Hot 100 #46

Welcome back, you know the drill - songs featuring a different number every week, many of them suggested by you, counting down from 100 - 1.

The only band I could find with 46 in their name were acoustic bluesters 46 Long. Here they are playing Arnold's in Cincinatti.

46 proved a tougher number than of late, but you had a go nevertheless. Here's what you came up with...

The Swede set the bar real low, with Lost On Highway 46 by Sham 69... which he describes as "bloody shocking". I've heard worse. Much worse.

Then, since I'd previously announced that Toots & The Maytals - 54 - 46 Was My Number wouldn't be allowed to win a second time (having already claimed a victory in Week 54), The Swede wondered if The Clash - Jail Guitar Doors might stand a chance given that it quotes the above in its closing seconds. Well, anything's possible... particularly this week!

Now, last week I did mention that I had a strong contender in mind for this week's tune, which prompted Martin to wonder...

Are you thinking of 1941 by Nilsson, for the lines:

Well in 1941 a happy father had a son
And by 1944 the father walked right out the door
And in '45, the mom and son were still alive
But who could tell in '46 if the two were to survive

Or The Here and the Now by Loudon Wainwright III, which starts:

The strangest story ever told
Was how I got to be this old
At the close of WWII,
My folks did the deed that the young folks do
In '46 out I came, this world would never be the same!

Both excellent suggestions, by artists who do crop up on this blog relatively often, so either could have been in with a shot... but not this week.

Jim in Dubai was struggling a little this week too, his only suggestion being...

The Tom Robinson Band - 2 46 8 Motorway

...which is a top tune, and one of my son's favourites... but no, sorry Jim, I think that'd be bending the rules a little too much, even for me!

Meanwhile, all Rigid Digit could offer was another hearing from Kate Bush - 50 Words For Snow (46 = anechoic), but I'm sure I banned that song last week... but thanks, anyway. A very weird word, anechoic, it means "free from echo", like when snow muffles all the sound. Just in case you were wondering.

Finally, our Canadian correspondent, Douglas McClarlen, dropped by to offer a little more reggae...

Yellowman - Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt 

He said he want me to join the army
I ain't gonna do it officer
No way, I ain't gonna do it
Turn out your left pocket
A searching for a Colt automatic
A searching if you have any ratchet
He said what is your number? I didn't answer
What is your number? I still don't answer
What is the number boy? I really don't answer
Him crank up him chopper, Mi momma!
Then me started to answer
Guess wha' me say?
64, 46, BMW!
64, 46, dat a BMW! Lord!

Douglas wasn't sure what all that was about, and I haven't got a clue. Fun though.

All of which makes me most grateful to have had a solid #46 contender in mind from the start, namely the divine Ms. Jenny Lewis (who I'll hopefully be seeing live later in the year) and her former band, Rilo Kiley...



45 next week... which should offer you HUNDREDS of possibilities. I should probably start working on next week's post immediately...