Snapshots #445: Songs About Places Beginning With W

Here's Denzel Washington with the answers to this week's quiz. I almost used his photo yesterday, but you guys are getting a bit too smart when it comes to the top of the page pic, so I went with Warren Beatty instead. Warren is a city in Ohio. There's also a Warren in Michigan. And one in Cheshire. Probably some others too.

Here are 15 more places that begin with W... Washington, Wales and Wuhan were conspicuous by their absence. Maybe in tomorrow's spillover edition... 

15. Slightly longer than a Buzzcock.

Pete Shelley was a Buzzcock. This is almost his Namesake...

Peter Shelley - Wisconsin

14. Useful for campanologists.

That's a handy bell!

Andy Bell - Weston-Super-Mare 

That's a great tune from the Erasure dude.

13. Tastes like Homer's beer.

Duffy - Warwick Avenue

12. Revolutionary War singer, without his comrades.

60s band Paul Revere and the Raiders were named after a famous soldier from the American Revolutionary War. The band were also named after their keyboard player, whose real name was Paul Revere Dick. He dropped the surname on stage. Can't think why. 

The lead singer of Paul Revere and the Raiders was...

Mark Lindsay – Windy Wakefield

I've no idea why he's singing about a town just a few miles down the M1 from me.

11. Lard, Sweet Pea & Ivy.

Lard was, of course, the nickname used by DJ Marc Riley when he worked with Mark Radcliffe in the 90s. He was also in The Fall. But whenever Mark E. Smith kicked him out, he returned to his own band...

Marc Riley With The Creepers - Bard of Woking

10. Found in the back of a taxi and on short British Airways flights.

Back of a cAB... and on BA flights.

Abba - Waterloo

9. Looming over a Norfolk Festival.

Weavers used looms - or wanted to smash them. The Norfolk music festival is held at Houghton Hall... although these guys actually came from Westhoughton in Greater Manchester. Which might explain how they spotted the UFOs below...

The Houghton Weavers - The Martians Have Landed In Wigan

8. Confused, but they still made a rich packet.

"Rich packet" was an anagram.

Cheap Trick – A Long Way To Worcester

I had to listen carefully to make sure Cheap Trick weren't signing "A long was to Wor-chester". Actually it sounds more like they sing "Wister" than "Wuster", but close enough, I guess. 

No idea why though.

7. AU + a short Friar + Spider-Man, initially. 

AU is Gold. The abbreviation for a Friar is Fra. Spider-Man is Peter Parker.

Goldfrapp - Ride A White Horse

Whitehorse is the capital of Canada's Yukon territory.

6. Lapwings dressed as lambs.

The Mutton Birds - Wellington

We needed a native band to sing about the capital of New Zealand.

5. Modern American Music Hall players.

New Vaudeville Band - Winchester Cathedral

4. Globe loathing.

Theatre Of Hate - Do You Believe In The Westworld?

I didn't say they had to be real places.

3. The Pink... Parsons.

Lily The Pink meets Alan Parsons.

Lily Allen - West End Girl

The Pet Shop Boys were disqualified for upsetting George.

2. Curt is always with them.

Ian Curtis, that is.

Joy Division - Warsaw 

1. Regularly received mail from strangers.

He was known for "getting cards and letter from people" he didn't "even know".

Always Number One in my heart...

I had a few of these leftover, so tune in tomorrow.

More of this gubbins next Saturday.

Snapshots #384: Twelve Capital City Songs

Let's go around the world in twelve songs - what a capital idea!

12. Part Mull Historical Society, part Travis, part Box Tops.

Mull Historical Society, part Travis, part Box Tops.

This means nothing to me.

Ultravox - Vienna

11. Third new home for Judge Dredd.

Judge Dredd lives in Mega City One. His first new home would be Mega City Two. His second would be Mega City Three. His third would be...

Mega City Four - Prague

10. Blokes who missed the bus.

The Walkmen - Lisbon

9. Chemistry or Biology?

Science - Tokyo 

8. They don't look a day over fifty.

The 1975 - Paris

7. Finished his job in 6 days, then had a rest.

Lord Creator - Kingston Town

6. Rude Leo in another crazy outburst. 

"Rude Leo" was an anagram...

Lou Reed - Berlin

5. Britten's small oranges.

Benjamin Britten loved his clementines.

Benjamin Clementine - London

4. Like Jones, in the rain.

Oran Juice Jones like walking in The Rain.

Orange Juice - Moscow

3. South African footballers.

Amazulu - Cairo

2. There's zero reggae at his jumble sale.

"Zero reggae", unjumbled, gives us...

George Ezra - Budapest

1. The Highlands, by foot.

A nice place to be a walker, if you're a Scot.

Two possible answers in the top spot...

Scott Walker - Amsterdam

Scott Walker - Copenhagen

I had one more on the list, which I didn't use because they appeared here two weeks ago, and because I'm triskaidekaphobic.

Joy Division - Warsaw

More of this nonsense next week.

Snapshots #382: Songs About Units of Time

Who better than a Time Lord to help us hear this week's answers? 

Starting with the smallest...

12. They'll give you a hot kiss.

The Flaming Lips - One Million Billionth of a Millisecond on a Sunday Morning

11. Singing in the dark.

"Nightingale" is derived from "night" and the Old English galan, "to sing".

The Nightingales - Seconds

10. She-devils.

Vixen - Not A Minute Too Soon

9. Do they have enthusiasm or...? It's confusing.

"Enthusiasm or" was an anagram...

The picture is actually Paul & Norman in their first band, the Stomping Pond Frogs.

Housemartins - Happy Hour

8. Lily white wife.

She was married to producer Steve Lillywhite.

Kirsty MacColl - Days

7. Causing unknown chaos in neighbourhood gardens.

Hedgehoppers Anonymous - It's Good News Week

6. A saying to live your life by... Oxygen... stopping the car.

Maxim... O... Park.

Maxïmo Park - A Fortnight's Time

5. Blooming show-offs!

The Posies - Flavour Of The Month

4. Say a prayer... stand down... Scarlett.

Mary's Prayer... Stand Down, Margaret... Scarlett O'Hara.

Mary Margaret O'Hara - Year In Song

3. Famous for their oven gloves.

They've got Joy Division Oven Gloves!

Joy Division - Decades

2. Argumentative young men.

Fall Out Boy - Centuries

1. Bowie bills Irma over a mix-up.

"Bowie bills Irma" was an anagram for a cheeky chappy who was just as recognisable in junior school...

Robbie Williams - Millennium

You won't have to wait centuries for more Snapshots... it'll be bac next Saturday.

Namesakes #86: New Order

This blog resolutely rejects all the tenets of National Socialism, and so, I'm sure, do all the bands below...

THE NEW ORDER #1

All those guys named above were New York's The New Order in 1966. They released a handful of songs and wore some very snazzy shirts...

...and then they were gone.

THE NEW ORDER #2

When the Stooges fell apart in 1974 due to Iggy's generally mental heroin-induced behaviour, guitarist Ron Asheton formed a new band called The New Order. Their first singer was thrown in jail for drink, drugs and refusing to do community service. They produced a bunch of demos which were eventually released on album compilations, but it all fell apart long before the New Order had chance to become the Old Order. 

NEW ORDER #3

Out of the ashes of Joy Division (a name which originally referred to women in concentration camps who were forced into prostitution by the Nazis) came another band who stole their name from Hitler and his cronies. 

Some time ago, I wrote about why I hated this particular New Order for many, many years... and it had nothing to do with the band themselves, or their music. I'm over that now, so please feel free to vote for them today if they tickle your fancy.

THE NEW ORDER #4

Sadly, I failed to find any audio for the 1981 field recording of Bradford Red Light District released by The New Order, a group who chose the name in protest about New Order #3 "stealing" their name from New Order #2. I did find the cover below though, which makes some erroneous claims about who was involved in the production. Genesis P-Orridge was apparently so mad to have his name included that he went round all the record shops that were stocking the vinyl to destroy the sleeves. One man happy to take responsibility was "noise and industrial musician" William Bennett, who was also in the following "groups"...  The 150 Murderous Passions, Or Those Belonging To The Fourth Class, Composing The 28 Days Of February Spent In Hearing The Narrations Of Madame Desgranges, Interspersed Amongst Which Are The Scandalous Doings At The Château During That Month. Actually, that's just one group.  

Which New Order would you place today... and which are only following orders?

Saturday Snapshots #142 - The Answers

Get off your horse and drink your milk - it's time for this week's answers...


10. Taxi for Mr. Innes! We will both need a flashlight.

Neil Innes was in the Bonzo Dog Doodah Band.

They recorded a song called Death Cab For Cutie.

Death Cab For Cutie - I Will Follow You Into The Dark

9. Number 7 arrives at Capitol Records, finds himself in Xanadu.

Number 7 is... see below. (Yes, I know they were named after a different Frank. But he's not usually a Frankie, whereas this one is.)

The Capitol Records Building is in Hollywood.

"In Xanadu did Kubla Khan. A stately pleasure-dome decree..." (Coleridge)

Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Welcome To The Pleasuredome

8. Thrilled gun dog nuns.

Pointers are gun dogs. Nuns are sisters. Although these sisters were no nuns. (If you don't believe me - watch the video.)

The Pointer Sisters - I'm So Excited

7. Arthurian sunset for second rock.

King Arthur spent a fair bit of time on Avalon.

Van Morrison sang of an Avalon Sunset.

The second rock from the sun is Venus.

Frankie Avalon - Venus

6. Joyful butter con.

A con is a sting.

Sting - Spread A Little Happiness

I've always thought that was the best thing Sting did as a solo artist. It's a cover version, originally featured in the soundtrack to the movie Brimstone & Treacle, and for many years was very difficult to track down as it never appeared on any Greatest Hits collections (despite being a #16 hit in 1982, long before The Police split). The version I had came from an 8 track cartridge at the radio station where I used to work, recorded onto a CD-R. The lengths we used to have to go to to find music!

5. Nazi brothels like Russ Abbott.

Joy Division were named after a nazi brothel in the novel House of Dolls.

Dreadful 80s comedian Russ Abbott had a hit with a song called Atmosphere. It wasn't this song... but (thanks to Jez, who I think initially made me aware of it) the two were scarily amalgamated in the video below...



Once seen, never forgotten. Here's the original, without the frightening visuals...

Joy Division - Atmosphere

4. Hulk's finery in Toyota tipple tragedy.

"Hulk's finery" is an anagram.

If you had a tipple before driving your Toyota, it may lead to tragedy.

Ferlin Husky - The Drunken Driver

Try to listen to that without sobbing... although they may be tears of laughter.

3. Probably why she's contemplating going out somewhere. Sooner or later...

Ruby was contemplating going out somewhere... to get romantic.

Ruby & The Romantics - Our Day Will Come

2. Choppers get down to the low notes. What goes around, comes around.

Choppers (helicopters) have propellers on top. 

The low notes are bass(y).

The Propellerheads featuring Shirley Bassey - History Repeating 

1. Peter Cookie: useful in Five's kitchen. 

Peter Cookie is half man, half biscuit.

What could be better in Joy Division's kitchen than...?

The Searchers will find more Snapshots next Saturday. True Grit may be required.