Sing Something Simple
Encyclopedia
Sing Something Simple was a half-hour radio
programme, which featured Cliff Adams and The Cliff Adams Singers, with Jack Emblow on accordion. The programme ran for 42 years from 1959 until 2001, initially on the Light Programme and later on BBC Radio 2
, and earning itself the title of the longest-running continuous music programme in the world.
Sing something simple
As cares go by
Sing something simple
Just you and I
When Sing Something Simple was broadcast by Radio 2, this song would be followed by an announcer who would say:
"We invite you to Sing Something Simple, a collection of favourite songs, old and new, sung by The Adams Singers, accompanied by Jack Emblow."
The tune would then continue:
We'll sing the old songs
like you used to do,
We'll sing something simple for you,
something for you.
Ten minutes in, Cliff Adams would perform a piano solo, which he would introduce, after which the singers would continue with a selection of popular songs of varying vintage.
In later years - particularly in the 1980s - in the days when Radio 2's FM frequencies were sometimes leased to Radio 1, the programme would be broadcast directly before the Top 40.
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
programme, which featured Cliff Adams and The Cliff Adams Singers, with Jack Emblow on accordion. The programme ran for 42 years from 1959 until 2001, initially on the Light Programme and later on BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...
, and earning itself the title of the longest-running continuous music programme in the world.
Format
The lyrics to its main theme began as follows:Sing something simple
As cares go by
Sing something simple
Just you and I
When Sing Something Simple was broadcast by Radio 2, this song would be followed by an announcer who would say:
"We invite you to Sing Something Simple, a collection of favourite songs, old and new, sung by The Adams Singers, accompanied by Jack Emblow."
The tune would then continue:
We'll sing the old songs
like you used to do,
We'll sing something simple for you,
something for you.
Ten minutes in, Cliff Adams would perform a piano solo, which he would introduce, after which the singers would continue with a selection of popular songs of varying vintage.
In later years - particularly in the 1980s - in the days when Radio 2's FM frequencies were sometimes leased to Radio 1, the programme would be broadcast directly before the Top 40.