Welcome back to my weekly celebration of great song titles. Do the songs in question live up to their names? You decide...
1. Elvis Costello - Hurry Down Doomsday (The Bugs Are Taking Over)
We'll start with some Elvis, as he's pictured at the top of the page. There are those who will tell you that his 1991 album Mighty Like A Rose is where it all started to go south for Mr. McManus. I'm not one of them, maybe because I was in my prime-Costello phase when this was released and had just devoured all his earlier albums through the extensive re-issue series that was going on around then. He could do no wrong for me in 1991.
I did a big search of Elvis song titles before choosing this one (my computer tells me there are 1892 Costello-sung or Costello-written files in my hard drive, though a good number of those are duplicates). I could have gone with Tear Off Your Own Head (It's A Doll Revolution) (although I prefer the version by The Bangles), I Hope You're Happy Now (for its sheer, unadulterated spite) or even (I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea)... among many others... but I chose this one because I like songs that cheerfully welcome the end of civilization.
2. Treat Her Right - I'm Here To Get My Baby Out Of Jail
Mark Sandman is a somewhat legendary figure in American alt-rock circles, and not just because that's his real name. He was the lead singer of Morphine, who formed in 1989, but prior to that he was in a number of groups, including Treat Her Right, named after a song by Roy Head & The Traits.
One critic called Treat Her Right, "not quite a blues band, not exactly swamp trash and too stylized for basic rock'n'roll". I'm Here To Get My Baby Out Of Jail is a two minute blast of wonder that makes sense of that whole description.
3. The Peppermint Rainbow - Will You Be Staying After Sunday?
The Peppermint Rainbow came from Baltimore in 1967 and looked like this...
Will You Be Staying After Sunday? sold over a million copies, presumably to families who wanted to drop a subtle hint to annoying house guests that it might be time for them to bugger off home now, thanks. They followed with another equally grumpy single, presumably aimed at that same visitor, Don't Wake Me Up In The Morning, Michael.
Of course, this is sunshine pop, so it's not at all grumpy when you listen to it, but still, it appeals to the curmudgeon in me.
4. Clinic - IPC Sub-Editors Dictate Our Youth
The 1997 debut single from Liverpudlian post-punkers Clinic was a dig at the NME and the way they "try to set up scenes all the time, and people actually believe that, 'Oh, I should listen to this, just because it's in the NME.'". Which was very true in 1997, although the title obviously got Clinic some serious attention from that same music paper, because there's nothing music journos like more than having their egos massaged, even in a sarcastic way.
Clinic wore surgical masks on stage. I saw them live once at a festival, and I'll be honest, that's the only thing I remember. I hope they stopped wearing them after COVID when fashion finally caught up with them. Lead singer Ade Blackburn was also a bingo caller at the Regent Bingo Hall in Crosby. I wonder if he wore a mask there too?
5. The Lemon Twigs - Every Day Is The Worst Day Of My Life
We close today with Brian and Michael. No, not the Mancunian Lowry fans, but two brothers from Long Island called Brian and Michael D'Addario. Although they're only in their mid-20s, the brothers' favourite album is apparently Todd Rundgren's 1972 opus Something/Anything?, a very inconsistent recording if you ask me. I love large parts of it, but it really is all over the place... kinda like the Lemon Twigs themselves. When they're good though, they're great. And they had me as soon as I heard the title to the lead single from their latest release, Everything Harmony. Typically, the rest of the album can't hold a candle to it... Todd would be proud.
Which title wins the fight this week?
Elvis for me.
ReplyDeleteHe was just starting a downhill trajectory
Brutal Youth was the only subsequent album I bought new.