Quick reminder of the Lime Green Rule, for anyone who's not been paying attention...
Unless they're amazing suggestions, I'm going to stop allowing lyrical 24s (and so on) as we get nearer number one. Let's face it, there are way too many. So you'll have to be really persuasive if you want to sell me on a lyrical reference from now on. Sorry.
Because, look, here's George again.
Damn that lime green rule. It means whip Crack Away by Doris Day is excluded.
Exceptions can be made in exceptional circumstances, George.
It's in the collection - no idea how it got there, but it aint bad ... I'm off to listen to some more. Never knowingly heard it.
Welcome to 50% of my record collection, RD. One of the reasons I do this blog is so I actually get to listen to some of the tracks I've never heard before.
OK, before we get to this week's debate, what else did my hard drive spew up?
Which brings us to the debate. The Swede was the first to raise the issue...
Seriously though, is anything going to top 'Strawberry Letter 23' by Shuggie Otis this week?
Charity Chic seconded that... but then, Lynchie threw in the alternative.
I prefer The Brothers Johnson version of "Strawberry Letter 23" to Shuggie Otis, so there!
I must admit, I'm really kind of torn. I know Shuggie wrote it, and the original takes some beating... but I really am rather fond of the Brothers Johnson version myself, especially as it's the version I heard first. Have we to call it a tie?
American metal band 36 Crazyfists (named after a Jackie Chan movie) welcome us back to the Hot 100 countdown after a week's break. Let's get straight onto your suggestions...
Martin started us out with what may well seem the obvious one. Alyson seconded this and added a little extra commentary...
The song was written over 25 years ago but nothing seems to have changed, in
fact in anything things have got worse. Red haired singer Briana
Corrigan left the band because of it, feeling that the lyrics criticised
the glamour models rather than the industry that pays them.
What
are we doing to a large chunk of the female population who seem to
think the route to happiness and success is still via grossly enlarged
chesticles. Argh.... Sorry rant over!
No need to apologise, Alyson, you can rant here anytime you want.
To be honest, that was almost this week's winner as I used to love that song, but Mr. Heaton has done pretty well out of this countdown so far, so I decided to go in a different direction.
Ow, she's a brick house Well put-together, everybody knows This is how the story goes She knows she got everything That a woman needs to get a man, yeah, yeah How can she lose with the stuff she use 36 24 36, oh what a winning hand
Beyond
the gleeful 70s objectification of larger ladies, you can imagine
British DJs having to bite their tongue every time they played this
record so as not to add an extra word to the title.
How about a groovy foot-stomping early '60s instrumental from The Shadows - 36-24-36 (no idea what it's about though, a phone number
perhaps or a bank sort code?)
Did they have sort codes in the 60s?
Finally in this particular subsection, Bobby Bland knows a lady with similar dimensions...
Placebo - 36 Degrees (That would have taken the bronze medal this week from me.)
However, Lynchie, Charity Chic and Rigid Digit all agreed on this week's winning tune. Not that this is a democracy - your votes really don't count. Not unless I agree with them. (Insert your own comment about the current establishment here.) Luckily, I did agree... Jesus Of Cool is a great album!
Next week - the minimum age requirement to stand for election as President of the United States of America. Age requirement, not IQ. Any ideas for 35?
Today's talky song comes from the first Thea Gilmore album I bought, 2005's Songs From The Gutter. Luckily, I bought the limited edition 2 disc version which had this tucked away on disc 2 - a poem Thea wrote in reaction to a parliamentary debate at the time about the social divide. There are a couple of short excerpts from that debate included in the recording and although I can't find anything to identify the speaker... it does sound a hell of a lot like Theresa May. It could be Ann Widdecombe though. It's definitely some heartless Tory git.
7. Thea Gilmore - Don't Set Foot Over The Railway Track
Don't set foot over the railway track
The heathens and the spin doctors are waiting round the back
The skies are always sullen and rain races to the tarmac
So don't set foot over the railway track
Don't set foot over the railway track
The grass isn't green, it's yellow and the pavement is all cracked
The graveyard's in a coma, the church has got the blues
And Jesus has a nose-ring and Mary has tatoos
And girls paint their skins like corpses and have hair ot scouring wire
And the men all look like demons, see them dancing round their fires
Every door has leprosy, every house has got the clap
So, don't set foot over the railway track
Don't set foot over the railway track
Hope you've not been speaking to the wrong kind of people, Jack
They'll screw you son as look at you if you let them gain a foot
This line's God almighty's way of saying that you'll stay just where you're put
'Cause they're all paid up party members with a red streak like a river
They're all standing there on their side saying "promise and deliver"
They are papering their walls with pages of Kerouac
So, don't set foot over the railway track
No, don't set foot over the railway track
Apparently, Thea was never particularly happy with her own delivery of the poem... which is why she chose to re-record it 10 years later with someone much better suited to delivering such material... the great John Cooper-Clarke. Listen to his version - it could well be one of his own poems! Great piece of writing, Thea.
I gave up trying to explain why I was never a Gerry Anderson fan years ago (even as a young boy, I couldn't suspend my disbelief that they were just puppets) because too often I saw the tears or rage or regret welling up in the eyes of those for whom Anderson was a god. I get that: if someone tries to tell me why they never liked Spider-Man, I'd probably react in the same way.
I'm not sure I can get my head around your love for the Joe 90 theme tune either. Other Anderson shows had far better tunes, surely? Thunderbirds? Stingray? Even Captain Scarlet's "This is the voice of the Mysterons" - that still manages to send a chill down my spine, even though the show itself left me cold.
One thing I do like is that back then, TV shows had proper intros. That's 3 and half minutes before the show even starts! No way would that be allowed in today's attention-span-deficit TV culture. I miss that slower pace.
Martin started the bidding with a very strong contender, Taking the title from one of Wham!'s greatest hits and updating it to show what Freedom meant to him now that he was a solo artist, this is an excellent demonstration of the way George matured as a songwriter. Yes, it's a year song, but the 90 meant much more than just "this is when I'm releasing this track".
1. Bow Wow Wow - C30 C60 C90 Go!
Congratulations to C for stealing the points for this one. And no, this won't pop up again at Numbers 60 and 30, because the rule book says no song can appear more than once... and because C90 was by far my cassette of choice. The mix-tape maker's dream!
Which brings us to 89. I think there's pretty much only one choice, but your suggestions are welcome...
