The news came through late last night that the great Robbie Robertson has left us to do the last waltz his old pal Levon Helm in that great Band in the sky. On hearing of his death, most people (who know anything about anything) will have thought of this...
Me though... being a child of a very specific time... thought instead of one of the first two dozen 7 inch singles I bought with my own money. It still gives me the shivers...
Three and a half decades later, that's one of Sam's favourite songs too.
The jukebox has only one tribute song to play today, but it comes from one of my favourite bands. Lead singer Craig Finn admits, "I was (and still am) obsessed about the Last Waltz and the Band in general."
She said my name's Robbie Robertson but people call me Robo
As I type this, the temperature in this room is 29 degrees. That's too hot for coherent thought in my book, so any plans to get back to regular blogging this week have been stymied by the heat.
Here's a song that always come into my head during a heatwave, particularly when it's "too hot to sleep"...
Last night, it was so hot I sat out in the garden till late, in the new hanging chair Louise has bought for the new house. I would never have wanted to sit outside at the old house, so with the exception of the occasional motorbike roaring by, this new home is better in every way. It's a relief to be able to say that after all the stress of our last move.
Another bonus of sitting out in the garden as twilight descends is waiting to be visited by our two neighbourhood bats. I could watch those fellas swooping and diving around all night long. With another track running through my mind whenever I see them...
(In case you're wondering, Renfield is a character from Bram Stoker's Dracula, and the name has been adopted by psychologists to refer to "clinical vampirism".)
Following the appearance by Doctor Jones ("the dog was called Indiana") on yesterday's Snapshots, I thought it would be nice to lead today with a woman who could always drink him under the table: Marion Ravenwood, aka Karen Allen. She was pretty good at dealing with Starmen too.
8. Fictional world - anagram rejected on grounds of taste & decency.
I could not bring myself to come up with an anagram for Bucks Fizz.
Before you accuse me of scraping the barrel, Bucks Fizz will always have a special place in my heart as the band that encouraged my sexual awakening. This track is just pure cheese though...
Another hot, summery talky song today... as the weather continues to defy expectations.
3. Robbie Robertson - Somewhere Down The Crazy River
Robbie Robertson's only solo hit was released in 1987 and I loved it so much I bought the 7". I was somewhat disappointed, on later buying the album, to find that the rest of the tracks weren't in the same vein. Indeed, this appears to be one of the only times Robertson has used his rich, gravelly voice in this way... rather than just doing that more straightforward "singing" stuff he was already famous for with The Band.
The rambling story features Robertson reminiscing about long summer nights spent in his hometown of Arkansas with fellow Band member Levon Helm. Apparently they used to go "fishing with dynamite"... and I'm not sure that's a metaphor. The video, directed by Martin Scorcese, features Robbie getting particularly smoochie towards the end with a young Maria McKee. Legend has it not much acting took place here.
For me, this song is as evocative of long summer nights as it is one of my childhood heroes: Huckleberry Finn. I have a special affection for Huck since playing him in a junior school play and the idea of Huck and Jim sailing down the Mississippi to freedom is extremely romantic. This song can't help but remind me of Moon River and the "Huckleberry Friend"... although the actual river is only a small part of the lyrics. But it's also a very sexy song in its own right too, dripping with the promise of hot summer nights and verging on innuendo in places. No wonder Robbie and Maria got a bit carried away in the video... although, to be frank, she can do a lot better for herself: he's old enough to be her dad!
Take a picture of this
The fields are empty, abandoned '59 Chevy
Laying in the back seat listening to Little Willie John
Yea, that's when time stood still
You know, I think I'm gonna go down to Madam X
And let her read my mind
She said, "That Voodoo stuff don't do nothing for me."
I always loved that last line above too, the tongue-twisting nature of it, emphasised by Robertson's laconic delivery. This is a great track to "talk along to", if you can approximate a half-decent southern accent. Which I can't. Not that that ever stopped me.
This is Millie, the new addition to our family. Too soon? I did think so... but I've been proved wrong. A welcome blast of sunshine and fun in these darkest of times...
The big problem with songs about kittens is that they're rarely actually about kittens. Kitten, is seems, is a popular metaphorical term of endearment, and just about the only song on this list which appears to be about an actual kitten is about a dead one. So I'm not dedicating any of these to Millie. Ten great songs, nevertheless...
The thing about Whitesnake was, around about the time this came out, they were showing their kitten side more than their claws. Power ballads had taken them into the charts and their metal beginnings were all but forgotten. This was them showing they still had their claws. You won't like it, it ain't cool, but it did the job for teenage rock fans back in the mid 80s.
Can you believe this is the first time Whitesnake have featured on this blog? I can't.
Dark and creepy - Nick Cave would be proud. From Lily's debut record, available on The Indelicates' Corporate Records label. Since then she's gone on to form the band Fightmilk: also worthy of your attention.
Don't forget that little kittens have the sharpest claws!
I guess that should be **** Me, Kitten... or @%$# Me, Kitten. It's one of those songs that sounds beautiful, but if you study the lyrics you'll choke on the metaphors. Of course, you could also scare yourself half to death with the REM & William S. Burroughs version...
Forgotten noughties indie from half of The Lovely Eggs. Indie-girly-pop loveliness with a sting in the tail.
1. Little Willie John - Leave My Kitten Alone
"Laying in the back seat, listening to Little Willie John..."
Yes, it was Elvis Costello who introduced this song to me... but it was Robbie Robertson who introduced me to Little Willie. And the original has added meows!
