And here's another pair of posh English lads with an interest in the game...
Remember when you were more easily led Behind the cricket pavilion and the bicycle shed Trembling as your dreams came true You looked right into those blue eyes and knew...
Another Neil, Mr. Hannon of The Divine Comedy joined with Thomas Walsh of Pugwash to pool their musical expertise and love of cricket as The Duckworth Lewis Method. In case you're wondering, they're named after "a mathematical formulation designed to calculate the target score (number of runs needed to win) for the team batting second in a limited overs cricket match interrupted by weather or other circumstances".
I had a clue all set to go for these guys, involving Jack & Vera meeting an Oxford detective... until I realised that if anyone identified them, it'd give the game away immediately.
I'm not sure Tom Petty would have known one end of a cricket bat from the other, but he did write a great song about a batsman sent in at the end of the day...
It struck me that I haven’t yet marked the passing of the last of the original rock n rollers, Jerry Lee Lewis. Chuck, Buddy, Gene, Eddie, Elvis… all the rest are long gone. Some died very young (I often find myself wondering what Buddy Holly would have done next), but only Jerry Lee got to really grow old disgracefully. A controversial figure, to be sure, but there’s no denying the power of his music.
For songs that mention Jerry Lee by name, we need look no further than Jerry Lee himself. Here are just a few…
Well, I’ve took enough pills for big Memphis town Ol’ Jerry Lee's drank enough whiskey to lift any ship off the ground I’ll be the first to admit Sure do wish these people would quit it You know it’s tough enough To straighten up When these idiots won’t leave you alone Jerry Lee Lewis’s life would make a damned good country song
Jerry Lee is going to spend his vacation in Heaven With loved ones gone on before Jerry Lee It’ll be Jesus, my saviour Forever and ever Please spend your vacation with me
See? He’s not really gone. Just taking an extended vacation.
What about other songwriters? What do they have to say about Jerry Lee?
He digs Jerry Lee Lewis, Dion and The Belmonts, And Johnny and The Hurricanes.
In case you’re keeping score, Johnny Paris died in 2006. Dion DiMucci, on the other hand, is still with us. I guess he might be the last man standing now. (Unless we count Willie Nelson, 6 years older than Dion and still going strong.)
The late Ian Dury also placed Jerry Lee in some very fine company…
From Rosemary Clooney to Jerry Lee Lewis From Debussy to Thelonious Monk It’s the modern art of the human heart The shape of things to funk, funk, funk
And here’s a song that name-drops everyone from Creedence to Otis to Missy Elliott to Korn. Chances are this one will pop up again.
Jerry Lee Lewis had a child bride Only thirteen, but he said he's justified
Indie rocker Ike Reilly writes lyrics more suited to a rap song, but though he’s been described as “rude, crude and lewd”, he also has something to say, and does so in quite a clever way.
Chuck Berry, Cadillac, Ludacris, Cadillac Jerry Lee Lewis with his balls on fire In the back of a Rocket 88 With an out-of-state plate and an underage date Cars and girls and drinks and songs Leave that shit in the middle of the road What about love and what about trust?
And that’s not the only trouble Jerry Lee got into. Remember the time he shot his bass player? (It was an accident, apparently, but he still got sued.)
"Soon I discovered that this rock thing was true Jerry Lee Lewis was the devil Jesus was an architect previous to his career as a prophet All of a sudden, I found myself in love with the world So there was only one thing that I could do Was ding a ding dang my dang a long ling long"
Then again, you could argue that’s what made him interesting! More interesting than a lot of young rock stars these days…
But this is the song I chose to close with today. Because Frank Turner understands the spirit of rock n roll that Jerry embodied. And just like I do, Frank still believes…
And I still believe In the saints Yeah, in Jerry Lee and in Johnny And all the greats
"National Treasure" Bernard Cribbins left us earlier this week, aged 93. He deserves a place in the Celebrity Jukebox Hall of Fame.
From Jackanory to The Wombles, Bernard Cribbins was the voice of my childhood. Over the years, I've watched him save the world alongside Doctor Who, stand up to Basil Fawlty, and work with everyone from Alfred Hitchcock to Mark 'n' Lard. And let's not forget his contributions to the world of popular music, most notably this...
...which was obviously a favourite of Mick Jones & co.
Now, admittedly, both those tracks are probably referencing the Deeply Dippy guys... but without Bernard, they wouldn't have been there to reference, would they?
But what of an actually lyrical mention? I had to dig that hole in the ground pretty deep, but I did eventually find one... and it's really quite lovely. A fitting tribute for a truly special celebrity.
Just a normal day
I hadn't made any plans
I was enjoying a walk in the sunshine when I saw a lovely old man
Who just happened to be Bernard Cribbins
And he beamed at me so wide
Then he gave me an ice cream that was sweeter than his smile
And it also contained the unspoken knowledge of the ancient ones
I'm taking a little blogger-break at the moment to clear my head, though Saturday Snapshots will continue as usual... and so will Guest Post Thursday... well, this week and next, for sure. After that, it's up to you.
Today's guest is probably the blogger I've known longest (or certainly as long as JC), since he is one of the few people who followed me over from my previous blog, Sunset Over Slawit. He's also an excellent writer (check out his novel Drawn To The Deep End if you haven't already), and someone I've been honoured to collaborate with in the past.
This is his first appearance at My Top Ten though, and it took the booze to tempt him.
The thought that I could have a crack at part three of the Top Ten Booze Songs came about purely because two great songs occurred to me that neither Rigid Digit nor C had mentioned. Of course, I then had to think of eight more, so apologies for quality control issues - maybe this is the bottom ten booze songs?
In the first verse, these vices are all the Manc mono-brows find. By the second verse, they are all they need. Dependency alert, kids! Could have gone for Champagne Supernova, I suppose (Part IV, anyone?)
(I'm keeping schtum over this one... except to say, I find it appropriate that the video begins in a toilet. - Rol.)
For everyone who has ever had trouble getting served, when the bar staff see through you to their mate or the person they fancy, and serve them first. My brother bought this on 7".
A track that has suffered from its ubiquity. I know it's a Neil Diamond song originally, but this is the version everyone knows and sings along to. Goes to my head indeed.
(It goes without saying that I prefer the original. - Rol.)
The sort of song that ought to be playing in the background of every bar scene in Roadhouse. About as far removed from the kind of pub I'd like to frequent. Wasn't this William Hague's favourite song? Or did he only claim fourteen beers...? :)
Whilst I welcomed the relaxation of licensing laws, I sort of miss the ritual of closing time, the bell, last orders at the bar, getting another round in quick ... and knowing the same ritual was happening in every other pub all over the place. "You don't have to go home but you can't stay here."
A sobering (see what I did there?) reminder that just has to follow Closing Time. Not his finest moment, of course, but you can't argue with the sentiment.
1. Gene - Sick, Sober and Sorry
And a tune for the morning after, perhaps? Although any remorse has to be tempered with the opening lines: "Please don't stop me from drinking, It's my only joy..." And if I'm honest, this is the only tune here that would me in my top ten booze songs, if Rigid Digit and C hadn't bagged all the best ones already! Anyway, here's a good live version, with an appropriate introduction:
Thank you, Martin. You know I love Gene almost as much as you do, though I'd kind of forgotten how good this one was. Makes me miss them all the more.
Another fine selection of booze songs... though I doubt we've covered all of them. If you fancy contributing your own list, you know where I am.
My antipathy towards U2 is well documented so you may be surprised to find them at the top of the page this week. But really, there weren't a whole lot of strong contenders... and I did want to give U2 some credit to make up for years of taking the mick. There was a point sometime in 1988/9 where I thought they may be OK. Not earlier - I still think The Joshua Tree is one of the most overrated albums ever recorded... but Rattle & Hum... that, I didn't mind. So here, for the record, is my favourite U2 song. It's not a long list...
Truly the late 80s / early 90s were a dire time for chart music. I was in my late teens at the time and the tracks above largely forced me to venture outside the charts for the first time in my musical history.
No other song will touch that, if only for the sheer majesty of Pearl's vocal (and Carl's ability to use only one side of his mouth whilst singing).
Initially, I couldn't find that anywhere on the internet, but George was kind enough to send me a link so you can enjoy it in all its glory.
That was the first thing to spring to my mind too, C. Though I still have nightmares about the awful Rod Stewart / Tina Turner version. The Sonny & Cher version (as suggested by Martin) is quite fun though.
I don't suppose anyone will mention that song about little boys by a certain person...although it was covered by Splodgenessabounds.
I loved that song when I was young. It breaks my heart that we can't listen to it anymore without awful connotations.
Martin was the first to observe that I have my work cut out for me this week.
As for "two", there are going to be loads, aren't there? Don't envy you collating them.
I'll let you into a secret... last week was training / CPD week at work. I attended all the training sessions online. But I also... multi-tasked. Which is why there was no pause in transmission this week.
So here are some. No doubt I'll forget something again this week, my mind is getting soft.
I think that goes for all of us after the past few months.
Yes, I know that's a 97... and we did feature it way back in 1984 when we were doing that week of the Hot 100 on Ceefax, before the interweb. But it's based on the two songs above, so I'll break loads of rules and throw it in.
Time for Douglas, who made the journey from Canada in record time this week...
Oh my, I somehow got here before The Swede published a list a clothyard long! I just have to get a few early suggestions in, then perhaps come back later after some real thought. For starters, since I (indirectly) promoted The Lucksmiths last week, here are two solid suggestions from the Australian artists of winsome wordplay:
Then of course there is the master of meticulous songcraft himself, the creative genius behind The Blue Nile (who births an album roughly every fifteen years):
Makes one want to smile and cry at the same time. And perhaps me especially after I discovered that the vinyl copy of the album from which it comes (2012's "Mid Air") which I purchased on release date for under $30 is now going on Discogs for something in the mid $300's. A better investment than real estate. And speaking of which, there is:
And for my usual Canadian offering, you could do worse than save some room for Montreal's beloved and finest indie rock band (no, don't worry, not Arcade Fire):
I'm allowing those last two, but I didn't want to open the can of worms that was "second songs" or we really would have been here all week.
On to Alyson, who was missing in action last week but returns full force this week...
So, so many 2 suggestions. I am struggling to come up with anything better than Party Fears Two so agree with that one and here's a little extract from when I wrote about that song after my trip to Dundee.
'It’s certainly a strange title for a song and tricky to understand the lyrics other than that a party is involved. Billy did explain the origin however, 'My wee brother was at a party watching two girls who wanted to come in. They were smashing windows and attempting to kick the door in with their stiletto heels, which he admired, so he christened them the Party Fears Two and I pinched the title from him.''
That's a great explanation. I love that song, especially the opening line.
Sadly, Alyson's other suggestions all fall foul of the the Tom Robinson Rule.
I figured there would be a load more 2am song, but it seems only Iron Maiden are hard enough to stay up that late. Anyone else who stays up that late appears to not be happy about it...
It's at this point that I have to give Rigid Digit a special award this week, for nabbing most of my top contenders in a very short space of time. Any of these could have been this week's winner. In fact, I had them listed together in almost the same order you presented them, RD...
I added the second Joe Jackson tune myself and seriously considered giving them joint winner status in the same way I had three winners last week. Sadly, a more obvious choice presented itself. But any other week...
Over to Jim in Dubai...
I fully endorse Swiss Adams choice of Party Fears 2, still sounds great and would be a worthy winner.
Now at this point in proceedings, I was feeling pretty smug about being way ahead of the game and well on track for a timely post with no overtime required.
Hi folks. Sorry I'm late. I culled this list of appropriate tunes from my hard-drives a couple of weeks back and have attempted to take out anything already suggested - apologies for any I've duplicated...
OK, time to pull an all-nighter!
At least The Swede started with two he knew would be on my list...
Let it be known, that in line with me keeping my sanity, I am going to heretofore limit The Swede to only 600 suggestions per week.
And after all that, I doubt very much that anyone will want to read my shortlist... although I think there's a couple at the top of my list that will a few of you kicking yourselves...
This week's winner was first suggested by John Medd, then seconded by Martin. It wasn't my first thought, but once it was out there, I couldn't think of anything any more appropriate.
Sam has taken to singing this song thus...
Woohoo! Abbamebaddawawa!
Woohoo! Dabbaweewawameme!
I've told him what the actual words are and he sings them once or twice, then goes back to the nonsense. Actually, I think the nonsense words are even more appropriate, since pure pop should be nonsense... and this is a contender for the purest indie pop song ever written.
Pleased ta meetcha!
Only one more to go. And there can be only one winner... but what will it be?
Roky Erickson's 13th Floor Elevators were an obvious choice to illustrate this week's edition of the Hot 100, though I could have also gone with short-lived indie also-rans Thirteen Senses.
(And for completeness' sake, the albums 13 by Teenage Fanclub & 13 by Blur were also suggested.)
Before we dive into the unluckiest edition of this feature to date... which is worrying, because none of us need any more bad luck at the moment... I just wanted to put a call out to our old pal Douglas McLaren in Canada. Not heard from you in a few weeks, Douglas, so I do hope you're OK. I'm presuming you're not still on the picket line given what's going on in the world right now, but I hope you're staying safe and well.
The same sentiment goes out to all regular readers and contributors of this feature. Let's hope we all make it through to Number One, and that things are starting to get back to normal by the time we get there...
Let's kick off with C this week, who treats us to some excellent '60s fuzz beat in the form of Swedish band The Renegades' song 'Thirteen Women'. If you check out the youtube video of the band larking about in a factory full of women it's nicely daft, and the length of the singer's hair at the time must have been outrageous! The Renegades - Thirteen Women
The weird thing is, I'd never heard of that song until C suggested it. But then, a couple of nights later, I heard this on the radio, from a few years earlier...
The same song, with a gender swap. Further research was required, and Lynchie pointed us back to both the Ann Margret version and the year 1954 when the tune was originally recorded by...
"This is a bizarre song which attempts to make light of the spectre of nuclear destruction. It appears to have been written in the wake of the explosion of the first hydrogen bomb, at Bikini Atoll on March 1, 1954, less than 10 years after the twin horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki."
Beat that, everyone!
Y'know, that could very well have been the winner, were I actually in my record collection (it will be soon) and were there not one other suggestion that trumps it this week. But we'll get to that shortly.
Lynchie had one other suggestion this week, and it was a fine one too...
All of which brings us to this week's leftovers from my own collection, starting with the gentleman who won last week. Imagine if Chuck Berry came from Essex...
