Snapshots #323: A Top Twelve Small Town Songs

This is Karen Fairchild, from Alabama country group Little Big Town. I don't just throw this thing together, you know. I spend at least five minutes thinking about it.

Anyway, here are a bunch of small town songs... with very big tunes.

12. Chatty boss gets too close to the fire.

The chatty boss is a Talking Head. He's also a Byrne victim.

David Byrne - Tiny Town

11. Self-confessed bitch.

Hey, I'm only quoting Meredith herself.

Meredith Brooks - My Little Town

10. Kept in an ample jar.

Anagram!

Pearl Jam - Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town

9. Cheering on the dregs of society.

Hurray For The Riff Raff - Small Town Heroes

8. Sounds like a bucket that needs more sun.

A pail that's too pale...

The Pale - Small Town

7. The king goes Bare.

King Charles meets Bobby Bare...

Bobby Charles - Small Town Talk

6. I'm only dancing, but I'd like to get to know you well.

John, I'm Only Dancing... with Howard Jones.

John Howard - Small Town, Big Adventures

5. Swell Maps' second.

The second album by indie darlings Swell Maps was called Jane From Occupied Europe. In 1990, a short-lived band from Salisbury took that as their own...

Jane From Occupied Europe - Little Valley Town

4. Sad chimes.

The Bluebells - Small Town Martyr

3. Charles Weedon Westover did a lot of running back in the day.

He was a Runaway. He chased after Runaround Sue (though Dion beat him to her). Then he came Runnin; On Back. And his real name was Charles Weedon Westover.

Del Shannon - Little Town Flirt

2. She was the only thing not on sale.

You could buy Everything But The Girl.

Tracey Thorn - Small Town Girl 

1. Formerly a middle-aged woman who likes to chase after younger men.

He used to be a Cougar.

John Mellencamp - Small Town

SPECIAL FESTIVE BONUS SONG!

Frank Sinatra - O Little Town Of Bethlehem

Willie Nelson - O Little Town of Bethlehem

Elvis Presley - O Little Town of Bethlehem

Mark Kozelek - O Little Town of Bethlehem

If you ask me, it's still too early for Christmas songs. But maybe next week...

Of course, this week's real Number One song should have been the one below. My brain wasn't working though, and all the searches I did for "Small Town" songs failed to remind me of the "Smalltown" songs. Rookie mistake.

Celebrity Jukebox #61: Terry Hall

Having prepared my Top 22 of 2022 well in advance, I took a little break from blogging over Christmas. Hence I didn't get to comment on Terry Hall's departure... though many of you guys did a fine job in eulogising him. I've not much more to add. Except...

I shared a birthday with Terry Hall. We were both born on March 19th. Granted, he was born 13 years earlier than me... but 13 years is nothing, is it? These days, I feel far more kinship with people who are 13 years older than I am than with those who are 13 years younger. He meant a lot to music fans of my generation, and to many of his fellow musicians too. Here are a few songs that mention Terry's various musical projects...

George Michael - Round Here

Music fell like rain to the streets
The Specials and The Jam, to The Beat
Even though I think I've seen everythin'
There is to see of this world
I gotta be thankful that this crowded space
Is the place of my birth

Scroobius Pip - 1000 Words 

Then I'd put on The Specials to hear their social commentary
You couldn’t help but get drawn in, sometimes even involuntary

Grace Petrie - I Wish The Guardian Believed That I Exist

I know you miss the good old days of picket lines and flags
When the Specials and the Jam all ruled the charts
but if you're really looking for this generation's Billy Bragg's
We are all here with a fire in our hearts

The Sprites - Following Her Around

I followed her to Vinyl Ink
Though I kept my distance I followed her through the stacks
These were the records she found and she held and she later bought:
The Fun Boy Three, Air Miami and Kraftwerk
Considered The Soft Boys but opted for Bandwagonesque
George was still around then and he said
"Have you heard the Hit Parade record yet?"

To finish, here's one that mentions Terry by name. A beautiful track from Tracey...

Here is the street and here is the door
Same as it was before
And up the stairs and on the wall
Is Doisneau's 'Kiss' and Terry Hall
And Siouxsie Sioux and Edwin too
And Bobby Dee in '63
And everything I knew was good
And like it was just understood

As none of the above mention my favourite Terry Hall incarnation, The Colourfield, here's a track from the band themselves which does so eponymously.

Rest in peace, Terry.

Snapshots #201: A Top Ten Swimming Pool Songs

I hope you're all wearing your swimming costumes for today's Top Ten. 

Time to dive in to the answers...

10. Most of Henry's wives like garlic germ.

Henry was married to 3 Catherines and 2 Annes.

"Garlic germ" was an anagram.

Kate & Anna McGarrigle - The Swimming Song

9. What sharks smell.

Surfer Blood - Swim

8. Pain relief.

Morphine - Like Swimming

7. Stuart has very Little ego.

Stuart Little was a mouse, and at modest one at that.

Modest Mouse - Float On

(Because if you can't swim very well, you need your floats on!)

(And yes, he does look a little too much like Timmy Mallet in that picture.)

6. Spencer sends Thunder God north.

Spencer Tracy + Thor N.

Tracey Thorn - Swimming

5. Red satirist.

Anagram!

Dire Straits - Twisting By The Pool

4. Squeeze through the middle.

The Go-Betweens - Draining The Pool For You

3. Greetings, sweetie.

Allo, Darlin' - Let's Go Swimming

2. Sleepy state.

R.E.M. - Nightswimming

Not strictly in a swimming pool, I guess, but they could have been.

1. CBS gags Oz!

Anagram!

And a Lido is an open air swimming pool, of course.

Time to dry off, but you're welcome to take a dip again next Saturday...

The United Kingdom of Song #36: Oban

Another picturesque Scottish seaside town today, in the Firth of Lorn. Musically, it's the birthplace of folk singer Aiden O'Rourke and a couple of famous bagpipe players.

It's also the second town in this feature to get name-dropped by Everything But The Girl... although this one wasn't written by Tracey Thorn, but her other half Ben Watt, who also make a rare lead vocal showing here. Tracey provides gorgeous backing vocals, otherwise this song truly would be Everything But The Girl.

The highlands and the lowlands

Are the roots my father knows

The holidays at Oban

And the towns around Montrose

But even as he sleeps

They're loading bombs into the hills

And the waters in the lochs

Can run deep but never still

I've thought of having children

But I've gone and changed my mind

It's hard enough to watch the news

Let alone explain it to a child

To cast your eye 'cross nature

Over fields of rape and corn

And tell him without flinching

Not to fear where he's been born

Then someone sat me down last night

And I heard Caruso sing

He's almost as good as Presley

And if I only do one thing

I'll sing songs to my father

I'll sing songs to my child

It's time to hold your loved ones

While the chains are loosed and the world

Runs wild

Hot 100 #63

Album cover above by The 63 Crayons, a band I know nothing about, but they have a cool name. Google them if you have time, I've got just 15 minutes to write this post before my next class...

Cut & paste with your suggestions this week because of the above-mentioned time constraints. Thanks for all your contributions.

The Swede kicks us off (as is often the case) "Tanglewood 63 by Michael Gibbs springs immediately to mind, a tune quickly covered in a Jazz-Rock vein by Colosseum and several more times since."

Nice.

A lyrical offering from Charity Chic next... which could very well have been this week's winner, because it's an awesome tune...

In Winter 1963
It felt like like the world would freeze
With John F Kennedy and the Beatles

Life in a Northern Town - The Dream Academy

Lynchie & Swiss Adam both went for New Order - 1963. Now, time prevents me from telling the full story, but suffice it to say there a deep scars from my teenage years involving New Order - I basically feel out and didn't speak to one of my best friends for 6 months, and New Order were indirectly responsible for that. They remain one of the two big 80s bands that I have never been able to find a moment's time for (the other being U2). I know the high esteem that many of my blogging peers hold them in... but they're highly unlikely to ever feature here until I can afford therapy.

Martin, extremely helpfully, even provided links with his suggestions this week... let's see how well they survive the Copy & Paste...

White Flag, by Shonen Knife, for the earth-shattering lyric:

"He's a gummer. He's over 63."

Hands Up To The Ceiling, by Tracey Thorn, for better lyrics:

"Here is the street and here is the door
Same as it was before
And up the stairs and on the wall
Is, Kiss and Terry Hall
And Siouxsie Sioux and Edwin too
And Bobby Dee in '63."

And best of all, Bell Boy by The Who, with the line:

"I don't suppose you would remember me, but I used to follow you back in '63."

 

Rigid Digit offered two fine suggestions...

 

Divine Comedy - National Express

 

"Mini skirts were in style, when she waltzed down the aisle back in 63"

John Wesley Harding - The Devil In Me

 

"I shot John F. Kennedy in Dallas in 63"

But it's Walter who takes this week's prize - as seconded by CC. Alyson even adds that "I seem to remember it was the soundtrack to my first kiss down the local youth club!" Which makes it a double-winner, surely? We can't beat this...



Anyway, got to go now, there's a queue of students outside the room, waiting to be educated...

Joking.

Obviously.

Just in case the boss is reading this.

62 next week. Any ideas?