The Hot 100 Countdown #93

93 'til Infinity was the debut album of the band Souls of Mischief... apparently. And number 93 proved tricky for all of us.

Alyson & Chris both came up with 93 Million Miles by Jason Mraz, an artist who does live in my record collection, but not with this song. I guess it's got something to do with how far away we are from the sun.

Charity Chic offered 93 Degrees In The Shade by Third World, which would have been a pretty good call if I'd owned it. Or if anyone else did, since it turns out the song is actually called 96 Degrees In The Shade. Sorry, CC!

Nobody came up with either of the two 93 songs I do have in my collection though.

I originally thought Do It! 93 by Death From Above might be something to do with the year it was recorded... until my research showed the band (originally called Death From Above 1979, just to confuse matters further) wasn't formed until 2001.

This week's winner though is this... from the charming Sweet Baboo, aka Gwynedd's Stephen Black. The version in my music collection is called Wolfie 93, and if the story Stephen tells in the video is anything to go by, I don't think 1993 has anything to do with it, since he can't have been very old in that year at all. No idea why it is called Wolfie 93 though...



Now... some of you have already given up on 92, but I do have a couple of options to choose from. Any guesses?

My Top Ten Weather Forecast Songs

There are, of course, millions of songs that predict the weather... from A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall to Here Comes The Sun. None of those are allowed in this Top Ten.

To be included here, you have to actually mention weather forecasting... or forecasters.

Special mentions to The Forecast... and Weather Report. (Hmm.. Jazz. Niiice.)


10. Jason Mraz - The Forecast

Jason swears he's no weatherman... but he doesn't half go on about it.

This song bears mention purely down to one of the most bizarre metaphors ever written...

But your mouth is my umbrella now
And I'm holding your tongue

W. T. F.? (Weather: The Forecast.)

9. Sheryl Crow - Weather Channel

When Sheryl gets depressed, she watched the Weather Channel. It doesn't appear to cheer her up.

8. Tom Waits - Emotional Weather Report

Not a song so much as the jamming intro to Tom's classic live album Nighthawks At The Diner. But there's plenty of forecasting to go around...

And a line of thunderstorms was developing in the early morning
Ahead of a slow moving cold front
Cold blooded
With tornado watches issued shortly before noon Sunday, 

For the areas including...
The western region of my mental health
And the northern portions of my ability to deal rationally 
With my disconcerted precarious emotional situation

7. Hank Williams Jr. - The Weatherman

Hank Jr. needs a good forecast tonight...

6. Spearmint - The Weather Forecaster

It always upsets me when I can't find links to Spearmint records on the internet. This is a gorgeous little story by Shirley Lee about a young man who learns to predict the weather as a way of controlling everything that might happen in his life...

If you know what the weather will be like
There's no danger
You're in control

But then, inevitably, he meets a young lady... and the forecast becomes unpredictable.

Oh, just go buy the album. 

5. The Weather Girls - It's Raining Men 

Get ready, all you lonely girls - and leave those umbrellas at home!

A song so great, even Geri Halliwell couldn't kill it. (Though she gave it a damned good try.)

4. A Tribe of Toffs - John Kettley Is A Weatherman

Ah, 1988 in the UK charts... a terrible time for music. During the dark days of Stock, Aitken and Waterman, Bros, Bomb The Bass, Brother Beyond and the Wee Papa Girl Rappers... I was 16. Everything was wrong with the world. And then there came the Tribe of Toffs, a silly group of lads with a jangly guitar pop novelty record full of terrible rhymes about minor British TV personalities of the day (and Johnny Marr). It may have only reached number 21 in the charts... but it was better than Another Day In Paradise.

Debbie Thrower's got a lawnmower,
Johnny Marr he plays guitar,
David Steel lives in Keele,
John Kettley... John Kettley... John Kettley:
He's a weatherman.

3. Fountains of Wayne - Traffic & Weather

A love story unfolds among the Channel 6 news team...

Ooh, we belong together - like traffic and weather...

Any song that contains that timeless chat up line "I like those shorts - I'd like them even more on my bedroom floor" get my vote.

2. Blur - This Is A Low

Damon lies in bed listening to the shipping forecast: the end result is one of their most moving records. Don't spend too much time studying the lyrics though, or the magic is lost. 

1. ELO - Mr. Blue Sky 

Wait a minute, Rol, I hear you cry... isn't this one of those songs you outlawed at the top of the page: like A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall or Here Comes The Sun? Ah, I reply... ahhhh... yes, but listen again to that timeless intro:

Morning - today's forecast calls for blue skies...

However, if you're looking for Dylan or the Fab Four... close your eyes and listen to Mr. Blue Sky one more time. Not only is it one of the greatest pop records ever recorded... doesn't it just sound like "What if Bob was lead singer of the Beatles?"



...but which is your Michael Fish?