Snapshots #470: Songs About Shops / High Street Retailers

Here are some songs about certain shops... some of them are still with us. Others have gone to that great high street in the sky...

15. What a carpet did next.

Clint Boon was an Inspiral Carpet. Then he formed...

The Clint Boon Experience - Comet Theme #1

14. I'm going to sue Deep Purple.

I'm going to sue Deep Purple.

Suede - Asda Town

13. What Tony Blackburn shouts at Turner and PJ.

"Sensational!" Alex Turner and PJ Harvey.

Sensational Alex Harvey Band - Next

12. Fred means not what you think.

"Fred means" was an anagram.

Sam Fender - Howdon Aldi Death Queue

He doesn't write them like that anymore, now that he's a proper pop star. (Shame.)

11. If you sent off for them, they were always a big disappointment when they arrived.

Did you ever send away for some X-Ray Spex? Bet they were a disappointment.

X-Ray Spex - Warrior In Woolworths

10. When Katrina walks onto the subway.

Katrina was Walking On Sunshine, in the underground.

The Sunshine Underground - Borders

9. How do you solve a problem like Macca's Miserable Holiday Home?

Is the Mull looking a bit dour, Maria?

Maria Muldaur - Midnight At The Oasis

8. Like Rachel, Matthew and Dita Von Teese.

Matthew Sweet and Rachel Sweet. Dita's real name is Heather Renée Sweet.

The Sweet - Blockbuster

7. Assorted sweets for pretty girls.

Dolly Mixture - New Look Baby

6. When will young people learn where to find the answers for this quiz?

Will Young - Your Game

5. Grew up in the wilds.

Well, they came from Dundee!

The Wilderness Children - Plastic Bag From Tesco's

4. Dire Namesakes fan.

George likes Namesakes (or whatever he calls it). Add Dire Straits.

George Strait - All My Ex’s Live in Texas

3. Sugar man.

Bob Mould - Argos

2. Very, something, extra, nothing.

Very special, something special, extra special, nothing special.

The Specials - Man At C&A

1. Blue-eyed girl.

Nancy Sinatra - These Boots Are Made For Walking

Snap up another bargain next Saturday morning.

Snapshots #420: Square Number Songs

You can pretty much tell AI didn't come up with that image, can't you? What can I say, I'm an old-fashioned guy, and I wanted a picture of a square dude holding a camera. Unlike yesterday when I showed you one of the residents of Albert's Square holding a camera. 

All in aid of - with great thanks to our resident Maths teacher, George, for suggesting the theme and many of the tunes - songs about Square Numbers. Working our way from the square of 15... down to the square of 1.

15. The very latest in toy soldiers.

New Model Army - 225

14. Often killed in avalanches.

The Mountain Goats - Move (Chicago 196x)

That was the hardest one to find, despite the fact that I love the Mountain Goats.

13. Just saying, it follows Burt… but only so far.

JS is, apparently, interweb shorthand for Just Saying.

Burt Bach...arach (only so far).

J.S. Bach - Cantata 169

12. Post pride.

Wouldn't be a George post without a bit of The Fall, which usually follows pride.

Also, I wouldn't have thought of this one on my own - a gross being 144.

The Fall - Gross Chapel / British Grenadiers

11. De Niro is waiting for Howard’s End.

Howard's End was written by E.M. Forster. Robert De Niro has been waiting for that.

Robert Forster - 121

10. Humming, Thunder, Surfing. 

Hummingbirds, Thunderbirds, Surfin' Bird.

The Byrds - One Hundred Years From Now

9. Some were talking to Jesus and Mary, the rest were saved for the Brotherhood.

Jesus & Mary Chain sang about Some Candy Talking. The Brotherhood of Man were saving their kisses for you.

Candy & The Kisses – The 81

8. They’ll never be stale.

"Be stale" was an anagram.

The Beatles - When I'm Sixty-Four

7. When you hear the bing, the whiskey will be fermented, so grit your teeth till then.

Bing Crosby. Whiskey is fermented in Stills. Gnash your teeth.

Crosby, Stills & Nash - 49 Bye-Byes

6. Where pretty penguins live.

The Beautiful South - 36D

5. An O.J. Celeb.

Orange Juice was the band of Edwyn Collins. A celeb is a starr.

Edwin Starr - 25 Miles

4. Caroline is determined.

Caroline was Sweet. The is a determiner.

The Sweet - Six Teens 

Thank you, George. That's a belter.

3. Soviet strikers.

¡Forward, Russia! - Nine

2. Spill the milk wide.

"Milk wide" was an anagram.

Kim Wilde - Four Letter Word

1. Silence was golden when he was a child.

Pictured with his Mum and Dad (Chip Hawkes from The Tremeloes)...

Don't be square - join me again for more Snapshots next Saturday.

Snapshots #367: A Top Twenty Songs Named After Horror Movies

Darkness falls across the land

The midnight hour is close at hand

Creatures crawl in search of blood

To terrorize y’all’s neighborhood

And whosoever shall be found

Without the soul for getting down

Must stand and face the Hounds of Hell

And rot inside a corpse’s shell

The foulest stench is in the air

The funk of forty thousand years

And grizzly ghouls from every tomb

Are closing in to seal your doom

And though you fight to stay alive

Your body starts to shiver

For no mere mortal can resist

The evil of the SNAPSHOTS!

AH HA HA HA HA HA HAAAAA

Thank you, Vincent. This world was never meant for one as beautiful as you.

It's Halloween this week, and when I started looking for songs that share their names with horror movies, I hit a bumper bundle. But did you guess them all?

20. Bad jingles get me in such a tizzy. 

"Bad jingles" was an anagram...

J. Geils Band - Fright Night

19. Lost inside Outwood Golf Course.

In case you're wondering, Outwood is just down the road from where I work in Leeds. Fortunately, I've never spotted u-two while driving through there...

U2 - The Fly

18. Ttttttttttttthhhhhhhhhhhhhhhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiissssssssssss iiiiiiiiiiiisssssssssssss ttttttttttttttttthhhhhhhhhhhhheeeeeeeeeeee ccccccccccccccllllllllllllluuuuuuuuuuuuueeeeeeeeeee.

Slow Readers Club - Lost Boys

17. The Haiti dollar hides a silly secret. 

The Haiti dollar, Silly Billy.

Billy Idol - Eyes Without A Face

16. Boopadoop.

Named after Chic Young's Blondie comic strip: her surname was Boopadoop.

Blondie - Island Of Lost Souls

15. Noughties boy band, aphrodisiac, Ian Astbury.

Noughties boy band = Blue.

Aphrodisiac = Oyster.

Ian Astbury = The Cult.

Blue Öyster Cult - Nosferatu

14. Frippette?

She's married to Robert Fripp...

Toyah - Alien

13. They're ghosting you.

The Phantom Band - The Howling

12. Can you hear them?

The Sonics - Psycho

11. ...is a V. smarmy DJ mix.

..."is a V. smarmy DJ" was an anagram...

Sammy Davis Jr. - The Candyman

10. A wing and a guitar.

A Fender is what we Brits would call the wing on a car... and it's also a type of guitar.

Sam Fender - Poltergeist(s)

9. Just desserts.

The Sweet - Hellraiser

8. Read one section of your home. 

Chapterhouse - Don't Look Now

7. This guy, and another four droplets.

A tough one this, and probably not one you could guess from the clue alone... but once you worked out the theme... maybe?

Anyway, the photo above is Bernie Nee, the singer on the track below. The rest of the Blobs were session musicians, so no photo exists of the "band" itself...

The Five Blobs - The Blob

6. Bitten by a green bird that wishes it could fly.

Orville might have wished he could fly, but he could at least peck.

Orville Peck - Dead Of Night

5. Used to make soup for Alice and the Queen.

Then the Queen said to Alice, "Have you seen the Mock Turtle yet?"

"No," said Alice. "I don't even know what a Mock Turtle is."

"It's the thing Mock Turtle Soup is made from", said the Queen.

(From Alice In Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll.)

The Mock Turtles - Wicker Man

4. A carpenter and a great hangman. 

The Great Hangman is a cliff. Richard was a Carpenter.

Cliff Richard - Carrie

3. Chest, pea, dough.

Chestnut, peanut, doughnut...

Nut - Scream

2. What do Jennifer Anniston, Julie Andrews and Jane Austen cook their eggs in?

In the J.A.pan, of course!

Japan - Halloween

1. Lad-ra-doodle.

It's not often you see Damon Gough without his hat on...

Badly Drawn Boy - The Shining

Not Number One because it's my favourite song... but it is my favourite horror film.

Such a bounty of horror-film-related songs did I find, that there will be more to share later in the week... and a much less scary Snapshots will be back next Saturday.