The List #4: How Many Times?

How many times do you have to listen to a song before you decide if you like it or not?

The answer to that, of course, depends on the song. Take this, which I heard for the first time a couple of weeks back...

Now there's nothing particularly original about it. In fact, it reminds me of a hundred other things, including this...

Blur - Song 2

While the drum intro sounds very much like this...

Katrina & The Waves - Walking On Sunshine

And the spiky attitude is particularly reminiscent of this...

Liam Lynch - United States Of Whatever

...which in turn reminds me of this...

Eddie Cochran - Something Else

But familiarity is good. It's reassuring. As long as there's a new spin, and nobody gets sued, I don't mind songs that rip off other songs. Let's face it, rock n roll has been devouring its own tail since day one. 

Bad Mary are from New York, but that goes without saying. One listen and you can immediately hear Blondie, the Ramones... all those CBGB bands. (By the way, I just discovered that CBGB stands for Country, Bluegrass, Blues, none of which immediately spring to mind when you think of that particular establishment. Who knew?)

The live version of Forget About It is also worth 90 seconds of your time...

Bad Mary - Forget About It (Live)

And here's a clear winner in any Title Fight I could ever enter it for...

Bad Mary - I Just Called To Say Fuck You

Anyway, I ended up adding Forget About It to a couple of playlists and mixtapes and it may be starting to wear out its welcome now. That's the problem with songs that are instant earworms... sometimes they burn out on you.

On the other hand, a song that takes a few listens to really grab your attention, a song that steals slyly into your subconscious, that can often be even more satisfying...

Amy Rigby - Slow Burner

Exactly what I'm talking about, Amy. 

I figured I'd close today with a couple of less immediate tunes. Real slow-burners. Like this lovely little number from Gruff Rhys, which has crept up on me and is now threatening to become one of my songs of the year. I'd like to think 6Music will have been all over this, but as I can't listen to 6Music any more, I have no idea...

And then there's this, from an artist I stumbled across due to the algorithms. Our AI overlords presumably spotted my fondness for John Prine and recommended Texan Americana fella Sam Baker, who iffypedia tells me has quite a fascinating back story. In 1986, he was on a train to Machu Picchu when a terrorist bomb exploded in the luggage rack above his head. Seven of his fellow passengers were killed - Sam escaped with brain damage (he now struggles to remember names), permanent tinnitus and a gnarled guitar hand. But he didn't let that stop him writing beautiful songs like this... an inspiration for us all.