Snapshots #459: Songs About Writing (or Groups of Words)

Time to write down your answers for this week's quiz...

 

15. Real twats will have nothing to do with him.

"Real twats" was an unfortunate anagram.

Al Stewart - Time Passages

14. Subordinate T-Rex. 

Dinosaur Jr - The Post

The thing that most of us spend a lot of time writing.

13. Finger, hob, Jimmy.

The Nails - 88 Lines About 44 Women

12. Love - Latest Flame - Eamonn. 

Courtney Love, Marie's the Name, Eamonn Andrews.

Courtney Marie Andrews - On My Page

11. What if Johnny and Andrew formed a band?

Johnny Marr and Andrew Marr might have called their band The...

MARRS - Pump Up The Volume 

10. There'll be times when my crimes will seem almost unforgivable...

That's the opening line to Strangelove by Depeche Mode.

Strangelove - Extract From A Journal: Nov 17th 1997

9. Oh my god - they killed the doubter!

Oh my god - they killed Kenny! Probably for being a Doubting Thomas.

Kenny Thomas - Piece By Piece

8. Elvis finds rhymes in a blizzard.

King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard - The Book

Kenny Thomas to King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard. That's what this blog is all about.

7. He's neither tool nor dogfight. 

"Tool nor dogfight" was an anagram.

Gordon Lightfoot - Canadian Railroad Trilogy

6. Where Flanders puts Homer's work waste.

Ned's Atomic Dustbin - Sentence

5. Still... Peanuts.

Still D.R.E. And Snoopy.

Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Dogg - The Next Episode

4. Derek (sic) and his Finetime Fools.

"Derek (sic)" was an anagram. Cast sang Finetime.

Rick Dees & His Cast Of Idiots - Disco Duck (Part One)

3. These Charm-ing Men.

Lucky Charms for The Smiths.

The Lucksmiths - The Chapter In Your Life Entitled San Francisco

Rick Dees to The Lucksmiths. That's what this blog is all about.

2. Hey hey, puff, wheeze, we're the... gasp, pant...

Hey hey, we're the out of breath Monkees. Must be all that blowing.

Blow Monkeys - Digging Your Scene

1. Lovely... Calvin (30).

Lovely Rita and Calvin Coolidge, the 30th POTUS.

Rita Coolidge - Words

I'll write more soon.

My Top Twenty of #2020: #13

 

I guess you can call this my "Ladies of Americana" post. Four fine albums that I struggled to pick a favourite from, all worthy of merit... so why not give them all a mention?

Courtney Marie Andrews - Old Flowers

I was undecided on Courtney Marie Andrews until this record. It convinced me. 

Courtney Marie Andrews - Burlap String

Mary Chapin Carpenter - The Dirt & The Stars

Always good to have MCC back... sadder and angrier than ever. 

Mary Chapin Carpenter - Asking For A Friend 

Eliza Gilkyson - 2020

I keep coming back to this track, taken from letters written by Woody Guthrie aimed at Fred Trump...

Eliza Gilkyson - Beach Haven

Lucinda Williams - Good Souls

Wait for it, I saved the bleakest for last...

Lucinda Williams - Black Train

I almost put this post to bed, and then I remembered the best of the bunch. Gretchen Peters recorded an album of songs written by Mickey (Just Dropped In To See What Condition My Condition Was In) Newbury. And every one's a belter...

Saturday Snapshots #162 - The Answers

 

No, I couldn't find any pictures of Joe Biden holding a camera. Neither do I expect Joe Biden to be a truly great president. But at least he once worked with one (even if Obama didn't achieve everything he set out to do, he remained a decent figurehead throughout). 

The main thing Biden has in his favour is that he's Not Trump. In the same way I voted for Corbyn purely because was not Not Boris. Frankly, the Democrats could have put Tom Hanks & Michael Bolton on the ticket and I'd have voted for them instead of Trump. Just as Labour could field James Corden with Bono as deputy and I'd be putting my X in their box, no matter how detestable I find them both.  

I'll leave the final word today to Sam, aged 7, yet already an expert political analyst.

"I think Donald Trump is going to break all the ornaments in The White House 
so that when Joe Biden moves in, he's not got anything nice."

Here are this week's answers...

10. Half a piano... just like Andrew Gold.

A piano is made up of black and white keys.

Andrew Gold was a Lonely Boy.

The Black Keys - Lonely Boy

9. Wishing the week whisked away.

A whisk is used to make beating eggs easier.

Wishing the week away, you're thinking about Friday.

The Easybeats - Friday On My Mind

8. Early morning enclosure, thrice refused.

Early morning is dawn. An enclosure is a pen.

Dawn Penn - No, No, No

7. Expensive Eagle wants a lift this evening.

Eddie the Eagle costs lots of money.

Eddie Money - Take Me Home Tonight

Sadly, I don't think this Eddie will make it into next week's Top Ten Eddie Songs. So I thought I'd find room for him here. What a chorus!

6. Chubbier Scot makes a right turn... will you be mine?

A chubbier Scot would be Mc-Fatter.

Clyde McPhatter - A Lover's Question

5. Dark dancer mixed with problematic nun (plus alias)... what Blanche depended on. 

Courtney Cox became famous after being plucked from the audience to go Dancing In The Dark.

The problematic nun was Maria, alias Julie Andrews.

Blanche DuBois always depended on the kindness of strangers, in A Streetcar Named Desire.

Courtney Marie Andrews - The Kindness of Strangers

4. Eastwood & Elphick prefer milk in their coffee, nothing else.

Clint Eastwood + Michael 'Boon' Elphick like it white with no sugar.

The Clint Boon Experience - White With No Sugar

3. Improvement for Butch's shortened mum. 

Butch Cassidy's shortened mum with be Mama Cass.

Mama Cass - It's Getting Better

2. Not all ladies like it risqué. 

Some girls like it racey. Some girls don't. (C, apparently, didn't... at least not where these guys were concerned!)

Racey - Some Girls

1. Nurse snogs my sugar babe.

Nurse snogs was this week's only anagram!

More next week. As long as Trump doesn't have hissy fit. (I really hope Secret Service have hidden the football.)

My Top Ten Country / Americana Songs of 2018

It's been a fine year for new music, so as well as my Top 18 countdown, I also wanted to shine a light on some of the tunes that didn't make my final list. Here's ten great country songs I discovered this year...


10. Courtney Marie Andrews - Took You Up

I'm still working on appreciating Courtney Marie Andrews as much as other people do, but there's some great lyrical detail here to draw me in.

Karaoke on a Monday night

Television when we want to hide

Frozen dinners when money's tight

Makin' love on a laundry pile

Ain't got much, but we got each other

Not much but love to offer

I took you up

9. Kacey Musgraves - Slow Burn

With splashes of pop and even disco on her most recent album, there's a sense that Kacey hankers after following Taylor Swift to the dark side. She can still write a great song though.

8. Dawes - Living In The Future

Couldn't get into the most recent Dawes album as much as I have their previous offerings, but this lead track certainly blew the dust off my speakers.

7. First Aid Kit - Ugly

Their latest album was pretty good, though I didn't love it half as much as their last one. This is from the follow-up EP, and suggests they're heading back to top form.

6. Eric Church - Hippie Radio

With his last couple of albums, Eric Church would have easily made it into my favourites of the year list. His latest record, Desperate Man, plays it a little safe and leaves the Waylon-esque outlaw stuff on the back-burner. Still some fine tunes on it though.

5. Mary Gauthier - Got Your Six

A soldier's life is not a happy one one Mary's outstanding new album. More here.

4. Dave Giles - Devil In A Green Dress

Dave Giles calls himself "an American artist from London", and to be fair, this was recorded in Nashville. Sounds more like Nick Lowe meets Frank Turner to me. Classic songwriting.

3. Midland - Drinkin' Problem

Like The Eagles crossed with Dr. Hook. If that sounds like your idea of hell... well, you and me comes from different places, I guess.

People say I got a drinkin' problem

But I got no problem drinkin' at all

They keep on talkin'

Drawing conclusions

They call it a problem, 

I call it a solution

2. The Nude Party - Chevrolet Van

They call it Americana, but The Nude Party owe as much to the Stones and 60s garage rock. Whatever label you hang on it, this is a smashing pop song destined to put a grin on your face. The rest of the album is similarly fun. More here.

1. Ashley McBride - A Little Dive Bar In Dahlonega

You know how some of the best indie music is written for outcasts and losers, those down on their look and living on lonely desperation? So is some of the best country music. This is one of my songs of the year - kinda like a country version of Drugstore's Say Hello.



Stay tuned for more great country and Americana music as I continue my 2018 countdown.