I'm a huge fan of that song, but I have to admit that whenever I hear it, I imagine Neil getting jiggy on a rocky coastline, with the waves pounding over him. It looks bloody freezing.
Everyone has a friend called Dave, right? I actually have two. Though I don't see them that much anymore. (Let's face it: I don't see anybody that much anymore.)
Very few suggestions this week for a famous David to illustrate our Top Ten. I wonder why?
I hope not after that dreadful suggestion,George replied.
Now I don't always agree with George (who does?), but I find myself having to here. Beyond ruining early Springsteen songs, if this if the Earth Band's great claim to fame, they should have stuck with counting backwards from 5. It's not a bad song, I just can't get past the opening couplet...
Davy's on the road again Wearing different clothes again
I mean, I should hope so.
But wait, before I get too mean about Manfred Mann's Earth Band... here's Lynchie...
I knew Dave Flett of "Davy's On The Road Again" fame.
I keep telling you, mate, even though Guest Post Thursday appears to have run out of gas, the door is always open for more of your stories. You could at least tell us if he wore different clothes every time he went out on the road.
I remember you liked the Scars' track I put on over at my place recently, so wonder if you'll like another song from the same album - perfectly titled... as you might imagine... 'David'!
Good work, C, though a little too angular and spikey for my ageing lugs. I preferred All About You. That may well feature on this blog one day soon.
Here's Rigid Digit, with what seems like it should be an obvious choice. Except...
Both from Morrissey's best-forgotten "let's take the piss out of chavs" phase. Still, we look back on that with fond nostalgia given his most recent phases.
It's worth pointing out too that Moz wasn't the first person to use that particular Dave in a song title...
Also recorded by Bob Dylan. Which only goes to show that we're missing The Swede this week. I hope he's OK.
Now to Canada, where Douglas is basking in the glory of getting one of his countrymen into last week's Top Ten...
...and may I just mention that Colter Wall has a fantastic track called "Me And Big Dave", wherein he absolutely sounds nothing whatsoever like a person in his 20's but everything like the embodiment of what is deep, soulful and great about country music in the Cash-like vein? Can the young Canadian rank two weeks in a row, perhaps clawing his way deeper in the Top Ten?
And if that is not your thing, the Trash Can Sinatras once again have a contender, with the raucous and ebullient b-side (gawsh, they save some of the best for the flip sides, don't they?) entitled "Ask Davy". According to legend, when the as-yet-untitled track was being readied for release, the record exec types came to hassle the band abound the small matter of a title for the song before going to press. The band, sorely pressed, tried to brush off the corporate pedants by steering them for suggestions to the usually forthcoming bassist, Davy Hughes....and that is how the track came to qualify for this week's Top Ten...
We'll start with this from Lynchie, because I'm a sucker for this kind of Bonnie & Clyde story song. (I should do a Top Ten of them.) And I doubt we'll ever get around to a Top Ten Trudy Songs.
Well, Trudy and Dave, those crazy kids
Had a baby of their own, and you heard what they did
In the middle of a strip mall shots rang out
Shots heard all over the world, no doubt
'Cause it was there in the paper the very next day
'Bout a couple and a baby and a Chevrolet
Who shot up an automatic teller machine
Took the money for the laundry and drove away clean
If you ever do "Ethel" songs, can I suggested John Hiatt's Ethylene?
Good call, Lynchie. Though I'm probably more likely to do the Trudy Top Ten. I mean, I bet Sting has a bunch of those I could take the piss out of use.
Covered by everyone and his dog, this is the original, and it reminds me of my childhood... despite the fact I never saw the TV show. Pop culture stuck around a lot longer back then.
Martin wins great accolades for digging this one up...
It has an all-star cast video that can't fail to put a smile on the face of anyone who watched The X Files back in the day - really, watch right through to the end, beyond the song.
That was brilliant.
And the best bit was, the video featured many of my TV heroes... not just Mulder & Scully and Buffy and Gary Shandling and Erik Estrada... but also Dennis Franz, star of the greatest TV series ever made.
Highlight of my week. Thanks, Martin.
Side note: Gillian Anderson playing Maggie Thatcher is wrong in so many ways that it makes me hurt.
In my head, I could hear a song where someone goes "Huh - Dave!" in a disparaging voice. I think, however, I was thinking of Bob George by Prince, and projecting a Dave onto it.
But then I kept thinking: no, no, this is a Flight of the Conchords song - I'm sure of it.
Got there in the end.
And when I saw you at my mate's place
I thought, "What is she doing
At my mate's place?"
How did Dave get a hottie like that to a party like this?
Ten odes to the humble vacuum cleaner (and other Hoover-related thingamabobs). Unfortunately, I couldn't find any songs named after the Dyson. Sorry, Sir James.
Despite only ever having one UK hit (a punked up version of Nellie The Elephant, very popular in 80s school discos), The Toy Dolls are, surprisingly, still in the go and still releasing records. This year's is called Olgacoustic, presumably because lead singer Michael "Olga" Algar is busking on it. Their previous record surely had the best title ever though: The Album After The Last One.
One more, two more Fleas on the bedroom floor No ones ever seen her, with a vacuum cleaner Three more, four more Mice unite at the kitchen door It weren't no rotten rumour, He could never move her, And I never saw her with a hoover.
Alex Turner is a great lyricist, finding grubby romance in the everyday mundanity of old man's pubs, pick 'n' mix bags and late night taxi journeys. But here, he bows down to a true master, reworking John Cooper Clarke's poem of the same name...
I wanna be your vacuum cleaner
Breathing in your dustI wanna be your Ford Cortina
I will never rust...
Before going on to a superlative solo career, Aimee Mann was the lead singer of synth-heavy 80s new wave band 'Til Tuesday. This is one of their best,but it's not as timeless as her later work.
A politically charged anthem from the mighty Christians... nothing to do with cleaning up your house, unless they're asking crooked politicians to do just that.
1. Elvis Costello - Hoover Factory
Elvis pays tribute to the distinctive Art Deco design of London's Hoover Building... now owned by Tesco.
I don't think I'll be compiling a Top Ten Tesco Songs anytime soon.
Five miles out of London on the Western Avenue
Must have been a wonder when it was brand new
Talkin' 'bout the splendour of the Hoover factory
I know that you'd agree if you had seen it too...
