When two of Frank's heroes collide, great art is made... I was a teenage Samuel Beckett fan. I owed my early enthusiasm to my English teacher, Richard Shone, who taught me between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, through my O and A Levels. He encouraged me to read widely outside ... Read More...

There was more to Henry VIII than head-chopping and monastery-bashing... Bloody Tudors everywhere at the moment. I've been reading Hilary Mantel, watching BBC Two’s Tudor season, and now I can’t get this song out of my head. ‘I’m 'Enery the Eighth I am’, Joe Brown claims in a tale about a ... Read More...

What might Dave and Sam have been listening to as they chilled in the Balearics?... Whilst people have been listening to calming music forever, it's only in the last 20 years that 'chilling' has become an officially sanctioned activity. Many people don't even realise that the inoffensive 'chillout' music that has ... Read More...

Some of the most memorable films live on in our affections not just because they're beautifully shot or well acted or superbly scripted. Sometimes what really makes them stick in our memory is a song... The right sort of song - presented in the right way, in the right place, and ... Read More...

Part 2 of Brit's look at the influences on Van Morrison features the Godfather of Soul, the King of Rock 'n Soul and some serious sweating... Few artists, as I noted a few months ago, have been more influential than Van Morrison, and few have been as explicit about their own ... Read More...

Pink Floyd's enduringly popular Dark Side of the Moon turned 40 this year. But, as Daniel Kalder explains, there was plenty of great rock music around in 1973... This March Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon turned 40 years old to some ballyhoo in the press. Apparently Sir Tom Stoppard ... Read More...

A treat for you today as commenter and friend of The Dabbler John Halliwell brings you music inspired by the rhythm of the trains... As a child I developed an almost fanatical love of the steam engine; I doubt Betjeman felt that love any more intensely. Winter was a favourite time: ... Read More...

A treat today: the complete musical history of Frank Key... The other day I had a persistent earworm in the form of the Skye Boat Song. “Speed, bonnie boat, like a bird on the wing…” I have to say this was a more welcome noise in my head than the usual ... Read More...

Jonathan Law returns to The Dabbler with the first in an occasional series looking at people who chose to disappear... Here he tells the remarkable tale of folk singer Shelagh McDonald... Sometimes you hear, fifth-hand, As epitaph: He chucked up everything And just cleared off, And always the voice will sound Certain you approve This audacious, purifying, Elemental ... Read More...

Are rock side-projects always self-indulgent rubbish? Not necessarily, says Daniel Kalder, who can think of four non-rotten ones... Ah, the rock n’ roll side project: in any long career it’s difficult for a rock star to resist the temptation to indulge. Weary of their official identities, worn out by fan expectations, ... Read More...