Let The Day Begin...Let The Day Start!: Day 1

I'm not 100% certain how this is going to work but I thought I'd start a new daily series for 2016, Let The Day Begin...Let The Day Start!

I don't know what your life is going to turn out like in 2016 (and I am not even certain of the way my own life is going to turn out!) but if there's any certainties it's that each new day can offer new opportunities, detours, valleys, disappointments, tragedy, hopes and dreams fulfilled etc...

I have to say I like this quote that I saw a few people had posted yesterday over on facebook and I'm sure we'll all make a few mistakes as well along the way.

"I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're doing something." - Neil Gaiman

Anyone who has for any moment in their lives been involved in addiction recovery will know the mantra that life is lived by - One Day at a Time. Sometimes we have to take life like that because for all our planning and goals etc it doesn't always work out the way we want.

Let's hope as well that amid whatever circumstances we find cross our path in this New Year that we will find a song from past or present that can perfectly express the place we are at and the response that we make so that we can add to the our very own Soundtrack4Life.

So, with that thought of One Day at a Time in mind Let The Day Begin...Let The Day Start!

The perfect song to kick off the series (and borrowed for the title of series) is a track originally released in 1989 by The Call. It's one of those songs that you think should have been a much bigger hit than it ended up being. In the US it only reached #51 whilst in the UK it fell short of the Top Forty at #42.

It's a song that seems to include all of us somewhere in the lyric.

 The Call

Let The Day Begin

Let The Day Begin
Songwriter
Michael Kenneth Been
Published by
(Lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC)

Here's to the babies in a brand new world
Here's to the beauty of the stars
Here's to the travelers on the open road
Here's to the dreamers in the bars

Here's to the teachers in the crowded rooms
Here's to the workers in the fields
Here's to the preachers of the sacred words
Here's to the drivers at the wheel

Here's to you my little loves with blessings from above
Now let the day begin
Here's to you my little loves with blessings from above
Now let the day begin, let the day begin

Here's to the winners of the human race
Here's to the losers in the game
Here's to the soldiers of the bitter war
Here's to the wall that bears their names

Here's to you my little loves with blessings from above
Now let the day begin
Here's to you my little loves with blessings from above
Let the day begin, let the day begin, let the day start

Here's to the doctors and their healing work
Here's to the loved ones in their care
Here's to the strangers on the streets tonight
Here's to the lonely everywhere

Here's to the wisdom from the mouths of babes
Here's to the lions in the cage
Here's to the struggles of the silent war
Here's to the closing of the age

Here's to you my little loves with blessings from above
Now let the day begin
Here's to you my little loves with blessings from above
Let the day begin

Here's to you my little loves with blessings from above
Let the day begin
Here's to you my little loves with blessings from above
Now let the day begin, let the day begin, let the day start

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

Let The Day Begin

In 2013 Black Rebel Motorcycle Club released their seventh studio album Specter of the Feast and a cover of Let the Day Begin was released as a Single. Songwriter Michael Been had been involved as part of the Sound Crew for the band, his son (Robert Levon Been) plays Bass Guitar. The recording was a tribute to Michael Been passed away after working a show with them in Belguim in 2009.

Simple Minds

Let The Day Begin

The third video here is a version of the song by Simple Minds. The song was recorded for their 2014 album Big Music. In an inteview this is what Jim and Charlie had to say about it:

Jim Kerr: "There's a song on the album called Let The Day Begin and it was written by Michael Been of a band called The Call. Some people will know them but I think – by and large many people this side of the water don't know about The Call or Michael."

Charlie Burchill: "And they toured with us in America for quite a long time. And he's an amazing writer – he had an amazing pedigree. He was in Martin Scorsese's Last Temptation Of Christ, he was an apostle in that – Martin Scorsese directed the videos, his backing band was The Band – I mean, that's not bad. And he was just an amazing writer."

JK: "Years later – so many years later – in fact last year, we got the chance to go back and tour in America and in that time, sadly Michael - fairly recently, had passed away, very sad. But we'd have loved the chance to hook up with him again or the chance to play with him again – but it wasn't to be. So on the last tour of the States indeed we played Let The Day Begin. It went down an absolute storm and sounded better than we ever imagined that it would. Pretty much within about twenty-four hours since coming back to these shores and landing at Heathrow we booked the studio in London and tried to capture it."

JK: "It's great to have it in the set, and great to have it on the album, and hopefully it's a great homage to Michael as well."

Here's wishing you all an exciting Year ahead but remember it starts with a day! - Doug