Showing posts with label Gillian Welch. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gillian Welch. Show all posts

Sunday, 9 July 2023

Snapshots #300: Songs About Elvis


To celebrate Saturday Snapshots turning 300, we had a big party at Top Ten Towers last night. I cracked open the Ocean Spray, necked a couple of Paracetamol, and stayed up till at least 10.31. Feeling a bit worse for wear today, but it was worth it.

Here are 30 songs about Elvis...


30. University head has a lot of bills to pay.

The Dean is owing a lot of people.

Dean Owens - Elvis Was My Brother

29. Why aren't they twisting?

Known for Twisting By The Pool, it has to be...

Dire Straits - Calling Elvis

28. Crockett, needs a Minder. 

Sonny Crockett was in Miami Vice, George Cole needed a Minder.

Sonny Cole - I Dreamed I Was Elvis

27. Collects Bibles, Journals and Postcards.

The Holy Bible, Journal For Plague Lovers and Postcards From A Young Man are three albums by the...

Manic Street Preachers - Elvis Impersonator: Blackpool Pier

26. When Rooney met Isaac.

Wayne Rooney meets Isaac Newton. 

Find me another blog that has the Manic Street Preachers followed by Wayne Newton.

What do you mean you don't want to?

A song based on a note Elvis wrote then threw away in 1976, during his last stay at the Las Vegas Hilton. Newton, who was friends with Elvis in his later years, bought the note in 1991 for $13,200 at a Sotheby's auction.

Wayne Newton - The Letter

25. Zuckerberg gets a softer finish while Leonard loses an E.

Marc with a C, Cohen without an E.

Marc Cohn - Walking In Memphis

24. World Champion, on the wall. 

Danny was the Champion of the World. 

Mirror, Mirror, On The Wall...

Danny Mirror - I Remember Elvis Presley

23. Vera E. Smacks Guys.

Anagram!

Kacey Musgraves - Velvet Elvis

22. Elton sounds like two cymbals on a pedal stand.

John + Hihat...

John Hiatt - Riding With The King

21. Wireless person.

Human Radio - Me And Elvis

20. It's a short month, directed by Scorsese.

"Jan" is a shortened month. Martin Scorsese directs.

Janis Martin - My Boy Elvis

They tried to market her as "the female Elvis".

19. Half vicious lion, half hissing eagle.

A griffin is half lion, half eagle.

Hissing Sid & Sid Vicious.

Sid Griffin - Cadillac Elvis

Or you could have had...

Sid Griffin - Elvis Presley Calls His Mother After The Ed Sullivan Show

18. Guides.

Scouting For Girls - Elvis Ain't Dead

17. Former miner.

He's been a miner for a Heart of Gold.

Neil Young - He Was The King

16. Almost Moonstruck, but won't propagate.

Nic Cage was in Moonstruck. Bad Seeds won't propagate.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Tupelo

15. Purple bloke gets mixed up and refuses to pay his debts.

Ian Gillan was in Deep Purple. Mix his name up a bit and you almost get Gillian. If you won't pay your debts, you are welching.

Gillian Welch - Elvis Presley Blues

14. Bumpy Celine.

Anagram!

Public Enemy - Fight The Power

13. Compete at King's College, inside.

Compete at King's College, inside.

Pete Atkin - Apparition in Las Vegas

12. What you might say if you wanted to invite Kay and Z round for a casual chat.

Pop in, Jays!

The Popinjays - Vote Elvis

11. Self-confessed hobo, jogging from an early age.

"Tramps like us, baby we were born to run..."

Bruce Springsteen - Johnny Bye Bye

10. Let's talk LFC. Do they have the answers?

Let's talk LFC.

KLF - Elvis On The Radio, Steel Guitar In My Soul

9. Exonerating mix-up.

"Exonerating" was an anagram.

Generation X - King Rocker

8. Nobody cares for this Smith.

Patti Smith is loveless.

Patty Loveless - I Try To Think About Elvis

7. Children of Florence.

The Nightingales - Elvis, The Last Ten Days

6. His Battenberg was sopping.

That's what happens when you leave your cake out in the rain.

Jimmy Webb - Elvis And Me

5. Loved by her dad from the first time he ever saw her face.

Daughter of Ewan MacColl, who wrote The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.

Kirsty MacColl - There's A Guy Works Down The Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis

4. West Side gang outcry.

The Jets were a gang in West Side Story.

The Screaming Jets - Elvis (I Remember...)

3. Do you like Alan?

Nah. My lessons would be much better without him in there.

Do you like Alan?

Nah. My lessons would be much better without him in there.

Alannah Myles - Black Velvet

2. Tina Needs Baseball.

Anagram!

Belle & Sebastian - A Century Of Elvis

Classic.

1. One Simple Little Dicky Bird.

One little dicky bird was named Peter, one was named Paul. The Simple (Simon) one.

Paul Simon - Graceland


Snapshots #301 will be here next week. Start getting excited now.


Tuesday, 2 October 2012

My Top Ten Songs About Elvis


Because, as Neil Young will remind us later in this list, He Was The King.

Before I begin, can I just point out that much as I love 'The King of Rock 'n' Roll' by Prefab Sprout... it ain't about Elvis. Just in case you were wondering...


10. The Gaslight Anthem - Wherefore Art Thou, Elvis?

Then again, I'm not sure this is much about Elvis either. But it's more about Elvis than Paddy's song was. Honest.

9. Phil Lynott - King's Call

It was a rainy night the night the king went down
Everybody was crying it seemed like sadness had surrounded the town
Me, I went to the liquor store
And I bought a bottle of wine and a bottle of gin
I played his records all night
Drinking with a close, close friend

Featuring Mark Knopfler... not the last we'll hear from him on this list.

8. Generation X - King Rocker

No one owes their career (and their sneer) to Elvis more than Billy Idol.

7. Dire Straits - Calling Elvis

The video features a freakish Gerry Anderson style Knopfler puppet. It scares the hell out of me.

6. Manic Street Preachers - Elvis Impersonator: Blackpool Pier

American trilogy in Lancashire Pottery

5. Gillian Welch - Elvis Presley Blues
Just a country boy that combed his hair
And put on a shirt his mother made and went on the air
And he shook it like a chorus girl
And he shook it like a Harlem queen
He shook it like a midnight rebel, baby
Like you never seen
4. Bruce Springsteen - Goodbye, Johnny

In which Bruce tries to break into Graceland to meet Elvis... and ends up writing a song about it (with a little help from Chuck Berry).

3. Belle & Sebastian - A Century Of Elvis

In which Elvis moves in with B&S bassist Stuart David... and watches a lot of TV.

2. Neil Young - He Was The King

The last time I saw Elvis
He was shooting at a colour TV
The phones were ringing in the pink motel
And the rest is history
He was the King

See also Hey Hey, My My / My My, Hey Hey... the songs that gave Kurt Cobain his suicide note.

1. Kirsty MacColl - There's a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis

We miss you, Kirsty.

And Elvis too.

See also Killen ner' på Konsum svär att han är Elvis: the, erm, Swedish cover version by Elisabeth Andreassen.



Thank you very much.
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