Mid-Life Crisis Songs #133: Wedding Day

Bill Callahan - Watch Me Get Married

The Dreamlovers - When We Get Married

The Proclaimers - Let's Get Married

Louise and I celebrated the 20th anniversary of our first date back in February, but though we've been together through thick and thin since then, we've never got married. Neither of us are really a fan of the ceremony, the expense, or being forced into the limelight. If that's what you wanted, good on you, but it was never for us.

James Carpenter - (Marriage Is Only) A State of Mind

Today though, we're getting married. It's a small registry office thing in the Town Hall - me, Lou, Sam, her Mum and partner as witnesses. No big do. No suit or dress. Not even any rings. No expense... well, a little expense, but you can't do anything for free, can you? We're doing it for a very boring reason - inheritance tax, so that if one of us dies, the other one (and Sam) will be a little better off than if we'd not tied the knot. Who says romance is dead?

Billy Bragg - The Marriage

There were many times in my life I thought I'd never meet anyone who'd want to stay with me. Since we met, Louise has always been there for me... even when I've done her head in. You can't ask for more than that, I don't think. And if you think this is a particularly unsentimental post, well, all I can tell you is that Louise wouldn't thank me for writing anything soppy.

Nina Simone - Marriage Is For Old Folks

I'm really hoping Billy Idol might ride his motorbike through the Town Hall window, but I'm betting he'll be bleaching his hair today. Then again, neither of us will be wearing white.

Snapshots #416: Songs With Repeated Names

At the top of the page yesterday, we had a picture of Nick Rhodes, keyboard player with Duran Duran. Today we have him and all his mates... because Duran Duran are named after a scientist in the movie Barbarella with the same name twice. Although he was called Durand-Durand. 

Anyway, here are some songs with the same name repeated...

15. There's a great future in plastics.

"There's a great future in plastics," is a quote from a famous movie starring Dustin Hoffman...

Graduate - Julie Julie

Graduate were the first band of Curt Smith and Roland Orzabal, who went on to find fame as Tears For Fears. 

14. Ralph Fiennes, Colin Firth, Taron Egerton.

Three actors connected with the Kingsman movie franchise.

The Kingsmen - Louie Louie

13. Indian model, misdirected.

"Indian model" was an anagram...

Neil Diamond - Cherry Cherry

12. Ring, Gems, Mono.
         Answer here!

Ringtone, gemstone, monotone. The answer was under them all.

The Undertones - Jimmy Jimmy

11. Marx, Harris, Chamberlain.

Three Richards, but the last one was Little.

Little Richard - Jenny Jenny

10. Useful for starting the week.

Get the week started by inserting the Mon-key.

The Monkees - Mary Mary

9. Partially seen through steamy windows at the back of a warehouse.

Partially seen through steAMY WINdows at the back of a warEHOUSE.

Amy Winehouse - Amy Amy Amy

8. Garth's mate has a 60s record label.

Garth was mates with Wayne from Wayne's World. The record label was Fontana.

Wayne Fontana - Pamela Pamela

7. Found fish meets Morecambe's Preview.

The sequel to Finding Nemo was Finding Dory. Eric Morecambe was a big fan of Andrew Preview. (Or Previn, as we knew him.)

Dory Previn - Michael Michael

6. Father Christmas was Not Available for this photo. 

Santa - NA.

Santana - Maria Maria

5. Joined Bucks Fizz with half of the King below.

Bucks Fizz is made up of Champagne (see below) and Orange Juice.

Orange Juice - Louise Louise

4. Waugh and a bubbly ruler get together.

Evelyn Waugh meets Evelyn 'Champagne' King.

This is Evelyn Evelyn, a band made up of Amanda Palmer and Jason Webley. They seemed particularly appropriate today.

Evelyn Evelyn - Evelyn Evelyn

3. You get a good view of the gathering place from here.

A buena vista of the social club...

Buena Vista Social Club - Chan Chan

2. Those Turbo Frappes will get you properly buzzed up.

"Turbo Frappes" was an anagram...

Prefab Sprout - Johnny Johnny

Pure class.

1. An icon, Broad-ly speaking.

An Idol, whose real name is William Broad.

Billy Idol - Mony Mony

Hopefully you'll have stopped seeing double by the time Snapshots returns next Saturday...

Snapshots #367: A Top Twenty Songs Named After Horror Movies

Darkness falls across the land

The midnight hour is close at hand

Creatures crawl in search of blood

To terrorize y’all’s neighborhood

And whosoever shall be found

Without the soul for getting down

Must stand and face the Hounds of Hell

And rot inside a corpse’s shell

The foulest stench is in the air

The funk of forty thousand years

And grizzly ghouls from every tomb

Are closing in to seal your doom

And though you fight to stay alive

Your body starts to shiver

For no mere mortal can resist

The evil of the SNAPSHOTS!

AH HA HA HA HA HA HAAAAA

Thank you, Vincent. This world was never meant for one as beautiful as you.

It's Halloween this week, and when I started looking for songs that share their names with horror movies, I hit a bumper bundle. But did you guess them all?

20. Bad jingles get me in such a tizzy. 

"Bad jingles" was an anagram...

J. Geils Band - Fright Night

19. Lost inside Outwood Golf Course.

In case you're wondering, Outwood is just down the road from where I work in Leeds. Fortunately, I've never spotted u-two while driving through there...

U2 - The Fly

18. Ttttttttttttthhhhhhhhhhhhhhhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiissssssssssss iiiiiiiiiiiisssssssssssss ttttttttttttttttthhhhhhhhhhhhheeeeeeeeeeee ccccccccccccccllllllllllllluuuuuuuuuuuuueeeeeeeeeee.

Slow Readers Club - Lost Boys

17. The Haiti dollar hides a silly secret. 

The Haiti dollar, Silly Billy.

Billy Idol - Eyes Without A Face

16. Boopadoop.

Named after Chic Young's Blondie comic strip: her surname was Boopadoop.

Blondie - Island Of Lost Souls

15. Noughties boy band, aphrodisiac, Ian Astbury.

Noughties boy band = Blue.

Aphrodisiac = Oyster.

Ian Astbury = The Cult.

Blue Öyster Cult - Nosferatu

14. Frippette?

She's married to Robert Fripp...

Toyah - Alien

13. They're ghosting you.

The Phantom Band - The Howling

12. Can you hear them?

The Sonics - Psycho

11. ...is a V. smarmy DJ mix.

..."is a V. smarmy DJ" was an anagram...

Sammy Davis Jr. - The Candyman

10. A wing and a guitar.

A Fender is what we Brits would call the wing on a car... and it's also a type of guitar.

Sam Fender - Poltergeist(s)

9. Just desserts.

The Sweet - Hellraiser

8. Read one section of your home. 

Chapterhouse - Don't Look Now

7. This guy, and another four droplets.

A tough one this, and probably not one you could guess from the clue alone... but once you worked out the theme... maybe?

Anyway, the photo above is Bernie Nee, the singer on the track below. The rest of the Blobs were session musicians, so no photo exists of the "band" itself...

The Five Blobs - The Blob

6. Bitten by a green bird that wishes it could fly.

Orville might have wished he could fly, but he could at least peck.

Orville Peck - Dead Of Night

5. Used to make soup for Alice and the Queen.

Then the Queen said to Alice, "Have you seen the Mock Turtle yet?"

"No," said Alice. "I don't even know what a Mock Turtle is."

"It's the thing Mock Turtle Soup is made from", said the Queen.

(From Alice In Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll.)

The Mock Turtles - Wicker Man

4. A carpenter and a great hangman. 

The Great Hangman is a cliff. Richard was a Carpenter.

Cliff Richard - Carrie

3. Chest, pea, dough.

Chestnut, peanut, doughnut...

Nut - Scream

2. What do Jennifer Anniston, Julie Andrews and Jane Austen cook their eggs in?

In the J.A.pan, of course!

Japan - Halloween

1. Lad-ra-doodle.

It's not often you see Damon Gough without his hat on...

Badly Drawn Boy - The Shining

Not Number One because it's my favourite song... but it is my favourite horror film.

Such a bounty of horror-film-related songs did I find, that there will be more to share later in the week... and a much less scary Snapshots will be back next Saturday.