My Top Ten Pigeon Songs

And so we reach my Top Ten Pigeon Songs, a post I wrote over a year ago... but I've been holding it back in reserve for the moment when I finally ran out of time to write any new ones. Luckily, it's half term next week, so hopefully I'll have a little more time to stockpile blogposts until Christmas. Otherwise... it may go a little quiet round here for awhile.

Anyway: pigeons. I like pigeons. Although I do seem to be in the minority. Here's ten odes to "rats with wings", some of them decidedly unpleasant...

Special mentions to The Pigeon Detectives and Lieutenant Pigeon.


10. Blur - The Woodpigeon Song

Obscure b-side... and, let's be honest, lads, it sounds like one.

9. The Uncle Devil Show - Sidelong Glances of a Pigeon Kicker

A one-off side project for Del Amitri's Justin Currie, this bizarre Beatles-esque pop tune was one of a handful of songs released by The Uncle Devil Show around ten years back. You could spot Currie's cynical tone a mile off...

A bird on the wing is a beautiful thing
With the exception of species whose speciality's faeces
So here's permission to land under the half brick
In my hand, in my hand...

8.  Genesis - Pigeons

Amazingly, this is post-Gabriel Genesis. Can't help but feel they were trying a little too hard to out-weird their former leader. From the Spot The Pigeon EP, which brings us nicely to...

7. Dick Dastardly & Mutley - Stop The Pigeon

Someone else who isn't a pigeon fancier. But how could I leave this out?

Mutley, you snickering,
Floppy-eared hound
When courage is needed,
You're never around.
Those medals you wear on
Your moth-eaten chest
Should be there for bungling
At which you are best.

6. John Prine - Clay Pigeons

I'm tired of running round looking for answers to questions I already know.

Written by Blaze Foley - now there's a great name for a country singer... or a burnt out detective.

5. Tom Lehrer - Poisoning Pigeons In The Park

Another classic slice of comic misanthropy... and pigeonthropy.

4. Cyndi Lauper - Sally's Pigeons

Cyndi recalls a childhood friend who's no longer with us.

Watch out for a young Julia Stiles playing teenage Cyndi in the video.

3. Kid Creole & The Coconuts - Stool Pigeon

Now if you wanna squeal, said the FBI
We can make a deal, make it worth your while...

Not about your feathered variety of pigeons, obviously. Kid Creole was cool.

2. The Handsome Family - Passenger Pigeons

Once upon a time, the Passenger Pigeon was one of the most abundant species of bird on earth. It was hunted to extinction at the beginning of the 20th Century... probably by the likes of Justin Currie, Tom Lehrer and Dick Dastardly.

Once there were a billion passenger pigeons
So many flew by, they darkened the sky
But they were clubbed and shot
Netted, Gassed, and Burned
Until there was nothing left
But vines of empty nests
I can't believe how easily
A billion birds can disappear

1. The Unthanks - King of Rome

Dave Sudbury's song tells the true story of Charlie Hudson, whose racing pigeon was entered into a 1913 race from Rome back to its home in Derby. But...

On the day o' the big race a storm blew in 
A thousand birds were swept away and never seen again

...and Charlie's bird was feared lost with them. But then, a miracle happened.

I was off with me mates for a pint or two 
When I saw a wing flash up in the blue 
"Charlie, it's the King of Rome 
Come back to his West End home 
Come outside quick, he's perched up on your roof"

Originally recorded by Sudbury, made famous by June Tabor... but this glorious version by the Unthanks and the Brighouse & Rastrick Brass Band takes some beating.




Ten pigeons set flying... but which one will win your race?

My Top Ten Songs About Record Companies

Bah - pop stars. They always blame their label when things don't go well...



10. Stiff Little Fingers - Rough Trade

The SLFs claim to have been betrayed by Rough Trade lies...

We quit our jobs and got all set to fly
Your promises had us riding high
But it's a dirty rough tough trade we find
"Yeah we agreed, but you hadn't signed
Sorry, son, gonna have to throw you
Our lawyers say we don't even know you"
Music is money, kids are no-account fools
You trade in us, we get betrayed by you

9. Graham Parker & The Rumour - Mercury Poisoning

Meanwhile, Graham Parker remains "the best kept secret in the West" because of his own lacklustre record company...

The geriatric staff think we're freaks
They couldn't sell kebabs to the Greeks, the geeks!
Inaction speaks, and
I've got Mercury poisoning - it's fatal and it don't get better!

8. Lynyrd Skynyrd - Working For MCA

From back in the days when record companies handed out free money just for a signature on the dotted line... and some fools tried to take advantage of that.

7. Half Man Half Biscuit - 4AD3DCD

Nigel Blackwell gently pokes fun at the most indie of record companies and its roster of bizarrely named bands.

I dream of occasional fanzine mentions
I’ve been to one too many David Lynch Conventions
I play postal chess with a man who doesn’t know me
I’ve got a better frown than Tony Iommi
And I’ve got a 4AD3DCD
A 4AD3DCD
A 4AD3DCD
And I’m on a foundation course

6. The Byrds - So You Wanna Be A Rock 'n' Roll Star

A warning to all prospective rock stars about the dangers of going downtown and selling your soul to the company man when all they want to do is "sell plastic ware".

5. The Sex Pistols - EMI

The outrageously rebellious image of the Sex Pistols seems now like yobbish posturing steered to success by the machiavellian mind of Malcolm McClaren. How seriously could anyone take the world's most famous punk once he started selling dairy products? At the time though, it was utterly (butterly) believable and the final track on Never Mind The Bollocks... was a giant one-fingered salute to their former record company that helped make Richard Branson more The Man than anyone at EMI.

See also the rather less scabrous B.L.U.R.E.M.I. and this marvellous lo-fi eulogy to the record company dinosaurs, Wave Goodbye To EMI by Beans on Toast.

4. Willie Nelson & Waylon Jennings - Write Your Own Songs

Straight talkin' from Willie & Waylon...

We write what we live and we live what we write, is that wrong?
If you think it is Mr Music Executive why don't you write your own songs?
And don't listen to mine, they might run you crazy
They might make you dwell on your feelings a moment too long
We're making you rich and you're already lazy
So just lay on your ass and get richer or write your own songs.

3. The Clash - Complete Control

They said we'd be artistically free
When we signed that bit of paper
They meant let's make a lotta money
And worry about it later

A smarter and more credible record company protest song than the Sex Pistols could ever have managed. The Clash were true punks, even when they went reggae.

I wish I'd been aware of this song back when I was writing my Rebel DJ versus Evil Corporate Entertainment Company comic, The Jock. I could have put lyrics like this to excellent use...

This is Joe Public speaking
I'm controlled in the body, controlled in the mind

Total
C-o-n 
Control!

2. Tom Petty - Into The Great Wide Open

A promising rock 'n' roll career implodes, perhaps because "Their A&R man said 'I don't hear a single"... or perhaps because the temptations of rock star excess prove too much. A young Johnny Depp plays Eddie Rebel in the video, the "rebel without a clue" whose luck turns bad when he turns his back on his manager, Faye Dunaway. Stick around for a cameo from a pre-Friends Matt LeBlanc in the song's closing moments...

1. The Smiths - Paint A Vulgar Picture

You don't get a more caustic assessment of the "sickening greed" of the "sycophantic slags" who work for The Man... although there's a certain irony now hearing Morrissey deride the culture of "Re-issue! Repackage! Repackage! Re-evaluate the songs...", not to mention "Best of! Most of! Slip them into different sleeves!" Still, he's yet to give away a tacky badge. It was a very different business back then though, wasn't it?

See also Frankly, Mr. Shankly which was Moz taking poisonous aim at Geoff Travis, head of Rough Trade, a man who (apparently) wrote some truly awful poetry...



Which one would you sign with?

My Top Ten Underground Songs

Still no time to write new Top Tens and my backlog is dwindling. When I post My Top Ten Pigeon Songs (the one I always hold in reserve), you'll know the barrel has been well and truly scraped.

Meanwhile, here's ten top tunes that live beneath the surface.



10. Sneaker Pimps - Six Underground

Even though it isn't strictly Britpop (trip-hop?!?), this reminds me of that era when I worked in a radio station record library, got loads of free CDs, and went to many free gigs. 18 years ago... yes, I'm still feeling my age.

9. The Jesus & Mary Chain - My Little Underground

Loud and distorted-to-fuck... like all the best J&MC records.

8 The Beautiful South - Hold Me Close (Underground)

Paul Heaton's morbid wit at its anti-love song best.

Potholers do it with the lights off
Hikers do it long and slow
I'll still be trying to get your clothes off
When I lie 6ft below

7. Kimya Dawson - Underground

Kimya's head is about to explode and kill everyone in close proximity. Great lyrics.

So I tattoo instructions on my ass
That say "don't ever put this body in a casket
Burn it and put the ashes in a basket
And throw them in the Puget Sound
I don't ever want to be under ground"
Oh no, oh no

6. Radiohead - Subterranean Homesick Alien

Imagine if aliens came to earth to find out what human beings were really like... and they ended up abducting Thom Yorke.

5. Curtis Mayfield - Undergound

What begins as a terrifying vision of a future world driven underground after destroying its home on the surface... becomes something entirely different, in a dark, sightless world where everyone is suddenly equal.

The Mole Man's favourite record.

4. Jonathan Richman - Velvet Undergound

Jonathan pays tribute to his biggest heroes and asks the question... how in the hell did they make that sound?

3. Ben Folds Five - Underground

A great song about feeling like you don't belong to any of the cool scenes.

Who's got the looks?
Who's got the brains?
Who's got everything?
I've got this pain in my heart
That's all
Hey you, with the long and lonely face
There's gotta be something else...

It wasn't just me, was it?

2. Bob Dylan - Subterranean Homesick Blues

In which Bob Dylan invents the lyrics video.

You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows...

1. The Jam - Going Underground

Some people might say my life is in a rut...

Well, what else could it have been?

The Jam's first Number One single has an interesting story behind it. Originally, Going Underground was meant to be the b-side, but a cock up at the factory meant it became a double a-side with Dreams of Children. DJs got to choose which track they played on the radio (ah, those were the days!) and Going Underground won out. It entered the chart in the top spot, something that happens all the time these days but was pretty rare in 1980. Putting that into further context, the Number One before it was Together We Are Beautiful by Fern Kinney... and it was followed by The Detroit Spinners: Working My Way Back To You.

Of course, this isn't the Jam's only undergound-related song... and I'd argue that Down In The Tube Station At Midnight is even better. But I'm saving that for another chart.

God, Weller looks young in this video!

You choose your leaders and place your trust
As their lies put you down and their promises rust
You'll see kidney machines replaced by rockets and guns
And the public wants what the public gets
But I don't get what this society wants

Go on, dig down into your record collection...

My Top Ten Invisible Songs

After flight, invisibility would be my super power of choice. Still, while I may never soar like a bird... lately there are times I do feel extremely invisible.

When I started planning this post, I felt sure there'd be space for Genesis - Invisible Touch and The Police - Invisible Sun. And you know me, usually I'd have no shame about such inclusions. However, neither really made the grade this time round. Apologies to Sting and Phil Collins fans. You must feel just awful.(Heh.)



10. Bruce Springsteen - Hunter of Invisible Game

This year's "new" Bruce album turned out to be a bit of a contract filler, containing a bunch of songs left over from his last LP and some re-recordings of earlier stuff (the new, rockier version of The Ghost of Tom Joad was arguably better than the original).

Therefore, because Bruce didn't have to spend any time writing new material, he chose instead to become an actor and filmmaker. The internet seems divided on whether that was a sensible move or not. For all its fancy filmmaking, this feels like a Bon Jovi video. And hey, I have nothing against Jon Bon... but Bruce has always been a step above.

Still, at least it's better than Courtney Cox.

9. Primal Scream - Invisible City

Bobby Gillespie goes for a wander round town and chronicles the charming inhabitants he encounters along the way...

Flashing lights, police cars
Polysexual gutter stars
Brutal stares, skinhead crops
The corner boys look like their dogs
Kebab shops, pubs and mosques
Lapdancing clubs, synagogues
Police stations, crack house zombies
Readers' wives, suburban orgies

Pissed up girls, Kia-Ora tans
Mini skirts, one night stands
Up the duff, sun bed thighs
Missing father all their lives
Rain wet streets
Hallucination, stretched faces
Like a Bacon painting...

8. Kate Bush - How to Be Invisible

Kate finds a book of spells, the best one promising invisibility...

Eye of Braille
Hem of anorak
Stem of wallflower
Hair of doormat

Yeah, like Kate Bush could ever be invisible!

7. Paul Weller - Invisible

Another song about growing old. I've been listening to a lot of these lately, for some reason...

There was a time
I though every hair on my body was alive
Yes it was
Now you can't even see
The grey and the dye
I'm not one to give up
But I feel I'm at a loss

No Grecian 2000 here... just in case you were wondering.

6. Alison Moyet - Invisible

There are a lot of crass numpties comparing Alison Moyet to Adele purely because both have enjoyed huge success despite not being stick insect thin... or taking their clothes off all the time in their videos. There's even a ridiculous internet rumour going around that Alison is Adele's mum. Sometimes, people are just too stupid to be allowed to draw breath.

Anyway, Alison Moyet - what a voice! It's a shame that the 80s production makes some of her best records sound a little tinny to modern ears, but Invisible is still a classic.

5. Modest Mouse - Invisible

Not sure what this impassioned Waits-ian rant from Modest Mouse is all about, but there's one line I do get:

No, you're not invisible inside your car...

How many drivers do you see every day that actually think they are?

4. Queen - The Invisible Man

Remembered fondly from the height of my Queen-addicted adolescence, this one owes much to John Deacon's throbbing bassline... ironic as, in many ways, Deacon was (and remains) the Invisible Man of the group. Also featuring an amazingly tacky computer-game influenced video that could only have been made in the 80s. Amazingly, Freddie makes those sub-Max Headroom shades look cool.

3. Aimee Mann - Invisible Ink

Aimee Mann's voice pours through my ears like world-weary honey. And that songwriting...!

But nobody wants to hear this tale
The plot is clichéd, the jokes are stale
And baby we've all heard it all before
Oh I could get specific but
Nobody needs a catalogue
With details of love I can't sell anymore

2. The Twilight Sad - That Summer, At Home, Had Become The Invisible Boy

The title comes from Stephen King's The Stand. The song: an epic, building behemoth of jangling guitars and angry lyrics that express teenage frustration and alienation perfectly.

1. Elvis Costello - The Invisible Man

One of my all-time favourite Costello songs, from his finest album (imho). Not being one to include lyric sheets with his earlier records, I spent a fair amount of my teenage years with headphones glued on, puzzling over the playful intricacies of Elvis's songwriting. The Invisible Man is a pretty straightforward idea in which Mr. C is cast as The Invisible Man because, as the fade out lyric explains "Now you won't see me..." It's the lyrics prior to this that gave me the most joy though, particularly the glorious chorus...

But if stars are only painted on the ceiling above
Then who can you turn to and who do you love?
I want to get out while I still can
I want to be like Harry Houdini
Now I'm the invisible man

And then there's the backing - thundering piano rolls from Steve Nieve and the powerfully uplifting sound of the TKO Horns who backed much of this record and made it the brightest and most life-affirming in the Costello canon...



Can you see me? Do you hear me? Will you leave a comment so I don't feel quite so invisible today...

My Top Ten Sad Street Songs

Busy week as the new college term gets into full swing. With five classes a day some days, I certainly have no time for blogging. Fortunately, this is how I spent my summer vacation... here's one I prepared earlier. This week: unhappy roads.

And you think it's depressing where you live!



10. The Maisonettes - Heartache Avenue

The only good thing about moving onto Heartache Avenue is that you can live there rent-free.

9. Magnetic Fields - Lonely Highway

An alcoholic hits the road and leaves his abusive past behind him in Jackson. Stephin Merritt = songwriting genius.

8. Elvis Presley - (It's A) Long, Lonely Highway

Classic Pomus/Schuman number, used in the soundtrack of the movie Tickle Me. 'Nuff said.

See also Heartbreak Hotel, of course, which is located "down at the end of Lonely Street"...

7. The Pogues - Rain Street

A pretty bleak place to live, according to Shane, and not just because of the weather...

Down the alley the icewagon flew
Picked up a stiff that was turning blue
The local kids were sniffin' glue
Not much else for a kid to do
Down Rain Street

My favourite verse introduces us to the local supermarket...

There's a Tesco on the sacred ground
Where I pulled her knickers down
While Judas took his measly price
And St Anthony gazed in awe at Christ
Down on Rain Street

See also Lonesome Highway, in which Shane props up the bar with another tale of whiskey-tinged woe.

6. Lemonheads - The Turnpike Down

Although Evan Dando's certainly feeling down on the turnpike, he's at least cheered by the butterscotch streetlamps.

5. Ray Charles - Lonely Avenue

More Doc Pomus. Ray's girl's up and left town and he's too skint to follow her.

4. Bill Withers - Lonely Town, Lonely Street

Although he's best known for the sunshiney pop of Lovely Day, much of Bill Withers' material is dark and sorrowful. This is the man who wrote Ain't No Sunshine, of course, but also the singer who shoots himself at the end of the classic Better Off Dead. Lonely Town, Lonely Street is a song about lacking self-confidence... and failing because of that. Maybe that's why I love it?

And if you are shy, just not much of a talker
Don't impress the people that you meet
You might as well be a lonely walker in a lonely town, on a lonely street

3. The Kinks - Dead End Street

The one that Oasis pilfered shamelessly for The Importance Of Being Idle...

There's a crack up in the ceiling,
And the kitchen sink is leaking.
Out of work and got no money,
A Sunday joint of bread and honey.

What are we living for?
Two-roomed apartment on the second floor.
No money coming in,
The rent collector's knocking, trying to get in.

2. Morrissey - Late Night, Maudlin Street

Just about every Morrissey album has to half a 7-minute plus "epic", and this is the original, from Viva Hate, by which all others are measured. With its plodding beat and mournful vocals, it's the kind of song that naturally tags Moz with the miserablist label. But the lyrics are often hilarious, in a self-deprecating Alan Bennett kind of way.

Came home late one night
Everyone had gone to bed
But you know, no one stays up for you
I had sixteen stitches all around my head
The last bus I missed to Maudlin Street
So, he drove me home in the van
complaining: "Women only like me for my mind.."

1. Green Day - Boulevard of Broken Dreams

I've been a fan of Green Day ever since I saw them set fire to the stage at Leeds Festival in the late 90s. I even use this track in my teaching to explain the concept of personfication to my students ("when the city sleeps") although if Billy Joe Armstrong ever walked into one of my classes with his surly sneer, folded arms and general air of stroppiness, I'd show him the door immediately.

Broken dreams, though. I know a few of those...





Those were my favourite sad streets. Which one cheers you up?