Here are a few appropriate tunes, only one of them a Eurovision contender...
I know you won't have time to listen to all those, but there's some cracking tunes in there. More reasons to go back into Europe!
Showing posts with label Cleaners From Venus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cleaners From Venus. Show all posts
Friday, 7 August 2026
Neverending Top Ten #7.5: Eurovision
Monday, 1 July 2024
Celebrity Jukebox #130: Syd Barrett
The recent peloton of bike posts over at Charity Chic blog forced me to dig out one of my few favourite Pink Floyd songs, although I think it's fair to say that it's more of a Syd Barrett solo...
I have to confess I'm not the biggest expert on Syd - I'm sure some of you know far more about him than I do - but I often think it's a shame he was (to quote iffypedia) "ousted" from the Floyd, as to me they became a far less interesting combo without him.
And
it feels like 1974
Syd
Barrett's last session, he can't sing anymore
He's
gonna have to be Roger now for the rest of his life
His struggle with mental health and gradual decline to a reclusive existence living in his mum's old semi is well documented...
...but he's remembered fondly by many and proved to be a huge influence of many of the next generation of stars, including Bowie, Bolan, Weller, Cope... and Freezer.
He's also to be found in illustrious company here, as Scroobius Pip lays down his Ten Commandments...
Thou
shalt not worship pop idols or follow lost prophets
Thou shalt not take the names of Johnny Cash, Joe Strummer, Johnny Hartman, Desmond Dekker, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix or Syd Barrett in vain
Thou shalt not take the names of Johnny Cash, Joe Strummer, Johnny Hartman, Desmond Dekker, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix or Syd Barrett in vain
Meanwhile, Ernie's old neighbour, Martin Newell, was clearly a Syd fan...
Leslie Feist obviously has a little Syd obsession going on too, as she reveals here in this excerpt from her notebooks...
Why
did I write down everything that entered my mind?
Check
out these lines, like -
"I'm
Syd Barrett and I'll swim to England in his clothes, in 20 holes"
How
could I say at what point I would gain perspective, let alone know I had it?
Texan indie dude Matthew Logan Vasquez is a new name to me. He's apparently in three bands: Delta Spirit, Middle Brother and Glorietta. And on his day off, he does stuff like this...
My
little sister got my record collection
They
tried to tell her it's a bad direction
But
somehow I'm alive today
With
Syd Barrett fuckin' up my brain
Tobin Sprout is not the nephew of the Green Giant - no, he's a member of Guided By Voices. And he does his own things too...
Madcaps
and laughs
Syd
Barrett
The
last man well known to kingpin
Back in 2011, John Wesley Harding stopped releasing material under the name he'd stolen from Bob Dylan (who in turn stole it, with a misspelling, from Wild West outlaw John Wesley Hardin). Instead, he went back to using his real name, Wesley Stace. Here he is, in nostalgic mood...
In
Hastings, when I was younger
Thе
sea could take you under
I
never much swam in there
But
I skimmed some stones and I breathed the air
The
Who, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd
Syd
Barrett's final show
Didn't
take that long to get
To
want to know the ghosts
Of
Hastings Pier
And here are a few more tunes that name-drop Syd in the lyrics...
As is so often the case with this feature, one tune immediately sprang to mind when it came to Syd Barrett: Roddy Woomble's biggest hit. I loved this song from the first moment I heard it, though I've never had a clue what it was all about. Apparently the title comes from some nonsense Roddy shouted at his girlfriend during an impassioned argument, and the whole thing was Idlewild's attempt to write a Pavement song. So the fact that it doesn't make any sense actually makes perfect sense.
You smoke too much when
You talk too much, and
When I argue, Syd Barrett makes me laugh
I laugh at your conversational skills
Or lack of
Wednesday, 28 February 2024
Self-Help For Cynics #24: Paranoid
Finished with my woman 'cause
She couldn't help me with my mind
People think I'm insane because
I am frowning all the time
All day long I think of things
But nothing seems to satisfy
Think I'll lose my mind
If I don't find something to pacify
Can you help me
Occupy my brain?
A year or so back, I began to feel victimised by another prominent member of the blogging community. Not someone whose name you will ever see in the comments box on this site, but someone who is well-regarded by certain other bloggers, and who occasionally comments on a select number of the blogs I read. I began to notice that whenever I wrote a comment on one of those blogs, expressing approval of a certain artist or song, this particular individual would soon after leave their own comment, not so much rubbishing my opinion, but making it quite clear that they disagreed and that they saw no value at all in the music I liked. After a while, I attempted to deflect this with humour, leaving jokey follow-up comments about how much our tastes differed or faux apologies for inflicting my own noxious opinions on him, but my olive branch of banter was met with a wall of silence.
This is when my paranoid brain kicked into over-drive. Did this blogger really have it in for me? Were my opinions so distasteful that the very sight of my name in a comment box drove him into a rage? If he felt this way, how many other blog readers might I be offending with my awful taste in music? The least I could do was comment less on the blogs he read, so as not to upset him any further. Beyond that, I seriously considered quitting blogging altogether, or at least making my blog private and just writing it for myself... though I knew I'd miss the community and the chance to chat away in other people's comment boxes.
Mind tells us...
Paranoia is thinking and feeling like you are being threatened in some way, even if there is no evidence, or very little evidence, that you are.
Even more tellingly, they add...
Paranoid thoughts could also be exaggerated suspicions. For example, someone made a nasty comment about you once, and you believe that they are directing a hate campaign against you.
Ouch. That's right on the money, isn't it?
Paranoia, paranoia
Everybody's coming to get me
Just say you never met me
I'm running underground with the moles, digging holes
Hear the voices in my head
I swear to God it sounds like they're snoring
But if you're bored, then you're boring
The agony and the irony, they're killing me
Apparently up to a third of the population experience paranoid thoughts at one time or another. Paranoia isn't an actual mental health diagnosis - not unless you respond to your paranoia in an excessive way. Clearly it's linked to low self-esteem and intrusive thoughts, both of which we've looked at here before. So it should come as no surprise that "amygdala dysfunction" is one of the key suspects in causing paranoid thoughts.
(On a side note, whenever I start a sentence with "So...", I worry that I'll anger Charity Chic, since it sticks in my mind that he doesn't approve of said practice. God, writing a blog when you're a delusional fruitcake is an absolute minefield!)
Sometimes I give myself the creeps
Sometimes my mind plays tricks on me
It all keeps adding up
I think I'm cracking up
Am I just paranoid
Or am I just stoned?
Mind tries to reassure me that what I have is mild or non-clinical paranoia, not one of the more serious forms: paranoid personality disorder, delusional disorder and paranoid schizophrenia. But really, what if they're wrong? Am I paranoid to think I might have a more serious version of paranoia?
I got some so-called friends
They'll smile right to my face
But, when my back is turned
They'd like to stick to me
Yes, they would
An Australian Better Health website lists the following as possible symptoms of paranoia. I'm going to try a little tick box exercise to work out just how paranoid I might be. Feel free to copy the table and play along yourself...
|
Generally, a person who is paranoid may: |
|
|
✔ |
|
✔ |
|
What are you saying? |
|
What are you saying? |
|
What are you saying? |
|
WHAT ARE YOU SAYING!?! |
|
✖ (Everything I do is a compromise.) |
|
✔✔✔ |
|
✔ |
|
Well, there’s you guys… |
|
✔ |
|
Isn’t it? |
|
I’m not that important. |
|
No, I only believe in the true
ones. |
Not looking good, is it?
Clearly I need to do some more work on this... next week.
In conclusion for today though, I haven't had any recent follow-up comments from my blogging bully, even after I started commenting again on the blogs he frequents. Maybe he's got bored with persecuting me... or he's too busy at the moment... or he's had a change of heart and suddenly realised that Barry Manilow is actually great. Who knows?
I am also prepared to entertain the notion that he never actually had it in for me in the first place, that it was all in my imagination, and that all the negative comments he left as a follow up to my positive ones were purely coincidental. It could just be all in my mind...
On the other hand, you know what they say: Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not all out to get you.
Sunday, 22 October 2023
Snapshots #315: A Top Ten Songs For Jobseekers
Don't question, Pauline, your workshy layabouts! Lounging around on a Sunday morning when you should be out looking for WORK! Remember what Yosser Hughes said: "Gizza Job!" Now get out there...
10. Took part in the UCLA Sheepdog Trials.
Took part in the UCLA Sheepdog Trials.
The Clash - Career Opportunities
9. Material which is mined in reverse.
Denim is mined in reverse.
8. Policeman exposed.
The Bobby, laid Bare.
Bobby Bare - Unemployment Line
7. Faithless nun reads Gigi.
The nun is Sister Bliss (from Faithless). Gigi was written by Colette.
Sister Bliss featuring Colette - Can't Get A Job
6. Always direct proof that too much alcohol is bad for you.
Everclear is an alcoholic drink that goes above 90% proof.
Everclear - Unemployed Boyfriend
5. Sent by a lovely goddess to tidy up.
Venus has sent the cleaners...
The Cleaners from Venus - Young Jobless
4. She left Green Gables for a Lincolnshire town.
Ann from Green Gables goes to Alford.
Ann Alford - Got To Get Me A Job
3. Kids!
The Offspring - Why Don't You Get A Job?
2. Doesn't matter.
It's Immaterial - Young Man (Seeks Interesting Job)
1. The Contours?
The Silhouettes - Get A Job
Your job now is to rejoin the employment line next Saturday morning...
Wednesday, 27 September 2023
Celebrity Jukebox #108: David McCallum
It's not so long since I covered The Man From U.N.C.L.E. here, and for most that would serve as a fitting tribute to the actor David McCallum, who died, aged 90, earlier this week. Particularly as I couldn't find any songs that mentioned him by name. Although any excuse to play this again...
And this...
Growing up when I did, my first encounter with David McCallum came not through U.N.C.L.E., but through his starring role alongside Joanna Lumley in Sapphire & Steel, surely one of the weirdest TV shows of the late 70s and early 80s.
All irregularities will be handled by the forces controlling each dimension. Transuranic heavy elements may not be used where there is life. Medium atomic weights are available: Gold, Lead, Copper, Jet, Diamond, Radium, Sapphire, Silver and Steel. Sapphire and Steel have been assigned.
So went the intro to the show... and that was about as much explanation as writer PJ Hammond ever gave to his characters. Basically, Sapphire and Steel were some kind of time agents who turned up and solved weird, spooky sci-fi-related mysteries. Were they human? Were they aliens? Were they ghosts? Who could say? But I found it gripping as a kid... especially the episode set in an abandoned railway station, the plot of which remains with me to this day, despite the show having never been repeated. (It's available on Britbox / ITVX though, and I keep meaning to rewatch it.)
Sadly, I couldn't find any pop songs that mentioned this wonderful series, but then I remembered another David McCallum show I watched as a kid... one that predated even Sapphire & Steel. It only lasted one series... but there are quite a few songs named after it (or at least, the HG Wells novel it was based on). So I'm going with those today. It was that or I started looking for songs that mention NCIS, a show which gave him a resurgence in popularity in his later years, and one which my dad watched regularly. Rest in peace, David, you were anything but The Invisible Man...
(That one from the new HF album, their first in 7 years. Pretty good it is, too.)
(I love Queen, but that has got to be their worst video ever.)
That's ten for you right there. But my hands down favourite Invisible Man song is this one... Elvis at his best.
But if stars are only painted on the ceiling above
Then who can you turn to and who do you love?
I want to get out while I still can
I want to be like Harry Houdini
Now I'm the Invisible Man
Wednesday, 10 May 2023
TV On The Radio #8: The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
To get us in the mood, here's that funky theme tune from Hugo Montenegro...
We start today with a glorious slice of 70's nostalgia from Belfast's Ian Livingstone...
So I set off on a tack
Along the rusty railway track
Balancing on the steel rails
Following the flow of the line
On a journey, of an old world
Where no trains have passed
Since the old days
And in this place
I can be Tom Sawyer or Steve McQueen
Or the Man from U.N.C.L.E. or me
I can be Tom Sawyer or Steve McQueen
Or The Sundance Kid or even me
On the old railway line
Meanwhile, across the pond, Americana legend James McMurtry shares a similar nostalgia for the long lost summers of our youth...
We were used to all the best
The man from U.N.C.L.E. and The Wild, Wild West
We ruled the skies from a backyard swing
Nothing that flies could've stopped that thing
Next up, Sweden is the place where swing meets hip hop... no, come back - these guys are good!
Just as long as I don’t miss the reruns
of The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
Garfunkel and Simon
I grew up on A-team, Airwolf and MacGyver
'Cause I’ve heard from the elders
That everything was better back in the days
Even the weather!
Today's best new discovery is The Ragamuffins. They sound like a Scouse Arctic Monkeys and one of their EPs is called The Benefits of A Downhill Paper Round. What more do you want? Blood?
Let's up the ante like the Man From U.N.C.L.E.
Leave a trail of destruction
I can sense your reluctance, 'cos I'm just style over substance
I started feeling like I've lost direction
Could you be my compass?
My needle needs some adjusting, it's just style over substance
We follow that with the least annoying member of Genesis. Quite an accolade...
So if anybody tells you stories
Of how they're gonna change your world
Be they the Aga Khan, the ex Shah of Iran,
Or the man from U.N.C.L.E.,
Say I don't believe you cos I know we don't need you.
In the name of religion or of any politician,
I'm sure we've heard it all.
Can't really disagree with the sentiment though.
Neil Tennant was obviously a fan of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. And before he got a job in the Pet Shop, he used to work for Marvel Comics, which probably explains why Captain Britain also gets name-checked in this tune...
As you no doubt remember, the two main characters in The Man From U.N.C.L.E. were Napoleon Solo (played by Robert Vaughan) and Illya Kuryakin (David McCallum). And here they are now...
Sometimes on days like this
When the mirror seems so unkind
I remember the kid playing in the Georgia sun
His nose in a mystery book
Playing “pilot” in a magnolia tree
Shooting down those enemy fighter planes one by one
Just pretending to be Mickey Mantle
Hitting rocks in a field by the road
Or Napoleon Solo living the life of a spy
Lots of TV shows referenced in that one, including The Jetsons, Perry Mason and The A Team...
That last one just keeps popping up on this blog, doesn't it?
There are also a number of artists that have stolen the name of Robert Vaughan's character for their own musical identities, like this Danish ska band...
...this bunch from Spain...
...and this guy from the Glasgow underground...
I couldn't find any bands named after Ilya though.
For me, the obvious winner today was probably the most tenuous, though clearly Declan had Napoleon and Ilya in mind when he penned this deep cut from Get Happy!! Need a great pop song but only have 2 minutes to spare? Elvis is your man...
Wednesday, 14 December 2022
Celebrity Jukebox #60: David Bailey
Still stuck in the decade before I was born, when everybody swung one way or another, we come to
photographer David Bailey, who, as we discovered on Monday, made his career
from taking nice pictures of “the most beautiful girl in the world”. Therefore
David pops up in a few songs we’ve already listened to recently, including Seth
Swirsky’s Watercolour Day and France Gall’s Made In France.
However, I did find three other songs that mention Mr.
Bailey, and at least two of them are worth a listen.
Before we get onto those, let’s take a moment to remember
another David Bailey, an American singer songwriter of the Christian variety, who sadly died of cancer
back in 2010.
David M. Bailey - Brand New Day
And now, the main event. Let’s start with Wivenhoe’s finest,
Martin Newell, and his prolific lo fi weirdoes The Cleaners From Venus. This is
their Swinging 60s tribute song named after David McCallum’s Man From Uncle
character, and featuring references to the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Harold Wilson,
David Hemmings and David Bailey, among others.
Cleaners From Venus – Ilya Kuryakin Looked At Me
I did already add that to the Rita Tushingham jukebox, but
it’s worth another spin. Some question over whether the same applies to
Macca’s brothers band and their past-its-sell-by-date brand of cheeky scampery,
but as we’re here… we can a least listen to the theme tune to another former
jukebox star’s big 60s sitcom…
There’s sexy girls in Copenhagen
Nagasaki, Rome and Paris
None compare with Liverpool’s
Ask David Bailey or Richard Harris
Just don’t bother asking Brian Wilson.
Still in Liverpool, but with far more class, here’s Michael
Head, my sole reason for committing this post to the blogosphere…
When you wake up in the morning
And I’m still scratching my head and yawning
Just leave your hair for now
Fantasise, don’t realise
That the telephone is in your eyes
Could be the wrong number somehow
And David Bailey’s a million miles from you now
Wednesday, 14 September 2022
Celebrity Jukebox #34: Rita Tushingham
We watched the Edgar Wright movie Last Night In Soho recently, and I very much enjoyed the recreation of 1960s London, the retro soundtrack, and the performances of Thomasin Mackenzie and Anna Taylor-Joy. The film took a swerve into unnecessary melodrama towards the end, which I found a bit of a disappointment. I like melodrama, but this felt a bit rushed and didn't really match the tone of the rest of the movie. Still worth a watch though.
Among the cast was a cameo by 60s star Rita Tushingham, now in her 80s but still going strong... and those piercing blue eyes were still very much in evidence. (She won awards for her role in the movie The Girl With Green Eyes, but according to iffypedia, "as the film is in black and white the green eyes are never seen".)
Rita Tushingham made her screen debut in the 1961 adaptation of Shelagh Delaney's A Taste Of Honey, a movie which was hugely influential on a certain Stephen Patrick Morrissey. There are at least six Smiths songs on which Morrissey pilfers lyrics from Shelagh Delaney's script, including one of their best known tunes, This Charming Man. Morrissey's favourite movie was controversial at the time for a number of reasons, including one of the first interracial kisses seen on screen. How ironic. I've long stopped trying to convince anyone (including myself) that Morrissey isn't a tad racist. The truth is rarely black and white, but there are some ugly shades of grey. Unlike many former fans, I'm still able to disconnect and enjoy his old music on its original merits. If you choose not to anymore, I respect your opinion. Respect mine and we can send a message of tolerance and harmony to the man with the quiff that might one day change his ways.
A Taste Of Honey isn't the only movie to connect Rita to The Smiths. The video to Girlfriend In A Coma also features clips from her 1964 film The Leather Boys.
While no Morrissey lyrics mention Rita Tushingham directly, she can be found in songs from another pair of John Peel's favourite acts. Firstly, Martin Newell's Cleaners From Venus, who cast her alongside a number of other 60s icons...
Rita Tushingham isn't smiling
Waiting for the green electric
Train to take her
Down to London
Where she will see Mr. Wilson
Standing by the iron railings
Opposite the chestnut palings
David Hemmings will be waiting
With a job for David Bailey
And secondly, here's Rita in one of Franz Ferdinand's very best tunes...
Great Western Wind catches in your Celtic hair
Flicks it round your face like flames around the sun
In the bright cold air you seem as innocent and fair
As Rita Tushingham in 1961
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
