Hot 100 #44

It's the Easter holidays at college so I have no classes... which you might expect would mean I'd have more time to work on the blog. Unfortunately, the boss has dumped a ton of extra work on me so I have even less time than usual. Apologies then if I have to keep this brief. Today's band, +44, were, apparently, an offshoot of Blink-182. I've not heard anything by them and don't have time to investigate right now.

The Swede set the ball rolling last week with a load of jazz and blues...

James 'Son Ford' Thomas - '44 Blues'

Oliver Nelson & Eric Dolphy - '111-44'

Howling Wolf - 'Forty Four' 

McCoy Tyner - '44th Street Suite' (couldn't find that one, but I'm sure it's NICE).

Lynchie, meanwhile, came tooled up with a mean '44, having realised "There are a LOT of blues songs about men killing women or other men with a .44 pistol."

Tim Rose - "Hey Joe"

Hey Joe, where you goin' with that money in your hand?
Hey Joe, where you goin' with that money in your hand?
I'm gonna go down to town to buy a blue steel 44
I'm gonna go down to town to buy a blue steel 44

(In case you're wondering, Jimi Hendrix doesn't appear to specify the calibre of his own gun.)

Lynchie continues, "But one woman did shoot a man with a .44 in the song Frankie & Johnny..."

Well, Frankie lifted up her kimono dress
And she drew out a little .44
She shot once, twice, three times she shot him
And through that hardwood door
Yeah she shot her man (yeah he was her man)
Well but he been doin' her wrong yeah

Lots of people recorded that, but here's Sam Cooke because... well, he's Sam Cooke.

Rigid Digit added another famous .44 song...

Lloyd Price - Stagger Lee

Stagger Lee went home

And he got his .44

Said I'm going to the bar room

Just to pay that debt I owe

Stagger Lee went to the bar room

And he stood across the bar room door

Said Now nobody move

And he pulled his .44

Good call, though my first thought was I'd have gone with Nick Cave... except Nick's Stagger Lee carried a Colt 45... so he should have been here last week.

After last week's splurge, Martin decided to rein himself in this week with only two suggestions...

44 Stories by Johnny's daughter, Roseanne Cash.

And for the lyrics that could have made it into a maths or multiplication top ten, the (frankly not very good) 15 Times by Gilbert O'Sullivan, which has the lines:

You and me and baby makes

3, 4, 5, 6, 7

8, 9, 10 and 11

12, 13, 14, 15 times 44 is 660!

Despite his whole "not very good" ruse (methinks he protests too much), I fully expect Martin to suggest this song consecutively for weeks 15 - 3 of this feature.

Swiss Adam was up next with a tune I didn't know, but always got time for this gentleman...

Pete Wylie - 4-11-44

And then Rigid Digit returned with...

Megadeth - 44 Minutes

(Imagine my disappointment to discover that wasn't actually 44 minutes in length. Still, not bad for Megadeth.)

And this belter...

CW McCall - Convoy

Well, we rolled up Interstate 44

Like a rocket sled on rails

Never get tired of that... though RD rather spoiled it by reminding me of the Dave Lee Travis version... the less said, the better.

Finally both Swiss Adam & Rigid Digit suggested this...

The Nails - 88 Lines About 44 Women 

...which did appear 44 posts ago, but it's still worth another play.

After all that... and a little surprise that nobody mention Fats Domino - 44... I was left with a clear choice between just two songs, both suggested by The Swede (although C seconded the first one).

This week's runner-up then is this...

The Zombies - Care of Cell 44

It would have been a worthy winner, were it not for this, from a band that Brian introduced me to a year or so ago and I've had a great affection for ever since...



I think I have a clear winner for next week... but I'm always open to having my mind changed. Go for it!

Saturday Snapshots #37 - The Answers

Always a good idea to take the lens cap off before you take a picture, Eric.

What a Strange Brew there was in this week's pile of Snapshots. Well done for guessing them - you all did Wonderful Tonight (well, yesterday morning). By my reckoning, it was a dead heat between Lynchie and Alyson this week, with 3 points each... though I'm tempted to award the tie-breaker to Lynchie for his amazing claim to fame at being the first journalist to ever write about The Sutherland Brothers & Quiver. (And that is why you ought to have your own blog, Lynchie.)


10. Rabbits in discount top hats for lil' Jeff and Bev.

Pulling a rabbit from a discount top hat would be a Cheap Trick.

Jeff Lynne & Bev Bevan were founding members of ELO.

Cheap Trick - ELO Kiddies

9. Aston Mastermind in a muddle over cold-blooded murder.

"Aston Mastermind" is an anagram of Stina Nordenstam. Yes, Martin, I've started doing anagrams now... but only when I can't think of any other clue!

Stina Nordenstam - Winter Killing

8. Kiefer, Angus and Rossif come over all wobbly when hugged by a Scottish queen.

Angus and Rossif are the brothers of Kiefer Sutherland.

If you come over all wobbly, you might quiver.

Mary Queen of Scots.

Sutherland Brothers & Quiver - Arms of Mary

7. It's going to be a fine day - not that the cantaloupes will see it.

A fine day will have no rain.

A non-seeing cantaloupe would be a Blind Melon.

Blind Melon - No Rain

6. A quiet explosion at the hairdressers.

A quiet explosion would go Shhh-boom!

The Crew Cuts - Sh-boom

5. Jacques gets wet at the end of summer.

Jacques Cousteau told many underwater adventures.

Cousteau - The Last Good Day of the Year

4. What a dunce cap has, in the castle of a conqueror, smashing an organ.

A dunce cap has a D on.

William the Conqueror built Warwick Castle (well, he told other people to build it).

Smashing an organ would make you a heartbreaker.

Dionne Warwick - Heartbreaker

3. An Idle God can't find his sunken ship - and he's looked literally EVERYWHERE.

Eric Clapton is known as "God" (only he knows why). He still can't remember to take his lens cap off before he takes a photo.

Eric Idle is just a very naughty boy... but if he'd lost his sunken ship, he would be wreck-less.

Wreckless Eric - Whole Wide World

2. Threes. A Carol for Carol?

Three is a magic number.

A carol is a hymn.

The Magic Numbers - Hymn For Her

1. Join the line to the backwards toilet, shouting for a raincoat.

A backwards toilet (WC) would be a CW.

If you were shouting for a raincoat, you might be giving your mac a call.

A line of vehicles is called a... go on, you can do the rest.



I Feel Free to do this all again next Saturday, if you'll join me...

My Top Ten Songs About Driving At Night

When songwriters can't sleep... they go for a drive.



10. Rialto - Drive

A noirish tale from the much-missed Britpop band, always a cut above many of their contemporaries.

9. Tom Petty - Night Driver

Tom's drifting home with headlines in his eyes, fighting sleep... WAKE UP, TOM! Phew. Nearly left the road there for a second. How about pulling over at the next rest stop, buddy?

8. The Cars - Drive

Who's gonna drive you home tonight?

The Cars' biggest hit (twice) comes loaded with so much extra meaning, it's hard to just listen to it as a song anymore. Plus, it was played to death on the radio when I was a teenager and I think I OD'ed on it. Good song, but Rick Ocasek & co. made far more exciting records.

7. Dion - Drive All Night

From Mr. DiMucci's late 80s comeback album, this keeps the hand-clapping doo-wop feel of his earlier hits filtered through more contemporary production courtesy of Dave Edmunds and Bryan Adams.

Well, when I say "contemporary", I mean "contemporary: 25 years ago". Sigh.

6. Roy Orbison - I Drove All Night

Fun fact - although everyone thinks Cyndi Lauper recorded this first (she made the charts with it before Roy), The Big O actually recorded it two years before Cyndi. It wasn't released as a single (with a little help from Jeff Lynne) until after his death in 1992. Anyway, much as I love Cyndi's sultry take on the tune, there's only one Roy O. Plus, although Cyndi's video features a car projected onto her naked body (not as exciting as that might sound), Roy's video guest stars a young Jennifer Connelly (and Jason Priestley, ladies). Ah, you decide. (Just don't suggest the Celion Dion version.)

5. Hamell On Trial - The Long Drive

Ed Hamell's Chandler-esque tale begins with a long drive in which his private detective hero leaves at midnight... worth a listen for any Philip Marlowe fans out there.

4. C.W. McCall - Convoy

Doubtless if I ever get round to compiling a Top Ten Trucking Songs, this'll be Number One. Although McCall's convoy (the inspiration for Sam Peckinpah's movie starring Kris Kristofferson, Ali McGraw and Ernest Borgnine) trucks on through both day and night, it nudges its way into this chart because of the hour it begins:

It was the dark of the moon
On the 6th of June...

3. Tom Robinson Band - 2-4-6-8 Motorway

Having already hurtled to the top of My Top Ten Motorway Songs, it was tempting to give Tom's trucker anthem a miss in favour of his other night driving anthem (a European retelling of the quintessentially English 2-4-6-8,) Drive All Night. But although that's a very fine song - and its title suggests it deserves a place here more than its more famous sibling - I just can't bring myself to choose it over 2-4-6-8. Plus, iffypedia informs me that the chorus of 2-4-6-8 is pilfered from a Gay Lib chant "2,4,6,8, Gay is twice as good as straight... 3,5,7,9, Lesbians are mighty fine". Brilliant!

2. Golden Earring - Radar Love

I can't think of many Dutch rock bands, and I can only think of one other record by this bunch... but this song is good enough to have been covered by everyone from REM to Def Leppard to U2... and none of them came close to matching the original. Close your eyes and this could be Led Zep. It begins with some amazing power chords before the chugging drum rhythm kicks in and then Frans Krassenburg's Robert Plant-esque voice chimes in with those masterful opening lines.

I've been driving all night
My hands wet on the wheel

By the time Brenda Lee starts coming on strong on the radio, I've almost driven through the central reservation. Just one fantastic rock record. Apparently Golden Earring had over 30 top ten hits in Holland. I might just have to splash out on a best of compilation...

1. Bruce Springsteen - Drive All Night / State Trooper

Although I feature Bruce a lot on this blog, I'm always wary of giving him the Number One because it reeks of favouritism. (Strange, I know - after all, it's my blog, I can do what I want. And it's not as though anyone's reading...) Here though is a double bill of two of his finest songs, both involving driving at night, albeit from completely different perspectives.

Simply put, Drive All Night is one of the greatest love songs ever written. I'd rate it just a step below Wichita Lineman, and there's no finer compliment in my book.

I swear I'll drive all night again
Just to buy you some shoes
And to taste your tender charms

The simplest of gestures, yet it speaks of true love in my book... and I'm sorry if that's perpetuating the "all women like shoes" stereotype... but Louise's wardrobe is one step away from Imelda Marcos's, and she's not the only woman I know like that. (Not that I'd ever dare buy her some shoes... I'm totally clueless in that department... as so many others. I'm no Bruce.)



State Trooper, on the other hand, is a much darker proposition. From the epically lo-fi Nebraska album (famously recorded on a 4 track cassette deck in Bruce's back bedroom), it's a tale of late night desperation. A man on a long, lonely drive across the states begs a policeman not to pull him over. It's creepy, brooding and compellingly tragic.

New Jersey Turnpike, ridin' on a wet night 
'Neath the refinery's glow, 
Out where the great black rivers flow
License, registration, I ain't got none, 
But I got a clear conscience
'Bout the things that I done
Mister state trooper please don't stop me...

Which one would you flash your headlights at?