Three favourites from Her Majesty and a bonus from me

It is Tuesday already and of course that means that it's time to share some tunes!

But what a week it has been.

The UK had a new prime minister and then on Thursday our beloved monarch Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II passed away.

I had the privilege to meet her once and indeed I sang in a choir in front of her at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh when I was a young doy of ten.

I actually have a scar on my left thumb from that day when I met her, and sliced part of my thumb off right before she walked into our classroom!

Yep I met her with a bloody handkerchief wrapped round a bleeding thumb hidden behind my back. She totally outsmarted me though!

Feel free to have a little read My bloody encounter with Her Majesty the Queen

source screenshot of my personal picture

Long live #ttt 😁🎼 and #threetunetuesday

The formalities

If you wish to participate then I defer to the simple jist on how to do it from @ablaze ...

The jist is as follows

Every Tuesday I'm going to share 3 songs which I like to listen to and I invite your feedback in the comments below. Better still, why not have a blast of your own Three Tune Tuesday and mention me in the post and I'll come and find the post and upvote it. If you could also use #ttt or #threetunetuesday tags that would be great. It'll be a sweet way for us all to discover new music. You'll also be in with a chance of winning the prize - more on that later.

This week is week 68 of ttt and if you wish to participate then follow the rules laid out by @ablaze in his post from this week Albert Niland for Three Tune Tuesday Week 68

Formalities over, let's get down to the tunes!

So I heard a couple of songs yesterday that were said to be favourites of the Queen. So I did some digging around, and found a list of her ten favourite music pieces that was collated as part of her 90th birthday celebrations. This was actually for a BBC program. So I have picked three of those to share with you today!

The Queen's 10 favourite pieces of music:

Source
There did not seem to be any order, so I have put them in my favourite order and left the three that we are goingto listen to until the end.

You can click on any of them and they will pull up the piece for you to listen to, if you would like!

• Oklahoma! by Howard Keel
  So I thought this would be a fitting version Howard Keel -"Oklahoma!" -1982 Royal Variety Performance as it was sung at a Royal Variety Performance.

• Anything You Can Do (Annie Get Your Gun) by Dolores Gray and Bill Johnson

• The Lord is My Shepherd (hymn)
  Goodness knows how many times that I have sung this. Being a boarder at school you had to goto church every Sunday and this hymn was always played. For me it is one of the saddest things I can hear, as I am reminded of funerals. Every funeral I can remember being at, we would sing this.

• Regimental March Milanollo
  I know how much the Queen loved the military and marching bands etc, however Milanollo sounds Italian to me! What has that got to do with the UK military. So more digging and I found this tune was written by the German composer Johann Valentin Hamm for the Italian violinist sisters and child prodigies, Teresa and Maria Milanollo. They then introduced it to England in 1845. In the 1880s it was officially authorised, along with all regimental marches, by the War Office as a regimental march for the Coldstream Guards. The Coldstream Guards adopted the march under the title "Milanollo" and the official arrangement was authorised in 1882. Source

• Cheek to Cheek by Fred Astaire
  "Cheek to Cheek" was written by Irving Berlin in 1935,for the Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers film Top Hat (1935). Don't you just love the way it starts! source

Heaven, I'm in Heaven,
And my heart beats so that I can hardly speak;
And I seem to find the happiness I seek
When we're out together dancing, cheek to cheek

• Lester Lanin Medley
  I had never heard of Lester Lanin and it turns out that he died at age 97 and was hugely popular and a bing band leader to the stars. He and his orchestra even

played at the prestigious International Debutante Ball where upper-class girls from prominent American and international families are presented to high society at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City
source

• Praise, My Soul, The King Of Heaven (hymn)
  This is another hym that I know off by heart as it was more often than not sung at school morning assembly.

My chosen three for #ttt

• Leaning on a Lamp-post by George Formby
• Sing by Gary Barlow and the Commonwealth Band featuring the Military Wives
• The White Cliffs Of Dover by Vera Lynn

George Formby ~ Leaning On A Lampost

When I hear George Formby, I immediately think of When I'm cleaning windows.

Leaning On A Lampost however is new to me and it is a song from the film "Feather Your Nest". This was made in 1937 and starred George Formby and Polly Ward playing the piano.
The jist to this song and scene.. George being George damages an orginal recording made by a professional singer, albeit accidentally. This is George and Polly recreating the song. Their record of course sells loads and loads of copies but nobody knows who the mystery singer is.

This next song I was not that familiar with.

Gary Barlow & The Commonwealth Band/Military Wives Choir (Diamond Jubilee Concert) ~ Sing

However two things swung it for me to inlude on list of three.

Firstly the fact it was part of the Diamond Jubilee concert and was in front of Buckingham Palace. I was living in Spain during the Diamond Jubiee year so missed all of these celebrations.

Secondly though and the fun part is just look at the wee girl singers, their faces their joy, it is infectious!

Vera Lynn ~ The White Cliffs Of Dover

I remember when I was at school, we interviewed veterans from the second world war for a school project.
There were two awesome old boys I interviewed. They were Royal Air Force pilots. They used to love it when they were coming backfrom a mission when they saw the White Cliffs of Dover, it meant they were almost home, they were almost safe.

Dame Vera lynn was amazing, the ultimate forces sweetheart.

But listen to her voice, the range, seriously that lady can sing!

I hope you enjoyed these tunes that were favourite of The Queen.

It has been a strange week, and in an hour it will be the 14th of September, my late parents wedding anniversary. 9/11 was a couple of days ago and we talking to the cousin of Mrs T who was in tower 1 and was physically unhamed but saw the falling jumpers. He to this day has nightmares.

I know I said I would play three, but I think this will be the first time I play something religious, so I will leave you with the hymn that I sang many many times including at my parents funerals.

Note: The three YouTube videos that I have shared are not owned by me, I am simply spreading great music on Hive.

I wish that you all have a brilliant rest of your week, and until we meet again enjoy your tunes 🎶🎵🎶