My Top Ten

Thursday, 5 February 2026

Another Day #3: National Weatherperson's Day

Today is National Weather Person’s Day, primarily in the USA where it marks the birthday of John Jeffries, thought to be America's first weatherman. He was also the first person to ever collect weather data from a balloon over London in 1784, rising to a height of 9000 feet with a thermometer, a barometer, and a hygrometer to see if it was raining. Presumably he also took an umbrella.

Here are some predictable tunes about Weather People to celebrate…

A Tribe Of Toffs - John Kettley (Is A Weatherman)

The Weather Prophets - She Comes From The Rain

The Weather Girls - It's Raining Men

Spearmint – The Weather Forecaster

Opinionated weather forecasters telling me it’s going to be a miserable day
Miserable to who? I quite like a bit of drizzle, so stick to the facts

Half Man Half Biscuit – A Country Practice

Hank Williams Jr. - Weatherman

Blur – This Is A Low

Sheryl Crow – Weather Channel

Tom Waits – Emotional Weather Report

ELO – Mr. Blue Sky

Wednesday, 4 February 2026

Positive Songs For Negative Times #88: Minneapolis Fall Out

I'm trying to keep away from the news this week, to take a break from the awfulness of it all, to grant my brain a temporary respite from Trump Derangement Syndrome. But that's almost impossible, isn't it?

I'm sure you've heard this by now. Everyone's heard it by now. Even people who don't like Bruce have shared it. I'm posting it here merely for posterity's sake...

And it's not the only one. I'm thankful that while I do my best to bury my head in the sand, there are people out there far braver than me, who keep on speaking out...

And here's a related tune from Mr. Hannon...

All the sycophants and narcs

All the cannibals and sharks

A secluded paradise

Of spies and cypress trees

Mar-a-Lago by the sea

Cheating losers on the greens

Swapping wives for beauty queens

Making turgid wedding speeches

Entertaining fascist leeches

Mar-a-Lago, how I miss

The golden johns in which I pissed

All that ostentatious wealth

The paintings of myself

When I was young and free

Oh wait... this just in! Even Roger Taylor's having a go.

Now, I know, you probably haven't got much time for Roger Taylor. I'm a Queen fan, and even I don't have much time for Roger Taylor. Still, fair play to him for this...

A man of no morality

Of no real quality

A shallow man

A man, devoid of empathy

No trace of sympathy

A callow man

A man, with no humanity

Of endless vanity

A swollen man

A one-man calamity, catastrophe

No trace of sanity, an empty shell

We’re drowning in your self regard

We’re drowning in your lies

We drown in your pomposity

In your atrocities

We drown

A man, of truthless vanities

Of countless fantasies

A nothing man

A man, of greed and treachery

Of mindless lechery

No kind of man

You men, of no morality

Your popularity, an endless mystery

Tuesday, 3 February 2026

Not Namesakes Tuesday: To Kill A Mockingbird

As George and Ernie are both out on manoeuvres, and because last week's bumper edition nearly finished me off, we're having a rest from Namesakes this week. All being well, it will return to bore you next Tuesday.

At the weekend, Louise and I went to see the new stage adaptation of To Kill A Mockingbird. It was excellent. I've long been a fan of Aaron Sorkin's sparky, snappy dialogue, and he found some excellent ways to use the themes of the novel to say important (if ultimately futile) things about the state of America today. If it comes to your neck of the woods, I'd highly recommend going along to see it.

Here are some tunes related, in one way or another, to Harper Lee's famous novel...

Bobby Womack - Song Of The Mockingbird

Carly Simon & James Taylor - Mockingbird

Del Amitri - Mockingbird, Copy Me Now

Grant Lee Buffalo - Mockingbirds

Mark Lanegan - Mockingbirds

The Mockingbirds - You Stole My Love

The Noisettes - Atticus

Calexico - Scout

Tom Robinson - I Shall Be Released

Monday, 2 February 2026

The Legend of CD108: Part 4

More tracks from Sam's inexplicably favourite in-car CD...

Track 11: Pat Benatar – Heartbreaker

Not one of Pat Benatar’s UK hits, I first heard this on the soundtrack to the movie Nobody in which Better Call Saul star Bob Odenkirk realises his action hero side as a mild-mannered office schlub who used to be a John Wick style badass in a previous life. You can guess the rest.

Anyway, soundtracks can often breathe new life into old songs, and this was certainly the case here. It’s not a Benatar original – all her biggest hits were written by other people – and the song was originally recorded back in 1978 by West Midlands rock chick Jenny Darren. She appears slightly miffed that Benatar was the one who used it as a springboard to fame and fortune.

Track 12: Squeeze - Pullin' Mussels From A Shell

I remember when I was compiling this CD for Sam, I had a slight reservation over whether to include this track. I guess by this point I’d already used all the obvious Squeeze singles (Cool For Cats, Up The Junction, Labelled With Love, Hourglass) and this seemed the next obvious one on the list, even though it never actually cracked the UK Top 40. BUT… is it a suitable for little kids? The singalong title / chorus is a huge, mucky innuendo, isn’t it? Oh yes, it is. Although I guess the only way you’re going to know that is if someone tells you. If you’re reading this and you never knew that “Pullin' Mussels From A Shell” was Chris Difford’s clumsy/genius* (*delete as appropriate) metaphor for “the use of fingers to stimulate the female sexual organs”… then I’m really sorry if that’s ruined the song for you. Despite this, and the song’s lack of chart success (Were the two linked? Was radio hesitant because of the innuendo?), iffypedia claims Pullin’ Mussels is one of the band’s catchiest and most popular tunes. And who can argue with that? It’s a high point on this compilation.

Track 13: Liam Frost - The City Is At A Standstill

While I have listened to more songs by Jake Bugg in the hope of finding something as strong as Lightning Bolt, I can honestly say I’ve never made a similar effort with Liam Frost… and maybe I ought to. As of this writing, this is the only song I know from this Manchester lad, but it’s a belter.

I know this world is vicious darling lets make tracks now
Black out all the city lights and drink till we both grown numb
And lay down to sleep I feel like I ran all day

Liam doesn’t appear to have released anything new since 2019, so I wonder if he’s packed it all in and found a day job? Shame if he has, and I blame myself for not paying more attention. That's right: his entire career was dependent on whether I bought a couple of his records.