I see that British pop music is to be a big part of the closing ceremonies at the London Olympics (see link at bottom), I was wondering if BF was ever approached about singing Let's Stick Together at the ceremony. It's an upbeat crowd-pleaser that is definitely "British Pop" and it was one of the highlights of the Princess Diana memorial show a couple of years ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=booPHcF79JQ

BF is a big name in Europe and internationally, but not so much in the States. His is absence a reflection of the financial power of the USA market in Olympics coverage? I dunno, but LST (perhaps edited a bit) seems like such a natural for the gig that there need be some reason for its absence. It would be interesting to learn if there were ever any discussions with BF about his possible inclusion.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/pop-takes-podi ... --spt.html

I hear The Stones are playing, Who too

Sir Paul really messed up Hey Dude at the opening

LST would be a great closing song

I can see where you are coming from with this suggestion but I don't think that it would have fitted in with the broad theme which I took to be recordings of distinction (with a few fun numbers thrown in for good measure) that were written and performed by Brits. BF would obviously have qualified on the performance criterion but Wilbert Harrison was a non-starter as he came from across the pond.

From memory, the only deviations from this theme were nods in the direction of the musical contribution from two of our largest groups of immigrants i.e. (i) Carribean in the opening ceremony (through Millie Small's "My Boy Lollipop", which was the first taste of the ska sound for most of us in the UK ,and also The Specials cover of Dandy Livingstone's "Message To You, Rudy") and (ii)Indian in the closing ceremony (via a section in Eric Idle's bonkers slot, although I didn't recognise the piece that they played).

On a wider note, however, I think it was a serious oversight to leave Roxy out of the opening ceremony sequence, where we were really saying to the rest of the world that when it comes to musical contribution, innovation and influence over the past 50 years, the UK comes second to none - and if you don't believe it then here's the proof. Much of the selection was a bit erratic e.g. the Stones were only represented by a riff or two from "Satisfaction" and Roxy, one of the truly great inspirations for the generations and genres that followed, were completely overlooked - whereas the likes of as Duran Duran got big licks.

Bowie got more than his fair share of recognition in both ceremonies - and some of the acts in the closing ceremony in particular did not represent us well, from the pedestrian George Michael to the bloated guitar work of Brian May ..... and as for The Spice Girls, well why on earth would we want to remind the world of that shower ?

I am also in two minds about Bryan not appearing live given his fragile voice. Even Macca, who has almost become an untouchable, got slated after his opening ceremony performance for the quality of his voice, so maybe it was for the best.

I've been critical in the past about BF'S reliance on his backing singers but hats off to him using them as a layer beneath his vocals, doesn't leave himself as exposed vocally as McCartney and to a greater extent Elton John, a trick that I believe Leonard Cohen uses now as well.

let's face it, Bryan's going to be 67 this year. Voices don't last forever, they wither and fade like the rest of us.