Welcome back to the quiz that's out of this world. Just like Richard Branson.
This made me chuckle earlier in the week...
While Ben, who you've not heard much from lately, but is still around, had this to say...
Billionaire's throwing away billions to just go high in the atmosphere rather than spend it on programs that reduce the suffering caused by poverty is far beyond a joke. It's disgusting and they deserve nothing but bile.
If he's not careful, he'll give himself a heart attack by the time he reaches my age.
Anyway, I come in peace to bring you ten clues to ten popular artists. Identify them, then work out what links their songs, then identify the song titles. Easy as flying into space aboard Virgin Intergalactic (or whatever he's calling it) but much, much cheaper.
10. He is in debt to Mr. Simon.
9. A Shaky Oh and a golfing saint.
8. Matt Lucas on the drums.
7. Sell-out cynic.
6. Arachnids get mixed up.
5. Spare parts.
4. Early British cars.
3. Sounds like a gloating angel.
2. You're fired!
1. Bob Century.
Take me to your leader and he will reveal the answers tomorrow morning.
The latest album by Dawes is still playing in my car, and as often is the case when you stick with a record, new delights are unveiling themselves beyond the initial attention-grabbers.
One such track is St. Augustine At Night, which I realised this morning is an anti-Born To Run: a song about staying in the town you grew up in, rather than being desperate to run away. To be fair, St. Augustine, Florida, does look a little prettier than Freehold, New Jersey, but as a tourist destination, I suspect much of that may be facade. Could this be the American equivalent of the "seaside town they forgot to bomb"? I suppose that depends on whether you're a teenager wanting desperately to spread your wings, or an old-timer looking back on your life. Taylor Goldsmith gives us both perspectives here...
We'd count the trucks on Highway 1 on their way to Jacksonville
Wonderin' where they headed on from there
My brothers and my sister all stood spiritually still
As if those roads became the answer to their prayers
But I didn't want it any other way
This town was the one thing that felt right
All these tourists could be kings during the day
But not in St. Augustine at night
There are many great lines in this song, particularly the closing couplet in the verse below, which brought a wry smile to my face the first time I heard it in the context of the whole story...
That's when my girlfriend told me, "There's a baby on the way
And I need to know you're gonna go to bat"
Well, I never put off 'til tomorrow the things I should've done today
No, I've always waited way longer than that
Life never really goes the way we plan, and you may end up beset with regrets. But perhaps it's easier if you're at least happy where you are. I feel I've got that. I've always loved the countryside in West Yorkshire, so I guess I'm glad I never climbed on the back of Bruce's bike and rode off to find a new place to walk in the sun. Some of us were just born to stay where we are.
Life became a series of birthdays, cars, and pets
Just anything to look forward to
I don't talk about mistakes, I don't talk about regrets
At this point, I'm not sure what good it would do
And I'm not asking for anybody's help
As I gaze out where the stars dance with the lights
I wanted to dig into Porter Wagoner's back catalogue and found myself irresistibly drawn to his 1967 album, The Cold Hard Facts Of Life, which surely has one of the greatest album covers of all time. If a picture's worth a thousand words, this picture's worth a thousand country songs. Although the ending of this story is much darker than you might expect...
Shockingly though, that isn't my favourite track on the album. Instead, I point you towards a classic spoken word Mid-Life Crisis misery-ramble... they don't make 'em like Shopworn anymore.
Did you ever think of life as just a shop along the street
And yourself as a product displayed in easy reach
And you laid there for some quite some time now and pondered at your fate
Then you begin to wonder if maybe you'd hit the market late
Wealth had looked you over once and seen you at your best
But somehow you didn't fit his needs so he took one of the rest
Love had read your label and you lingered in her mind
But the competition caught her eye and she left you there behind
Fame had brushed the edges or the counter where you lay
And she pondered for a moment but then she walked away
Lady Luck had even picked you up but then you heard her say
I just can't afford you so I'll have to let you lay
I've been a fan of Thea Gilmore since I first heard the track Heart String Blues on a magazine compilation back in 2002. I subsequently bought the album it came from, Songs From The Gutter, along with its three predecessors, and have snapped up every record she's released since. I've seen her live a couple of times, and even (back when I had more money) supported her pre-patreon online fan-funding platform, from which I received some cool exclusives, including a page of handwritten lyrics... which are kicking around here somewhere.
So I was shocked to learn that later this year, Thea will release her final album, The Emancipation of Eva Grey, followed by her first post-Thea Gilmore record, Afterlight.
Here are the facts as I understand them...
When she was 16, Thea was discovered by a record producer. They eventually married and had two children. The couple separated in 2019 and finally divorced earlier this year.
And now, Thea Gilmore is no more. Now she is Afterlight. To quote from her website...
"After the stop comes the start. After the dark; the light. This is not a drill. Afterlight is a real account of one woman’s journey from impressionable 16-year-old bound into a toxic working and romantic relationship with a man 23 years her senior, to a brand new artist and free woman finding her own beginning."
The spoken word opening track is the only music we've had from the debut Afterlight album this far, but it's a powerful and brutally affecting piece of songwriting, heralding what must surely be one of the most important albums of the year.
As a long time fan, I'm horrified by all this... but also happy that Thea / Afterlight has been afforded this new beginning. I will continue to follow her career wherever it takes her... hopefully to much happier times.
