Tuesday 28 January 2020

Hot 100 #23



Some German rap today for you, courtesy of... erm... German rappers 23 (aka Bushido and Sido). Don't say I don't treat you.

23 - Mit 'Nem Lächeln

Following last week's unexpected (except by me) victory for Half Man Half Biscuit, The Swede played it safe this week...

So could it be two weeks running for HMHB? 

Half Man Half Biscuit - Tending The Wrong Grave For 23 Years

Charity Chic will not be happy with the first word in your sentence there, Swede.

Still, this'll cheer him up. Here comes George...

The Butthole Surfers - 22 going on 23

That's a rather disturbing song for you. 

Bet that won't stop you suggesting it again next week, George.

And Dwight Yoakam - Readin', Writing, Route 23

That's more like it.

Hang on, The Swede's back...

Prince Far I - Psalm 23

I was expecting that after last week.

Soothsayers - Crying on 23rd

New to me.

Underworld - Twenty Three Blue

Japanese bonus track. No stone unturned!

The Lightmen - Luke 23:32-49

I'm not quite sure how I missed my two previous opportunities to suggest that one. Better late than never.

You know it's rare when it's only on youtube once. All done, Swede?

Delayed inspiration...

John Cooper Clarke - 23rd

That was one from my list.

Quick reminder of the Lime Green Rule, for anyone who's not been paying attention...

Unless they're amazing suggestions, I'm going to stop allowing lyrical 24s (and so on) as we get nearer number one. Let's face it, there are way too many. So you'll have to be really persuasive if you want to sell me on a lyrical reference from now on. Sorry.

Because, look, here's George again.

Damn that lime green rule. It means whip Crack Away by Doris Day is excluded.

Exceptions can be made in exceptional circumstances, George.

Twenty-three miles we've covered today

Doris Day - The Deadwood Stage

Although, to be fair, you could have had that four weeks ago, before the Lime Green Rule was instituted.

Here's a man the sheriff watches
On his gun there's more than twenty-seven notches

Time for C, who's found another suggestion from my shortlist...

Blonde Redhead - 23

Any band with Japanese art students sounds good to me (but whatever happened to them, are they still going?)

Apparently so, unless their website's lying.

Here comes somebody else wanting to flout the Lime Green Rule. It's Lynchie...

Before the lime green restrictions, I'd have said Jesus, the Missing Years by John Prine was a serious contender.

John Prine is always a contender in this house, Lynchie.

Charley bought some popcorn, Billy bought a car
Someone almost bought the farm but they didn't go that far
Things shut down at midnight, at least 'round here they do
Cause we all reside down the block inside 23 Skidoo

I really must enforce that rule more stringently. What else do you have for me?

Patti Scialfa - 23rd Street Lullaby

Martin was late to the party this week...

FurryBootsCityBoy beat me to Patti Scialfa...

You snooze, you lose.

I'm going for a punctuation cheat:

The Wedding Present - 2,3, Go!

Well, it's always nice to see my students using commas.

Over to Jim in Dubai who was hoping not to give me any nightmares like he did last week...

My offerings this week.

Stephen Duffy - Twenty Three

That was on my list.

Hippo - Twenty Three

The internet tells me you're making that one up, Jim.

Ned's Atomic Dustbin - Twenty Three Hour Toothache

Not that one though. But no nightmares this week, so thank you.

Finally this week, it's Rigid Digit...

Shakira - 23

It's in the collection - no idea how it got there, but it aint bad ... I'm off to listen to some more. Never knowingly heard it.

Welcome to 50% of my record collection, RD. One of the reasons I do this blog is so I actually get to listen to some of the tracks I've never heard before.

OK, before we get to this week's debate, what else did my hard drive spew up?

Luna - 23 Minutes In Brussels

Redbone - 23rd And Mad

Republic of Loose - 23 Things I Don't Like 

Rufus Wainwright, Helena Bonham Carter, Martha Wainwright & Fiora Cutler - Unperfect Actor (Sonnet 23)

Teleman - 23 Floors Up

The Divine Comedy - 23rd of December

Carter USM - 23:59 End of the World

Death In Vegas - 23 Lies

Paul Westerberg - 23 Years Ago

Ryan Adams - Sweet Little Girl (23rd & 1st)

Which brings us to the debate. The Swede was the first to raise the issue...

Seriously though, is anything going to top 'Strawberry Letter 23' by Shuggie Otis this week?

Charity Chic seconded that... but then, Lynchie threw in the alternative.

I prefer The Brothers Johnson version of "Strawberry Letter 23" to Shuggie Otis, so there!

I must admit, I'm really kind of torn. I know Shuggie wrote it, and the original takes some beating... but I really am rather fond of the Brothers Johnson version myself, especially as it's the version I heard first. Have we to call it a tie?

(I know: chicken!)





Next week is Catch 22. We may never escape...

12 comments:

  1. 22 Dreams by Paul Weller.

    22,000 Days by The Moody Blues.

    22nd Street by Sting and Shaggy (if nothing else, it'll irk the muso's, right?)

    When Yer Twenty Two by The Flaming Lips

    5-22-02 by Golden Smog

    22h22 by Ariane Moffatt (double whammy!)

    22 Acacia Avenue by Iron Maiden (I'd better stop there)

    And more songs called Catch-22 than you can shake a stick at.

    ReplyDelete
  2. 'Room Twenty Two', a dubwise selection from the marvellous 'Black Market Meets Mired & Wise Owl in​ the Twilight Zone'.
    (https://blackmarketdub.bandcamp.com/album/black-market-meets-mired-wise-owl-in-the-twilight-zone)

    ReplyDelete
  3. 'Twentytwo Fourteen' by The Album Leaf, a quite lovely instrumental.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Norah Jones, "She's 22". Sad, if you listen to the lyrics.

    Erasure would be my go-to for one of the plethora of "Catch 22" songs. Not sad. But I left the Erasure train long before 2000's "Loveboat" album

    But the real pick of the lot would be my Can-Con contribution ("Canadian Content", for those outside my home country, a term coined decades ago by government regulators of our airwaves to protect our ears from over-Americanization). How about the obscure and experimental b-side by Martha and the Muffins called "22 in Cincinnati"? Very moody, that one.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh, and if we're getting lax about the Lime Green Rule now, what about the iconic opening lines of Billy Bragg's "A New England". A Classic, that one, though I suspect Billy's a bit older than 22 now.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ah, now this is is the moment for The Rakes '22 Grand Job' as mentioned a few weeks back!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hey Rol,
    I don't know where i got it, obviously from some other blogger but i do have Hippo - Twenty Three, it's from the late 70's and not very good, here is a online reference link to it
    https://rateyourmusic.com/release/ep/hippo_f1/hot_from_hippo_ep/

    For 22, i can offer up.

    The Man From Delmonte - Drive Drive Drive (Twenty Two and Still in Love With You)
    Martha & The Muffins - Twenty Two in Cincinnati.





    ReplyDelete
  8. Skip James - 22 20 Blues. He plays piano instead of guitar on this track.

    ReplyDelete
  9. If it wasn't for the lime green rule, I'd have gone for the awesome Neil Young song "Powderfinger"

    "Daddy's gone, my brother's out hunting in the mountains
    Big John's been drinking since the river took Emmy Lou
    So the powers that be left me here to do all the thinking
    And I just turned twenty-two
    I was wondering what to do
    And the closer they got,
    The more those feelings grew..."

    ReplyDelete
  10. 22 - Lily Allen

    And another vote for Maiden's 22 Acacia Avenue - the second song of the "Charlotte Saga"
    (Charlotte The Harlot / 22 Acacia Avenue / Hooks In You / From Here To Eternity).
    The first two are Charlotte songs, the last two are a bit tenuous but still considered part of the ongoing story

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  11. Moon Duo 'Stumbling 22nd Street' is my only offering here that hasn't already been mentioned above.

    ReplyDelete

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