So, what’s this new project all about then? Thank you for asking. Exactly six months from today, Saturday 6th May 2006, will be Chig’s 40th birthday. This is such a frightening and depressing thought, that I am in need of some constant daily activity on this here blog to perk me up and interact with you, my readers. (Both of you.) Hopefully, this will also be fun for you to play along with during the long, dark days to come. (Ignore that if you’re in the southern hemisphere, but you’re welcome to join in too.)

Here’s the plan. Every few days, starting with 1966 (my year of birth), Chig will be giving you a list of between 5 and 10 songs from that year. They could be my favourite tunes, or songs which have special memories attached for me, or acknowledged classics, or just the biggest songs of that year. At least one song from each year will have a Eurovision connection, but don’t let that put you off.

All you have to do is tell me, in the comments, your top 5 songs from the choice given. I will then give them points; 5 for your favourite down to 1 point for your 5th favourite. The voting will stay open until that year’s piece slides off the bottom of this page into the archives, and then I will add up all the points and declare the winning tune for that year. All the winners will be listed in the sidebar and, after 41 sets of voting, you’ll all be bored senseless and will have stopped reading we’ll have a fabulous 41 track compilation album, which will then be given away to people who have contributed and possibly in some silly competitions too. It may also form the soundtrack to a party I’m tentatively planning, but that’s all a bit hush-hush so keep it to yourself for now. So, not quite as pointless as it seemed at first, is it? It might even be fun.

There’s another bit though. See where I said I’ll suggest ‘between 5 and 10 songs’? That’s because there will be wildcard entries, suggested by you! All you have to do is name your favourite songs of the year which I’ve missed out, and some of them will be added to my list, so that we’ll be voting on ten songs from each year. This is really just because I might have forgotten something an exciting way to ensure ‘reader involvement’ so that I know you’re still there.

This whole project is a blatant rip-off of two of Mike’s best ideas on Troubled-Diva; his 40 in 40 Days project (but I’m far too lazy and uninteresting to write 40 stories like that), and the voting from his annual ‘Which Decade Is Tops For Pops?’ game. I never claimed to be original and I hope he forgives me.

There was also a tentative plan for me to publish a photo of Chig taken in each relevant year, as we get to it, just so you can have a laugh and maybe come back to look at the next one. However, this idea has been temporarily stalled as I’ve realised that the baby photos I had scanned are currently trapped on the hard drive of my old PC. I can’t get the originals from Chigmother for a while, as she is currently doing something that Peter André does on a regular basis. She’s exploring Jordan.

[Pauses for laughter.]

Anyway, when she returns from the Middle East, rest assured that Chig will be ransacking the family albums in order to amuse you.

First things first though. The songs from 1966 will follow in a few days. Yes, it is prepared, thank you very much. I’m not stalling for time, but we need a name first. Every name I’ve come up with has been a bit rubbish. Names considered so far include;

The Tunes of Chig’s Years (blatantly ripped off from Ken Bruce’s ‘The Tracks Of My Years’ on Radio2.)
Chig’s Choons
Chig’s 40 Years / 40 years of Chig’s Choons (both problematic, because 1966-2006 will actually give us 41 tunes, not 40, as you’ll have realised already.)
The Soundtrack to my Life (too overblown and pretentious)
The 40 Years Project
1966 and all that

Please feel free to suggest anything better, or choose one of those, because I know which one I’m edging towards at the moment. When we’ve decided what it’s to be called, we could also do with a logo. So, any of you creative types, please feel free to design one, because that kind of thing is beyond my technical capabilities. There will be a prize for the one we use.

I would particularly like to encourage any people of the female persuasion to participate in this, because my experience is that it tends to be men who enjoy making these kind of lists. I’m not going to analyse why.

That’s about it for today, so please suggest a name and in two or three days we’ll get going with my tracks of 1966.


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