Saturday Snapshots #107 - The Answers

Nobody puts Baby in the corner on a Sunday morning. Baby wants her answers! And here they are...

Did you have a Ghost of a chance of getting them all right?

Regardless, every track's a belter this week...



10. A wee vacuum riddle torments and teases.

Jimmy Riddle?

Jimmy The Hoover - Tantalise

9. Still a child at heart, secretly famous.

Forever young...

Neil Young - Unknown Legend

Still sends shivers down my spine, this track. Written about his former wife, Pegi, who sadly died earlier this year.

8. Melon twisting dancer gets an A for running over southern states.

Bez was the Melon Twisting dancer. Add an A and you get Baez.

Joan Baez - The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

7. Save the earth in 2009? If not then, how about...

If not in 2009, how about...?

Ten Years After - I'd Love To Change The World

6. I refuse to accept a brother of York can go beyond sanity.

Thom Yorke's brother was in this band.

(Bonus clue - Hal Hartley made a film called The Unbelievable Truth, David Mitchell hosts a Radio 4 quiz show with the same name.)

Unbelievable Truth - Higher Than Reason

5. Town that died, but not long ago, meets French weirdo.

The Night Chicago Died. Take away ago.

A French weirdo would be Le Freak.

Chic - Le Freak

4. No charge for pierced organ ring.

(That's my favourite clue ever.)

No charge is free. Electricity also comes with a charge. Hammond make organs. A pierced organ is a Prince Albert. A ring is sometimes called a (wedding) band.

I thank you.

Albert Hammond - The Free Electric Band

3. Rubbing out, occasionally.

Erasure - Sometimes

2. Melted Pac Man puts gas in your tank.

If the arcade was on fire, Pac Man might melt.

Arcade Fire - Keep The Car Running

1. Michael Caine and James Brown hit the Martini, relentlessly.

Michael Caine was Carter. James Brown was a Sex Machine. Relentlessly is unstoppable.

Ride a Point Break back here again next Saturday morning for more of the same...

Saturday Snapshots #107

I was on my way to the... uh... to the Snapshots, and it was, I guess, Saturday and, uh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, my wife thinks this is a good way to spend Saturday mornings, but I'm not too sure.

Anyway, we've got some clues to solve, you and I. Can we talk off the record? Identify the ten killers below and the songs they murdered... and, well, I'll leave you to it now, don't mind me...


10. A wee vacuum riddle torments and teases.

9. Still a child at heart, secretly famous.

8. Melon twisting dancer gets an A for running over southern states.

7. Save the earth in 2009? If not then, how about...

6. I refuse to accept a brother of York can go beyond sanity.

5. Town that died, but not long ago, meets French weirdo.

4. No charge for pierced organ ring.

(That's my favourite clue ever.)

3. Rubbing out, occasionally.

2. Melted Pac Man puts gas in your tank.

1. Michael Caine and James Brown hit the Martini, relentlessly.

Oh - just one more thing. The answers will be revealed tomorrow morning.

2019 Contenders: The Highwomen

After featuring The Highwaymen on this week's Saturday Snapshots, it seems only fair to give their contemporary female counterparts a mention. The Highwomen are Brandi Carlile, Natalie Hemby, Maren Morris, and Amanda Shires - successful country stars in their own right, except they often struggle to get airplay on country music stations in the states because of famously sexist playlisting policies. (A lot's been written about that, so google it to your heart's content.)

For their eponymous title track and mission statement, they roped in original Highwaymen songwriter/creator, who worked with Carlile and Shires, to rewrite his famous tune from a female perspective...



Even better though is the closing track, Wheels of Laredo, which reminds me very much of one of my favourite Warren Zevon songs, Desperados Under The Eaves...

Saturday Snapshots #106 - The Answers

I have a secret to tell
From my electrical well
It's a simple message and I'm leaving out the whistles and bells
So the room must listen to me
Filibuster vigilantly
Here are the answers to this week's Q-U-I-Z...


10. How far to Ipanema? It's I, not you.

Astrud Gilberto sang about The Girl from Ipanema, Replace the U in Astrud with an I.

How far? Some distance.

Astrid - Distance

9. Hello sunrise... is it because you're chillee, perhaps?

Shivaree - Goodnight Moon

8. Escape from Irish town, via Amitri.

Runaway from Shannon, with Del (Amitri).

Del Shannon - Runaway

7. Vole? Evol? Leo V? Arrrghh! (Somebody call for a pick-up.)

Are you hailing a van?

Van Halen - Why Can't This Be Love?

6. I won't be at the station, my sweet. The baby tickers have escaped!

Take the I from Station. my sweet?

Candi Staton - Young Hearts Run Free

5. Motionless distillery can get it on with anybody.

Motionless is still. So is a distillery

Stephen Stills - Love The One You're With

4. Debut snog for hard boy.

Kid Rock - First Kiss

3. Children of a Piper, a Borg and a Beatle.

Peter Piper. Bjorn Borg. John Lennon.

Children are young folk.

Peter, Bjorn & John - Young Folks

2. Gyroscopic mortality in question.

Dead Or Alive - You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)

1. Adam's Dandies - Adam's Dandy.

Adam Ant was a Dandy Highwayman.

Nelson. Cash. Kristofferson. Jennings.

Jimmy Webb Is God.



Satisfy the Birdhouse In Your Soul with more Saturday Snapshots next week.

Saturday Snapshots #106

Yes, it's that time of the week again, which means we're back with those Notorious clues and the silly Charade that is Saturday Snapshots. Identify 10 artists and songs from this lot...

Let's make it An Affair To Remember!


10. How far to Ipanema? It's I, not you.

9. Hello sunrise... is it because you're chillee, perhaps?

8. Escape from Irish town, via Amitri.

7. Vole? Evol? Leo V? Arrrghh! (Somebody call for a pick-up.)

6. I won't be at the station, my sweet. The baby tickers have escaped!

5. Motionless distillery can get it on with anybody.

4. Debut snog for hard boy.

3. Children of a Piper, a Borg and a Beatle.

2. Gyroscopic mortality in question.

1. Adam's Dandies - Adam's Dandy.

Fly North by Northwest to find the answers tomorrow morning.

There Goes Another Love Song

Following on from Midland, another country bar band, but much, much older.

I love the guitar on this...

2019 Contenders... And Thank You

I'd like to say thank you to everybody who left a supportive comment after Monday's post. I know I'm being particularly vague about why things are pretty stressful at the moment - beyond job issues which I've alluded to but don't want to go into more detail about, for making things worse. There is something else that's causing me sleepless nights but I should be more able to talk about that, one way or another, next week. Until then, your good wishes are much appreciated here, and reflected back upon you all. It's good to have friends, even though I've never met any of you. And thank especially to John, who offered to meet up for a coffee - unfortunately, those damned work commitments have me chained to a (metaphorical) blackboard for the foreseeable, but that was much appreciated too.

Today's latest contender for my albums of the year is the latest record from Midland. A country record, yet it isn't cool Americana nor shiny, cheesy Nashville pop-country. It's a bar band record, good-time country rock, and as with their last album, there's a huge debt to the Eagles... though whether Midland have a trippy, pretentiously epic (in a good way) Hotel California in their future has yet to be seen. At the moment, they're content playing the Heartache Tonight / Take It Easy game, with the odd splash of... whisper it, so as not to offend the musos... Dr. Hook.

The video's fun, but it does kind of detract from the story of the song...

The United Kingdom of Song #37: Barnsley

Sadly, this post doesn't represent a return to regular blogging or a resurrection of old features. Things are still tumultuous and may be set to get more so... I'm holding my breath on that one and for the best.

I'm not going to bore you with the ups and downs of my current predicament though, particularly as I know many of you are going through tumults of your own. But I put this tune on a compilation for Sam the other day and the mention of Barnsley leapt out at me.

Barnsley is the town where I work, and has been for the last 8 years. It gets a bad rep, as many northern towns do, but I reckon it's got quite a lot going for it, once you get past the "It's grim up north" cliches. The fact that I hate my job has nothing to do with the town in which I work - indeed, having commuted to Bradford for 20+ years prior to that, I find my 40 minute drive to Barnsley to be a delight... if it wasn't for the rocks rolling round in the pit of my stomach the closer I get to my purgatory. It's certainly a nicer and easier place to get to than Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield or any of the sexier cities round these parts... just one of the factors which makes searching for a new job a bit of a minefield.

Anyway, I can't find any other songs that mention Barnsley, but this one was a favourite of mine back in the late Britpop era and it still stands up pretty well today. I've no idea what these lyrics are about though...

Christopher Robin blew his friends away

Wrapped 'em up and moved up Barnsley way

Got a job he's milking plastic trays

Got a line in filling early graves

Take care of yourselves. Nobody else will.

Saturday Snapshots #105 - The Answers

Is it a bird?

Is it a plane?

No, it's just some super answers...


10. Princess & Friend give up.

Princess Di & Ross from Friends. I give up!

Diana Ross - Surrender

9. Climb up the helter skelter, 10 steps on Friday, 11 on Saturday.

To climb a helter skelter you must go up a spiral staircase, no?

The Spiral Staircase - More Today Than Yesterday

8. Audio experiments in Gallic dancehall.

Audio experiments would take place in a Stereo Lab.

Stereolab - French Disko

7. Ronnie James replaced by Genius, crown broken along the way.

Jack fell down and broke his crown.

Ronnie James Dio replaced by Ray 'The Genius' Charles.

Raydio - Jack & Jill

(Yes, that is Ray Parker Jr.)

6. Mental igloo.

Cheesy 80s video alert!

Icehouse - Crazy

5. Reading under-30s' fortunes while heavy machine crosses.

Robert Plant - 29 Palms

4. Brown bruvver in the ring reaches a ranking full stop.

Joe Brown & The Bruvvers.

Boxers fight in the ring.

The Beat sang Ranking Full Stop.

JoBoxers - Boxerbeat

3. 24 hour curls.

The Kinks - All Day & All Of The Night

2. Youthful thought processes discovered in the wreckage.

Black box recorders are found in the wreckage.

Black Box Recorder - Child Psychology

1. Neighbourhood hero's original publication parachutes down for a health check.

Mr. Rogers lived In The Neighbourhood.

An original publication would be a First Edition.



Saturday Snapshots will go Up, Up and Away again next week.