Hot 100 #33

French metal band 6:33 welcome us all to #33 in our Hot 100 countdown. I understand their cover of Silver Lady by David Soul is especially worth seeking out.


33 (and a third) is the number of revolutions per minute made by a long-player / vinyl album. Young people will probably need to consult iffypedia about this, unless they're a hipster, in which case they probably know more about it than I do.

Since I think it's fair to say that hipsters do not read this blog, what do all you old non-hipsters recommend?


The Swede kicked us off this week with a veritable plethora. (Well, a "ple4a", anyway.)

The New Mastersounds - Thirty-Three

Smashing Pumpkins - Thirty-Three

Clyde McPhatter & The Drifters - Three Thirty Three

George Jones - Four-0-Thirty-Three

We could also have had It's A 10:33 (Let's Get Jesus On The Line) by the same fella.

Lynchie stayed out west with this one...

Waylon Jennings - The 33rd of August

It's the 33rd of August
And I'm finally touching down
Eight days from Sunday
Finds me Saturday bound.

I think he needs a new calendar.

And I'll chuck in this from my own country collection...

Kris Kristofferson - The Pilgrim Chapter 33

C popped up next with an offering that Charity Chic swiftly declared "the winner!" If only he was compiling these posts. (He's welcome to take over now that he's finished the already much-missed Double Letter Saturday feature. Save me the extra work as we get nearer to #1. Hint hint.)

How about when Grace Jones sounds a lot like Dusty Springfield in I've Done It Again from Nightclubbing?

I was there when Jenny Lind first sang
First to feel the cold Alaskan white man
First to take a trip on LSD
First to vote for Roosevelt back in '33

Next up was Rigid Digit with three solid suggestions...

Sinéad O'Connor - 33

Roger Waters - 4:33AM (Running Shoes)

The Jesus & Mary Chain - 33 1/3

To be honest. I'm surprised there weren't more songs with 33 1/3 in the title. The only other one I came up with was...

Public Enemy - War At 33 1/3

But wait! Martin had a couple more...

Michelle Shocked - 33RPM Soul

I can only find the lyrics of that on Michelle's website. The tune appears to be lost to the interweb.

Prince - Boom!

Run your fingers up and down the obelisk in the earth, 

Down to 33rpm where the primordial gives birth...

Ah, we do miss him. Although it is easier to find his songs on youtube now he's gone.

The Gaslight Anthem - Blue Jeans & White T-shirts

Still we sing with our heroes, 

33 rounds per minute...

Martin didn't limit to RPM-related suggestions though. He also offered...

Luke Haines - Christ

At the age of 33 and a third, the time that Christ spent on earth,
I decided to cut all ties with showbiz.
As the awards piled up in the bath, well I started to laugh
At all those who died in the name of light entertainment.

That came very close to winning this week, for obvious reasons.

Lou Reed - Sword of Damocles

Last night on 33rd street, 

I saw a kid get hit by a bus...

Cheery.

Manic Street Preachers - Nat West-Barclays-Midlands-Lloyds  

Barclays iron eagle, 

33 injection...

That's a belter.

Then came Deano, who explained this week's selection thus...

Before he became outlaw country music's resident eccentric that would do anything for a publicity stunt, his debut album was actually some really good blues material, including this song about a fragile prisoner that has just received some bad news.

David Allan Coe - Cell #33

Finally came Douglas, who decided to try playing the Canadian card again this week.

For starters, I wish there were recordings available of any of Gordon Lightfoot's renditions of "The 33rd of August" which he apparently undertook in studio in 1969 as an attempt to put together a final contractually obligated album of covers for UA, which sadly was aborted and the decision was made to deliver with a live album instead. The recordings are out there somewhere... anyway, for the record I prefer the original Mickey Newbury version of this song to others out there.

(See above.)

But for Canadian content, I am left suggesting Stars' song Personal, which is a very sad short story of a song told back and forth through his-and-hers personal columns responses which ends with the heartache of being stood up. It starts thus:

Stars - Personal

Wanted single F under 33

Must enjoy the sun, must enjoy the sea

Sought by single M, Mrs. Destiny

Send photo to address, is it you and me?

Reply to single M, my name is Caroline

Cell phone number here, call if you have the time

28 and bored, grieving over loss, sorry to be heavy

But heavy is the cost, heavy is the cost...

Now that might not have won this week, but only because it's not yet in my collection and the winner must always exist in my own library. That said, it's a bloody good tune, so thanks for introducing it to me, Douglas... and it will come in very well on the Top Ten Lonely Hearts Column Songs I've been trying to compile for months now. (Note to everybody: I need another three good ones.)

Speaking of songs from my own library, here's what it threw up this week (along with many of the ones above)...

Zager & Evans - Nell'Anno 2033

(That appears to be an Italian remake of In The Year 2525. No idea how I came across it, or why they changed the year.)

Joy Zipper = 33x

Bob Frank & John Murry - Boss Wetherford, 1933

All of which brings us to this week's winner, which was a real toss-up with Luke Haines, but in the end Frank edged it with an equally biting open line that sums up the state of the world at the moment... and offers good advice for anyone who ever thinks of interviewing He Who Has Fallen From Grace again...

"Stop asking musicians what they think"
He said softly as he poured himself a second drink
And outside, the world slipped over the brink

We all thought we had nothing to lose
That we could trust in crossed fingers and horseshoes
That everything would work out, no matter what we choose

The first time it was a tragedy
The second time is a farce
Outside it's 1933 so I'm hitting the bar

Don't go mistaking your house burning down for the dawn!

Next week: 32. Hit me!