Snapshots #463: Songs About Female Animals

All right, hen?

Doe, a deer, a female deer... etc. etc.

15. Taxi for Ms. Leandros!

Vicki Leandros was the most famous Vicky I could think of. Could you do better?

Vikki Carr - With Pen In Hand

A pen is a female swan. She could still break your arm.

14. How you get to being in love.

You fall in love... as Mark E. did with Brix.

The Fall - Vixen

13. Diminished Ashcroft.

Little Richard - Good Golly Miss Molly

A female mule is called a Molly.

12. A rakish lass gets confused.

"A rakish" was an anagram.

Shakira - She Wolf

11. Mingled with bartender snot.

"Bartender snot" was a very unfortunate anagram.

Brett Anderson - The Empress

An empress is a female chimpanzee.

10. Decidedly average.

Middle of the Road - Queen Bee

9. Madonna, Tiger, Pink Pixie, African Queen.

Lilys - A Nanny In Manhattan

8. I'm Rhino Syrup!

Lots of anagrams today. Lazy.

Roisin Murphy - Sow Into You

7. Wyreless.

Raydio - Jack and Jill

Jill is a female ferret.

6. When Burgess met Mel.

Burgess Meredith meets Mel Brooks.

Meredith Brooks - Bitch

5. Agraite mausoleum.

The Taj Mahal is a mausoleum in Agra.

Taj Mahal - Little Red Hen Blues

4. Between All and One, what Romans call home.

All Bar One, and Italia.

Bar Italia - Lioness

3. Bobby, sounds like custard and Mellow.

Bobby Byrd, Bird's Custard, Mellow Birds.

The Byrds - Chestnut Mare

2. LSD Eeyore got really messed up.

"LSD Eeyore" was another anagram.

Lee Dorsey - Holy Cow

1. Eccles girl meets Trini.

Jennifer Eccles meets Trini Lopez.

A Jenny is a female donkey... or a wren.

Jennifer Lopez - Jenny From The Block

Back on the block next Saturday morning...

Saturday Snapshots #463

Hopefully there's nothing Gettin' In The Way of you enjoy this week's Snapshots. Stop Daydreamin' and start working out who these people are... and how their songs might be connected.

15. Taxi for Ms. Leandros!

14. How you get to being in love.

13. Diminished Ashcroft.

12. A rakish lass gets confused.

11. Mingled with bartender snot.

10. Decidedly average.

9. Madonna, Tiger, Pink Pixie, African Queen.

8. I'm Rhino Syrup!

7. Wyreless.

6. When Burgess met Mel.

5. Agraite mausoleum.

4. Between All and One, what Romans call home.

3. Bobby, sounds like custard and Mellow.

2. LSD Eeyore got really messed up.

1. Eccles girl meets Trini.

Answers tomorrow morning.

Celebrity Jukebox #85: Tim Curry

I'm not one of those people who cherishes The Rocky Horror Picture Show as a highpoint in movie/musical history. Neither am I one of those people who hates the very mention of its name. I thought it was a pretty good movie, watched it a couple of times, had a laugh or two (I particularly like the bit with Meat Loaf)... but never felt the need to dress up and sing the songs at a revival night.

I don't have the legs for it.

Still, as powerful as that performance may well be, it'd be a shame if it was all we remembered Tim Curry for. He was also the original Pennywise, from the 1990 adaptation of Stephen King's It... not a classic, but better than the recent two part movie series (one good film, one terrible film - and they shouldn't have been split up to past and present like that anyway, it diminished the story). He was the Darkness in Legend and Long John Silver in Muppet Treasure Island. Perhaps not the most illustrious of career paths when you look at his full résumé, but that wicked twinkle of his eye generally improved any movie he showed up in.

Tim also gets a name drop from top Aussie hip hop group The Hilltop Hoods... always worth a spin.

And the thought of him helps Anna B. Savage finish... erm... what she's doing... in the song below...

Anna B. Savage - Chelsea Hotel #3

I was actually quite surprised how many times Tim's name crops up in song...

I am Tim Curry from "It" 

My heart is made out of shit

Shelf Life - Good Son

Went to see a movie

Face wasn't Tim Curry

I think I'm going to pop

I don't think I can stop

Ty Segall & White Fence - Tommy's Place

Living in a haunted home

Would be fine if I lived with a friend

It'd be no worry

If I lived with Tim Curry

But I don't, so this nightmare won't end

Let's Make A Music - Haunted Home

You may argue that some of those are even less illustrious than the lesser movies Tim appeared in... but immortality is immortality.

I've saved the best for last though. Not many of Tim's obits will mention his brief turn as a pop star, releasing three albums in the late 70s / early 80s. Coincidentally, I featured one of his best tracks on last week's Snapshots. But here's his biggest hit (#91 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1979)...

Celebrity Jukebox #84: Dolly Parton

There aren't that many true icons left, and this week we lost another.

Dolly might not mean the same to other people in my generation as she did to me... but they probably didn't grow up listening to Terry Wogan.

Jolene

Islands In The Stream

Here You Come Again

Love Is Like A Butterfly

The Bargain Store

9 To 5

In my head, every one of those was a Top Ten hit, yet in reality only the first two troubled the UK charts (9 To 5 got to #47... can you believe that?). Despite that, Dolly is one of the few artists I've come across to have a separate discography page for Albums and Singles on iffypedia... so I doubt she worried much about her British record sales.

Dolly defined country music glamour.

Dolly had her own bridge and theme park.

Dolly single-handedly cured Covid. (Well, she did a hell of a lot more than most politicians.)

Like Tina Turner before her, I thought Dolly would go on forever.

I can't believe she's gone - and she was only 80.

Here are some songs for Dolly...

Lee Hazlewood - Dolly Parton's Guitar

Yuko - Dolly Parton

Pam Tillis - Dolly 1969

Geowulf - Dolly

Suede - Dolly

Microdisney - Dolly

And a few choice lyrical mentions...

Johnny Cash in black, over on a countryside

Dolly Parton, ha, Loretta Lynn

Don't forget Charley Pride

James Brown - That's Sweet Music

I'm stuck in Spokane in a motel room

Lord, I wish I had a Dolly Parton tape

Tom T. Hall - Spokane Motel Blues

Ladies, ladies

In my kitchen baking cake is Betty Crocker

Ladies, ladies

Dolly Parton's in my pool

And Aunt Jemima's acting cool

Sparks - Ladies

Dolly Parton was queen

Billy Joel the boss

We were uptown, downtown, little bit of Motown

With Marvin Gaye and Diana Ross

Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott - 7 Inch Single

Dolly Parton and Lord Byron

They said patriotism is the last refuge

But now its me

The Fall - Mount Energei

Larry Hagman, Sally Field

And Dolly Parton, me oh my

It's all yours at

Samson and Delilah's beauty shop

Steve Forbert - Samson & Delilah's Beauty Shop

We've been gone for way too long

Can't count all the roads we've been down

Try to keep it between the ditches

Till the Dolly Parton bridge is in the front window

The Red Clay Strays - Stone's Throw

There's a lot more where they came from, but I'm still on holiday.

Finally then, here's Dolly at her very best...

One Track Summer #20: Tugboat

When guitarist Sterling Morrison left the Velvet Underground in 1971, he completed a degree in Medieval Literature at the University of Texas... but as degrees in Medieval Literature don't offer much hope in the job market, he then began working as a deckhand on a tugboat in Houston. By the 1980s, he had ascended to the position of Master Mariner, and spent most of that decade working as a tugboat captain, with music as an occasional hobby.

In 1988, Dean Wareham's dreamy indie band Galaxie 500 released a single in tribute to Morrison's post-Velvets career path... and this is it.

I don't wanna stay at your party
I don't wanna talk with your friends
I don't wanna vote for your president
I just wanna be your tugboat captain