Tuesday 9 April 2019

Hot 100 #45


45s. For most of us, our entry into record collecting. Long gone now, except as collector's items and special editions. But there was something very special about the 45. If you were going to go to the effort to put one song on the turntable, then you were damn well going to give that song your attention. That's something today's youth has lost, and I'd argue the songs they cherish might never mean as much to them because of that loss.

Alyson was the only one of you brave enough to mention former Golden Earring member Jaap Eggermont's Stars On 45 by name...

...although Charity Chic went one worse by reminding us of Rotherham's answer to Stars On 45... Jive Bunny! Let's hope that's the last time they ever get mentioned on this blog.

A slightly more worthy suggestion came from The Swede, in honour of Jez...

Status Quo - Forty Five Hundred Times

The Swede then returned later with a couple more...

Gang of Four - 5.45

Bon Iver - ___ 45 ___

And then came Martin, who's obviously now using the same lyrics search engine I do, because he almost filled up the entire comment's box with this lot...
Gomez's "Bubble Gum Years" Whiskey bottle and a 45, my dear
Fountains of Wayne: "Number 45 Sunblock" (I'm not sure if Martin actually listened to that one - but it's not a real song.)
Neil Sedaka and "Our Last Song Together": Scratchy worn out 45's, an echo on the radio
The Hollies, "Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress": A pair of 45s made me open my eyes
Blondie's "Bermuda Triangle Blues" begins Flight 45, last seen alive on the runway
Elbow's "Jesus is a Rochdale Girl" has Jesus is a Rochdale girl, and 45 CDs
Meatloaf and "Rock and Roll Hero": Stacks of scratched up 45's and taught myself how to sing
Barry bleedin' Manilow (!) and "The Old Songs" includes if all those plans I made don't melt the lady's heart, I'll put on the old 45's (Oy! Less of the 'bleeding'!)
Saint Etienne's "Home": Life seems so good, they're like the 45's when I dream I'm dreaming of you" (Can't find that anywhere on youtube.)
Bill Haley (and many others) and "Peppermint Twist": Well, meet me baby down at 45th Street, where the Peppermint Twisters meet" (Couldn't find that anywhere either so I linked to the version by Joey Dee & The Starliters.)
Repeat offenders Saint Etienne with "Teenage Winter": They'll never buy a Gibb Brothers record again, their old 45s gathering dust (Possibly my favourite SE song, that.)
Aussie proggers The Church and "The Time Being" includes I use a .45 to give them some stick 
I'm going to stop there, I think. I'm getting obsessed.
That's one word for it.

Lynchie was up next, with these...
"Youth of Eglington" by Black Uhuru includes the line "The youth of Brixton they have their 45 Smith and Wesson pistol pistol"
Van Morrison - "Wild Children" opens with
"We were the War Children
Born 1945
When all the soldiers came marching home
Love looks in their eye..." 
and FINALLY! 
Mary Chapin Carpenter - "John Doe No. 24" (a beautiful song) starts with
"I was standing on this sidewalk
In 1945 in Jacksonville, Illinois
When asked what my name was there came no reply..." 
John Medd joined in the fun, offering...
Wreckless Eric - 33s & 45s
Then came Rigid Digit, linking us back to the band mentioned in our opening paragraph...
Sometimes the world is crying out for some 1970s Dutch Rock with slight Bob Dylan undertones (albeit very rarely) 
Golden Earring - Another 45 Miles
While Jim In Dubai returned us to Stars On 45... albeit more credible, tongue-in-cheek, references...
Blokes on 45 - Orange Juice 
Squabs on Forty Fab - Squeeze 
BAR's on 45 - BA Robertson (Couldn't find that one either.)
Rigid Digit added to this list with...
Chas & Dave - Stars Over 45 
Starturn on 45 (Pints) 
Ivor Biggun - Bras On 45
Jim also offered 900 Number by The 45 King - "Annoying dance tune from the late 80's", which I'm not even going to listen to given that description.

And to conclude your suggestions, back to Alyson...
45 R.P.M by The Poppy Fields otherwise known as the Alarm.
Now, you may have noticed I've missed out some of your suggestions there. That's because, two years ago, on the event of my 45th birthday, I actually compiled My Top Ten 45 Songs. And here they are...

10. Babybird - 45 & Fat

9.  Dallas Wayne - Old 45s

8. The Tall Boy - 45s & Books

7. Readers' Wives - I Love You More Than 45s

6. Todd Snider - Forty Five Miles

5. The All New Adventures Of Us - 45 Forever

4. The Gaslight Anthem - 45

3. Shrag - Forty Five 45s

2. Cornershop - Brimful Of Asha

1. Elvis Costello - 45

With that in mind, you might expect Elvis to be crowned this week's winner too.

Except that Martin was decent enough to remind us all of this... and it just kind of fit my mood today.

Let me know, let me know, let me know
About all the old 45s
And the paperback rooms
And it's scattered all the photographs
Of summers and suns



Phew. I need I lie down after that. Can't even think about 44 now. I'll have to leave that up to you...



15 comments:

  1. The Zombies - 'Care of Cell 44', James 'Son Ford' Thomas - '44 Blues', Oliver Nelson & Eric Dolphy - '111-44'.

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  2. 'Forty Four' by the great Howlin' Wolf.

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  3. Some what trickier this week
    A couple of good suggestions there from The Swede

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  4. '44th Street Suite' by McCoy Tyner. The jazz and blues guys sure like the number 44.

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  5. The Granite Shore - 'Fan Club Newsletter No.44'.

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  6. Like TS, I'd go with 'Care Of Cell 44' (also like the Matthew Sweet &
    Susanna Hoffs version).

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  7. The Swede stole my Howlin' Wolf idea!

    How about Tim Rose - "Hey Joe"

    "Hey Joe, where you goin' with that money in your hand?
    Hey Joe, where you goin' with that money in your hand?
    I'm gonna go down to town to buy a blue steel 44
    I'm gonna go down to town to buy a blue steel 44"

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  8. There are a LOT of blues songs about men killing women or other men with a .44 pistol.

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  9. But one woman did shoot a man with a .44 in the song "Frankie & Johnny"

    "Well Frankie lifted up her kimono dress
    And she drew out a little .44
    She shot once, twice, three times she shot him
    And through that hardwood door
    Yeah she shot her man (yeah he was her man)
    Well but he been doin' her wrong yeah"

    ReplyDelete
  10. Going to rein myself in this week. 44 Stories by Johnny's daughter, Roseanne Cash.

    And for the lyrics that could have made it into a maths or multiplication top ten, the (frankly not very good) 15 Times by Gilbert O'Sullivan, which has the lines:

    You and me and baby makes
    3, 4, 5, 6, 7
    8, 9, 10 and 11
    12, 13, 14, 15 times 44 is 660!

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  11. And Rol - I absolutely agree with your words:
    "45s. For most of us, our entry into record collecting. Long gone now, except as collector's items and special editions. But there was something very special about the 45. If you were going to go to the effort to put one song on the turntable, then you were damn well going to give that song your attention."

    Beautifully put!

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  12. Megadeth - 44 Minutes
    The Nails - 88 Lines About 44 Women (although I think it appeared for 88 - but it is worth a repeats visit)

    Lyrically:
    CW McCall - Convoy
    "Well, we rolled up Interstate 44
    Like a rocket sled on rails"

    (so much better than the Laurie Lingo & The Dipsticks UK version)

    Lloyd Price - Stagger Lee

    Stagger Lee went home
    And he got his .44
    Said I'm going to the bar room
    Just to pay that debt I owe


    Stagger Lee went to the bar room
    And he stood across the bar room door
    Said Now nobody move
    And he pulled his .44

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  13. I have to no shame when it comes to mentioning Dutch names as they have a great sound to them.

    A bit stuck on 44 at the moment but I might return.

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  14. And also, I may have suggested this for 88 in which case sorry, but 88 Lines About 44 Women by The Nails.

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