Here’s a list of the songs that I performed in public for the first time during May 2026. Each month I aim to play at least one new song from each of the following repertoires:

• Songs that reached #1 in the UK.
• Songs that reached #1 somewhere else.
• Songs that have not reached #1 anywhere.

Songs that reached #1 in the UK

Date	Song (Artist, Year it reached #1)	Notes
Wed 6-May-2026	Everybody Hurts (Help for Haiti, 2010)	I find it surprisingly hard to memorize the lyrics in the right order: fine when singing along to a recording, but tricky when singing and playing from memory

Songs that reached #1 somewhere else

Date	Song (Artist, Year it reached #1)	Notes
Wed 6-May-2026	Man on the Moon (REM, 1966)	#1 in Iceland / Chords: Verse: C D / Pre: Am G D / Chorus: G C Am Bm G Am Dm G C Am Bm / Solo: Em D
Wed 27-May-2026	Patches (Clarence Carter, 1970)	Cashbox #1 in America / Played in honour of Clarence Carter, who died on 13 May 2026 / #2 in the UK, kept off the top by “Woodstock” (Matthews’ Southern Comfort) / G Bm7 G7 [C Bm A G E: as single bass notes] Am D C / G Bb C
Wed 27-May-2026	Just Like a Woman (Manfred Mann, 1966)	#1 in Sweden for Manfred Mann in 1966 / I heard the version by Richie Havens on Paul Gambaccini’s BBC Radio 2 show celebrating Bob Dylan’s 85th birthday; this prompted me to revisit the song, and to learn that the Manfred Man version was a Swedish #1 / In C: C F G / F Em Dm C F G Am F G

Songs that have not reached #1 anywhere

Date	Song (Artist, Year it reached #1)	Notes
Wed 6-May-2026	Till the Next Goodbye (Rolling Stones, n/a)	From the first Rolling Stones album that I bought, “It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll”, this was never released as a single

Running Total of all songs played at least once, without referring to chord charts or lyric sheets:

UK #1s: 225 / Non-UK #1s: 115 / Not #1 anywhere: 120 / Grand Total: 460