Lennon and McCartney are the Mozart of pop music. They wrote with imagination and enormous originality, yet they also had a precise instinct for what people actually wanted to hear. Their influence on modern popular music is enormous.

It takes a brave soul to record a Lennon/McCartney song. Singer Katie Noonan has gone beyond brave by releasing a whole album of them - Blackbird: The Music of Lennon and McCartney. You really want to bring something new to songs which are so well known, and Katie’s angle is to soulfully evoke them over a classic jazz ensemble. There are some good moments, but the album generally misfires as Katie struggles to find a comfortable groove. The result will probably please neither jazz purists nor Beatles fans, though some may enjoy hearing these classic songs in such a different guise.

I was especially disappointed with her version of Eleanor Rigby - the breathless vocals and languid music just didn’t mesh. A shame as it is one of the Beatles best and most popular songs, still hauntingly powerful and sad -

Eleanor Rigby picks up the rice
in the church where a wedding has been
Lives in a dream
Waits at the window, wearing the face
that she keeps in a jar by the door
Who is it for?

All the lonely people
Where do they all come from ?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong ?

These words remind me of a recent report showing that the inner-west of Sydney, my area, is one of the most unhappy places in Australia. The authors put the problem down to a lack of community. Too much loneliness in our city. There are many, many Eleanor Rigbys out there - what a great opportunity for us to show them the love of Christ…