In one of his journalistic pieces George Orwell said that he would rather have written a popular song than all of his serious material. He meant a song that ordinary people would sing and hum and listen to in their homes and his mythical pub, "The Moon Under Water".
What would he have written: "Underneath the Arches", maybe, or "I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts", perhaps, but certainly not "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square", or the posh Noel Coward song, "Poor Little Rich Girl". They're both wonderful tunes but not in the DNA of the man who wrote "1984".
I too wish I had written a song, and not just any old song. It would be nice to have my name on "Stardust", which is really two songs in one or anything by Gershwin, anything by Frank Loesser, anything by Cole Porter, but let's be realistic, these are the geniuses of popular song and Orwell and I are mere scribblers who wish upon a star. I would be happy to have penned, "Let's Get Lost" and I think Orwell would have been proud to be the composer of "There'll Always Be An England".
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