No more champagne
And the fireworks are through
Here we are, me and you
Feeling lost and feeling blue
It’s the end of the party
And the morning seems so grey
So unlike yesterday
Now’s the time for us to say…

The above as all will recognize are the opening lyrics to “Happy New Year” by Swedish super group ABBA from their 1980 album Super Trouper. What you probably didn’t know was that the song’s working title was the more festive; “Daddy Don’t Get Drunk on Christmas Day”. Recorded in 1980, the English-language song wasn’t released as a single until 1999 and charted in Sweden (#27), The Netherlands (#15) and Germany (#78). Apparently the song is still very popular in Vietnam and played often during New Year holidays! (more…)

As John Lennon and Yoko Ono wrote in 1971:          

So this is Christmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun
………

A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let’s hope it’s a good one
Without any fear

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Free beer for life tattoo stunt, sparks fury over BrewDog bar.

The End of History – featuring dead animals – comes at £500 a bottle.

The above are just two headlines concerning BrewDog in the beer press this week.

The first headline sparked outrage with BrewDog apparently proposing free beer for life to anyone who gets their logo tattooed onto themselves as a promotional stunt at the opening of their first bar,  planned for Aberdeen in mid September.

(more…)