Happy Boxing Day to our listeners around the British Commonwealth. If you're in Europe, Happy St Stephen's Day. And, if you're in America, Happy Tuesday. No matter the contrasting designations of officialdom, it is the second day of Christmastide. Tomorrow we shall be back to the glum stuff from the hell of the headlines, when Mark will be conducting another Clubland Q&A, taking questions from Mark Steyn Club members live around the planet. (The fun starts at 3pm North American Eastern - which is 8pm GMT. ) But, if you're not yet sated on festive fare, do check out our traditional Christmas cornucopia.
For today, as is customary at this time of year, Mark presents his tip of the hat to those from the music world we lost in 2023 - singers and songwriters plus, oddly enough, a man acquitted of murder and another convicted of it. Some of the names are famous - Burt Bacharach, Gordon Lightfoot; others are obscure, but of significance. It's an hour-and-a-half of songs known and unknown from the lyricist of Fiddler on the Roof to the creator of Yugoslavia's last blockbuster pop hit, and performed by a wide range of singers and musicians, from Eric Clapton to Zero Mostel, the Ames Brothers to the Fun Boy Three. It's not intended to be comprehensive - there are others Steyn has paid tribute to in shows and columns along the way; and, in fact, there will be an additional ave atque vale on tomorrow's Q&A.
Click above to listen.
You can hear Part Two of Mark's farewell to those we lost in 2023 next week.
~Last Call is a special production of The Mark Steyn Club. For more on the Steyn Club, see here.
There's a whole cavalcade of musical delights over on our Netflix-style music home page, where you'll find easy-to-access live performances by everyone from Herman's Hermits to Liza Minnelli; Mark's interviews with Chuck Berry, Leonard Bernstein and Bananarama (just to riffle through the Bs); and audio documentaries on P G Wodehouse's songs, Simon after Garfunkel, and much more. We'll be adding to the archive in the months ahead, but, even as it is, we hope you'll find the SteynOnline music home page a welcome respite from the woes of the world.
