March is Women's History Month... though it probably should be called Women's Herstory Month?
Here are a few questions from the quiz I did this week... you can google them if you want, but it'd be more upright and honest to guess if you don't know the answer...
1. Which was the first country in the world to grant women the right to vote in 1893?
7. Play it again, Sam... and again... and again...
Humphrey Bogart (again) didn't actually say "play it again, Sam". He said, "You Played it for her, you can play it for me". Anyway, when he said that, he was talking to Dooley Wilson...
Before we get to the Top Ten, a brief round up of other noteworthy records I've been listening to this year that I couldn't shoehorn into previous posts.
Karine Polwart didn't have a new album out this year, otherwise she would have been in the Old Faithfuls category. She did, however, release an EP called Seek The Light, from which came one of my favourite tunes of 2023, Windblown. Folk Radio explains the song's background...
"...the story of the old Sabal bermudana palm that was the pride of Edinburgh’s Royal Botanic Garden (RBGE), the oldest specimen in its living collection. Sadly, the plant’s desire to seek the light sealed its own fate. Its towering growth threatened to push through the dome of the garden’s iconic Victorian tropical glasshouse."
Staying in Edinburgh, we find local lad (although he was born in London), Dan Wilson, who released his latest Withered Hand record this year. He's hardly what you'd call prolific - this is only his third release since 2009 - but he's always worth a listen.
Our final Scottish offering comes from another perennial favourite, Daniel Meade, who describes his latest album, Your Madness Is My Medicine, as "a welcome return to the boogie woogie & rock n roll".
Andrew Blackaby comes from London where he became a Born Again Christian at age 13, and then had to fight to extract himself from the grip of his church. His latest record, Comeback Innocence, deals with the extra dollop of teenage angst that ensued...
And we're doing our best, we're doing our best I guess that much is true But like Travis Driftwood on The Man Who I'll drift away from you
Another Andrew, though far more Savage than the last, is the co-frontman of New York-via Texas band Parquet Courts. He also does his own thing, and I was rather taken by this single... not just because I like songs about Elvis. It reminds me of Stephen Malkmus.
The Gaslight Anthem came back this year, bringing their old pal / idol Bruce Springsteen along for the ride. Bruce appears to be filling his spare time by guesting on other people's records these days - he's popped up on songs by Bleachers, John Mellencamp, Jesse Malin, Lucinda Williams and probably a load more I haven't come across just yet. Anyway, I've only just started giving serious time to the latest Gaslight Anthem album, but it does appear to be something of a return to form.
The Sleaford Mods are a band I can only take in small doses, because they look and sound like the kind of dodgy geezers you'd steer well clear of if you saw them walking down your local high street on a Saturday night. Still, when they drafted in Florence Shaw from Dry Cleaning to start swearing along with them in her usual deadpan style, they got a sizable amount of plays from me. Extra marks for re-using the title of the 1978 sequel to The Guns of Navarone...
And while we're here, it's worth mentioning the Mods' "Christmas single", a cover of West End Girls by The Pet Shop Boys which sounds exactly like one of the blokes described above grabbing the mic on Karaoke Night and giving it his "best"... with everybody in the audience too scared to snatch the mic back. All profits going to Shelter though, so you can't knock 'em for it.
Finally, the album that I would have placed at #11 in my Year End Countdown, if I could have been bothered to count past ten. Rare Birds: Hour of Song by ramshackle Welsh wonders The Bug Club is as good as most of my Top Ten, to be fair, but I was annoyed by all the spoken word between-song interludes... to the point that I edited them out to create a music more enjoyable record. A hugely enjoyable purchase, nevertheless...
Following on from Monday's post, I started reading one of the books Ben recommended. Much of this post comes from Don't Feed The Monkey Mind by Jennifer Shannon, although it's my own interpretation of her writing, coupled with some other bits I've dug up on the interweb.
Oh, I've been working
Working myself up to the fact
That my best days are behind me
And the road up ahead will be filled with looking back
And the road up ahead will be filled with looking back
Will I look back with regret, with moments to forget
Or will I love what I see?
And the memories will surround me like a warm bubble bath
That's why I'm doing this series. Because I want more warm bubble bath memories to look back on in my dotage, rather than regret.
Why do we get stressed in the first place?
According to the scientists, it’s all down to two little almonds in our brain. Yes, our brains contain nuts. And these nuts are in control of our emotions! As soon as I read this, I felt a lot better about my stress, anxiety, lack of self-esteem and overall miserableness. It’s all just nuts!
The nuts in question are amygdala – although because there’s two of them, there’s some debate about whether the plural should be amygdalas or amygdalae. As it’s a word I find difficult to pronounce anyway, I’m going to stick with the singular. Amygdala. Anyway, the word comes from the Greek amygdalē, which translates as either ‘tonsil’ or ‘almond’. I bet that caused some confusion in Greek hospitals whenever anyone turned up with tonsillitis… or was it just an almond stuck in their throat? Obviously, I’m going with the almond translation because… nuts!
Although they’re a tiny part of our overall brain, the amygdala have a huge job to do. Scientists believe they’re in charge of learning and memory, behaviour, decision making and – perhaps most importantly of all – emotions. Actually, I’m not really sure what else is left for the rest of the brain to do. I reckon it just stares out of the window and tries to work out what your favourite Supertramp song is, or who was Number One on your 16th birthday.
(In case you're wondering, I had no memory of that at all, so I had to look it up. And I bought that record too. I very quickly came to despite Stock, Aitken & Waterman, but I was a big fan of Neighbours - and Kylie in particular - at this time and I was 16, so what do you want from me?)
The amygdala’s main job would appear to be assessing danger. Everything we see, smell, hear, taste, touch, feel or think passes through the amygdala, and the amygdala screens it all for threats. It’s like a particularly thorough airport security check… or, the way I prefer to think about it, it’s our spider-sense.
Whenever the amygdala senses any kind of threat – from a bus about to run us over in the street to somebody gossiping about us behind our back in the office – it sets off our spider-sense, various hormonal and neurological warning signals that in turn cause us to feel the symptoms of stress. These will vary depending on the individual and the situation, but they include all the old favourites – physical stuff such as increased heart rate, changes to breathing, hot or cold sweat, and mental reactions such as fear, anger and shame. Stress hormones basically prepare us to fight the threat or flee from the danger: fight or flight. But they often override our normal, logical human brain, and let our monkey brain take over. And what do monkeys love? Nuts! That’s why we sometimes do crazy things when we’re stressed, like shouting at people we love, eating a whole chocolate cake in one go, or punching the wall with exasperation.
(Kommode are from Norway. You'll be pleased to learn that a Kommode in Norwegian is a chest of drawers, not a water closet.)
When the amygdala goes into overdrive, it can cause all kinds of mental health problems, including chronic anxiety, depression, self-harm, eating disorders, bi-polar disorder, and PTSD. It can affect our appetite, our sleep, our self-image, our enjoyment of life… pretty much everything. All that from two little almonds in our brain. Nuts.
So... what do we do about it? Well, I certainly don’t claim to have a magic wand. (Not yet, anyway.) But the first step in dealing with any problem is understanding the problem. Understanding why we feel the way we do in any given situation, and what’s going on in our brains and our bodies that creates those feelings. Recognising that negative thoughts are just thoughts, and that negative feelings are just chemical and neurological responses.
I'd like to help you, doctor
Yes I really, really would
But the din in my head
It's too much and it's no good
I'm standing in a windy tunnel
Shouting through the roar
And I'd like to give the information
You're asking for
But blood makes noise
It's a ringing in my ear
Blood makes noise
And I can't really hear you in the thickening of fear
And if that doesn’t calm you down, try thinking about the monkey throwing nuts around as soon as it senses danger. Saying, “shut up, monkey!” whenever your head fills up with negative thoughts might seem like an overly simplistic way of dealing with the situation, but it’s a clear reminder of what’s going on in your brain, and that’s a good start.
It seems impossible, after everything that has happened in the past 4 years, that Trump will be re-elected next Tuesday. But it seemed impossible that he'd be elected in the first place. And it seems impossible that he hasn't been impeached and thrown in jail a long time ago. It seems impossible than anyone would still vote for him.
He's a demagogue Check out his rise He's a demagogue He's fatally famous He's a demagogue He plays with my fears A demagogue My shadow side dreaming The demagogue It feels so good to be dumb
From the wall straight to la cuenta Those pussy grabbing fingers Won't let go of me now Demagogue The demagogue
He's coming down the escalator With a girl from east of here He wants to make the country greater We've got nothing left to fear
Because the man in the tin foil hat Is sitting on the throne tonight It kinda feels like a coup d'etat But it's gonna be great, tremendous, amazing and all that
'Cause the man in the tin foil hat Is tweeting like a teenage girl He puts the Pluto in plutocrat But it's gonna be a huge huge huge new world He hasn't got the time for losers Unless they do as he commands He's writing checks to his accusers With those tiny little hands
'Cause the man in the tin foil hat Is gonna drain the swamp tonight And fill it up with alternative facts And it's gonna be great, tremendous, amazing and all that
Oh and I don't believe in the devil But you might make me go and change my mind You can see this whole damn world get leveled and not even lose track of time Inside your gilded walls that shine
Well another group of kids in high schools dead But you're still at your golf course teeing off at nine People marching in the streets trying to find a little peace You sit around spouting awful shit online
Well you've always been the same You ain't ever gonna change But I know it's gonna all catch up with you in time And there's a pot of gold from all the dreams you stole Inside your gilded walls that shine
On May 11th 1930, Mary Anne Macleod, from Tong on The Isle of Lewis, boarded the RMS Transylvania from Glasgow to New York City, in search of a better life. There, she fell in love with Frederick, whose father had come to America from Germany as a 16 year old barber.
The couple raised five children.
Mary Anne’s middle son would return years later to Scotland, home of his MacLeod ancestors, whose clan motto is: I burn but I am not consumed. And here - in the name of progress and profit - and executive golf - he would pit himself against time and tide. In his wake, the shifting sands at Balmedie in Aberdeenshire would never be the same.
That son of Mary Anne MacLeod is powerful.
So too is The North Sea.
The marbled, metamorphic rock of Lewis is two-thirds the age of Earth - amongst the very oldest found on our planet. It knows about power. It’s seen a lot. And so I wondered: what might that rock of Lewis have to say about the Inauguration - tomorrow in Washington DC - of the 45th President of the United States of America - Mary Anne’s middle son? This is what the rock told me.
I know it's Sunday morning, Denzel, but I expect people to at least change out of their dressing gowns if they're going to play Saturday Snapshots. Then again, if you got game... you probably don't need an Equalizer... to achieve Glory.
I used to be quite sniffy about covers albums, but lately I've heard some really good ones. And here's one of the best, from a lady who can do no wrong in my ears, Karine Polwart.
All the songs she's covered in her Scottish Songbook are from fellow Scots, and there are some great covers of artists as diverse as Deacon Blue, John Martyn, Biffy Clyro, The Waterboys, Gerry Rafferty and Chvrches. Not a bad song to be heard, some of them (whisper it) better than the originals. Here's one of my favourites, from the late, much-lamented Frightened Rabbit...
Lest we forget, there is a dangerous, deluded psychopath in charge of the most powerful country in the world. And on top of that, Donald Trump's still the President of the USA. But while very few songwriters are expressing their concerns about Putin through lyrics, many have been getting very angry about Donald J. Here's ten of the best from 2018...
Apparently this is Trent Reznor's response to the man he called "a vulgar, grotesque dope" and “a complete fucking moron”. Trent is angry. But isn't he always?
Based on an experience Escovedo had in the 80s when he encountered a racist Texas ranger at a wedding; the character in this song is also based on an Arizona sheriff accused of violating the rights of Latinos as part of his tyrannical immigration policy... a man latterly pardoned by the 47th President of the USA.
Up until this year, a new Frank Turner release had been pretty much guaranteed a place in my year end countdown. His latest album felt like he was trying too hard to be all things for all listeners, and there were times when his trademark optimism verged on naivety. Make America Great Again is a good example of that. Frank's heart is in the right place, but...
"Well, it’s inspired a little bit by the guy who’s currently in the White House. I think it was written initially during the campaign, before the election, just sort of exploring that tone of voice that he was taking. The character in the song, the first-person character, is a demagogue, absolutely, so it was an exploration of, “What is demagoguery, and where does it come from?” as we were seeing this very public figure express these kind of insane and incredible sentiments in public. Of course, I think the song took on a different life once he was actually elected. But yeah, it’s sort of an exploration of the voice of a demagogue, and so hopefully people will find it reviling. I can only hope."
Just in case you're easily offended, I used asterisks. Then again, if I were really worried about causing offence, I'd probably need to write this post about D***** T****.
All the girls think you're a stud Even though your hands are covered in blood And they're turned on by your cover-ups
The highest compliment is being feared I bet that you don't even think that's weird You don't care who your deeds corrupt
Well another group of kids in a high school, dead But you're still at your golf course teein' off at nine People marchin' in the streets tryin' to find a little peace You sit around spoutin' more bullshit online
Oh and I don't believe in the devil But you might make me go and change my mind You could see this whole damn world get leveled And not even lose track of time Inside your gilded walls that shine
And that's not the only track on this album to take aim at the bloated POTUS. But more on that soon...
1. Karine Polwart - I Burn, But I Am Not Consumed
As previously discussed on my United Kingdom of Song feature, Donald Trump's mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, comes from the Isle of Lewis. Edinburgh's Karine Polwart has much to say about that on this exceptional talky song from her latest album...
My favourite radio station of 2018 has been BBC Radio Scotland. I started listening to it because I discovered Ricky Ross's Another Country, which plays a far better selection of new and old country and Americana than Bob Harris does these days. I'll always be thankfully to Whispering Bob for introducing me over the years to many of my favourite artists, but he's gone a bit commercial in his old age. Deacon Blue's Ricky Ross is an unlikely country fan, and he admits to coming late to the genre, but 90% of the music he plays is of interest to me, whereas Bob manages about 50% these days.
While enjoying Ricky's show, I also discovered a couple more Radio Scotland shows that became firm favourites, both devoted to the singer-songwriter genre, and invested in lyrical storytelling. Iain Anderson (not the guy from Jethro Tull, though I did have to check) covers the older end of that spectrum well, while Roddy Hart (another songwriter-turned-DJ) has introduced me to some more contemporary acts I've really got into this year. There's a fair bit of crossover between their shows, and a focus on some Scottish musicians I'd never encountered before. They both hit the mark with me far more than the average 6Music show, a station which is still trying too hard to be cool, something that'll only increase once Lauren Laverne takes over the breakfast show. After the doubly demoted Keaveny & RadMac, only Guy Garvey really tickles my fancy on 6 anymore, and even he tries a little hard at times. (Most of my radio listening is done in the wee small hours these days, via iPlayer, so much as I enjoy Iggy, Huey and Riley, I only get to catch them live every now and then... and they're not going to soothe away the mental aches and pains of the day in the way I need at 3am.)
Anyway, Radio Scotland has introduced and re-introduced me to some great Scottish records this year. The Proclaimers have already featured in my Top 18, and there's another great Scottish record coming up once I hit the Top Ten. Here's ten more great Scottish tunes that made me hit download this year...
(I'll dedicate this Top Ten to the late Scott Hutchinson from Frightened Rabbit, a truly great Scottish musician who tragically departed this mortal coil earlier this year.)
I often find space in my record collection for the Arab Strap boys. Here Aidan teams up with RM Hubbert from El Hombre Trajeado to offer a tribute to the late Stephen Hawking...
I suspect quite a few of my fellow bloggers may have found a place in their year end countdown for this collaboration between Camera Oscura's Tracyanne Camplbell and Crybaby's Danny Campbell. I liked the album a lot, particularly the retro-Richard Hawley vibe to some of the songs, yet somehow it couldn't quiet edge its way onto my shortlist. Alabama though, is a classic.
I was a fan of Karine Polwart's debut record some years ago, but she'd slipped off my radar until a couple of months back when she released this album... one I've only started listening to in detail and I'm already wondering whether I should have found space for it in my Top 18.
There is one track on this record which is definitely one of my songs of the year... but I'm saving that for another Top Ten in a week or so.
1. Iain Morrison - Let's Go Captain
I have snuck this one into a post earlier in the year, but it deserves another play now. As I said at the time, don't make up your mind about it until 1 minute 10...
