Namesakes #182: April March

Today is the final day of March, tomorrow the first of April. To celebrate, here are a small number of artists (still - quite amazing that there's more than one) with both April and March in their name...

APRIL MARCH #1

Not a musician, but it would be remiss of me not to include the original April March, "The First Lady of Burlesque", a headline act across the world from 1952 till her retirement in '78 (she gave up because the stripping business had become "too blatant and sexual"). Born Velma Fern Worden, she was married eight times (and briefly engaged to Mel Torme), almost became a pro golfer, and made a comeback in 2006, aged 71. She died last year.

If none of the others take your fancy this week, I'm sure Velma will appreciate your vote.

AN APRIL MARCH #2

Next up, a Canadian shoegaze / dream pop band, active between '89 and '99, originally called The Whittingtons. Compared to  many of this week's acts, they at least play proper music... I just can't find much more info about them without doing a deep dive, and I already spent far too much time this week looking for a video of #1 performing in her heyday. (I'll save you the trouble - none seem to exist.)

An April March - Scarlett Bliss

APRIL MARCH #3

New Yorker Elinor Lanman Blake is a  writer, illustrator and animator who has worked on The Ren & Stimpy Show, Pee-Wee's Playhouse and the Madonna movie Who's That Girl. She also did the illustrations for a children's book written by Jack White named after his song We're Going To Be Friends.

As a musician, she goes by the name April March, first in her band the Pussywillows, and then as a solo artist. As a self-confessed Francophile, she's rather partial to a bit of Serge, and she's probably most well known for her cover of Gainsbourg's Chick Habit which featured in the soundtrack to Quentin Tarantino's movie Death Proof.

April March - Chick Habit

APRIL MAY MARCH #4

See what they did there? I mean, really, if it was a busier week, I wouldn't include this at all. And also, it's filed under "experimental" on the camp of bands, and that's never a recommendation.

April May March - The Badger

Trust me though, it might not be the most bizarre thing you hear this week. Because...

APRIL MARCH #5

Because... this week's WTF offering was dropped onto the camp of bands in 2020. It's a recording of some woman sitting in her car eating a granola bar, while talking to you in a breathy whisper. If that's the sort of thing that gets you engine revving, you can buy it for the low price of one American dollar. Others might prefer to go back to #1 for their titillation.

I'm hoping April's got a real job in the last six years and this isn't her only source of income.

April March - My Boyfriend

 

Have we got time for a bonus track, just to make up the numbers?

MARCH ONTO APRIL

Stretching the rules to breaking point, but at least it means we get to close today with a proper tune. This Florida-based band from the last decade "blend many different moods and tones of emo, Alternative, and pop punk." Nothing experimental, no granola bars, and they keep their clothes on the whole time.

March Onto April - Postcards From Greece

Which one makes you want to March into April... and which are just March-April Fools?

Snapshots #256: A Top Ten Chicken Songs

Ten clucking songs about chickens... or chicks, at least.

They all taste like chicken to me...

10. Head of the Family.

Charles Manson was the leader of the cult known as The Family.

Mansun - Take It Easy, Chicken

9. Join arms with Charles and Sugar.

He links arms with Ray Charles and Sugar Ray.

Link Wray - Run, Chicken, Run

8. When you go back in time forty years, head straight for the toy car catastrophe. 

Matchbox Cars have a disaster in the 80s... and you must make a beeline to it.

The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster - Chicken

(Look, you come up with a clue for that tosh.)

7. Monthly confusion in the springtime.

April March - Chick Habit

6. Take Prozac for your Monobrow now! And find the answer within.

Take Prozac for your Monobrow now!

The Zac Brown Band - Chicken Fried

5. First lady of the Bread family.

Eve was the first lady. And, as discussed on Wednesday, the sitcom Bread, created by Carla Lane, featured the Boswell Family.

Eve Boswell - Pickin' A Chicken 

4. Protect the Queen!

Bees protect their queen.

The Bees - Chicken Payback

One for RadMac listeners.

3. A small accomplishment.

Little Feat - Dixie Chicken

2. The Wizard Who travelled from there to Brighton.

From The Who's Pinball Wizard...

From Soho down to Brighton

I must have played them all

Soho - Hippy Chick

Even after 31 years, I'm still not sure what I think about that. But I'm more forgiving now than I was in 1991.

1. Stomach pains.

If you're going to sing about a chicken, at least have the decency to do a proper chicken impression...

The Cramps - Chicken

Unless I chicken out, there'll be more of this nonsense next Saturday.

Celebrity Jukebox #1: Robert Mitchum

In a desperate effort to move this blog away from wall-to-wall misery, self-pity and middle-aged grumpiness, here's a new feature in which I pay tribute to celebrities who have been immortalised in song.

I don't know why I chose to start with Robert Mitchum, other than I wanted the list to be random and he was the first person who popped into my mind. When I was younger, and a huge Humphrey Bogart fan, I never liked Robert Mitchum. I found him rather wooden compared to Bogie: given they both played Philip Marlowe, it was hard not to line them up together. 

In later years though, I grew to appreciate Mitchum's performances more, and I could see why he was considered a very cool dude. In modern times, I felt the same way about Keanu Reeves at first, thinking him a one-note actor (that note being Ted "Theodore" Logan), but over time I developed a lot more respect for him. Like Mitchum, he has real screen presence. And that indefinable cool.

Julian Cope was the first person to immortalise Robert Mitchum in song...

The part in Ryan's Daughter when you lose your wife

I've never seen a more dignified man in my life

But when you start looking for Bob Mitchum songs though, you'll be amazed how popular he is...

The Velvet Underground - New Age

"Can I have your autograph?"

He said to the fat blonde actress

"You know I've seen every movie you've been in,

From Paths of Pain to Jewels of Glory

And when you kissed Robert Mitchum

Gee but I thought you'd never catch him"

Elton John - One More Arrow

He said, I want to grow up

And look like Robert Mitchum

And I hope that when I'm gone

There'll be some say that I miss him

Vic Chestnutt - Lucinda Williams

Imports and altercations

My faculties on a shoe-string vacation

I settled down on a hurt as big as Robert Mitchum

And listen to Lucinda Williams

The Fiery Furnaces - Rehearsing My Choir

But there he'd sit

At his table at the Edgewater Hotel

Wearing his ecclesiastical furs

And lunching with two giggly and none too healthy looking young men

And in his shirt pocket up close to his heart was his autographed picture of Robert Mitchum

Which he no doubt used in an impure way

Flop - Night Of The Hunter

Solvents glue and heroin she said

I don't want to do that at all

I took her to see Robert Mitchum in

Night of the Hunter

Shelley Winters has a vision of

Righteousness from up above

She trades her children for the love

Of a preacher with a soul decay

Before we get onto this week's winning tune, it's worth remembering that Mr. Mitchum had a short-lived musical career of his own... and I'm guessing a certain Mr. B. Springsteen might be aware of it...

Now I can't guarantee that every week I'll find quite so many songs about one celebrity... I'm sure there are plenty with only one to their name. But when I first thought about starting with Robert Mitchum, this was the song I knew I'd finish with. Because it's almost as cool as he was...

Snapshots Spillover: More Actor Songs

Following on from this weekend's Snapshots, featuring songs named after famous actors, I had something of an overspill... so here are some of the runners up.

April March - Stay Away From Robert Mitchum

Keep your grubby hands off Mitchum
He's rugged and he's handsome
And spurns the likes to you
Touch him and you'll be through

Julian Cope - Robert Mitchum

The part in Ryan's daughter
Where you lose your wife
I've never seen a more dignified man
In my life

Robyn Hitchcock - Gene Hackman

Different to the Hoodoo Gurus song featured yesterday, but equally enjoyable...

He's got an evil grin

He's got curly hair

And every time he smiles

It means trouble somewhere

So don't talk to me about Gene Hackman

Neon Neon - Michael Douglas

'Cause you'll see my reflection (reflection, reflection)

In Michael Douglas's mirrored sunglasses

You'll see my perfection (perfection, perfection)

In Michael Douglas's mirrored sunglasses

The Rakes - When Tom Cruise Cries

TV's on, Tom Cruise crying on his father's bed,

Reminds me what that French guy said,

From news to movies all the crap with it,

Headlines keep you excited,

Like when Tom Cruise cries,

It's all lies

Bananarama - Robert DeNiro's Waiting

I would have included this on Saturday, but I felt it was a little too obvious, even for me.

The Thrills - Whatever Happened To Corey Haim?

Postal Service - Clark Gable

I kissed you in a style Clark Gable would have admired

I thought it classic

Deacon Blue - He Looks Like Spencer Tracy Now

He may have been a nationalist, a physicist or a pacifist

But he's just taking pictures and he'll do it anyhow

Well, I have seen that movie of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde

And I know he looks like Spencer Tracy now

Bree Sharp - David Duchovny

Watching the sky for a sign
The FBI is on my mind
I'm waiting for the day
When my lucky stars align
In the form of...
David Duchovny floating above me
In the alien light of the spaceship of love

Deep Purple - Vincent Price

I want seven screaming virgins on a sacrificial altar
Hell and God, screeching doors, zombies, aaaaah!
It feels so good to be afraid
Vincent Price is back again

Bauhaus - Bela Lugosi's Dead

Bela Lugosi's dead

The bats have left the bell tower

The victims have been bled

Red velvet lines the black box

Elton John - Roy Rogers

Oh, the great sequin cowboy who sings of the plains

Of roundups and rustlers and home on the range

Turn on the TV, shut out the lights

Roy Rogers is riding tonight

And my personal favourite...

I want to be your hero,

Kurt Russell, Eastwood and me

There's no doubt plenty more where they came from, but that's enough actors for today. Drop me a comment if I've missed one of your favourites and I might do a follow up post... but remember, we're leaving the ladies for another day.