Follow Woody Guthrie's lead

Well 2015, you took plenty but gave back little. You see, you took so many '“ Steve Strange, Ben E King, Errol Brown, Jim Diamond, BB King, Lemmy out of Motorhead ... all gone. But we shouldn't look back; it's a time for making resolutions.

Those of us mathering about music could resolve to be nicer. So let’s start with Justin Bieber. A poll showed that 30 per cent of his fans are embarrassed about liking him. However, his reputation can’t have been harmed by his Christmas number two campaign. He tweeted that fans should buy the single by the NHS Choir. They did, pushing everyone’s (now) favourite pop star into second place.

It would be good if celebs were to respond in kind. They might consider taking a leaf from Woody Guthrie’s book. In 1943, the folk pioneer started a list of New Year resolutions. Admittedly there’s a bit of a lull around number ten – ‘Shine shoes’ – before his moving on to ‘Help win war – beat fascism’. It’s a fairly sound list, though 31’s ‘Love everybody’ is possibly contradicted by ‘Wake up and fight’.

And if Sam Smith’s considering following Guthrie’s doctrine maybe he could pick anything but ‘Write a song a day’.

Follow these rules and perhaps we can look forward to a good year’s music.

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