Bring Me Sunshine

Morecambe & Wise are a well-known comedy duo here in the UK and I have fond memories of watching their famous TV shows. So you can imagine my delight when we heard their songs outside the Winter Gardens whilst we were shopping in town. On investigating, the music led us to a wonderful bronze statue of them both that has been unveiled in the foyer. This inspired me to create a journal page of them that includes the title of their signature song “Bring Me Sunshine”.

Having quoted this song on my page, I’m linking to the “Poetry in Motion” theme over at Art Journal Journey. Hope you’ll join in the fun too by creating a page that is inspired by a poem, saying or quote (maybe from your favourite song).

I started by stamping a star burst stamp onto the middle of the page using grey Memento Ink and extending the starburst sun pattern using a ruler and pencil. Then I painted alternating sections with a yellow and then a gold Spectrum Aqua marker which I scribbled onto an acrylic block and diluted with water using a paintbrush. Next I stamped “Bring Me Sunshine” using a Papermania Leftovers Alphabet stamp set and black Archival Ink. I added two washi tapes to the top and bottom of the page, the film and music note designs depict their television shows and songs. The Morecambe & Wise photo is cut from a magazine and shows them in their younger days when they appeared at the Winter Gardens itself. Next I added some metal music notes attaching them to the page with silver brads. I finished the page with smiley star stickers which reminded me of their comedy and how they make me smile.

This is the Morecambe & Wise statue that greets you when you enter the Winter Gardens and with the songs they are well-known for playing in the air it fills you with a lovely sense of nostalgia. Blackpool is considered their “spiritual home” as they performed six summer seasons and over a 1,000 shows here. This statue marks the 75th anniversary of their debut performance as a double act, which was at Liverpool’s Empire Theatre in 1941.

Their 43-year partnership started in variety theatres where they honed their performance before making their famous TV shows on the BBC and ITV. Their Christmas specials were one of the highlights of the festive season and in 1977 they attracted over 27 million viewers. Guest stars included The Beatles, André Previn, Shirley Bassey and of course Des O’Connor (grin!).

Morecambe & Wise always made me laugh as a young girl growing up and still do today as there are always reruns of their shows at Christmas time. Their songs and dance numbers are fantastic and always make me smile, here’s a rendition of “Bring me Sunshine” from one of their shows – so funny!

There have also been some other happy reminders of Morecambe & Wise of late (grin!). This time of year we often cycle up the prom on our tandem, here I am on the Comedy Carpet in Blackpool and I’m standing by their section of the carpet with the lyrics of this song in front of me! If you are interested, here are some fun facts about the song:

• “Bring Me Sunshine” is a song written in 1966 by the composer Arthur Kent, with lyrics by Sylvia Dee and it was first performed by American artists.
• In the UK, the song is synonymous with Morecambe & Wise after it was adopted as their signature tune in their second series for the BBC in 1969. Here’s the lyrics of the song in full.
• The song was played over the duo’s closing credits and they only ever sang the first verse, the second one being purely instrumental with Eric and Ernie performing a “skip dance” to exit the stage.

We have also been to quite a few local beer festivals lately and when I saw this beer I just had to have a pint of it. It’s called “Morecambe’s Sunshine” and is brewed by Cross Bay Brewery which is located in Morecambe; the beer is light in colour, 4% abv ( alcohol by volume) and has a lovely smooth malt taste – yum! I’m saying a big cheers to the T Gang over at T stands for Tuesday and wishing you all a Happy Sunshiny T Day!

The pump clip shows the bronze statue of Eric Morecambe in his famous “skip dance” pose. This statue is on my list of places to visit and is located on the seafront at Morecambe, it’s actually designed by the same person who made the bronze sculpture of them both (above).

Thanks for joining me today! If you have any questions or comments, I would love to hear from you.

Here is a list of all the materials used to create this art journal page:

• Spectrum Aqua Artist Marker (Yellow, Gold)
• Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)
• Papermania Alphamania A-Z Clear Stamps (Leftovers Alphabet PMA9071102)
• Blackpool Heritage magazine
• The Works (3 Washi Tapes)
• The Works (Musical Note Charms)
• Small silver brads
• UPIKIT Stickers (2166005)
• UHU Stic