Snapshots #432: Jewellery Songs

It’s time to get your bling on – just like Mr. T!

 

15. Prince - get on top!

“Get on top” comes from the Prince song Cream.

Cream - Badge

Yes, a badge can be considered jewellery. I asked the AI.

14. When your briefs fail, they’re probably just tangled up.

“Briefs fail” was an anagram.

Labi Siffre – Watch Me

Yes, a watch can be considered jewellery. I asked the AI.

13. Sleepy summit.

Zzzzz, top.

Picture from the ZZ Top cameo in Back to the Future Part 3.

ZZ Top – Pearl Necklace

12. I bought a Joni Mitchell album and a U2 album, and played them back to back.

The Joni album was Blue. The U2 album was Boy.

Blueboy – Candy Bracelet

11. Have you ever heard the Egg Eye LP? It caused quite a stir.

“Egg Eye LP” was obviously an anagram.

Peggy Lee – Baubles, Bangles & Beads

10. What is The Matrix?

The Grid - Crystal Clear

9. Hartman was a cold, hard, determined fellow.

Dan Hartman was a Steely chap.

Steely Dan – Green Earrings

8. Cancel?

Culture Club - The Medal Song

7. Frasier & Niles.

The Cranes – Jewel

6. Mr. T led a charmed life, in minus 50 conditions, with his bird of prey.

Lucky, without L, with a T… and a buzzard. Whatever.

Tucky Buzzard – Gold Medallions

5. All I really want to do is be an Old Man… or a New Man.

 

Gary Oldman & Gary Numan want to join The Byrds.

Gary Byrd & The GB Experience - The Crown

4. After a while, Ms. Turner would only perform in Stadiums.

Tina Arena - Chains

3. Ancient Biblical leader is all back to front.

King Solomon in reverse.

Solomon King – She Wears My Ring

2. He used to lisp severely until they straightened him out.

“Lisp severely” was an anagram.

Elvis Presley - Good Luck Charm

1. That time you finished a bottle of WKD in LA, and it was No Good.

No, it’s not Tony Hadley.

WKD in LA, and it was No Good.

kd lang – Miss Chatelaine

Bling yourself back here next Saturday for more jewels!

Memory Mixtape #24: A Telephone Call From My Childhood

Oh, oh, telephone line, give me some time
I'm living in twilight

Electric Light Orchestra - Telephone Line

I've been re-reading The Shining by Stephen King recently. Two reasons for this. One, the last couple of modern novels I've read have left me underwhelmed and frustrated. Two, Louise keeps saying, "you have all these old books on the shelves that you never read," and I needed a little more evidence to back up my claims that, "I'll read them again someday". Otherwise: charity shop.

Anyway, I like reading books set in the world of my childhood. A pre-internet, pre-covid, pre-modern day bullshit world... simpler times. The Shining was first published in 1977, when I was 5, a world where a telephone in your home was apparently something of a luxury...

Wendy had insisted on a phone in spite of their unraveling finances. She had argued that with a small child - especially a boy like Danny, who sometimes suffered from fainting spells - they couldn't afford not to have one. So Jack had forked over the thirty-dollar installation fee, bad enough, and a ninety-dollar security deposit, which really hurt. And so far the phone had been mute, except for two wrong numbers.

I'm not sure when my parents got their first telephone installed, but it was there on the wall between the kitchen and the living room throughout my childhood. I remember standing there, when I could reach it, and rotary dialling the numbers... then waiting for a friend's mum to answer. "Hi Mrs. Brook. Is Liam in? Can he come to the phone?"

Of course, the alternative was the good old-fashioned phone box, recently celebrated in John's August Photo Challenge.

Now he dialed the operator and she told him that for a dollar eighty-five he could be put in touch with Al two thousand miles away for three minutes. Time is relative, baby, he thought, and stuck in eight quarters. Faintly he could hear the electronic boops and beeps of his connection sniffling its way eastward.

We take so much for granted these days. A lot of people don't even bother with a home phone anymore, and to be honest, the only time I take a call on ours is when Louise has taken Sam out and she's calling to tell me to put the tea on.

I remember explaining to a bunch of phone-addicted students a few years back that we never even had mobiles when I was a kid. A look of genuine panic crept over their faces.

"But what if you were at school and your mum needed to speak to you urgently?"

"Well, I guess she'd call the school office and someone would come down to pass a message on," I replied... but I couldn't think of any occasion when such a thing had been necessary. Nothing was so urgent that it couldn't wait a few hours back then.

"Or what about if you were meeting up with some mates in town?"

"Well, you'd arrange a time and a place and..."

"But what if they were late?"

"Then you'd wait. And if they still didn't show up, I guess you'd go home and call them later."

Here are some more songs about the telephones of our youth...

Billy Fury - Phone Call

Eddie & The Hotrods - Strangers On The Payphone

Foreigner - Love On The Telephone

If you still want more, there's another great mix of Telephone Tunes over at The Dude's Place this month.

Grumpy Old Men Songs #11: Kids Today!

When I featured Labi Siffre in Saturday Snapshots a few weeks ago, it occurred to me that I only really knew two of his songs - Something Inside (So Strong) and It Must Be Love (made more famous by Madness) - but that I liked them both a lot. Further investigation was obviously required, so I started listening to a Best Of (interestingly enough, it didn't feature Something Inside at all) which introduced me to some great tracks. It also revealed that, even back in his youth, Claudius Afolabi Siffre was capable of turning on the Grumpy Old Man on tracks like the tabloid-baiting Entertainment Value, and the anti-religion anthem Let's Pretend.

Best of all though is this, from his debut album, released in 1970 when Labi was a mere 25 years of age. I suspect tongue is firmly in cheek, but still...

I don't care for these long haired guys

They need a good bath

They got shifty eyes

They're either sleeping in the park

Begging in the street

Or they're speeding 'round town in a Lotus Elite

(Where'd they get the money from anyway?)

Saturday Snapshots #65 - The Answers

If your relationship with Saturday Snapshots is a Love Story - then You Belong With Me. 

Martin returned to the game this week and stole a victory from early birds Alyson & Charity Chic, who spent most of their time arguing over how to spell Labi Siffre. Chris remembered Nina Persson's other band, narrowly pipping Brian to the answer, who'd obviously had a very late night on Friday. Was that 1 a.m., Brian? You can still party like the young 'uns!

Lynchie has been missed these last few weeks though. Maybe he's got a Saturday morning paper round?

Shake It Off - it's time for this week's answers...


10. Portable stereos found in Boomtown.

The Walkmen - The Rat

9. Eeeeeaaaaaaaarrrrrrgghhhhhh! There's too much filling in my sandwich!!! (Said no one ever, in the history of sandwiches.)

"Eeeeeaaaaaaaarrrrrrgghhhhhh!" was a Primal Scream.

Full sandwiches are loaded.

Primal Scream - Loaded

8. Scottish morning sequel tries to prevent bad luck.

A.M. II

Get it?

And Stewart is a Scottish name.

Amii Stewart - Knock On Wood

7. Argonaut campanology in 1 second of film.

Jason & The Argonauts.

Campanology involves bells.

1 second of film = 24 frames.

Jason Isbell - 24 Frames

6. Good man chases thieves with burnt fingers.

Nobody got Len Goodman.

Look, the only other Len I could think of was Fairclough, OK. Give me a break.

Len - Steal My Sunshine

5. Welshman under a dark cloud gets call from Chachi's girl.

A dark cloud might be a pall.

A Welshman might be Evans.

Chachi's girl was Joanie.

Paul Evans - Hello, This Is Joannie

4. I'm late for a very important date with an early version of Airforce 1.

The White Rabbit was late for a very important date.

Airforce 1 is the president's plane. Thomas Jefferson was an early president.

Jefferson Airplane - White Rabbit

3. Baffle Iris with inner power.

Baffle Iris is an anagram.

Labi Siffre - Something Inside (So Strong)

2. You can pitch your tents here, but I'm not for sale.

A Camp - I Can Buy You

1. A blue glow is needed on the golf course.

A strange blue glow caused by electricity after a storm is known as St. Elmo's Fire.

Every golf course has a par.



We Are Never, Ever, Ever Getting Back Together.

Only joking! Saturday Snapshots will Begin Again next week.