I was a big fan of Dion DiMucci as a teenager after hearing Runaround Sue used in an episode of Moonlighting. Soon after that, I discovered his 80s output, including the excellent 1989 album Yo Frankie and it's big single...
A little later, I fell for the allure of perhaps his greatest record, the Phil Spector-produced Born To Be With You... although Dion had such a hell of a time working on that record that he later disowned it. The curse of Phil.
Dion is 86 now. He's been releasing music for almost 7 decades. I've been listening to his songs for 4 decades. And yet, I only heard this one for the first time a couple of weeks back.
Farewell also to Vivienne Westwood. You might argue she's not taking a snapshot in this picture... but she is driving a tank to David Cameron's house, so I think she wins.
Here are this week's answers... I would have said all the numbered streets were from New York, but at least one of them (Charles Wright's street) is from L.A. I checked, so you don't have to.
A Simon & Garfunkel song, obviously, but Paul appears here often enough. Also, this was the version that made the UK Top 40 back in 1967. With a very young Boris Johnson in the band...
10. Song about writing about songs, written by a songwriter who sounds like a songwriter who writes the songs... with a bit missing.
Let's start from the back.
Barry Manilow sang I Write The Songs. (Although, rather ironically, he didn't write it. It was written by Beach Boy Bruce Johnson.)
Take a bit off and you're left with Barry Mann, one half of the Mann/Weil songwriting duo (with his wife, Cynthia Weil). Before that though, he sang some of his own songs... including this one, which is all about writing songs.
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?
...with the word "Lullaby" or "Lullabye" in the title. Because there are plenty more songs I could (and probably will) wade through to accomplish the same end.
I'm kinda getting sick of the lullaby CDs we first got to play to Sam at bedtime. The version of Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star is particularly offensive as the singer insists on over-pronouncing the word "diamond" as "DOY-MOND" and it grates every time we hear it. Sam has yet to be annoyed by it, but we'll soon teach him. We also bought some lullaby versions of Queen, Elvis and Guns 'n' Roses songs (thanks to Deano for pointing us in their direction!) which go down quite well, even though Louise claims to only know two Guns 'n' Roses songs... someone else in need of education. I'll learn them both by the time I'm done.
I don't know why Billy Joel decided to pack in songwriting 20 years ago. He still tours but it seems he didn't have anything else to say, which is a great shame because I was a huge fan growing up. This is from his last ever album, River of Dreams. It's a simple piano ballad, the kind of thing he excelled at... the kind of thing I wish he'd write again.
Because we all need a little Alice to send us off to the land of nod. This is from his ridiculously pompous 90s concept album collaboration with Neil Gaiman which, at the time, I thought was pretty pants. A recent reassessment has led me to consider it a barking kind of genius. My critical faculties are obviously fading along with all my other bits.
Early Tom Waits, from the days before he started gargling with razor blades. Should you prefer the latter to send of off to dreamland, try this instead: Lullaby.
I always felt the critics were unkind to Starsailor: they wrote some cracking songs and singer James Walsh had a proper rock star voice. Listen to this again and give them a second thought.
Mad Bob can't sleep because Spider-Man is having him for dinner. If he really sleeps with that much lipstick on, he must have to change his pillowcases every morning.
1. Shawn Mullins - Lullaby
And this is why I will never be cool...
There were plenty more lullabies in my collection (Birdland came close)... but which one sends you off to dreamland?
