As a member of the original line-up of The Marvelettes, Katherine Anderson Schaffner helped give Motown Records its first Number One single. She died last week, aged 79, the last of the original line-up (apart from Juanita Cowart, who was only with the band until 1963).
The Marvelettes were Motown's first girl group, and although they would soon be overshadowed by The Supremes, they produced a string of US hits throughout the 60s (although they only charted once in the UK). None of the group's members would go on to achieve household name status like Diana Ross, so I couldn't find any songs that mentioned Katherine, or any of her bandmates. The Marvelettes, however, were a different matter.
Normally Elvis Costello would walk away with it if he threw his hat in the ring for this feature, but this is latter day Elvis, so not quite on a par with his wonder years...
From the booth in the corner
From a different perspective
Where a man plays the fool or a private detective
He wrote her name out in sugar on a Formica counter
At the beginning of the 21st Century, 80s hitmaker Terence Trent D'Arby "died", changing his name to Sananda Maitreya. "Terence Trent D'Arby was dead," he told the world, "he watched his suffering as he died a noble death. After intense pain I meditated for a new spirit, a new will, a new identity". This is what hew sounds like these days...
Finally today, here's David Johansen from The New York Dolls with a solo track that starts out in unexpectedly melodic fashion... but then morphs into a rocking tune that's just as good as anything he produced in his day job...
I can't believe this is (according to Labels) the first time Dan Bern has featured on this blog. That means the last time I wrote about him was on the old blog, nearly 8 years ago. I probably need to rectify that soon.
5. Beauty & fame... it's all anybody wants nowadays.
Depeche Mode are named after a French magazine, the name of which roughly translates as “Fast Fashion” or “Fashion Dispatch” or “Fashion News”. Martin Gore thought it translated as “hurried fashion".
I never had a paper round when I was a kid. I did, however, have a special fascination with the newsagents where I bought my weekly Spider-Man comics... I even went and interviewed the owner, Mr. Hudson, about his job, for a school project.
Here are ten songs about getting your papers delivered... which, I guess, not many people do these days. Bloody internet.
Special mention to Eli 'Paperboy' Reed, someone who's definitely worthy of further investigation, if Name Calling is anything to go by.
Graham Fellows never fails to make me laugh. I love his description of getting his papers from the newsagents...
I walk into the paper shop And say good morning, Keith "Good morning, Keith!" "Good afternoon!" Keith would shout. Keith marked the papers out A boy called Gary helped him But he just pissed about.
A lonely housewife who imagines herself as Elizabeth Taylor has an eye on the paper boy while her husband's out at work. Does exactly what it says on the tin.
OK, here's my discovery of the week. While researching this post, even though I had loads of songs to go at from my own collection, I couldn't think of any that featured Paper Girls. So I did a little search and came up with this Canadian alt-rock band who are pretty amazing. In fact, I just bought their first album. Can't afford their second one (from last year) just yet, but it'll be on my wishlist if the tracks I've heard so far are anything to go by. Love the mix of vocals by Leah Fay and Peter Dreimanis, who sounds not unlike this next gentleman...
Not the Whitney Houston song... but wouldn't it be cool if Tom covered that?
Anyway, here he gets up so early that everyone's sleeping but the paper boys... poor kids are gonna be scared out of their wits if they bump into Tom on their round.
Much has been made lately of the fact that Morrissey is actually a bit of a dick. Even my (local) poetry hero Simon Armitage, on his recent 6Music show, after saying how Morrissey and Dylan were the two songwriters he felt were closest to being actual poets... then went on to remark, "Morrissey, who I had the great pleasure of meeting earlier this year... hmm." Never meet your heroes, Simon!
Anyway, despite all this, Moz will always be the second most important songwriter in my record collection, and I'll always love him for songs like this... which at the time of its release spoke to me more than just about any other song I'd ever heard.
I was a good kid, I wouldn't do you no harm, I was a nice kid, With a nice paper round Forgive me any pain, I may have brung to you, With God's help I know, I'll always be near to you...
There are whole websites devoted to the lyrics of American Pie. I'm not sure why, its meaning seems pretty straightforward to me: the British Invasion stealing away the American monopoly on rock 'n' roll soon after Buddy Holly's death. It all begins though with a very young Don delivering the fateful headlines that mark "the day the music died". No wonder February made him shiver.
1. David Bowie - Modern Love
Of course, we should never take Bowie's lyrics literally. However, the intro to Modern Love always puts a very specific image in my head of the Dame chasing after his paper boy, presumably for chucking his copy of the Observer into the rose bushes outside Bowie Towers one time too many. He knows when to stay in; he knows when to go out... he definitely knows how to catch a paper boy.
If your paper round went past David Bowie's house, you'd have probably wished he would chase after you. That'd be the equivalent of having Prince turn up on your doorstep on a Sunday morning with a copy of Watchtower.
There are, of course, hundreds of songs about magic and magic tricks, so I tried to specifically stick to songs that mention magicians in the title or specifically tell stories about magicians. So no Queen, Pilot, Lovin' Spoonful, ELO, Perry Como... or the Steve Miller Band. Not this time, anyway.
Special mentions to The Magicians and 4 or 5 Magicians (whose excellent Tom Waits Blues is worth tracking down if you can find it anywhere).
There is a grey area, a twilight zone, if you like, between the psychedelic wonder of Jefferson Airplane and the 80s radio conquering might of Starship. This is that strange hinterland, the coccoon phase, the metamorphosis. Tread carefully...
Should probably save this one from my Top Ten Hypnosis Songs... ah, sod it, I'll just run it again then too. If you haven't fallen under its spell in the first ten seconds, there's no hope for you.
It must be tough being a new band from Sheffield: you're instantly shouldered with the burden of being the next Arctic Monkeys, Pulp or Human League. Particularly if Steve LaMacq gets on your case.
The Crookes were cursed to fail in just such a way a few years back... and we've heard very little of them since. Shame, because this one was lovely.
If like me, you're tired of getting older, quicker, every day... CTW's song places the blame for our unhappiness squarely at the feet of that old robbing bastard with the hourglass.
The former Drive-By Trucker is enjoying unprecedented solo success at the moment - he won Artist, Song and Album of the Year at the American Music Awards recently for his latest album, Something More Than Free. Deservedly so, it's one of the best records I've heard in the past 12 months.
This is from his debut solo record, Sirens of the Ditch, and the magic was definitely there back then too...
And I am an orphan man but ain't we all? And I can make myself disappear I am an orphan man but ain't we all? And I could be somewhere worse than here...
I mentioned my love of Scroobius Pip over at A History of Dubious Taste recently and was pleased to hear that Jez agreed with me that (although, musically, Dan le Sac's beats weren't really our thing) Pip is a wordsmith par excellence.
The Magician's Assistant is the perfect example of that. It's a letter to an ex-girlfriend who may or may not have taken her own life, and it stops you in its tracks... if you can get past the whirling, blipping racket in the background. Which I can, easily. But I'd still rather have a guitar, piano and some real drums.
Barton Carroll is a new discovery... who's been hiding in my record collection for a good few years now. Maybe it's just me who does this, but I trip over so much music that interests me, from time to time I buy a record and don't get round to listening to it... for years. This is from his 2010 album Together You & I, which I must have bought soon after its release but only became hooked on a couple of months back.
Carroll's a bit of an enigma: he doesn't even have a wikipedia entry, so lazy bloggers like me can't summarise his discography with one easy click. It took me ages to work out whether he was American or British (he sounds like a Yank, but some of his songs employ a very English vernacular: at times he reminds me of Richard Thompson, but other times he sounds nothing like that). I can't even find out the identity of the female singer who duets with him here. I did discover that he's now giving this album away for free on his website, and I highly recommend you take the time to download... AND LISTEN... to it!
(Him) And I’ll buy you a dress and a big diamond ring (Her) And the vows that I conjure up won’t mean a thing But if you can lower that curtain and get me to sing (Him and Her) I’ll take the magic, black or white I couldn’t care less if it’s bona fide Since you and I know love’s a lie Let’s get on with the illusion
1. Prefab Sprout - The Old Magician
As time goes by, my appreciation for the last Prefab Sprout album, Crimson / Red, grows ever stronger. I love the early Sprout records, but this 2013 MASTERPIECE (let's not use that word lightly, fellow bloggers) is surely one of the most consistently excellent collections of songs released in the 21st Century. It confirms Paddy McAloon's place as a lyrical GENIUS (two-hyperboles-for-the-price-of-one, this week only).
The Old Magician works on two levels: as the story of an aging conjuror coming to terms with the fact that his best tricks are behind him... and as a metaphor for growng old itself. It's witty and heartbreaking at the same time, and it contains some of the best lines Paddy has ever written. I can't decide which is my favourite, but it's probably a toss up between the two highlighted below...
Lord have mercy and be kind
When our faculties unwind
Overlook the hat and gloves
The tired act that no-one loves There was a time we produced doves The old magician takes the stage
With sleight of hand he’ll disengage
As dignified as you’ll allow
He’ll take his last, his final bow He’s lost all his illusions now
Apologies to the Donny Osmond fans out there who might have been expecting his saccharine 70s Number One version of this song... but really, I have to draw the line somewhere. Wasn't Air Supply enough for you?
You ever find a song in your record collection that you're not sure you've ever listened to before... yet it's really quite marvellous? Where did I put that Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly album?
A new discovery. I only got this record a couple of weeks ago, it was only released last year... yet it could well have been a lost classic from 1986... in fact, this band wouldn't have sounded out of place on the original C86 tape.
Volume 1 featured songs about getting someone's number... this time, it's songs that feature actual phone numbers. Mostly in the title; occasionally, prominently within the chorus.
Hawkshank changes his number when his other half leaves because the only callers he gets are asking for her. He leaves his new number out there though... just in case that special lady ever wants him back.
Hawkshank died in the same plane crash that took Patsy Cline from us.
Tina finds this number scrawled on the wall of the lady's room. And she actually calls it. Serves her right if Fred Schneider answers. Phew - the number's been disconnected!
If you're havin' trouble with your high school head
He's givin' you the blues You wanna graduate but not in 'is bed Here's what you gotta do
Pick up the phone, I'm always home Call me anytime
Just ring: 362436, hey
I lead a life of crime
AC/DC, so the story goes, were sued by an American couple who were getting hundreds of prank calls as a result of "their phone number" being included in this song. But anyone calling was mishearing the lyrics of the song - hearing the "hey" as an "8" to complete the couple's actual phone number.
