Tuesday 27 November 2018

Hot 100 #56




Welcoming us to the final edition of the Hot 100 countdown for 2018 are "American Celtic punk band" Flatfoot 56.

I'll start the ball rolling with this...

Chet Baker - Baker '56

...something I'd expected to see suggested by The Swede... perhaps it just wasn't jazz enough for him...


...but it did the job for me.

As for the second suggestion I expected from The Swede... well, it turns out Martin beat him to that.


Meet me in the morning, 56th and Wabasha.

Sharp-eyed readers may have spotted that I prophesied that one last week.

Martin also offered this...


Dom Perignon and caviar, the finest clothes, and fancy cars.
Oh you know, one of them '56 pink caddies, baby!

And knowing Prince, those are probably the cleanest lyrics in that song.

So with all that out of the way, what did The Swede come up with this week (beyond seconding Martin's Dylan suggestion)? Well, he came damned close... I think we'll call this our runner up.


If only David Gedge had realised, way back in the 80s when he was naming his band, the confusion that would be caused by google searching "Wedding Present 56". Took me ages to find a video, but I do now know what to buy someone for their 56th Wedding Anniversary. (Well, actually, I don't, as there isn't an official gift for 56 years together. I'd suggest a holiday. Or perhaps two separate holidays, in entirely different places.)

Lynchie was next up, thinking he was onto a winner with the following...


I told her that I was a flop with chicks
I've been this way since 1956
She looked at my palm and she made a magic sign
She said "What you need is love potion number nine

I've got to say you can't really argue with Love Potion No. 9, it is a bona fide classic. My selection is more personal though... but feel free to try that one again in about a year's time, Lynchie.

Finally, Rigid Digit had two great thoughts this week. First this...


Oh, you get me ready in your '56 Chevy
Why don't we go sit down in the shade?

And then, even better, this...


Wanna tell you story
About woman I know
When it comes to lovin'
She steals the show
She ain't exactly pretty
Ain't exactly small
42 39 56
You could say she's got it all...

They don't write them like that anymore, do they?

But this week's winner... as suggested by Martin... comes from one of my favourite bands of the 80s - perhaps the ultimate feelgood rock 'n' pop act. I've written many times before of my great love for Huey Lewis & The News... and for this song in particular. (Actually, I think I was trying to be too cool and down with da musos when I wrote that post. Huey should have been #1. Sorry, Charlies.)

I can still see him standing there
Just like yesterday
Leaning on his '56
Giving his secrets away
Is it any wonder
I feel a little lonely
He's not just the only one
He's the one and only



Due to year-end shenanigans, the Hot #100 will return in January. Feel free to make your suggestions for #55 now in anticipation of its glorious return...


11 comments:

  1. Can I apologise in advance for a somewhat derogatory reference to Huey Lewis and the News coming up shortly at my place

    ReplyDelete
  2. Can I proffer 'Precious' by the Pretenders (such a good song):
    "East 55th and Euclid Avenue was real precious..."

    ReplyDelete
  3. Not for the first (or last) time, can I pitch In The Year 2525 by Zager and Evans, with these lyrics which seem rather appropriate for 2018...

    "In the year 5555
    Your arms hangin' limp at your sides
    Your legs got nothin' to do
    Some machine's doin' that for you"

    Also, Ol' 55 by Tom Waits. And, because I know you love them Rol, some more Huey Lewis and The News - lyrics from Who Cares?

    "Dimwits on the freeway stay alive at 55
    Politicians speeding, just trying to survive"

    ReplyDelete
  4. Surely the main contender HAS to be the 1956 chart-topping hit by "The Auctioneer" by Leroy Van Dyke.

    "45 dollar 50 now 50 dollar 50 dollar
    50 dollar 50 dollar give me a hollar 50 dollar
    Who will bid it at a 50 dollar bill?
    50 dollar 55 55 make it 55 and a 55 make it 55 and
    Sold that horse for a 50 dollar bill!"

    Although it'll probably be the Tom Waits tune...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sometime a bit of Hair Metal is needed
    (although, that is quite rare)

    Sammy Hagar - I Can't Drive 55

    ReplyDelete
  6. The first album from Pretenders is perfection. Backing C on this one.

    ReplyDelete
  7. German jazz-infused prog anyone? I give you 'Huchen 55, A', 'Huchen 55, B', 'Huchen 55, C' & 'Huchen 55, D' by German band Out of Focus, from their 1972 LP 'Four Letter Monday Afternoon'. One or more of these tunes may well find their way onto a Monday Long Song post in the not too distant future.
    Also for your consideration, 'Sitting on a Barbed Wire Fence' by Bob Dylan, which includes the lyric '...I paid one thousand, two hundred twenty-seven dollars and fifty-five cents to see my bulldog bite a rabbit and my hound dog's just sittin' on a barbed-wire fence...'

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I swear we've had that Dylan song before...

      Delete
  8. By the time I get here my suggestions have already gone but here is something from Johnny Cash called: I Corinthians, 15:55. As per Jules in Pulp Fiction, he uses a passage from the bible (but in a better way).


    As I said last week, this series is becoming like Jez's Chain - It's getting longer as the weeks go by with more and more suggestions, and your links are indeed très amusant. A year to go though - Don't burn out!

    ReplyDelete

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