Snapshots #316: A Top Ten Werewolf Songs

I always like to indulge in a Halloween themed top ten at this time of year... and this time, it has really big teeth! (Bob Seger gave you an extra clue yesterday, with his Silver Bullet Band.)

I used to be a werewolf, you know. But I'm alright no-ooooooooooow!

I'm here all week.

10. Found in the basic ramp structure.

Found in the basiC ramp structure.

The Cramps - I Was A Teenage Werewolf

9. The main point of this quiz.

All you have to do is Guess Who...

The Guess Who - Clap For The Wolfman

8. Holy circles, cylinders and spheres, Batman!

They're all round, Robin.

Round Robin - I'm The Wolfman

7. Gremlins.

If you've seen Gremlins, you know. If you haven't... do yourself a favour. It's got Hoyt Axton in!

Mogwai - How To Be A Werewolf

6. Fine girl from Cumbria.

Brandy (You're A Fine Girl) from Carlisle...

Brandi Carlile - Mama Werewolf

5. Sparks fly over this male quintet.

Five Man Electrical Band - Werewolf

4. Thankfully Ripoll. 

Shakira means "thankful" in Arabic. Ripoll is her rarely used surnamed.

Shakira - She Wolf

Shakira - She Wolf

3. Sounds like an Australian to me.

He's not an Aussie, but he is...

Ozzy Osbourne - Bark At The Moon

Video of the week.

2. In today's race, Xanadu ran and Gorgonzola Fondu ran, but all the other horses fell at the first hurdle. 

In today's race, Xanadu ran and Gorgonzola Fondu ran,

Duran Duran - Hungry Like The Wolf

Simon Le Bon almost turns into a werewolf in that. Ozzy still has the better video.

1. Zen raver now confused.

Anagram.

There was no other choice for Number One.

Warren Zevon - Werewolves Of London

More Halloween based shenanigans in this week's Namesakes. 

Snapshots should be less scary next Saturday...

2019 Contenders: The Highwomen

After featuring The Highwaymen on this week's Saturday Snapshots, it seems only fair to give their contemporary female counterparts a mention. The Highwomen are Brandi Carlile, Natalie Hemby, Maren Morris, and Amanda Shires - successful country stars in their own right, except they often struggle to get airplay on country music stations in the states because of famously sexist playlisting policies. (A lot's been written about that, so google it to your heart's content.)

For their eponymous title track and mission statement, they roped in original Highwaymen songwriter/creator, who worked with Carlile and Shires, to rewrite his famous tune from a female perspective...



Even better though is the closing track, Wheels of Laredo, which reminds me very much of one of my favourite Warren Zevon songs, Desperados Under The Eaves...

2018 Contenders: Egg & Daughter Nite, Lincoln Nebraska, 1967

When it comes time to compile my Top 18 of 2018 in December, you can pretty much guarantee that  you'll find the latest album from John Prine somewhere very near the top. There's a warmth and wit to this record unlike anything else I've heard this year, and every song feels like an old friend.

The album kicks off with a new entry into the pantheon of great screen door song (I still intend to do a Top Ten of those one day), a great bluesy lost love lyric, followed by a sweet little duet with Brandi Carlile, I Have Met My Love Today. It's the kind of love song you'd think it'd be impossible to write these days, given the weight of 80+ years of popular love songs that precede it, but Prine makes it look easy. Similarly, if you're going to write a new song called God Only Knows, you better make it a belter. And he does. (That's got Jason Isbell on backing vocals too - even more bang for your buck.) Then comes The Lonesome Friends of Science - the end of the world as we know it, but John feels fine...

Poor ol' planet Pluto now
He never stood a chance no how
When he got uninvited to
The interplanetary dance
Once a mighty planet there
Now just an ordinary star
Hangin' out in Hollywood
In some ol' funky sushi bar

My favourite track has to be this one. It's parenthetical titled is (Crazy Bone), and that probably gives you more of an idea of what it's all about. S-e-x. From being a horny teenager to a randy old man in a nursing home. It also contains my favourite verse of the year thus far...

Don't be stuck up in Alaska
When you should be in Nebraska
On a Thursday when it's Egg & Daughter Nite
When the farmers come to town
And they spread them eggs around
And they drop their daughters down at the roller rink
Well you're prob'ly standin' there
With your slicked-back, Brylcreem hair
Your Luckies and your daddy's fine-tooth comb
If they knew what you were thinkin'
They'd run you out of Lincoln
Just blame it on that ole' crazy bone

I've seen a few critics calling The Tree of Forgiveness "John Prine's last album", and considering he's 71 (as old as Johnny Cash got), this is his first album of original songs in 13 years, and he's been dodging the bullet healthwise recently, I guess I can understand why they might write that. But I dearly hope it isn't so, because when we do lose John Prine, we'll have lost one of the greatest songwriters to ever walk the earth. Still, at least he knows what he's going to do when that day finally comes...

When I get to heaven, I'm gonna shake God's hand
Thank him for more blessings than one man can stand
Then I'm gonna get a guitar and start a rock-n-roll band
Check into a swell hotel; ain't the afterlife grand?

And then I'm gonna get a cocktail: vodka and ginger ale
Yeah, I'm gonna smoke a cigarette that's nine miles long
I'm gonna kiss that pretty girl on the tilt-a-whirl
'Cause this old man is goin' to town