Video number 96 and a special favourite of mine. I’ve been wanting to do this one for a while. A few years ago I got into a band called Muse. I was so impressed with their music that I purchased all their albums in one hit
The song I’ve covered in this video is from the excellent album “Absolution”, and the title of it is “Blackout”. I happen to think that it is one of the most beautiful songs ever written. There’s nothing spectacular about the music, but the words are so moving in their simplicity and the expression is wonderful. That’s something I hope I’ve managed to get across in my version.

Here is my take on “Blackout”.

Jeffstunes singing Blackout by Muse

Here’s the latest Youtube statistics digest.
My subscribers have climbed up to 1,619.
My channel has been perused 36,499 times.
The total viewing figures for all my videos now stands at 831,005.

I haven’t yet planned my next video upload. It will probably be another of my enormous request list, or perhaps I might put up another original!

This next video was another one of my requests. I was recently asked by one of my subscribers if I could sing this and dedicate it to her boyfriend, who also happens to be one of my subscribers, and apparently a big fan of me. The song is called “Swallowed in the sea” by none other than Coldplay. This is one of many requests for different Coldplay songs. My youtube channel already has a good number of them.

Now to the song. Here is my rendition of this wonderful tune from the album X&Y.

Jeff Edwards singing Swallowed in the sea by Coldplay.

As always, it’s time for some Youtube figures, and my subscriber tally has increased to 1,414.
The viewings of my channel have gone past the 33k barrier to 33,008. My total video viewings is creeping ever nearer to 700k at 687,830. I’ve got my fingers crossed on that being passed quite soon.

Now a look forward to my next post. I have already done a recording of the song, and in my opinion, it is one of the most wonderful modern compositions I’ve ever heard. I wont spoil it by saying anything now, and I’m hoping that will have created an air of anticipation. Until I write again

There have been accusations levelled at me for miming in my videos, and I have to say that I take that as a great compliment. To think that my voice fits that well to the music.
That got me thinking, and I carried that idea over to this video. It’s a slideshow of my photographs with a difference. One that interacts.

This song is called “You found me” and is by a group called “The Fray”. It’s not the first of theirs that I have uploaded to youtube. Some time back I did “How to save a life”.

This is MY version of it. I hope you like it.

You found me – The fray (My cover)

Last, but by no means least. It’s the low down on the Youtube figures.
My subscribers have increased to 1,408.
My channel viewings are now at 32,714.
The total views for all my videos is 677,653.

Coming next is a Coldplay cover, with a dedication to a couple of Youtube subs.

On to video 93.

It’s time I did some of my requests and this is the most requested of all of them. I’ve had requests for a number of Neil Diamond songs, and I have already got through quite a few, but up until now, this one has been out of the list.

The title is “Love on the rocks”. I hope you enjoy my rendition of this beautiful song. Neil Diamond compositions are always a joy for me to sing.

Love on the rocks – Jeff Edwards

OK. It’s numbers time. Everything seems to be moving forward well on Youtube.
The Subs to the Jeffstunes channel are now up at 1,406.
My channel has now been looked at 32,593 times and the overall video views are now 673,277!!

Looking ahead to my next post. I’ll be doing another most requested tune, and it is going to be one from “The Fray”. Then after that, a Coldplay number

I’m going to have a bit of a break from my dad’s story. I will be coming back to it.

It’s been a while since I uploaded my last video to Youtube, but the video views are still as strong. I recorded some requests recently, and this is the first of that batch.

It’s one of the many well known songs from The Carpenters. I was watching a documentary about their rise a couple of nights ago. I think that had something to do with me uploading it.

It’s entitled “For all we know”, and this is my rendition of it.

Jeffstunes cover of For all we know by The Carpenters

Now for an update on the statistics. They’ve moved on a bit.
The total subscribers to my channel are now 1,368.
My channel has been seen 31,758 times.
The total views for all my videos now stands at 648,469.

I’m hoping to upload a Neil Diamond classic realtively soon. Then it’s a Fray song. That’s coming up

The 91st of my Youtube uploads, and finally a song that I chose myself. It was time for a bit of selfishness. I’ve been hearing a song for a while, but haven’t really paid that much attention to it until recently. Then when I did get around to having a sing-a-long, I discovered that it was pretty simple to sing, and very enjoyable at the same time. So It only seemed right to try it out. The song is called “Use somebody”, and it’s originally by “Kings of leon”.

Here it is:

Jeffstunes singing use somebody

I’ve just finished a website so I thought I’d put some stuff about it in the video. It all started with answering my comments on YT. If you attempt more than 4 comments in 10 minutes, you get challenged by Captcha. Some of the word challenges that the Youtube Captcha made up were really very amusing. You can make it generate loads by continually clicking “Can’t read”. Virtually all the words do not exist in real life, and pretty soon i started dreaming up dictionary definitions for those words. I was thinking of how amusing it would be if someone made a website with the fake Captcha words and fake definitions in a disctionary. It would be so funny. I couldn’t wait for that to happen, so I quickly put together my own site and called it “Captchionary”.
I sat down for a day going through some of the captcha images I’ve collected and added them to the site with definitions. I’ve made it so that anybody can submit their own captcha definitions. The more I get the better. I can’t wait to see what other people come up with.

So if you see a Captcha image that has a word you could make a definition for then right click on the image and save it to your computer. Then visit the Captchionary website at:

The Captchionary

Fill out the form at the bottom and upload your image, or just provide another definition for one of the existing words. Then leave up to the vetting process. While you’re on the site. Why not check out some of the existing words and definitions. You can click the “Hit me” link for random words. My cheeks already hurt from some that I’ve read.

Now down to my Youtube affairs. Here’s the latest lowdown on the statistics.

Subscribers = 1,208
Channel views = 28,081
Total video views = 537,056

Until next time…

My request list has gone beyond the ridiculous. it now exceeds three hundred. My requests come in faster that I can possibly make videos for them, so the best course of action is for me to carefully select one every now and again. The first of those choices is “You’ve got a friend” by “James taylor”. People have compared my voice to many vocalists over time, and James Taylor is one of those comparisons. I don’t believe I sound anything like him but that’s my opinion.

What do you reckon. Take a listen:

You’ve got a friend – A Jeffstunes cover

My Dad part 12

The 2 other alcoholics beside my dad that I talked briefly about, were engaged in employment with my father for a short time at a firm called “Taylor woodrow” in Greenford. I think the firm were in the process of closing down their operation there. I remember once being invited to their annual summer party. It was good fun, but I didn’t really know anybody there. I visited his place of work on a number of occasions. I think he was employed in the capacity of some sort of security guard. It was a vast site with many buildings, yet none of them seemed to be staffed in any way. I’d say that was probably the perfect environment for my father to work in. Nobody to see him drinking, and he did at work. There were many objects around his place of work, and if they weren’t nailed down, then he would take them. Actually he probably also took some things that were nailed down. By the time his appointment was over, his house looked like a bit like the offices
The circumstances in which his employment ended are not important, and I don’t know anyway. I just know he stopped working there.
My father also used to lavish gifts upon me of jewellery and other precious items. The problem was that he didn’t buy any of these items. He took them. Something I found out at a later date. Did he leave me any of those objects. Not a chance, he stole them back off me to sell for drink probably. I can’t say I’m too bothered. I’ve never been one to wear jewellery. I kept them in a draw. I also didn’t really consider them mine. The brutal truth is that he didn’t have a right to give them either!
So, what does it feel like to be the son of a common thief and an alcoholic?
I imagine it’s no different from anybody else. Most of us disagree with some of our parents actions, it’s just that those of my father were illegal

To be continued…

The Youtube figures have been climbing steadily. I’ve worked out that I get on average between 1,100 and 1,300 views a day. Strangely though. Every now and again one of my videos enjoys a boost in views without any apparent reason. Like one video getting 4,000 views in 2 days. I’m still scratching my head.
My subscribers have increased to 1,183.
The amount of times my channel has been seen is 27,367 and I’m pleased to say that the total video views have pushed over the half a million mark to 521,210.

Coming up next is more covering. There’s a duet on the horizon, so I’m not sure if that’s going to come first.

Temporarily departing from the music videos. First of all. Happy new year to all that read my blog. I thought it would be a good idea to bring the new year in with some humour. I was going through some old video of my daughter, and found the tape I made of her first year. There were a number of clips on the vid that still make me laugh out loud, so I thought I’d put those moments on youtube for all to see, and hopefully to be as amused as I was.
As my daughter was settling into solids well, I tried many different foods to see if she liked them or not. At the festive end of her first year, I fed her some Nectarine, with hilarious results. Each mouthful gave her a kick, but she loved every bit. Having that on camera is a blessing. I laugh every time I watch it.

Here it is on my other Youtube channel:

NECTARINES!!

Now the next part of my Dad’s story.

My Dad part 11

I said previously that my father was an alcoholic. That was to be the key component in dismantling his relationship with Sheila. Kashif and Sima loved him dearly, but Sheila was understandably growing tired of the alcoholic friends being brought into the house. One of those was a guy affectionately called Bernie. Another was called Adam. Bernie passed away a few years ago due to the abuse of alcohol. His great love was his football team Manchester city. Kashif liked Bernie and the love of Manchester city rubbed off on him. My father wasn’t the biggest of men. I’d say he was 5 foot 5 inches tall and very slim. I recall a chat with Bernie during one of his many drunken moments. Where the conversation started evades me, but he started talking about how he could easily take me down at any time (in a violent sense). The likelihood of that was so remote, considering he was so drunk and could hardly even walk, and I was the sober one. I was quite amused by his suggestion, however my father overheard his words and was less than impressed. Dad bolted into the living room in a fit of rage and placed his hand around Bernie’s neck and physically lifted him completely off the ground with one hand booming “Never, ever threaten my son”. It did surprise me because Bernie’s weight probably exceeded 12 stone, and my father was a mere 9 stone. It is astonishing what adrenaline can do for your strength. The other alcoholic friend of my father’s that I got to know was Adam. He was a guy that could handle his drink. A Scotsman that totally enjoyed a good debate. Especially with me. It didn’t matter what your opinion was about anything, he would always find another way to look at it. Talking with him was entertaining. The last I heard, he was still alive. I also heard that he had given up the drink. That’s fortunate for him. At the time Adam also had a partner, who was also an alcoholic. One morning I received a call telling me that my father and Adam were in a police cell, arrested on suspicion of the rape of Adam’s partner. Knowing my father, that was highly unlikely, and it later transpired that Adam’s partner had a habit of accusing people of rape. Those are the people that make life more difficult for the genuine rape victims. That’s just another one of those gifts from alcohol. It can make you do the strangest things.

To be continued…..

Now for the lowdown on the Youtube stats.

I now have 1,109 subscribers.
The Jeffstunes channel has now been viewed 25,766 times.
The total viewings for all my videos is fast approaching the half a million mark at 470,388.

There’s another amusing clip from my daughter’s first video, and I’ll be putting that one up next. Until then….

On to video 89.
The title of this one is “Beautiful freak” and it comes off the album of the same name which was put out in 1996 by the band “The Eels”. It is an album that I’ve always loved. I think their lyrics are brilliant and the style of the music at the time was pretty current. I’ve got my eye on covering another one of the songs off the album. I’ve kept the basic melody the same. I’ve just used different instruments. This is the result of my efforts:

Jeff Edwards singing Beautiful Freak

Now for part ten of my dad’s story.

My dad part 10.

When I finally met my father, he was having a relationship with a woman called Sheila, who had two children. Sima and Kashif. She originally came from Tiger bay in Wales, although she certainly had asian roots. Sima and Kashif had great affection for my father. I thought the relationship between him and Sheila was a little odd, although that may just have been how I was looking at it at the time. There was some criticism of the relationship from family, but as far as I was concerned, if it made him happy then everything was ok. I have always believed that people have a right to live their life the way they want to, and make friends with people that they like themselves. Sheila and her children lived in a Town called Southall on the outskirts of london with their scatty dog Ruffles. For those who don’t already know. The population in southall is mostly Asian. From being at the house many times, my father appeared a little bigoted, with negative comments about those from an Asian background. Yet he was romantically involved with an Asian. One possibility was that this was something that was drummed into him by those around him in his life, but it didn’t seem likely, knowing his personality. He walked proudly with them among the streets of southall, as did I.
It is possible that his comments may have originated from those walks with the family though, because of several occasions that he told me about the insults and dirty looks he received from Asians whilst walking with Sheila and her children in town. That wasn’t exclusive to him. I experienced a bit of that too, because I also walked with them. So if there was any racism, then it was coming from the Asians in the street who in my opinion were narrow minded to even consider such insult. We are all human beings. They just have a better tan than I do

To be continued……

I’ve been a Myspace member for a few years now, and I’ve finally decided to start doing something with it. I thought I’d let people know it’s there So here it is if you want to add me:

Jeff Edwards Myspace page

I’ve also been on Facebook for some time now. When I joined Facebook it was a pretty quiet place. Not so much now Here’s a link to my Facebook page if you want to also add me on there:

Jeff Edwards Facebook page

Now the lowdown on the current state of play on Youtube.

My Subscribers have raced forward to 1,061.
The total viewings for my Youtube channel stand at 24,867 and the total viewings for all my videos are 442,298.

I’m not sure what I’ll be doing for my next video yet. I’ve got that other Eels song in my mind at the moment, but I have a habit of changing my mind

I’ve reached video eighty eight. This is one is called “Lost” and is one of Coldplay’s latest. I’ve had over 10 requests for this song, so I can say it’s by popular demand.

Check it out:

Jeff Edwards singing Lost by Coldplay

My dad’s story will resume in my next post, because there was something I wanted to cover that was quite current. If you are in the UK then you may know about a TV programme called “I’m a celebrity, get me out of here”. One of the celebrities in the show is a man called “David Van Day”. I was at a friends house when I first saw that he was in there. My friend asked me who he was. I just said that he used to be in a successful band called Dollar in the early 80’s, and that my opinion of him was not that great, to put it kindly.
I came to that conclusion because of an event when I was younger. At the age of seventeen I worked at a company called CRS (Co-operative Retail Services), at one of their branches in Uxbridge. During my lunch I popped into WH Smith to buy a few records. The title of one of the purchases was “Videotheque” by “Dollar”. It was just pure chance that David Van Day and Therese Bazaar walked in whilst I was buying. The two members of Dollar. They happened to be there to sign copies of their new release, Videotheque. David was vertically challenged, and Therese was even shorter than him. Therese came over to me and picked my records from the counter and rifled through them. She told me that she thought I had good taste in music. Then we chatted for a little while. David grew more and more impatient, and asked her to get on with the signing. So she asked me for my name and signed it with love, and then shoved the record in front of David, saying “Sign it”.
After paying for my records, I said farewell. Therese smiled and said goodbye. David just ignored me. I got the impression that he was a selfish individual.
I’ve seen him on “I’m a celebrity, get me out of here” and it looks like he hasn’t changed much at all. I have to add that I thought Therese was wonderful. I felt that she was happy for the conversation, which made me feel good.

OK. Youtube time.
At last I’ve passed 1,000 subscribers. The figure now stands at 1020.
The views for my channel are now 24,010 and my total video viewings are 414,193.

I’m not sure what I’m doing next, but it may well be another cover. There’s a few to do. I’ve also got a duet coming up