My mum broke her hip on Monday, so I've been driving back and forth to the hospital to see her all week. She's 96, so obviously any kind of operation is a big worry (especially when the consultant started outlining all the risks - "you're cheering me up," she replied), but she seems to have come through OK. Tuesday night was a little scary as she was still under the influence of all post-op drugs, and kept trying to remove the tubes while they were trying to give her a blood transfusion. She certainly told the nurses on the ward what she thought of them...
Now though, her biggest issue is competing with the woman in the bed opposite. "They had her walking today - why aren't I walking? I don't want her to get ahead of me."
But Mum, she had her operation before you!
"I don't care, if she can start walking, I can."
The nurses told us that recovery from a hip operation has nothing to do with age. Some people in their 60s take ages to get going again - whereas people in their 90s are often congaing down the ward after a few days. I've a feeling my mum will be at the head of the conga.
Here's another track from Sam Baker's 2013 album, Say Grace. It's out of print, but I managed to snag a cheapish copy of eBay. It's really quite lovely.
But familiarity is good. It's reassuring. As long as there's a new spin, and nobody gets sued, I don't mind songs that rip off other songs. Let's face it, rock n roll has been devouring its own tail since day one.
Bad Mary are from New York, but that goes without saying. One listen and you can immediately hear Blondie, the Ramones... all those CBGB bands. (By the way, I just discovered that CBGB stands for Country, Bluegrass, Blues, none of which immediately spring to mind when you think of that particular establishment. Who knew?)
The live version of Forget About It is also worth 90 seconds of your time...
Anyway, I ended up adding Forget About It to a couple of playlists and mixtapes and it may be starting to wear out its welcome now. That's the problem with songs that are instant earworms... sometimes they burn out on you.
On the other hand, a song that takes a few listens to really grab your attention, a song that steals slyly into your subconscious, that can often be even more satisfying...
I figured I'd close today with a couple of less immediate tunes. Real slow-burners. Like this lovely little number from Gruff Rhys, which has crept up on me and is now threatening to become one of my songs of the year. I'd like to think 6Music will have been all over this, but as I can't listen to 6Music any more, I have no idea...
And then there's this, from an artist I stumbled across due to the algorithms. Our AI overlords presumably spotted my fondness for John Prine and recommended Texan Americana fella Sam Baker, who iffypedia tells me has quite a fascinating back story. In 1986, he was on a train to Machu Picchu when a terrorist bomb exploded in the luggage rack above his head. Seven of his fellow passengers were killed - Sam escaped with brain damage (he now struggles to remember names), permanent tinnitus and a gnarled guitar hand. But he didn't let that stop him writing beautiful songs like this... an inspiration for us all.
