Saturday Snapshots #52 - The Answers

It's been twenty-three hours and zero days since you finished answering (most of) this week's Saturday Snapshots... and, as often is the case, the early bird walked away with the prize. Well done, C! Nothing compares to you lot...



10. Riding through Dublin or Lynchburg (but not Campbeltown) with Bruce's dad.

Dublin and Lynchburg are towns that produce Whiskey with an e. Campbeltown produces Whisky without an e. Back when I was a whiskey/y connoisseur (20+ years ago), I preferred Scotch to Irish, but Bourbon beat them both.

In the song My Hometown, an 8 year old Bruce Springsteen rides through town with his dad. This is a different song with the same title.

Yes, Martin, that is Ryan Adams. But it could also have been Tim Burgess with that haircut.

Whiskeytown - My Hometown

9. Dick Kapital ☠.

Dick Kapital was easy: Richard being Dick, Marx writing Das Kapital.

The skull & crossbones caused a lot more trouble - it's used as a hazard symbol, specifically for poisons and other lethal substances.

Nice mullet/stubble combo, by the way.

Richard Marx - Hazard

8. Earthquake breaks up angelic ork.

Easy, it seems. Anagram.

Carole King - I Feel The Earth Move

7. Short hello in Oo fancies a big dipper.

Stick hi in the middle of Oo and you get Ohio.

A big dipper is a rollercoaster.

Ohio Players - Love Rollercoaster

6. The longest key on your street.

The longest key on a keyboard is the space bar.

Space - Neighbourhood

5. Troglodyte onomatopoeia.

Troglodytes were primitives.

Crash is an onomatopoeia.

Primitives - Crash

4. Washington Butler can see clearly.

George Washington.

Robert Guillaume played the Butler Benson.

If you can see clearly, you have 20/20 vision.

George Benson - 20/20

3. Wilde meat glares at Joan Crawford.

Kim Wilde.

Meat = carne (as in carnivore).

Bette Davis glared at Joan Crawford.

Kim Carnes - Bette Davis Eyes

2. Bad bad (almost) Beach Boy Brown ups the bidding.

Bad Bad Leroy Brown + Van Dyke Parks.

My dad used to be an auctioneer. This song always makes me think of him.

Leroy Van Dyke - The Auctioneer

1. What if Alan Bennett only wrote one monologue?

Alan Bennett wrote a series of monologues called Talking Heads. But if he'd only written one...

(If you've not seen it before, check out the Donald Trump version.)



Erm... Mandinka next Saturday. Or something.

Saturday Snapshots #52

Unforgettable... that's what Saturday Snapshots is.

Please solve the ten clues below: artist and song!

Winners get to face the music and dance!


10. Riding through Dublin or Lynchburg (but not Campbeltown) with Bruce's dad.

9. Dick Kapital ☠.

8. Earthquake breaks up angelic ork.

7. Short hello in Oo fancies a big dipper.

6. The longest key on your street.

5. Troglodyte onomatopoeia.

4. Washington Butler can see clearly.

3. Wilde meat glares at Joan Crawford.

2. Bad bad (almost) Beach Boy Brown ups the bidding.

1. What if Alan Bennett only wrote one monologue?

When I Fall In Love with your answers... I'll share my own tomorrow morning.

The United Kingdom of Song #4: Oldham

A short drive over the Pennines from where I live would once have taken you straight into Lancashire, and one of the first towns you'd come to would be Oldham. A touchy subject that, because Oldham ceased to be a Lancashire town back in 1974 when it was swallowed whole by the sprawling beast that is Greater Manchester. Oldham elders still bear the scars.

Musically, Oldham gave birth to The Inspiral Carpets, N-Trance and Bernard Cribbins.

Lyrically, I found more songs that mentioned Will Oldham or Andrew Loog Oldham than the town itself, but Thea Gilmore's My Beautiful Defence does find her "in a café on Oldham Street"... although that still probably isn't in the town itself.

Thank heaven then for Hull-born Everything But The Girl whose song Anytown starts out by mourning the loss of individuality to many northern towns...

Over dale and over hills
I'll take you through the cotton mills
To the ginnels where we played
And where are friendships all were made

Still they came and tore them down
And now we live in Anytown
They came and tore it down
And now this place could be Anytown

...before Tracy reveals in the song's closing moments...

Summer in the driving rain

I can hear the Oldham train.

300 miles from Oldham, next week, down to the south east coast to pay tribute to a recently departed visitor who immortalised our destination in song.

My Top Ten < 30 Second Songs

The Swede recently ran a post about a 24 minute song and asked "Do we have time to listen to it?" Not at the moment, I'm afraid... work is still sucking all the joy out of my life.

So here's ten songs that all clock in at under 30 seconds. Easy enough to compile, I just got my music player to put my library in order by duration.

The only rule I had was it had to be a complete song - no excerpts, reprises, intros, fillers, talky bits or skits. Once I'd sifted all those out, here's what I was left with...


10. The Waterboys - I Am Not Here

Basically Mike Scott's 22 second answering machine message song, as included on the reissue of This Is The Sea.

9. Grand Funk Railroad - Big Buns

No, this isn't about blueberry muffins.

8. World Party - And God Said

Shortest opera ever. And very funny.

7. Flight of the Conchords - Au Revoir

Does everything it needs to and leaves you with a smile.

6. James Taylor - Mescalito

Shortest peyote trip ever.

5. Wire - Field Day For The Sundays

I want to be a field day for the Sundays so they can
Fuck up my life
Embarrass my wife
And leave a bad taste
Striped toothpaste can't remove on Monday mornings
I want to be a target for the dailies so they can show
Pictures of me with a nude on page three
So lacking in taste
Touched up near the waist, looking as limp as Monday morning
Touched up near the waist, looking as limp as Monday morning

Not bad for 28 seconds.

4. The Pernice Brothers - Amazing Glimmer

Fades away to nothing and leaves you wondering what might have been.

3. They Might Be Giants - Theme From Flood

Short song specialists - this track is both an advertisement and taster for the rest of the record, which is one of their best.

2. The Beatles - Her Majesty

You could argue that the second side of Abbey Road is all one long track, but it's probably my favourite Beatles album and this is a fine coda.

1. Slaves - Girl Fight

Very loud, very funny - particularly the end... and I'm making it Number One because, despite being only 15 seconds long... they still made a video for it!



Any short songs you'd recommend? They have to be under 30 seconds... I may well do a follow-up post on songs under a minute.

2018 Contenders: Get Nude & Party!

I first came across today's artist when they were played on Ricky Ross's country show on BBC Radio Scotland (which I've discovered has two or three unmissable shows when it comes to discovering new acts I dig). Ricky introduced The Nude Party as an Americana band, and I suppose that may be the genre they want to belong to, but to me they just sound like the Rolling Stones, maybe with a dollop of Jonathan Richman.

When was the last time you heard a young band so in debt to the Stones? Back in the 90s, Primal Scream and The Black Crowes came very close to walking around in Mick & Keef's shoes for a while, but I can't think of many 21st Century Stones imitators. The Nude Party sound like they stayed up all night smoking their dad's (grandad's) old Stones joints and then hit the studio at the crack of dawn to have fun. There's a lot of offbeat humour in this album, and touches of psychedelia in a couple of the tracks... plus some sage advice to anyone thinking of joining a band in the present musical climate...

You’ll never make enough money

And no one cares about the things you say

You’re gonna wake up someday

And you’ll wish you got a job

Spend half your life in that Chevrolet

Driving up and down the freeway

Someday when you’re too old to play

Man, you’ll wish you got a job

Hot 100 #65

What I like about this feature is that on a good week, you do all my work for me. Charity Chic even suggested this week's artist-related image - and a fine suggestion it is too. If you've never heard any Buck 65, I suggest you start with this.

There weren't many titular 65s out there... although I did discover a hitherto-unknown collaboration between Kurt Wagner & Josh Rouse called simply 65... which would have been a great fit if I'd discovered it in my own record collection, but I didn't. So I'm going to have to hunt that down now.

And then there was Dottie West - Route 65 to Nashville, which would have made a nice sequel to last week's post... had I owned it.

I was very tempted by Brian's suggestion of 65 Love Affair by Paul Davis... but sadly I don't even own a copy of that. I'll have to borrow Brian's limited edition gold vinyl copy sometime.

And finally - STOP THE PRESS! - a late entry from Deano in Australia (it takes a while for the pigeon to deliver his comments, and the poor bird has very tired wings)...

Louis Jordan - 65 Bars

Sadly I can't listen to that as I'm editing this on a computer with no sounds just moments before the post goes live... but it's Louis Jordan, so I'm sure it's ace, even though Dean tells us it's "quite different to the jump blues he was normally known for. Towards the latter end of his career he quite of genre hopped trying to latch onto the latest trends." I'll give it a spin when I get home tonight, I promise.

All of which left me only lyrical 65s to choose from this week. Luckily, you offered some fine examples...

Martin gave us one of the latter millennia listed in the lyrics of In The Year 2525 by Zager & Evans...

In the year 6565
Ain't gonna need no husband, won't need no wife.
You'll pick your sons, pick your daughters too
From the bottom of a long glass tube.

 

That could well happen long before 6565... some might argue we're already there.

Oh, and if you have a spare week, I highly recommend you go and have a go at Martin's pop crossword. But not until you've left a 64 suggestion for next week.

Martin also offered Metal Man by The Breeders...

I don't know how old I was
But it was a '65 pickup

The Swede then dug out his old Richard Hell & The Voidoids records and suggested... Liars Beware.

You were sixty-five when you wiggled out,

Your mind all twisted and your mom all shout, all shout, all shout

If you're 65 and your mum is still shouting at you, you need to ask yourself some serious questions.

Lynchie then came very close to winning this week's prize with two damned fine suggestions. Firstly, The Boston Rag by Steely Dan...

Back in nineteen sixty-five
I was singing this song
When Lonnie came alive

(I was rather tempted to buy a ticket to that new Steely Dan tour... even though it's only really Donald Fagen now... until I realised I'd have to take out a second mortgage to do so.)

And then Burning Down The House by Talking Heads...

Three hun-dred SIXTY FIVE de-grees
Burning down the house!

Finally, C resorted to the excellent tactic of "if all else fails, try Bowie" with 1984...

I'm looking for the treason that I knew in '65...

All great suggestions, but I have to give this week's prize to Rigid Digit for choosing my favourite song by (possibly - it's looking increasingly likely) my artist of the decade, someone who persuaded me (despite serious lack of funds) to buy my first gig ticket of the year last week...

So go ahead and love me while it's still a crime
And don't forget you could be laughing
65% more of the time
You could be laughing
63% more of the time
You could be laughing
25% more of the time

RD says, "I love the fact he goes into exponential regression at the end. Plus it gives me two more lyrical entries for future submissions."

And believe me, I love this song so much... it could well crop up again.

Next week: the $64,000 question will be... do I have to go Ringo? Or can I dodge that aging bullet? You may be able to help...

Mid-Life Crisis Songs #31: I Know Very Well How I Got My Name

One of my dad's oldest friends died last week, and though I only met him a handful of times, he gave me something I use every day, something that has defined my identity and shaped the person I've become. Something only he and I shared; I've never met anyone else with exactly the same...

R.I.P., Rol.

You were the only one 
Who's come and gone.

Saturday Snapshots #51 - The Answers

Shake It Out - The Dog Days Are Over, the answer days are here! Thanks for playing Saturday Snapshots again this week... well done, Lynchie for another well-deserved victory. We might have to start giving him a handicap!



10.  A priest or a bishop is coming.

That would be a Dean of the Parish.

Dean Parrish - I'm On My Way

9. The Royal Mail flies high.

The Postal Service - Such Great Heights

8. The arc of a flyer leads to ill repute.

Joan D'Arc.

Jets fly.

Joan Jett - Bad Reputation

7. Trump builds Jimi's child to block foreign broadcasts.

Jimi Hendrix sung about a Voodoo Child.

Donald Trump wants to build a wall...

...to keep out Mexican Radio.

Wall of Voodoo - Mexican Radio

6. Tuscan capital gets tough love from The Terminator.

The capital of Tuscany is Florence.

The Terminator was a machine.

Florence & The Machine - Kiss With A Fist

5. ❤ 14.

Love - 7 And 7 Is

4. Glennis Rolf, fell snoring, over a quiet sun.

Glennis Rolf and fell snoring are both anagrams for...

Nils Lofgren - Shine Silently

3. Shake hands with the famous Mr. Cribbins and he'll show you what he digs.

Bernard Cribbins had a hole in the ground.

He was also a celebrity.

Shaking hands is "Give me some skin!"

Hole - Celebrity Skin

2. Not Otis Redding or Oprah Winfrey. Having a fantasy or a nightmare?

Otis and Oprah have both been called "The Big O". As has this chap.

Roy Orbison - In Dreams

1. Peggy Sue needs an inhaler.

Great video.



If You've Got The Love for Saturday Snapshots, then it'll be back again next week...

Saturday Snapshots #51

I Can't Stop Loving You for dropping by every Saturday morning to take part in Saturday Snapshots. It may be hard to identify ten top tunes - artist and title - from the clues below, but none of you were Born To Lose.


What'd I Say? Go for it!


10.  A priest or a bishop is coming.



9. The Royal Mail flies high.

8. The arc of a flyer leads to ill repute.

7. Trump builds Jimi's child to block foreign broadcasts.

6. Tuscan capital gets tough love from The Terminator.

5. ❤ 14.

4. Glennis Rolf, fell snoring, over a quiet sun.

3. Shake hands with the famous Mr. Cribbins and he'll show you what he digs.

2. Not Otis Redding or Oprah Winfrey. Having a fantasy or a nightmare?

1. Peggy Sue needs an inhaler.

Hit The Road, Jack - I'll be back with the answers tomorrow morning!

The United Kingdom of Song #3: Saltcoats

We're off to Saltcoats today, a small seaside town in North Ayrshire, Scotland.

Most famous musical resident? Colin Hay, lead singer of Men At Work. I know! Me too! But apparently he didn't emigrate Down Under until he was 14.

I could only find one lyrical reference to Saltcoats... but one's all we need, if it's a good song. Fortunately, Glasvegas won't let us down...



250 miles south next week, back towards my own stomping grounds, but on t'opposite side of the Pennines...

My Top Ten Songs That Go On And On

Work is swallowing me whole at the moment, so I don't have time to go on and on... instead here's ten tunes that can do the job for me.


10. Ben Lee - On & On

From the album Hey You, Yes You... which I think we can all agree is a great title for an album. This is a pretty cool opening line too...

Without a gun, I'd be defenceless against you...

9. Ocean Colour Scene - On And On

I've no idea why OCS get so much stick from the Muso Police. This is a lovely little tune; a b-side, I think. They deserve more respect.

8. Bowling For Soup - On And On (About You)

Aww, sweet.

If it were up to me

I'd like to buy you flowers everyday

Make everyday a holiday

Carry on and on and on about you and the things you do

The things you do

7. Jack White - On And On And On

What does Jack White do best: play the guitar, or do the production that makes his guitar playing stand out so well?

6. Wilco - On And On And On

One day we'll disappear

Together in a dream

However short or long

Our lives are going to be

5. The Longpigs - On And On

And I wish you would leave me

And I wish you would go

And I wish you didn't need me

And I wish I didn't love you so.

4. Abba - On And On And On

I think this is about as close as Abba ever got to politics...

I was at a party and this fella said to me

"Something bad is happening, I'm sure you do agree

People care for nothing, no respect for human rights

Evil times are coming, we are in for darker,"

I said, "Who are you to talk about impending doom?"

He got kinda wary as he looked around the room

He said, "I'm a minister, a big shot in the state"

I said, "I just can't believe it, boy I think it's great

Brother can you tell me what is right and what is wrong?"

He said, "Keep on rocking baby, 'til the night is gone"

3. The Feelies - On And On

Hey na na na na na na na...

2. Stephen Bishop - On And On

Poor ol'Jimmy

Sits alone in the moonlight

Saw his woman kiss another man

So he takes a ladder

Steals the stars from the sky

Puts on Sinatra and starts to cry...

1. Status Quo - Burning Bridges (On And Off And On Again)

OK, so there's a stray "off" in there, but we'll let that pass for one of the Quo's finest moments. Swing those guitars!


Feel free to go on and on in the comments if you can think of any more...