Ticket To Ride is my favourite boardgame. Somewhat ironically, it has been replaced by a game called Wingspan as the favourite of everybody else in the house. "It's only the game Ticket To Ride could have been," they tell me.
Oh, and in case you were wondering, The Beatles are on stage in that picture, playing to a crowd of 18 people, in December 1961.
Low attendance yesterday - I guess SS can't compete with the football. I think Charity Chic just nabbed the win. Half a point ahead of Lynchie. And Alyson... I think... scraped past the line first last week.
Thanks for playing...
10. God, the German trees in France are all conifers.
Tree in German is baum. Conifers are evergreen. The Normans came from France.
Let's get the obvious one out of the way first, shall we? I love the Beach Boys. Most days, I'd rather listen to them than The Beatles, The Stones and most other 60s bands. I don't think it's hyperbole to call Brain Wilson a godlike genius. But there are times when... well, the drugs don't quite work.
If you brought a big brown bag of them home, I'd jump up and down and hope you'd toss me a carrot.
I've linked to the original version of this song (titled Vega-Tables) above because it features Paul McCartney's greatest ever performance... chewing a stick of celery as percussion.
I know that you'll feel better When you send us in Your letter and Tell us the name of your... Your favourite vegetable.
Off the back of this recording, Brian decided to open a health food shop in Hollywood called The Radiant Radish. It didn't last. For more non-specific vegetable tracks, see Radiohead's Vegetable and Joshua Radin's not particularly sporty Vegetable Car.
Typically jangly fun from the Fannies - not sure what it's got to do with cabbages. Maybe that's all they had in their vegetable rack the day they wrote it.
Recorded by The Ronettes, credited to The Crystals when included on their 1963 Greatest Hits album. That Phil Spector, eh? What a git. Made some cool records though.
Pavement's biggest UK hit, though it wasn't released as a single anywhere else.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to work out just what the hell Malkmus and co. are going on about here. Personally, I think it's something dodgy...
Ah, you're saying, but Rol... a tomato is a fruit! Right? Hmm. Depends who you ask. According to this fascinating article in National Geographic, the American Supreme Court ruled that “tomatoes are the fruit of the vine, just as are cucumbers, squashes, beans and peas", whereas the EU have decided that "carrots, sweet potatoes and... tomatoes" are all fruits. But, I'm sorry, if tomatoes are the same as carrots and peas, I think I'll stick with my original rule: if I eat it for pudding, it's a fruit. And I don't eat tomatoes for pudding, so...
On her recent "hit" Dead Fox, Courteney Barnett goes into some detail about her vegetable-buying habits...
Jen insists that we buy organic vegetables And I must admit that I was a little skeptical at first A little pesticide can't hurt Never having too much money, I get the cheap stuff at the supermarket But they're all pumped up with the s**t A friend told me that they stick nicotine in the apples
Prior to this, she released Canned Tomatoes... which has rather less to do with vegetables, from what I can make out.
Andy Partridge's timeless ode to the good guys who fall foul of shadowy conspiracies...
Peter Pumpkinhead put to shame Governments who would slur his name Plots and sex scandals failed outright Peter merely said any kind of love is all right
Nigel Blackwell sees sinister intent behind the most innocuous of hand-written country road signs.
“This-a-way For New Potatoes” An arrow points innocently Dirt track to a darker place That’s what it says to me “Last Chance For Hanging Baskets” They’re even giving you clues! “Fresh Broad Beans and Aubergines” Euphemisms, Audrey, euphemisms!
Beyond that, we get the usual unrelated moments of observational genius, most notably...
We all knew someone at primary school Who had a very powerful magnet
There's a very serious message in this song, however: a dire warning for the unsuspecting motorist...
So stay alert on the minor roads Remember Phyllis Triggs Oooh! Rhubarb! Lets go! She’s still not been accounted for
Dan le Sac does not make my kind of music at all. Blippy bloppy dance music - car alarms mixed with electronic belches and drum machines. I'm too old for this shit.
It says something then for the razor sharp lyrical prowess of the
awesome Scroobius Pip that I rate this (and anything else the pair
release together) so highly.
I fell in love with a girl from the city Still got cauliflower ears from when her voice first hit me And a swollen lip, from when her lyrics first kissed me And when I went to pull back ever so gently bit me I still hear her sometimes but it's not the same Like when you get a pen and paper and write your name Over and over and over again Although it hasn't, in the end it somehow seems to change
You see, that's not just songwriting. It's poetry. And I'm an English teacher, so I know a little bit about that.
The video's brilliant too.
1. Booker T & The M.G.s - Green Onions
It's not often you'll find an instrumental topping one of my Top Tens, but it's not often you hear an instrumental as perfect as Green Onions. The crisp drums, creeping bassline, sharp stabs of Steve Cropper's guitar - and, of course, Booker T.'s indolent organ... no vocalist could have improved upon this. Some debate over whether they called the track Green Onions as a reference to marijuana, their mate's cat or just because Booker didn't like green onions and wanted to throw them all in the bin. In the end, it's better we don't know the truth.
We live in a time-poor time. None of us have enough time (to quote Michael Hutchence) for all that we want to do. I certainly don't have enough time at the moment... and I imagine I'll have even less once I become a father later this year. So let's stop and consider... how very precious our time is.
It may only be an instrumental and therefore have nothing more in common with the theme of this Top Ten than its title... but it's still a stone cold classic.
It seems odd to be holding up a song written 20+ years ago by George Flippin' Michael as an apt statement on the world today... but in light of recent political shenanigans, damn this is timely!
But there never seems to be enough time
To do the things you want to do
Once you find them
I've looked around enough to know
That you're the one I want to go
Through time with
There's not enough hours in the day To say all that I want to say There's not enough days in the week And weeks go by quicker than drunks knock back liquor
1. The Beautiful South - A Little Time
One of Paul Heaton's most bittersweet duets, beautifully performed by Dave Hemingway and Brianna Corrigan... the video is priceless.
Funny how quick the milk turns sour, isn't it? Isn't it?
