My Top Ten

Wednesday, 6 September 2023

TV On The Radio #16: Deputy Dog

As soon as I heard today's closing tune on an old car compilation, I knew I had to feature Deputy Dawg. However, the character I pictured in my head was not the one I discovered when I put his name into google. Turns out, I was confusing D-Dawg with Huckleberry Hound... making me wonder if I've ever even seen a Deputy Dawg cartoon. Having watched a couple on the tube of you, I'm not sure I've missed anything. Feel free to tell me otherwise if you've got the DVD box set at home and posters on your bedroom wall.

Still, it's the music that matters, and DD's name crops up in a surprising amount of pop songs, besides the one I knew. Let's kick off with the Woolly Bully people...

Sam The Sham & The Pharaohs - Deputy Dog

Or you may prefer a more soulful take...

Roosevelt Grier - Deputy Dog

When I saw the band name below and the album title "Kill Us All", I imagined a very different sound to the one I actually heard. Give it a try, you might be pleasantly surprised...

Dead Marines - Deputy Dawg

Robi Mitch is from Bristol and now lives in Cornwall. I shoehorned him in because I liked his tune...

Guess that I'll live longer than some good ones

Guess that I'll go sooner than some bad ones

Cos the good lord gives and he takes away

In a way that doesn't make sense to me

Guess that it's a good job that he's the top dog

And I am just a deputy

Robi Mitch - Deputy

And now here's The Cult...

Jimi was a boogie man

Took a shotgun in his hand

Turned on dude candy-man

He walked into the wrong town

Deputy Dog man wait inside

Jimi thought he'd better hide

Suddenly changed his mind

Shot 'em all on sight, yeah

The Cult - Outlaw

I'm not sure if anyone will have guessed today's winner, but it was obvious to me. How could I not love a song that goes thus...?

No one in the world ever gets what they want

And that is beautiful

Everybody dies frustrated and sad

And that is beautiful

TMBG songwriter John Linnell insists this isn't a depressing song, saying he made the words up just to fit the tune. Which probably explains this...

When you are alone

You are the cat, you are the phone

You are an animal

The words I'm singing now

Mean nothing more than "meow" to an animal

Wake up and smell the cat food

In your bank account

But don't try to stop the tail

That wags the hound

Meanwhile, the video is anything but depressing, as the band run around with rolls of carpet sticking out the tops of their heads... you won't see Ed Sheeran doing that, will you? Oh, and Deputy Dawg is in there too. Just stick with it...

Tuesday, 5 September 2023

Namesakes #49: The Flowerpot Men

Jim, our Dubai correspond, commented last week about this feature that it's "great hearing obscure songs we would probably otherwise would never hear, some good, some bad but always interesting". Thanks for that, Jim. I feel the same way. Which brings us to... flobadobadobadob.

Yes, this week we're taking a listen to bands named after Bill and Ben, those peculiar stars of kids' TV who made their screen debut back in 1952... yet somehow were still being repeated 20 odd years later, while also being revived in the 80s (possibly) and then again as a ghastly 21st Century reboot.

Let's see if we can get through these Flowerpot Men before the Man who works in the Garden comes back from his lunch...

THE FLOWER POT MEN #1

John Carter and Ken Lewis were the songwriters from The Ivy League. They'd been Tossing & Turning around the charts for a couple of years when they decided to branch out and dip their green fingers into Beach Boys-esque psychedelia with the 1967 Top 5 hit Let's Go To San Francisco. Recorded by session musicians, there wasn't really a group called The Flower Pot Men at that time, but they cobbled one together for tours and later recordings. In the States, they were known as The Flower Men, to avoid any nasty drug references...

THE FLOWERPOT MEN #2

I can't find out much about these guys, other than that they came from the UK, their cellist Adam Peters can be heard on The Killing Moon by Echo & The Bunnymen, and they later changed their name to Sunsonic. Their most famous song, Beat City, was an integral part of the soundtrack to Ferris Bueller's Day Off... hence it's very important to 80s kids like yours truly.

THE FLOWERPOT MEN #3

OK, deep breath. In 1987, apparently, the BBC decided to revive Bill & Ben. I can't find any mention of this on their iffypedia page, and to be honest, I couldn't be bothered to dig any deeper. However, to promote the new show they commissioned a promotional song by The Firm (TV-pop "superstars" responsible for the Number One novelty hit Star Trekkin' as well as the slightly less annoying Chas 'n' Dave-esque Minder tribute, Arfur Daley... E's Alright). The resulting promo disc is apparently now as rare as hen's teeth (and even less desirable), and to be honest, it makes Star Trekkin' sound like Wuthering Heights. Still, for the sake of completeness...

Which Flower Pot Men would you be happy to see in your garden... and which are the Weeeeeed?

Monday, 4 September 2023

Mid-Life Crisis Songs #102: Back To Work

As the summer fades into the distance (despite the forecast this week being better weather than we've had for the past six), I return to work today. Unlike many teachers, I no longer feel the old sense of dread about that, and that makes me even more thankful for my current role.

However... because there's always a but... last night, I received a group Whatsapp message from my line manager, welcoming us back to the fold and hoping we all had a good summer "with plenty of rest".

How can I be the only one of my colleagues going back to work feeling more exhausted than when we broke up back in July?

Every year about this time, I feel like listening to this song by Louis Eliot and Rialto...

Sunday, 3 September 2023

Snapshots #308: A Top Ten Middle Eastern Songs

This is a rather blurry photograph of Shakira. Despite being a multi-million-selling global pop superstar, Shakira was still amazed the first time she saw a phone with a camera in it. We take such things for granted these days, but just over 20 years ago, the very idea was revolutionary.

You may wonder why Shakira is pictured atop a post featuring songs about The Middle East. Well, it turns out that The Queen Of Latin Music is of Middle Eastern descent - her father's family hail from Lebanon. And Rami Malik, pictured yesterday, is American of Egyptian descent. In case you think I just throw these things together.

Here are ten songs about countries and cities in the Middle East...

10. Found in antioxidants and rubbernecking.

AntioxiDANts and rubBERNecking.

Dan Bern - Jerusalem

One of his best songs, always worth another spin.

9. How Miss celebrates her beautiful victory.

Miss World has a Party when she wins.

World Party - Kuwait City

8. Alan, Alan Jr., Cheryl and Diane.

Alan Ladd (Sr. & Jr.), Cheryl Ladd and Diane Ladd.

The Four Lads - Istanbul (Not Constantinople)

The original... although not the best version. That would be this...

They Might Be Giants - Istanbul (Not Constantinople)

7. Emergency Room in Simone, put all in the pot.

Put an ER in Nina (Simone) and you get Nerina. Put "all" in pot and you get Pallot.

Nerina Pallot - Damascus

6. First seen in Daredevil #77.

The exact issue of the Daredevil comic that Julian Cope took his band name from...

The Teardrop Explodes - The Thief Of Baghdad

5. ...In The City...In Herre...Is On.

Hot In The City

Hot In Herre

The Heat Is On

Put them together and what have you got?

Hot Hot Heat - In Cairo

4. Sounds like Jean Paul... had a little lamb.

Mary had a little lamb, and her surname sounds like Jean Paul Gaultier.

Mary Gauthier - Iraq

3. Friends with Elvis, Steve and Faron.

The King Of Rock n Roll, Steve McQueen (the album) and Faron Young...

Prefab Sprout - Jordan: The Comeback

2. Haulage menu in disorder.

"Haulage menu" was an anagram... yes, that's a very young Phil Oakey.

Human League - The Lebanon

How can you not love the 80s when you watch that?

1. Get tu-tuled up with Black's other half.

Desmond Tutu and Black & Decker makes...

1. Desmond Dekker - The Israelites

Snapshots will be back next Saturday. Trust me - my hips don't lie!

Saturday, 2 September 2023

Saturday Snapshots #308

This is Rami Malek, a Great Pretender if ever I saw one. He was great at pretending to be Freddie in Bohemian Rhapsody, anyway.

Anyway, let's pretend you don't know why you're here this morning. Below are ten clues to ten famous (or sometimes quite obscure) musical artists. If you can identify enough of them, you might work out what their songs have in common...