British than heading for the seaside?
Plenty of songs have this as a theme.
This one of course... dating back to the Music Hall period at the start of the 20th century.
A couple of songs about roads...
Columbus Avenue - Aimee Mann
Ventura Highway - America
What other road songs can you think of?
Bruce Hornsby's 'The Valley Road' springs to mind... or Dire Straits' 'Telegraph Road'....
The Scallop on Aldeburgh beach is a sculpture by Maggi Hambling. It was a little controversial when it was first positioned on the shingle between the village and the neighbouring village of Thorpeness. Not everyone liked its design or look.... but then that's art... you can't please everyone...
Images: Alan Parkinson
The scallop is incised with the words ''I hear those voices that will not be drowned' from the opera 'Peter Grimes'.
Hambling sees Scallop as more than just a sculpture. It was designed to also be a shelter and a seat, a place where visitors can rest and 'contemplate the mysterious power of the sea'. She wants people to interact with it: 'When somebody climbs up on it to sit down and watch the sea, or when a couple creeps in underneath it to make love, then it will be complete.'
Benjamin Britten was associated with the area.
He lived in Suffolk.
One of his famous pieces was 'The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra'.
I've been to see a number of concerts at Snape Maltings over the years - most recently the band Altan.
The building is beautiful and the acoustics are great.
It's just as well that we did, as if we had waited for the following year, COVID would have cancelled our trip, and the USA is temporarily out of bounds.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art had an exhibition called 'Play it Loud'.
The Division Bell was an album by Pink Floyd.
It was released in 1994.
When I drive to work in Ely, I pass within half a mile of where the photos were taken for the cover.
Two large metal heads were placed in a field off Quanea Drove.
Precise Coordinates: To stand in the exact spot where the sightlines lock onto the cathedral towers, use the What3Words location: ///climber.awkward.indicatedThe video for the track 'High Hopes' also starts there... and reflects on the bands roots in the area.
I love the arrangement of this tune from Jean Luc Ponty.
It's just as well that we did, as if we had waited for the following year, COVID would have cancelled our trip, and the USA is temporarily out of bounds.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art had an exhibition called 'Play it Loud'.
I've mentioned the work of Brian Eno before.
His 2025 album with Beatie Wolfe is called Big Empty Country. It's a nice ambient piece.
The first instalment of C.S. Lewis' Narnia series of books is 'The Magician's Nephew'. Greta Gerwig, whose Barbie was a huge critical and popular success, has now tackled this book.
This is a good analysis of the trailer and film.
A landmark TV series for me was Carl Sagan's 'Cosmos' - we could do with him around now to continue to challenge American politicians about climate change as he did when he was alive.
The theme tune for the TV show was very good, and I discovered that it was by Vangelis and from an album called Heaven and Hell. I had a copy of the 7" single at the time, plus the book of the series. I still refer to him every year and his Pale Blue Dot image and text.
Enjoy!
Was just listening to this earlier, and I thought you should too.... the late Gabriel Yacoub...
Traditional songs like this go back a long way, and their mood and them is often violent.
The song's protagonist is John Barleycorn, a personification of barley and of the beer made from it.This particular performance of the track is from The Imagined Village.
The local news programme has just featured a football match played at the weekend where Cambridge United won their match while wearing a special kit, for World Mental Health Day.
It was based on Syd Barrett: an original member of Pink Floyd.
Details are shown in the video below:
In 1980, Mike Rutherford of Genesis released his first solo album: 'Smallcreep's Day'.
It included a full side dedicated to one track which is based on a book of the same name.
Earlier in the year, I was reminded of this excellent progressive album which features several excellent musicians. The people who played on the album included:
Mike Rutherford - Guitar, BassGA members who have a subscription to the 'Geography' journal can find this article in the most recent issue of the journal (Autumn 2026).
Gonzalez, T. L., & Phua, V. C. (2026). Designing a lyrical analysis class exercise: exploring the American Dream narratives in rap lyrics. Geography, 111(3), 128–134. https://doi.org/10.1080/00167487.2026.2724690
Abstract
A lovely interactive from David G Haskell on the sounds made when the Earth sings.
Description
This sonic journey written and narrated by David G. Haskell brings us to the beginning of sound and song on planet Earth. The experience is made entirely of tiny trembling waves in air, the fugitive, ephemeral energy that we call sound. Spoken words combined with terrestrial sounds invite our senses and imaginations to go outward into an experience of the living Earth and its history. How did the vast and varied chorus of modern sounds—from forest to oceans to human music—emerge from life’s community? When did the living Earth first start to sing? We invite you on a journey into deep time and deep sound that will open your ears and your imagination.I've been exploring Sheffield quite a bit for the blog, as has Carl Lee in his numerous guest posts.
Many of Richard Hawley's songs reference Sheffield.
Image: Alan Parkinson
Richard's music has been turned into a stage show. It is set in the Park Hill flats which when they were built promised 'streets in the sky'.
I've spoken about them before at a GA Teachmeet.
Here's 'Coming Home'..
