Mid-Life Crisis Songs #84: Just Like That

I've been feeling pretty down lately, though that's hardly anything new. I guess I've fought against what the doctors kindly call 'low mood' most of my life. I don't often write about it here, because this blog is self-indulgent enough as it is. But sometimes you just have to acknowledge it and move on. There's nothing else to be done. Maybe watch some Tommy Cooper. He never fails to raise a smile. Except thinking about him, or Morecambe & Wise, or any of the old comedians I watched when I was kid, inevitably leads to feeling old. Old isn't the same as depressed though. Sometimes I'm happy to be growing old. "More in the mirror than there is up ahead," as James McMurtry puts it. Sometimes you welcome that. 

The new Bonnie Raitt album is called Just Like That. I doubt Bonnie Raitt has any idea who Tommy Cooper, is, but the title track stopped me in my tracks. You know I like a good story song, and this one has a twist that kicked me in the guts. I didn't see it coming and I found it really affecting. Maybe you will too. 

Knowing there are people out there who have far more reason to suffer "low mood" than I do really should make me quit the moping. Usually though, it just adds to my feelings of self-reproach...

My Top Ten Pride Songs (Seven Deadly Sins #7)

I'm proud to say this concludes our jaunt through the deadliest of sins...


10. Bonnie Raitt - Love Has No Pride

If you were looking for that U2 song... here's one reason why you won't find it here. (The other reason: it's by U2.)

Also memorably covered by this bloke...

9. Billy Bragg - Swallow My Pride

From Billy's excellent new album Tooth & Nail... yep, he's still got it.

Oh how can a man be strong?
He can't even lift up telephone and say he's wrong 

If I want you back again
Then I know what I must do
Got to swallow my pride and get back home to you.

8. The Donnas - Have You No Pride?

 The Donnas offer advice to a hopeless romantic.

Shoegazers in blazers
Introduce you to razors, so that
The Wilson twins, they can see you
In all your glory, in all your glory

7. King - Love & Pride

Weren't the 80s brilliant?

If you're in any doubt, check out the video in which Paul King wanders round an old quarry with a can of spray paint wearing a green suit, red boots and a raven on his head before teaching a bunch of kids how to breakdance. It cost 50p to film and they still had change for a bag of chips.

6. James Brown -  Say It Loud (I'm Black and I'm Proud)

 Could the Godfather of Soul ever say anything quietly?

5. Beautiful South - Mother's Pride

He's presentable, well looked after
He's domestically disastrous
He's adorable - Mother's Pride

Maternal versus paternal influence... and it does seem Paul Heaton thinks you're better off taking after your mum.

He'll always roam the yard looking for a fight
He'll pick on all the kids who're twice his height
He's the reason dinner ladies toss and turn at night
Teacher's Blight - Father's Pride 

See also Mother's Pride by George Michael, which has aged far, far better than you'd imagine it would. 

4. Dexys Midnight Runners - My National Pride

Kevin Rowland reclaims the notion of national pride from the fascists and the politicians in a deeply touching ode from the woefully under-appreciated Don't Stand Me Down album.

I've denied my beautiful heritage
Gone away from my roots and come back home again
I gave away my individuality
And listened to the "now" generation
When really I'm not one of those
But love has brought me closer to the truth and right now
I couldn't be any closer
To love your father is a fulfilling thing
My national pride is a personal pride

3. Robert Palmer - Pride

Batley Bob goes reggae with an amusing tale about a guy who loses his woman to the gym.

You want her attention
Well, you’ll have to wait
She’s in the gymnasium
Reducing weight
In shorts of a leotard
Despite her age
The girl’s gonna exercise
Your life away

2. Creedence Clearwater Revival - Proud Mary

A song about quitting your job in the city and going off to work on a riverboat... also famously recorded by Ike & Tina Turner and Solomon Burke.

1. The Temptations - Ain't Too Proud To Beg

Genius. 





Which would you be proud to call your Number One?