Hot 100 #39

I'd initially thought I'd just chuck the above image on top of this week's post to see if anyone could work out why I'd done it.

Then I discovered this lot who rather gave the joke away...

Anyway, number 39 on our countdown. Thankfully not as busy as last week's entry. (But not far off.)



C started the ball rolling with a slice of post-punk goodness...

Television Personalities - Hard Luck Story Number 39

Followed soon after by Lynchie, who went all weird on us...

Primer mi carucha (Chevy '39)
Going to El Monte Legion Stadium
Pick up on my weesa (she is so divine)
Helps me stealing hub caps
Wasted all the time

The above are the opening lyrics to "Dog Breath, in the Year of the Plague" by The Mothers Of Invention. The vocals are stupendous, especially Nelcy Walker's soprano voice backed by Ray Collins & Roy Estrada. This track led me to purchase "Cruising with Ruben & the Jets" - an earlier Mothers' album which has some of the best doo-wop songs ever recorded.

Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention - Dog Breath, in the Year of the Plague

Lynchie's second suggestion was a bit more down-to-earth... and surely a shoe-in for this week's winner as it comes from one of my favourite albums...

A friend of mine became a father last night
When we spoke in his voice I could hear the light
Of the skies and the rivers the timberwolf in the pines
And that great jukebox out on Route 39

Bruce Springsteen - Valentine's Day

Then again, much as I love The Boss, it's only two weeks since he last claimed the top spot in this countdown. Would I really give it to him again?

Our Canadian correspondent, Douglas McLaren, was pretty sure I would...

Darn. Got beaten to the Boss, which I am guessing is the "shoe-in". Oh well. Though Valentine's Day is (in my opinion) the better song, Springsteen's "Stand On It" is a rollickin' great-balls-of-fire b-side belter that also refers to Route 39.

Bruce Springsteen - Stand On It

Nope. Not this week, Douglas. What else have you got for me?

A few other offerings as outside chances. For starters, there is last week's poster boys, UB40, with "Hold Your Position, Mk3". Not the biggest UB40 fan, but that one sits in the record collection. Lyrics mention "39 Acker Tree, Frontline"...not sure if that is an address or what?

Hardly a desirable residence, by the sounds of it.

UB40 - Hold Your Position, MK3

I feel I should mention Canada's Own Gordon Lightfoot again this week, as his offering for "40" went down fighting. The song "Drink Yer Glasses Empty". A typically Lightfoot song, semi-autobiographical I suppose given that he was in fact born in 1938, but timeless considering the world today: 

Better drink yer glasses empty now
It's time to rise and shine
There's one less cause in the world
To be leaving for
It was back in 39
When I was one year old
Sitting by the backyard fence
And the world had turned so cold...

Gordon Lightfoot - Drink Yer Glasses Empty

Another one that actually sits in the collection since I picked up a vinyl copy at a charity shop, but I am not actually all that fond of myself (outside chance perhaps?) is World Party, "The Ballad of The Little Man". The Latin Teacher in me appreciates the Classical allusion in the lyrics, though:

He's an animal but he thinks he's God
Gets him mixed up with him
And we're all at the mercy
Of this little man within
He was doing fine in 39
Thank God he did not win
He kept playing on his fiddle
As he watched old Rome cave in...

World Party - The Ballad of the Little Man

Blimey - a Latin teacher! That'll put a lowly English teacher like me in my place. But no, not World Party this week, Douglas. Anything else?

Alright, the most outside outside chance of all?

Weird Al Yankovic - The Biggest Ball of Twine In Minnesota

Well, we crossed the state line about 6: 39
And we saw the sign that said, "Twine Ball exit, fifty miles"
Oh, the kids were so happy they started singing
"99 Bottles Of Beer On The Wall" for the twenty-seventh time that day...

It reminds me of my summer vacations as a kid. Every last one of them. And at least by mentioning in now it pre-empts its obvious chances of being a take-all winner in 12 weeks time when number 27 comes up.

Yeah, that's the winne... oh, no, sorry, it isn't. Nice try though.

Who else do we have? Ah, George...

Of course Spanish Bombs will not be featuring.........

Well, it will be featuring, George. It just won't be winning. Nothing against Mr. Strummer and co. I'm just not cool enough to worship them in quite the same way many other venerable bloggers do.

The Clash - Spanish Bombs

Spanish songs in Andalucia
The shooting sites in the days of '39
Oh, please, leave the vendanna open
Fredrico Lorca is dead and gone
Bullet holes in the cemetery walls
The black cars of the Guardia Civil
Spanish bombs on the Costa Rica
I'm flying in a DC 10 tonight

Next up was Rigid Digit, with three fine suggestions...

The Cure - 39

White Stripes - Hotel Yorba

I said 39 times that I love you, 

To the beauty I had found

That's just harrassment, Jack. You want to watch that sort of behaviour in this day and age.

And for the third and final time:

AC/DC - Whole Lotta Rosie

42 39 56 - you could say she's got it all

God loves a trier.

Our final suggestion this week comes from Deano, my old pal from the land down under...

Paul Kelly - You're 39, You're Beautiful and You're Mine

A beautiful ballad where Kelly shows that love songs don’t just have to be about the young ones…

That is pretty special. Thanks, Deano.

And you all for playing, as ever. Before we get onto this week's winner (as immidiately identified by Martin, and seconded by Deano), here's a few more offerings from my hard-drive...

Lloyd Cole - 39 Down

Hank Williams III - 7 Months, 39 Days

The Handsome Family - Emily Shore - 1819 - 1939

Larry Jon Wilson - July 12th, 1939

Al Stewart - Laughing Into 1939

Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsborough - 18 - 39

Tenacious D -39

Jeannie C. Riley - Slippin' Shirley Thompson

Sippin' Shirley Thompson doesn't care
She's 39 and feelin' fine and not much up to goin' anywhere
Her husband is a bible salesman and at 39 his hair fell out
She said there's not a hair between him and the heaven that he talks about

All good songs, but the songs from our teenage years often leave the biggest impression, don't they? And that's certainly the case with this tune from Queen's A Night At The Opera album, a favourite of mine was I was 15 (even though it was released 12 years earlier). I never had much of an idea what the song was about, I just thought it was a pretty tune and Brian does a good job on vocals. Iffypedia reveals the lyrics go back to Brian's days as an astrophysicist...

The song tells the tale of a group of space explorers who embark on what is, from their perspective, a year-long voyage. Upon their return, however, they realise that a hundred years have passed, because of the time dilation effect in Einstein's special theory of relativity, and the loved ones they left behind are now all dead or aged.

You don't get that from Ed Sheeran, do you?

Oh, final trivia bit. This was George Michael's favourite Queen song, and apparently he used to play it as a busker on the London Underground. I bet the police moved him on if he gathered a crowd this big.

38 next week. I bet Douglas has a suggestion. Anyone else?