I'm a huge fan of that song, but I have to admit that whenever I hear it, I imagine Neil getting jiggy on a rocky coastline, with the waves pounding over him. It looks bloody freezing.
Yesterday's link, to be specific, was not just songs with colours in the title... there are millions of those. No, the link was songs whose title is just a colour, nothing else. Far fewer of those to choose from, but here are the ten I found...
10. The Iceman Cometh, perhaps?
"The Iceman Cometh" is a play. A cold one, presumably.
I don't believe in Snapshots... I just believe in me.
Here's this week's answers. Thanks for playing. Well done to Lynchie for getting up first (and magnanimously leaving some for everybody else), and to Rigid Digit for hoovering up most of the others.
I've been listening beyond Escape & Him. It's all part of my mid-life crisis that I feel the need to dig into 70s MOR whenever life gets too much. Here's Rupert Holmes singing a song about - literally - being nearsighted. Sounds a lot like Barry Manilow on this one.
Legend has it that Steven Tyler walked into a bar, spotted Vince Neil from Mötley Crüe from behind and was about to go chat him up until he realised his mistake.
So never judge a book by its cover
Or who you gonna love by your lover
Love put me wise to her love in disguise
She had the body of a Venus
Lord, imagine my surprise!
1. ABC - The Look Of Love
If you judge a book by the cover
Then you judge the look by the lover
I hope you'll soon recover
Me I go from one extreme to another
I'm not sure that really makes sense, but Martin Fry's lyrics never really did stand up to much analysis. Fortunately, his tunes were solid gold.
If you judged any of my suggestions too harshly... feel free to supply alternatives.
That's Gary there. He's getting down to business, apparently. Like this. Kind of reminds me of Jermaine in Flight of the Conchords. It was Business Time For Him too. But only on a Wednesday.
When I were a lad, pop songs used to allude to matters sexual. Subtly. You know, like My Ding-A-Ling. Subtle. You listen to what the young people are listening to these days and they're doing it in the kitchen, in the hall, in the back of a Vauxhall Astra... they've got no shame. And they just come right out and say it! Where's the fun in that? Where's the phnarr? Honestly, things were so much better back in the day...
Anyway, here's ten songs that would have Kenneth Williams crying, "Matron!"
I'm really not sure I believe this one or if it's all just an internet myth, but apparently, the lyrics to Chain Reaction are really, really smutty. Barry? Maurice? Robin? DIANA!?
The opening to this song / video is puerile, offensive and ridiculous. I feel ashamed for admitting it makes me laugh every time I hear / see it. Actually, there's very little innuendo here, it's just pure smut. But Steven Tyler is such a rock star caricature, it's hard to be offended by it.
Mama's got a squeeze box She wears on her chest And when daddy comes home He never gets no rest 'Cause she's playing all night And the music's all right Mama's got a squeeze box Daddy never sleeps at night
From the same band who were just looking at their Pictures of Lily, nothing else.
Not one to use an innuendo when he can be Prince (Gett Off, Cream, Come, etc. etc. etc.), Chocolate Box is actually Prince at his most restrained. It's not about a box of chocolates.
I will hold my hand up and say that for years, I had absolutely no idea there was anything remotely sordid about this track. It's just about a traffic jam, isn't it? Isn't it?
David Gedge is on about a one night stand here, not an ice cream. And the perils of doing that when you've reached a certain age... or had too much beer, I guess.
He stole the title from a dodgy 60s farce, by the way...
One of those songs which got away with it for years because nobody really listened to what Alison was singing.
Show me one direction I will not question again For a warm injection Is all I need to calm the pain
What seed must I sow To replenish this barren land Teach me to harvest, I want you to grow in my hand Let's be optimistic, Let's say that we won't toil in vain If we pull together We'll never fall apart again...
Phew. Cold flannel, anyone?
1. Squeeze - Pullin' Mussels From A Shell
What goes on behind the chalets should stay behind the chalets.
Everybody knows that this is a nudge-nudge, wink-wink song... but have you EVER heard anyone use the title as innuendo in real life? Iffypedia tells us, "the phrase 'pulling mussels' is British slang for sexual intercourse, mainly used in England". Really? Not where I live, mate.
I have a load more big ones if anybody wants to see them.
In which Mick & Keef take (gentle) piss out of their original manager, Andrew Loog Oldham... although this was recorded back in 1964 while they were all still mates. Never officially released, and probably a little NSFW if you do your blog reading in the office.
Originally titled Zanz Kant Danz in direct reference to Fogerty's old boss at Fantasy Records, Saul Zaentz, who (back in the 80s) owned the rights to the Creedence Clearwater Revival back catalogue. When Fogerty had a hit solo single with The Old Man Down The Road, Zaentz claimed it was a rip off of Creedence's Run Through The Jungle... and effectively sued Fogerty for plagiarising himself. He lost, but this was Fogerty's response...
Vanz Kant Dance, but he'll steal your money...
Watch him, or he'll rob you blind
To be fair, it's not Fogerty's finest hour (and the Claymation pig video is awful), but it's a great story, and because it's the 80s: we forgive you.
Allen Klein goes down in history as the music company mogul who managed to piss off both the Beatles and the Stones. You can chase up the history of all that yourself, but both the above songs have been seen as former Beatles having a dig at their former manager. An early version of Beware of Darkness contained the lyric "Beware of ABKCO" and many believe Steel & Glass was Lennon putting the boot in too (although John remained closer to Klein than the other Beatles and refused to confirm the song was about him).
A&R man Clive Davis was the guy who signed Janis Joplin, Donovan, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Earth, Wind & Fire and Santana (among others) to CBS before founding Arista Records where he brought us Patti Smith, Barry Manilow, Whitney Houston and Alicia Keys. One of his biggest signings at CBS though was Aerosmith, and Steven Tyler thanked him personally by mentioning him in the opening track to their 1979 album Night In The Ruts. It's not the band's best album as they were pretty much imploding at the time due to money issues, drug abuse and relationship problems (guitarist Joe Perry quit the band for five years during it's recording while still owing CBS a bill of $80,000 in room service... that's a lot of bottles from the mini bar).
No Surprize is the best track on an otherwise dodgy album, and it works as a potted history of Aerosmith from the early days...
Nineteen seventy one
We all heard the starters gun
New York is such a pity
But at Max's Kansas City we won
We all shot the shit at the bar
With Johnny O'Toole and his scar
And then old Clive Davis said
I'm surely gonna make us a star
...right up to the horrific realities of being a tragically impoverished rock star in 1979.
Candy store, rock n' roll
Corporation jellyroll
Play the singles, it ain't me It's programmed insanity!
You ASCAP
If BMI
Could ever make a mountain fly
If Japanese can boil teas
Then where the fuck's my royalties?
Hey, Steven: doesn't everybody boil tea? What makes the Japanese so different?
Another unconfirmed one, but most Dylan fans believe this to be a thinly-veiled attack on his Bobness's former manager, Albert Grossman: a man who, in name and appearance (Dylan described him as being like Sydney Greenstreet in The Maltese Falcon) must be the archetypal music business boss.
Written and released posthumously, which is probably why it's a little more respectful than most of the "tributes" on this list, but there's also much to suggest that Anthony H. Wilson was a little different from many of the other bosses mentioned here. The Factory founder is held in high regard by most of the artists he signed and lots of other folk he crossed paths with along the way... which is demonstrated by the video which features contributions from the likes of Iggy Pop, Christopher Eccleston, Bernard Sumner, Shaun Ryder and Rowetta, Mark Radcliffe, Miranda Sawyer, Terry Christian, John Cooper Clark and Steve Coogan (who played Wilson in the 2002 film 24 Hour Party People).
St. Anthony was written by Manchester poet Mike Garry and set to music (based on the tune of New Order's Your Silent Face) by composer Joe Duddell, who's previously worked with New Order, James, Elbow and others. It's a hugely affecting piece of music, a credit to all those involved. For more information (or to download the charity single or EP), click here.
Poor old David Geffen. He had such a tough time being a multi-millionaire music mogul that he could only ever feel free in Paris. Fortunately, Joni Mitchell was there to soothe his furrowed brow with this top tune from Court & Spark.
By the way, I'd love to have given this one to Carly Simon for You're So Vain, but although she has claimed that song is about a composite of three men, she won't confirm that David Geffen was one of them (even though a lot of people suspect he was...along with Mick Jagger & Warren Beatty).
It's an indie top three this week, just like the good old days. Proper indie too, nothing yobby or from the watered down 21st Century!
Stuart Murdoch takes a backseat and lets Stevie Jackson sing lead vocals on this one, a story about the rest of the band flying out to LA to visit the legendary record producer while Murdoch stays home and moons over a girl. (Typical Stuart Murdoch, really: this is the same guy who called this album 'The Boy With The Arab Strap' as a reference to the grumpy Scottish band... and claims to have had no idea what they'd named their band after.)
I heard dinner went well
You liked Chris's jacket
He reminded you of Johnny
Before he went electronic
Interesting that both this and the next song reference The Smiths. That's proper indie right there!
Ah, the Pooh Sticks. Self-aware indie pop not afraid to mercilessly take the piss out of the whole business, where (more than any other profession), it's not what you know: it's who you know. And not only does this late 80s indie classic mention the notoriously grumpy Creation founder... but also this next guy too...
1. The Smiths - Frankly, Mr. Shankly
It's been so long since I featured The Smiths on this blog... you'd almost think I wasn't a fan.
As has been well established, this was Morrissey's ungracious tribute to Rough Trade boss Geoff Travis. He did apparently once write Morrissey a poem... and, well, Moz makes it quite clear here what he thought of that.
And finally, this is one to play to anyone who ever tells you the Smiths were "miserablists".
But sometimes I'd feel more fulfilled Making Christmas cards with the mentally ill I want to live and I want to love I want to catch something that I might be ashamed of!
The Beatles, The Stones, The Smiths, Dylan and Joni Mitchell. Shit, I'm turning into MOJO. Your suggestions are welcome for songs about the managers of less well-known music industry managers. I was surprised I couldn't find any songs about Phil Spector, Joe Meek or Berry Gordy. Perhaps you know differently...
John Fogerty's animosity toward his old record-company boss Saul Zaentz lasted until the latter died in 2014. It all stemmed from Creedence Clearwater Revival's
1967 contract with Fantasy Records, which Fogerty for years wrestled to
get out of. The wounds were still fresh in Fogerty's mind when he
released his comeback LP, 'Centerfield,' in 1985. The album's closing
track, 'Zanz Kant Danz' ("but he'll steal your money," went the
chorus) pissed off Zaentz so much that he sued Fogerty for defamation.
The song's title was later changed to 'Vanz Kant Danz,' but the point
was made and the damage was done.
Read More: Evil Record Label Songs | http://ultimateclassicrock.com/evil-record-label-songs/?trackback=tsmclip
