Hot 100 #12

D12 (which stands for Dirty Dozen) was the rap band Eminem was in before he became famous. He got the old gang back together a few years later, notably for the song below...

D12 - Purple Hills

Before we get onto the actual 12 songs, C wondered if there were any dozens out there?

Rigid Digit found a couple...

The Damned - Dozen Girls

Bob Mould - Thirty Dozen Roses 

To which I will add...

Queen - A Dozen Red Roses For My Darling

...which is a Roger Taylor instrumental b-side, so don't get too excited.

OK, on with the show, and The Swede kicks off this week with the following...

Soft Machine Legacy - Twelve Twelve

(Double points?)

If you want, Swede. It'll make up for the great shame you have to face in a few moments...

Wayne Shorter - Twelve More Bars to Go

Elvis Costello & the Attractions - Twenty Five to Twelve

That last one was obviously in serious contention round these parts.

The Swede's shame, however, comes from not remembering the following... fortunately, Lynchie was on hand to remind him.

Bob Dylan - Rainy Day Women #12 & 35

Those of you with better memories than me (or The Swede) may remember that that song won #35 on the Hot 100 Countdown, and at the time I remarked: "don't expect it to show up again at number 12. I can easily think of a dozen songs that would come before it." Which may have been an exaggeration on my part, but I have to stick to my word.

Lynchie also offered the following diverse bag...

The Decemberists - 12 17 12

Tchaikovsky - 1812 Overture (especially the bit with cannons!)

The Muppets and John Denver - The Twelve Days of Christmas

(Which might have won a few months back.)

John Medd was up next, with another fine suggestion...

Nick Lowe - 12 Step Program

While Rigid Digit remarked: no point nominating Bob or Nick (although I advocate both) because it's already been done, so ...

Modern English - Chapter 12

Scouting For Girls - Michaela Strachan You Broke My Heart (When I Was 12)

Rigid Digit also threw us a curveball: in keeping with my usual noisy contributions, howsabout...

Donny Osmond - Twelfth Of Never

That was obviously a popular suggestion with Alyson, who says: it was one of my first singles. I also had a Donny pillowcase and a Donny Cap (not a euphemism for a form of contraception as I was only aged 12 - apt). 

Well, I suppose that's less embarrassing than Respect Yourself by Bruce Willis. Sadly, the only version I own of that song comes from this fellow...

Elvis Presley - The Twelfth Of Never

Alyson also offers this one, and something else we'll come back to later...

Brian Poole and the Tremeloes - Twelve Steps to Love

Can you believe we are now 88 posts into this series? Seems no time since we were discussing those Red Luftballons.

I know. Doesn't time fly when you're... erm... whatever we're doing right now?

Jim in Dubai was up next with an eclectic selection...

The Strokes - 12:51

Colin and the Clarys - 12 Times Over 

Wire - 12 X U

(Although I do have to query whether that's a 12 or a 1-2.)

The AK Band - 8-3-12

It was a welcome return from Marie next, with these three gems... well, two gems and a Beatles out-take.

Little Walter - Quarter to Twelve

Rev. Blind Gary Davis - Twelve Gates to the City

(Being a child of the 80s, I always smile when I see the Rev. Blind Gary Davis.)

The Beatles (from Anthology 2) - 12-Bar Original

Speaking of welcome returns, after my plea last week, Douglas McLaren returned to explain where he's been recently... and it seems as though life is pretty unpleasant for teachers in Canada... as I can attest it is in the UK. His explanation below sounds very familiar to these ears...

...our entire school system has moved during these times to an online platform, as we figure out how to get teenagers to do work from home while they are stressed and concerned about what is going on in the world beyond their doors. And that has meant trying g to figure out how to upload video lectures, hold virtual office hours online, screencasting, web-textbooks, and a whole lot of other insanely time consuming nonsense for an old dinosaur of the classroom like me to learn.

You have my sympathy, Douglas, as all this has nearly broken me over the past few weeks, not to mention the fact that Louise is also supposed to be working from home and we've got to home-school Sam while we're doing it. If I read one more article about "how to spend your free time" or "what to watch on Netflix now we're all at home, taking it east", I'm going to scream.

Anyway, here's Douglas to tell us about his suggestion for this week...

Great Big Sea are from Newfoundland on Canada's east coast, with their lyrical and folksy "Come And I Will Sing You (The Twelve Apostles)", which I think is worth the listen.

Great Big Sea - Come And I Will Sing You (The Twelve Apostles)

That's great. Thanks, Douglas.

And while we're over that side of the Atlantic, here's Brian...

My head hurts. I put 12 in the search function of my iTunes library and got hundreds and hundreds of 12" versions of songs.

Yes. That is a problem, isn't it, Brian?

It did lead me to My Beat is 125th Street by Eunice Davis... so well worth the dig but no help with this query.

Eunice Davis - My Beat is 125th Street

I think that's stretching it as a 12.

Quite a few repeats from above popped up, but I'll add 12 Bar Blues by NRBQ.

NRBQ - 12 Bar Blues

And finally, an "Unknown" reader (although it could well be one of you regular who forgot to sign in) stole this one from my own list...

The Mamas and the Papas - Twelve Thirty (Young Girls Are Coming To The Canyon)

Speaking of my own list...

Deep breath...

Jimmy Buffet - Twelve Volt Man

The Starlighters - It's Twelve O'Clock

8In8 - Twelve Line Song (That's Amanda Palmer, Neil Gaiman, Ben Folds and Damian Kulash)

Spiritualized - The Twelve Steps

Stephen Duffy & The Lilac Time - The Twelve Tones

The Broken Family Band - Twelve Eyes of Evil

The Pastels - G12 Nights

Suzanne Vega - 12 Mortal Men

Lukas Nelson & The Promise of the Real - 2012 The Happy Ending

Father John Misty - Tee Pees 1-12

Kathleen Edwards - 12 Bellevue

Kimya Dawson - 12 26

Patterson Hood - 12:01

This week's winner though. Alyson got it, but first to name it was Martin who normally spreads his bets over a whole load of tracks but this week was so certain of a win, he piled all his chips onto one bet. And guess what? It paid off...




Makes you wonder why they weren't huge... although I guess a band that size had to sell a heck of a lot of records to break even...

Next week, eleven. After that, things get really tricky. I might need to come up with some new rules...