Kylie Minogue featured in Saturday's quiz with the obvious selection of Kylie's Got A Crush On Us by BMX Bandits. I've probably confessed before to the fact that I bought Kylie's debut single back in 1988 even though I knew it wasn't very good. I was 16, Neighbours was on the TV every night when I got home from school, and Kylie was cool... even despite the insipid Stock Aitken Waterman production. I still think she's cool now - and should be praised for her longevity (Christmas Number One last year!).
Anyway, BMX Bandits wasn't my only choice for songs honouring Ms. Minogue. I could also have gone with this...
Another female pop diva whose records I obsessed over as a teen was Whitney. I'd still rate her second album as a pure pop classic. Then again, I've always been pretty insecure about voicing such things...
Janet Jackson, meanwhile, may be tainted by her brother's reputation... and that "shocking" incident at the Superbowl which got her cancelled for a time, while Justin Timberlake's reputation only soared. Sexist hypocrisy?
But it's back to the pop stars of our youth to close... and here's another lady who's it always been OK to admit to liking. My cool points remain intact.
Country must be the second most self-referential genre in
all of popular music. Only rap likes to talk about itself and name-drop other
noteworthy practitioners of the artform more than country… the difference being
that such references are largely positive in country, whereas rappers do like
to slag each other off any chance they get.
With that in mind, I’m not going to pretend to have listened
to every song that mentions Loretta Lynn in passing. She was a legend, and an
inspiration, so it’s only right she be immortalised in many, many tunes.
Here are just a handful… and they're not all straight down the line country songs either.
I ain’t a coal miner’s daughter But I’ve sung it all my life I ain’t been a widow But I’ve been an ex-wife And I hear your truth And I feel your pain Now I know why you sang that way
Like any other would be country singing sensation I had no visible means of transportation One Saturday morning I was searching the ads When I found one that I wanted and I wanted it bad I called up the salesmen, he said, c'mon in I've got the Lincoln right here belonged to Loretta Lynn The Coal Miner's Daughter used to drive it to town It's yours for a song and five hundred down
Don't you think it's time we put a woman in the White House With a whole new attitude? Just look at the mess we're in Heck, I'd vote for Loretta Lynn I guarantee that we'd all be Singing a different song
I am leaving Mississippi in the evening rain These Delta towns wear satin gowns In a high beamed frame Loretta Lynn guides my hands through the radio Where would I be in times like these Without the songs Loretta wrote?
Sittin' in the kitchen, a house in Macon Loretta's singing on the radio Smell of coffee, eggs, and bacon Car wheels on a gravel road
As I said at the top, I could be here all day. Perhaps only
Hank Williams and Johnny Cash get name-checked in more country songs than
Loretta. And here she is with Johnny, in one of my favourites.
When Loretta Lynn goes dancing With the ghost of Johnny Cash Father Time takes forever And to make it look like less than lightning flash Violins bow into fiddles Two iconic symbols crash When Loretta Lynn goes dancing With the ghost of Johnny Cash
Let's start with a bit of shamelessly contemporary country pop. We'll get to the more authentic stuff later...
9. Tony Rice - John Wilkes Booth
...like right about now. Written by Mary Chapin Carpenter, Tony Rice's song digs deep into the tragic tale of the actor who assassinated Abraham Lincoln in protest against the president's abolition of slavery, "in the name of God and Dixie".
The Nightfly is one of my favourite albums of the 80s, yet Maxine is probably my least favourite track on there. That's not to say it's a bad song - it fits the late night jazzy feel of the concept very well and tells a typically Fagen-esque tale of love and longing. There's a great sax solo too. But it's no New Frontier, I.G.Y. or Nightfly, is it?
Oh, and in case you were wondering...
While the world is sleeping We meet at Lincoln Mall Talk about life The meaning of it all Try to make sense of the suburban sprawl
Try to hang on, Maxine
If you're going to base your whole career on sounding like a tribute act... you can do much worse than choosing Bruce as your role model.
And I always dreamed of classic cars and movie screens
And tryin' to find some way to be redeemed
Bring a dollar with you, baby
In the cold, cold ground
Paddy McAloon would have something to say about that...
After the success of Death of a Clown and Susannah's Still Alive, Dave Davies' solo career (extracurricular to the Kinks) looked like it was taking off. Lincoln County sadly put an end to that when it failed to chart (except in Holland, where it made #15). A shame, because this also meant his proposed album, with the excellent title of A Hole in the Sock (of Dave Davies), was also shelved.
Some debate on t'internet about whether the song is told from the perspective of Jesse James or Billy The Kid. I have no idea.
What explodes like a fractal, pops like a light bulb
Looks really awful at four in the morning
Moves with a dead stare, coils around your ankles
Fangs long as neckties and strikes without warning?
Answers on a postcard.
All Is Dream was the album in which Mercury Rev came closest to disappearing up their own rabbit hole into wispy, dungeons and dragons fantasia. Lincoln's Eyes would be the prime suspect if it weren't so haunting and beautiful. Yet, despite being almost as impenetrable as Nick Kershaw's Riddle, it succeeds through a sly sense of humour in the last verse which makes it genuinely affecting.
What explodes like a fractal, pops like a light bulb
Strolls in like Joel Grey* at four in the morning
Armed with a big nose, fragile as a sea horse
Lives in your soul and loves you like I do?
*
3. Marvin Gaye - Abraham, Martin & John
I have no idea why Marvin's timeless tribute to Lincoln, King and the two Kennedies isn't on youtube, but I hardly need to link to it: you either know it like an old friend already or you need down purchase a copy immediately.
Written and originally recorded by Charlie Ryan back in 1955 - who actually was a hot rod racer (google it) at the time - but I have a definite preference for the 1971 cover by Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen. Maybe it's the name, surely one of the greatest band names ever (not counting Kathleen Turner Overdrive). Question: can a cool name make you pre-disposed to like the band? I would have wanted to hear more of this band from their name alone... although my first exposure to them was through a late night radio play of this very song.
George Frayne IV, aka Commander Cody, did not always take lead vocals on his band's recordings. Indeed, on the album this track hails from (Lost In The Ozone), Billy C. Farlow is the lead vocalist on every track... except Hot Rod Lincoln.
Thus ends my limited knowledge of Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen.
1. Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska
I'm very much looking forward to seeing Bruce again this summer, revisiting The River with the E-Street Band (although it won't be the same without Clarence). But the dream would be to see him play Nebraska live the way it was recorded: just Bruce, his guitar, his harmonica and his cassette deck.
The title track starts out in Lincoln, Nebraska... before going full Badlands on us. One of the most powerful songs he ever recorded.
You want to know why I did what I did? Sir, I guess there's just a meanness in this world...
