Saturday Snapshots #71 - The Answers

When it comes to Saturday Snapshots, you guys Don't Stop Till You Get Enough. And you didn't do Bad yesterday at all. It's good to know You Are Not Alone when you're playing this game, particularly this week as Alyson & Lynchie fought it out for top spot (I think Lynchie just clinched it), leaving Charity Chic, Walter, Chris and Rigid Digit to hoover up the leftovers. Thanks for playing, guys.


10. C'mon everybody - we've got 57 varieties!

Heinz have 57 Varieties.

Eddie Cochran sang C'mon Everybody.

Heinz - Just Like Eddie

9. Prima & Bella take you off the guest list.

Primadonna & Belladonna...

The Donnas - Who Invited You?

8. Electric offspring can't breathe underwater.

Son Volt - Drown

7. For a long time before you die, there'll be feedback and grease monkeys.

Feedback comes from a mic.

Grease monkeys are mechanics.

Before you die, you have the living years.

Mike & The Mechanics - The Living Years

Something in my eye, sorry.

6. What flour is to bread and cocoa is to chocolate... nah, I'm just mucking about. Aren't we all?

Flour is the main ingredient in bread. Cocoa is the main ingredient in chocolate.

The Main Ingredient - Everybody Plays The Fool

5. Talking Heads Mr. poised right behind you.

Talking Heads sang about Mr. Jones.

If you have poise, you have grace.

Grace Jones - Pull Up To The Bumper

4. Respect for sad priest.

Deacon Blue - Dignity

I love Ricky Ross, but man, he's a bad dancer.

3. E Streeter goes on provincial tour, counting down his last days.

Steve Van Zandt is a prominent member of the E Street Band.

Towns are provincial.

Townes Van Zandt - Waiting Around To Die

2. Offshore wind farms draped in Union Jacks.

British Sea Power - Waving Flags

1. Snarly rhinos before two.

Snarly rhinos is an anagram.

Now Beat It... at least until next Saturday morning at 8.30. Remember The Time. 

My Top Ten Kitten Songs

This is Millie, the new addition to our family. Too soon? I did think so... but I've been proved wrong. A welcome blast of sunshine and fun in these darkest of times...

The big problem with songs about kittens is that they're rarely actually about kittens. Kitten, is seems, is a popular metaphorical term of endearment, and just about the only song on this list which appears to be about an actual kitten is about a dead one. So I'm not dedicating any of these to Millie. Ten great songs, nevertheless...


10. Bellowhead - Moon Kittens

Bellowhead go John Williams. Better than that might sound.

9. Whitesnake - Kitten's Got Claws

The thing about Whitesnake was, around about the time this came out, they were showing their kitten side more than their claws. Power ballads had taken them into the charts and their metal beginnings were all but forgotten. This was them showing they still had their claws. You won't like it, it ain't cool, but it did the job for teenage rock fans back in the mid 80s.

Can you believe this is the first time Whitesnake have featured on this blog? I can't.

8. The Kelley Deal 6000 - When He Calls Me Kitten

What Kelley did when she got out of rehab.

7. Lily Rae & The Saturday Girls - Little Kittens

Dark and creepy - Nick Cave would be proud. From Lily's debut record, available on The Indelicates' Corporate Records label. Since then she's gone on to form the band Fightmilk: also worthy of your attention.

Don't forget that little kittens have the sharpest claws!

6. Hefner - Hello Kitten

Another song about...

I'm gonna make myself go blind tonight

...well, not kittens.

5. British Sea Power - Electrical Kittens

I've featured this here before, but no reason not to do so again. My favourite song from the latest BSP album.

4. REM - Star Me, Kitten

I guess that should be **** Me, Kitten... or @%$# Me, Kitten. It's one of those songs that sounds beautiful, but if you study the lyrics you'll choke on the metaphors. Of course, you could also scare yourself half to death with the REM & William S. Burroughs version...

3. Riff Raff - Kitten

Billy Bragg and Wiggy, back when they were still in short pants.

2. Angelica - Why Did You Let My Kitten Die?

Forgotten noughties indie from half of The Lovely Eggs. Indie-girly-pop loveliness with a sting in the tail.

1. Little Willie John - Leave My Kitten Alone

"Laying in the back seat, listening to Little Willie John..."

Yes, it was Elvis Costello who introduced this song to me... but it was Robbie Robertson who introduced me to Little Willie. And the original has added meows!



Any cuddly kitten songs in your collection?

My Top ∞ Radio Songs #10: Halycon Days

I miss radio. I was lucky enough to work in local radio when there were still opportunities. For creativity. For individuality. For fun. I don't know, maybe there still are some ILR stations out there that allow such things, but from where I'm sitting they all seem a pretty homogenised mass.

I was asked this weekend to record a message for one of my former colleagues, someone who worked at the station where I worked long before I got there (in 1988) and is only getting around to retiring now. 40 years in the same workplace is quite a record for anyone, and I know I was getting pretty instutionalised when I left... but I guess she must have enjoyed it. Looking back now, I only remember the good times. Those are the ones that come to the surface, anyway. If I think about it a little harder... well, I can smile about it now, but at the time it was terrible.

I realise I'm kind of dancing around talking about my time in radio. Working my way up to it. I'm not really sure why that is. Maybe I'm scared of scratching the scab off a few wounds...

Through rose-tinted glasses, I miss that job so very, very much. The friendships I made there were stronger than any others I've made in my life. The laughs were louder. We had fun... although we whinged a hell of a lot while we were having it, as in most workplaces. It was a thousand times easier than being a teacher. I'd go back in a heartbeat... if I thought it could be like it was.

This week's radio song, from the brand new British Sea Power album, seems particularly apt...

10. British Sea Power - Electrical Kittens

Kitten, this universe is electric now
You still dream about the things you've seen
You feel like you've been away
But you don't know where you've been

And we'll all hold hands as the radio plays
Say a little prayer for halcyon days
Silently submit to the radio waves
And hope that we'll be safe

British Sea Power - Electrical Kittens