Welcome, fellow detectives, to the quiz that asks you to select the correct identity of the people below... then work out the connection between their songs. Simples, as that annoying meerkat says.
15. Batman.
14. And the nonchemical reef will leave you perplexed.
13. Film director with a singular vision meets a bloke known for his twitchy eyeballs.
12. Turned out nice again.
11. Continental cops.
10. Plonker finds murder in bloody place.
9. You think that you're strong, Rocky Balboa? You're wrong.
It's been a hectic week here at Top Ten Towers - not much time for blogging.
Fortunately, George was ready to step in...
A few days ago, in the must-listen-to-every-song-all-the-way-through Namesakes series, Rol wrote that despite the title of his blog he does not actually write a Top Ten piece any more. (I'm glad to see George is finally calling that series by its proper name.) I emailed him to say that I had started several but never got to ten songs. Well, now I have. So here it is. A “Top Ten Dairy Songs”. A teacher of English would know: is it ironic that a top ten dairy list is compiled by a vegan? (Yes.)
The songs below are not in any order of preference.
1. Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band - Ice Cream for Crow
The title track of his last album, and a rollicking great, almost rockabilly, song.
In parts it sounds a game of pong gone mad. I’ve done a Rol here in stretching/ignoring the rule that the song itself must pertain to the title, but I can’t see any objection coming from either Rol or regular reader Ernie.
I object on the basis that I do remember it and wish I didn't. Ernie?
3.Billy Bragg - The Milkman of Human Kindness
One of my favourite “sing-along-with-Billy-Bragg” songs.
Anyway, components of custard are dairy, so it’s in the list. That funky bit in the song is made by a clavinet. I think.
5.Larry Williams - Peaches and Cream
Not one of his better known songs, but a fine 2 minute blast of rock and roll. And given it’s a 1950s rock and roll song, I suppose the peaches and cream of the song are not actually a fruit and a dairy product.
Bending the rules again*, but I’ve always lumped eggs in with dairy, probably from years of saying “vegetarian and no eggs no dairy”. Sung by one of my Top Ten favourite female singers. Mr CC has written (here) about our attempts to see Tarnation in Sheffield, he got the train from Glasgow, me driving up from Birmingham. Indeed he is very lucky never to have seen them twice!
And from the absolutely fantastic Quim Barreiros, from the first album of his that I purchased, “A cabritinha” (I’m 99% confident he is not referencing little female goats) and here you can see the great man in action, musically that is:
And I actually think this is a song about making an omelette. Of course, my knowledge is Portuguese entendres / sexual slang is almost zero. (I do know not to go to Mrs Woman in the veg shop and ask for tomatoes, though, only for tomato.*)
Somehow this song wasn’t banned. If anyone is thinking of doing a My Top Ten Sweetie songs, can I suggest Lollipop Mama by Wynonie Harries, a song that is of course about, according to wikipedia, a type of sugar candy usually consisting of hard candy mounted on a stick and intended for sucking or licking".
So there you are, a Top Ten Dairy Songs list, that probably only has one song about a dairy product.
And if he posts this, thanks go to Rol. Enjoy the music.
Thank you, George, for bringing the tone of this blog down several notches. Always good to see.
Brian was the next person to pick a random CD number for me to write about (from the 177 and counting compilation CDs I have created to introduce my son to the wonderfully diverse world of popular music) . Brian's was a random choice, as with everyone else's, but I've got to say there are some particularly dubious selections on this CD. A couple of moments where I was left scratching my head and asking myself, "Why the hell did I put that on here?" Then again, as readers, you probably ask the same question every time I do one of these posts. Oh well, let's see how I can justify myself this time...
Track 1: The Cure - Inbetween Days
Fortunately, we start on safe ground with another Cure song. Interesting that I've only written about four of these CDs so far, and yet The Cure have kicked us off 50% of the time. I wouldn't read anything into that beyond the fact that statistics are utter bollocks. Still, in Bob Smith we do have the 80s miserabilist who it's still cool to like... so that's something, at least.
Of course, miserabilism will only take you so far... unless you're miserable with a smile on your face, or a jaunty tune in the background... and then I'll love you forever.
Yesterday I got so old
I felt like I could die
Yesterday I got so old
It made me want to cry
I'm not sure how old Bob was when he wrote those lines, but he's a damned sight older now. Aren't we all?
Inbetween Days was the first Cure song to crack the Billboard Hot 100. It reached #99. While in the UK, it managed a paltry #15. What's wrong with the world?
Track 2:Men At Work - Who Can It Be Now?
The first of the head-scratchers, since this wasn't a UK hit (Down Under was the only time they troubled our charts) and I have no recollection of it at all from 1981. Then again, I was only 9, and I wasn't paying as much attention as I would later on. It was a Number One hit on Billboard though (which, in all fairness to Men At Work, doesn't seemed entirely equitable when Inbetween Days could only manage #98 four years later). It's not a bad song at all - I'm just not sure why I decided Sam needed to know it. Unless I was thinking it might come in handy if he ever went to visit his Uncle Adam who lives Down Under.
Track 3: Vicki Lawrence - The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia
Another one which may well be met with a fair amount of head-scratching, though I think I have a slightly better justification this time... it's a classic story song, and I love a story song. I want Sam to love story songs too. Even better, it's a story with a murky twist at the end... or, as iffypedia describes it, "a Southern Gothic murder ballad".
Written by Bobby Russell, the man who gave Honey to Bobby Goldsboro and Little Green Apples to Roger Miller, though this is much darker than either of them.
Don't trust your soul to no backwoods Southern lawyer,
'Cause the judge in the town's got blood stains on his hands.
It's rather odd then that such a dark tale would be sung by a comedy actress famous for her portrayal of the cantankerous senior citizen Thelma 'Mama' Harper on the Carol Burnett Show and later spin-offs. Burnett was 18 when she first appeared on the show, and 25 when she started playing a grumpy pensioner... although to be fair, that was a year after she'd killed her brother's adulterous wife and her lover in this tune. And she got away scott free, although her brother carried the can.
Apologies if I just spoiled the twist for you.
Track 4:10cc - The Dean & I
There's still time to contribute your thoughts on Dreadlock Holiday for the final edition of Cancel Culture Club, if you haven't already done so. But in the meantime... here's a far more respectable tune from Stockport's finest.
I went through a brief 10cc phase in my 20s in which I bought a few of their albums and poured over the lyrics. Iffypedia describes The Dean & I as a parody of 50s "sock hop" romance songs such as High School Confidential by Jerry Lee Lewis. It's about how teenage romances that stay together may well end up with "hum drum days and hum drum ways". It's a mid-life crisis song, then! No wonder I dug it in my 20s. Sam is probably / hopefully still too young to appreciate the irony though. There's a further twist at the end when the narrator finds happiness through unexpected riches... what, did he kill the kid's mum and claim the life insurance? Or have I been listening to too much Vicki Lawrence?
Like a lot of 10cc songs this feels like a bunch of tune ideas glued together to make a whole, but they made it work. It still brings a smile to my face.
Today's post was brought to you with monochrome lettering because the colour letter function wasn't working on blogger.
Today is, I'm presuming in the US, but maybe elsewhere too, "National Repeat Day".
I'll let them explain...
Ever had an experience that was so amazing, it’s worth doing twice? Or said something so brilliant that it simply bears repeating? Well, that’s exactly what this day is all about.
What?!?
National Repeat Day invites people to lean into the oddly satisfying side of doing something again on purpose. It can be as simple as replaying a favourite song or as ambitious as recreating an entire “best day ever” itinerary.
Was this written by AI? What exactly is "oddly satisfying" about doing something you like again? Why do I need a special day to play my favourite song again?
Perhaps it's not the most sexy or exciting item of clothing in your wardrobe, but the humble cardigan deserves our love for making us feel warm and cosy in winter days.
Will any of the Cardigans below have the same effect?
THE CARDIGANS #1
From Chattanooga in the late 50s came the choo-choo Cardigans, four young sloppy-doo-woppy dudes who hit the charts twice with their single Your Graduation Means Goodbye. I chose the b-side, which was a lot more fun.
More doo-wop, probably from around the same time, but with extra Dave, because we can all do with extra Dave. A youtube commenter reveals that the Cardigans were his mother and aunt, Marie and Terry Belanger. This track was recorded before the commenter was born - it must be lovely to hear his mum singing in her younger days.
A singular Cardigan, this one from Denmark in 1986. It has a video with 33,190 views on the tube of you, so it must have done something back in the day...
The Cardigans most of us are familiar with originated in Sweden in 1992, led by the very best Persson in rock: Nina. They took their name from a line in The Sundays' song Skin And Bones...
Oh, you see me in a cardigan
In a dress, dress, dress that I've been sick on
The Cardigans named their debut album Emmerdale - I'm presuming the show is big in Sweden? Their breakthru record came in 1996 when the infectious single below was featured in the soundtrack of Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet.
