Snapshots #433: Songs About Girl's Names Beginning With M

 

Ladies beginning with M was this week’s link? May you all have got it right…

 

15. What a honky prima she was!

“Honky prima” was an anagram.

Mary Hopkin - Martha

14. In Spain, I have it.

Their name means “I have it” in Spanish.

Yo La Tengo - Madeline

13. You cannot be serious!

The Notsensibles - I’m in Love With Margaret Thatcher

12. Bloody…! Howard and Tom!

Bloody Norah! Howard & Tom Jones.

Norah Jones - Miriam

11. What Spike stole from Kenny, Candy and Clarence.

Spike Milligan was a goon. Kenny G, Candy Dulfer and Clarence Clemons all played sax.

The Goon Sax – Maggie

10. Sounds like an evil despot and a moody conman.

Donald & Fagin (played by Ron Moody).

Donald Fagen - Maxine

9. Where Cats initially choose to sit.

C(ats) sit on the Mat.

CMAT – Such A Miranda

8. I am yr barn owl, somehow.

“I am yr barn owl” was an anagram.

Barry Manilow – Mandy

7. Posh fast food rulers!

Kings Of Leon - Molly's Chambers

6. Patrick, in the shower.

Dallas fans will get the clue.

Duffy – Mercy

5. Found in earthenware and blunderbusses.

Found in eARThenware and bLUNDerbusses.

Art Lund – And Mimi

4. Where to buy your Wood and your Port, man.

From the Natalie Merchant, of course.

Natalie Merchant - Maggie And Milly And Molly And May

I should have just run that one photo this week, the song pretty much covers the link for us.

3. We are Fantastic, and we’re from America.

The Fantastic 4, from the US.

The 4 of Us – Mary

2. My indignation is completely justified – they’re not related!

Righteous indignation because they’re not actually brothers.

Righteous Brothers - Unchained Melody

1. Idol Ben was an idle nob.

Two anagrams for the price of one.

Blondie - Maria

Mmmmmore Snapshots next Saturday.

Fun Fact Friday #4: Geography Teacher

CMAT - Geography Teacher

Here are some questions from this week’s quiz, in celebration of Geography Awareness Week. I’m not sure I’d have got any of these right myself…

1. What percentage of the earth’s population live in the northern hemisphere?

A) 90%

B) 70%

C) 50%

Sam Butera & The Witnesses - Equator

2. What is the world’s largest desert?

A) Sahara

B) Kalahari

C) Antarctica

Johnny Barfield - Desert Lullaby

3. Which superhero is also the name of a city in Turkey?

A) Batman

B) Ironman

C) Antman

John Lennon - Cold Turkey

4. How many islands are there in the Philippines?

A) 76

B) 764

C) 7641

John Denver - Islands

5. The city with the longest name is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Yuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit. But we call it...?

A) Bangkok

B) Shanghai

C) Beijing

Murray Head - One Night In Bangkok

6. By contrast, there is a village in France called…

A) X

B) Y

C) Z

James - Hymn From A Village

7. How many countries are there in the world today?

A) 195

B) 295

C) 395

Morrissey - The World Is Full of Crashing Bores

There was also a question about what the following three cities have in common… New York, Mumbai, Istanbul. But I’ll give you the answer to that one… as I might have done to one of the questions above, being unable to resist an obvious tune.

Listening Post #32: Random Algo-Recommendations

In the process of compiling Namesakes and Saturday Snapshots, I go on youtube quite a lot looking at music videos. Whenever I go on there, the algorithm tries to recommend other things it thinks I will like.

Things like this...

Clearly I'm going to be interested in a song called The Jamie Oliver Petrol Station, for any number of reasons. The jury's still out on CMAT, I want to like her material more than I do, but I'm always impressed by her lyrics... even though the whole point of this song is waiting for her to get to the point.

And then there's this...

I can pretty much guarantee that 95% of people reading this blog would run a mile from the video above, but I loved it. I mean, come on... Dolly Crue? Credit to all involved. And it's a charity single too, so you can't knock it.

And finally... this has got to be the best thing Jack White has done in years. And I'd just about written him off too...

Great performance from John C. Reilly in the video too...

Teacher Songs #3: A Right Sod...

A quick google search for "Geography teacher 80s UK" brought up a picture of Jarvis, wearing an outfit I'm sure many of you will remember your teachers wearing back in the day. Clearly though, if Jarvis was a teacher, he'd have been up on a disciplinary years ago, if this is anything to go by...

My Geography teacher was Mr. Green. He was a very scary individual, but I liked him. He had a wooden leg, so you could hear him coming down the corridor... clump, clump, clump... and knew to scarper if you were up to no good. His wife taught Biology. I was less fond of her, and she of me. I dropped Biology at the end of the third year as a result.

In our very first Geography lesson, Mr. Green told us all a story. I'm sure it was one he told to new classes at the start of every year. During teacher training, someone advised me to go hard in the first class - set your stall and show them that you'd take none of their nonsense, from the beginning. I'm not sure I've ever managed to do that, since it's not really my style. But you find what works for you.

Jethro Tull - Teacher

Anyway, Mr. Green's story went like this...

"I was standing in the lunch queue one day..."

It's worth pointing out here that Mr. Green was one of those teachers who would queue up for school dinners with everyone else. No jumping the queue or asking for priority treatment. That wasn't how he clumped.  

"And in front of me were two boys, chatting. Neither of them had seen me, so when one asked the other a question, his response was honest and direct. 'Who do you have for Geography?' the first boy asked. 'Mr. Green,' replied the second... 'he's a right sod, but you learn something.'"

Mr. Green took a pause gave us all a hard stare. "I let that go," he said. "It seemed fair."