Celebrity Jukebox #65: Tom Verlaine

Well, the Cadillac

It pulled out of the graveyard

Pulled up to me

All they said, "get in, get in"

Then the Cadillac

It puttered back into the graveyard

Me, I got out again

Just as it came time to fire up the Celebrity Jukebox again, the news of Tom Verlaine's passing was announced. I didn't build this jukebox purely as a memorial machine, but it seems to increasingly be used that way. Ashes to Ashes...

 

Being quite an influential figure in the world of rock 'n' roll, Tom Verlaine pops up in quite a few songs. Here are a strong selection...

The Go-Betweens - When She Sang About Angels

When she sang about a boy

Kurt Cobain

I thought what a shame it wasn't about

Tom Verlaine

The Waterboys -  Some of My Best Friends Are Trains

When the gang came down here again

And they're phoning up Australia and they call each other names

And they all just wanna look like Richard Hell and Tom Verlaine

Some of my best friends are trains

Frank Lloyd Wleft - The Gilesgate Monologues 

I left school with 12 GCSEs, 3 A Levels and only one good song

I'm just another Russell Group punk

Just another Distrokid kid

Just another dime-store Tom Verlaine

Waiting for my 15 seconds of fame

The Family Cat - Tom Verlaine

April the 7th, 1979

Didn’t we breakfast together?

We celebrated my seventeenth

And heard Tom Verlaine together

We shouted from my bedroom window

And weren’t we happy that day?

But perhaps it was the whisky

Well at least no-one died that day

The Damned - Idiot Box

I can't turn you off

I just try and laugh you off

Tom Verlaine you maybe are

But you sure ain't rock n roll

Aden - Brief Summer Rains

Nights by the lake

Ribs and lemonade 

Tom Verlaine

Tape on auto-play

Longstocking - Radio Agony

If I could dance

With Tom Verlaine

He's the one

On the television

Alvvays - Tom Verlaine

That when you walk away

It's gonna be for good

You were my Tom Verlaine

Just sitting on the hood

Namesakes #12: Always

Last week I thought it was a pretty tough choice (at least between the first two options), but in the end it was a Beat down: the voting went almost unanimously to The Beat from Birmingham, with only Brian fighting against the crowd. 

This week, I’ll be there forever and a day, to quote Jon By Jovi. Yes, it’s Always…

 

ALWAYS #1

Our first Always was the nom-de-plume of one Kevin Wright, who released a couple of romantic indie records in the late 80s before continuing in similar vein as Mr. Wright. Seemingly more successful in Europe than the UK, he continued crafting witty, literary indie songs for the next couple of decades, ploughing a similar furrow to Momus and Belle & Sebastian. No idea what he’s up to now, reports of his progress dry up in the mid-00s. This is from the sole LP released as Always, Thames Valley Leather Club.

ALVVAYS #2

You see what they did there? It does beg the question why we call a W “double U” when clearly “double V” would be more accurate. Still, on the odd occasion I’ve heard this band played on the wireless, they always get referred to as Always, rather than Al-Vays, so that was good enough for me. Generally, bands that muck about with the alphabet to make their names sound more edgy or hip always annoy me. To be fair, this lot were originally called Always (because “it had a shred of sentiment and nostalgia”, despite the danger that they’d “be doomed by tampon-rock references forever”). And they only changed the spelling to avoid litigation.

Anyvvay, Alvvays hail from the unfortunately named Prince Edvvard Island in Toronto. Could be vvorse, they could come from Prince Andrevv Island. VVe all knovv vvhat goes on there. They’ve been kicking around for over a decade novv, quoting Camera Obscura, The Magnetic Fields and The Primitives among their influences. This is probably their biggest “hit” to date…

I did find another couple of artists who have taken this week’s name, but their work was so obscure or irrelevant, I opted to keep things nice and easy this week. So vote now for your favourite neverending band! Or I'll send Jon By Jovi round to serenade you forever and a day.