DIY Songs #2: Taking The Kitchen To The Tip

Over the last week, our new kitchen has been fitted. No, I didn't do it. We got a man in.

However, last weekend I did remove all the cupboard doors (a bigger job than you'd think) and stash them in the shed because apparently people will buy old cupboard doors. We haven't got a buyer yet, but we live in hope.

Because we couldn't afford a skip, the kitchen fitter then ripped out our old kitchen (quite a big bigger than the doorless photo above would suggest) and dumped it in our front garden. Although Louise took a few bits to the tip last week, the rest was down to me this weekend. And so, on Saturday afternoon, following Sam's 5th birthday party at a packed local venue which seemed to be holding six other kids' parties at the same time (you can imagine), I returned home to fill my tiny little Nissan Micra with as much of the old kitchen as I could... and then drove it to the tip. It took 8 journeys. Most of it done in the pouring rain. And I did it just in time... the guys at the tip closed the gate just as I'd finished emptying my last load.

I didn't listen to anything while loading the car and transporting the kitchen to the tip... but I did listen to something while removing the doors last weekend. An album I hadn't listened to in years, and I'd forgotten how good it was. I remember buying this record when it was re-issued 15 or so years ago after it received glowing reviews in the music mags. Two albums on one reissue CD, though it's the first one - produced by Phil Spector - which stands out. I tell you what, Spector may be a murdering lunatic, but he knew his was round a recording studio. And Dion, who'd already been making records for nearly two decades by the time this was released in 1975, rarely sounded better. If you've never heard Born To Be With You, I seriously suggest giving it a listen. It is majestic...



Yet Dion himself hated it. And Spector shelved it. At the time of its release, it sank without a trace.

Twenty years later, it was rediscovered... among many others, Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie loved it. You can hear why...



Hopefully there won't be any more DIY songs for a long, long time... but I guess we''ll wait and see.

DIY Songs #1: Handyman Blues

I'm not a fan of DIY. When you're a home-owner though - unless you're super-wealthy - it's a necessity. When we got together, Louise thought I'd be a natural handyman. I come from a family of builders, plumbers, joiners and fitters. My dad's first job was building coffins for the local undertakers. He was a joiner for many years before becoming a car auctioneer (not to mention being a farmer on the side), then when he retired from the auctions, he went back into joinering part-time. My parents house has always had a lot of fine woodwork and my dad could turn his hand to most jobs around the house.

But Louise was wrong to put her faith in me having picked up any genetic skills for DIY. I've learned a few basics over the 7 years we've lived together, and my dad's taught me a few things, but I'll never be a natural. (Oh, and if she also thought "at least he'll have someone in the family who can do it", she's been doubly disappointed... getting family to help is even harder than getting me to do it!)

The point of all this... I was doing some DIY over the weekend, and I realised that the only thing that makes it bearable for me is that I get to listen to lots of music while I'm doing it. So I decided to create a (hopefully very) occasional series dedicated to the music I listen to while I'm DIY-ing. Every time I do a job, I'll write a post after to tell you what I did and what it bearable.

We'll get to the job I did this weekend - and what I listened to while doing it - in post #2. First though, I had to give this one a spin. Number #1 in My Top Ten DIY Songs from way back in June 2013. Once again, Billy hits the nail on the head. Metaphorically, if not literally...

I'm never gonna be the handyman around the house my father was

So don't be asking me to hang a curtain rail for you, because

Screwdriver business just gets me confused

It takes me half an hour to change a fuse

And when I flicked the switch the lights all blew

I'm not your handyman

Don't be expecting me to put up shelves or build a garden shed

But I can write a song that tells the world how much I love you instead

I'm not any good at pottery so let's lose the 't' and just shift back the 'e'

And I'll find a way to make my poetry build a roof over our heads

I know it looks like I'm just reading the paper

But these ideas I'll turn to gold dust later

Cause I'm a writer not a decorator

I'm not your handyman