Saturday Snapshots #89 - The Answers

Welcome back to Saturday Snapshots. Yesterday's clues were so fiendish, you may well have needed a Black Magic Woman to help you work out the answers. Hopefully you didn't have to make a Soul Sacrifice to Satan, or Santa, or anyone with a similar name. Sigh. Let's put the crowbar away and get on with the answers...

Yesterday saw a closely fought three-way battle between Alyson, Chris and George... who might have been a joint winner with Chris, had he not gone off to brush his teeth, allowing Lynchie to sneak in and steal his final point. So Chris takes this week's crown. Thanks for playing, as always.


10. Starting fires with a score of tiny cars makes you sick.

A score is 20.

Matchbox make tiny cars. Matchboxes contain matches to start fires. But really, when was the last time you used a match? I get quite nostalgic when I see one.

Matchbox 20 - Unwell

9. Constant pain at the depressed diner.

Sad Cafe - Every Day Hurts

One of George's favourite bands, according to Charity Chic.

8. Above all, John and Bobby confused L.A. with Berlin.

"Deutsche über alles" comes from the German national anthem, meaning Germany above all.

John and Bobby were both Kennedies, now sadly deceased.

The Dead Kennedys - California Über Alles

7. No king, no queen... but still up for it!

A country without a king or queen is a republic.

Republica - Ready To Go

6. Harry Connick and Sammy Davis find an Irish boy where rabbits dance.

Harry and Sammy were both juniors.

Danny Boy is the Irish tune.

Danny & The Juniors - At The Hop

Some top dancing in this video... especially the proto-breakdancing in the instrumental break.

5. What the BBC used to be: Supermarine!

The BBC used to be Public Service Broadcasting. Nowadays it's the mouthpiece of the establishment.

Supermarine made Spitfires.

Public Service Broadcasting - Spitfire

4. No to the Easter punk, yes to the bird of prey... a romantic shortfall.

It's not Patti (Easter) Smith.

It is an Eagle.

Patti Smyth & Don Henley - Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough

3. Run run run run runaway spelling aid - I bet that information has just astounded you!

Del Shannon sang Runaway.

Phonics help kids learn to spell.

The Delfonics - Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time)

2. Naval engineering reversed @ Y.

Reverse @ Y and you get Y @. Simples.

Robert Wyatt - Shipbuilding

1. Top sheep lads wage lightning war - pow!

Boy sheep are rams - if they're top, then they're number one.

A lightning war is a blitzkrieg.

Pow is what happens when you get bopped.

You try and find a picture of the Ramones where they don't look OBVIOUSLY like the Ramones. 

Saturday Snapshots returns next Saturday. Smooth!

My Top Ten Sick Songs

There's a new issue of Department of the Peculiar out - and you can buy it here.

To celebrate, here's ten songs about being sick... I know, how lovely!


10. Disturbed - Down With The Sickness

This is about as heavy as I get... and it's pretty light for Disturbed.

I have to confess though, I first encountered this song via the Richard Cheese cover version as featured in the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead.

9. Fountains of Wayne - Sick Day

All about office romances that might happen one day...

Contains the pun: Lead us not into Penn Station. Which I like.

8. Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip - Sick Tonight

In which Scroobius gets a sick-bag for a head...

I remember when I was a kid and that
Way before I found beards and caps
Pencils came with erasers that
Could erase your mistakes erase, retract
But in the real world things just ain’t that easy
You can’t take back your mistakes so freely
You gotta take them in think about them deeply
Not ignore them and just move on discreetly

7. Matchbox 20 - Unwell

Not a band I rave about, but I do love this song. I'm not crazy... just a little unwell.

6. The Indelicates - Ill

Their sex is a sickness...

Because you'll never take enough of those pills
You know you're too clever to be mentally ill
You'll never fashion your damaged soul
Because you're too clever to lose control

5. Saint Etienne - You're In A Bad Way

Burnt toast, cold coffee, nothing but Bruce Forsythe on the telly... luckily, we have Sarah Cracknell to make us feel better. 

4. The Smiths - Still Ill

Does the body rule the mind or does the mind rule the body?

I don't know... but I do know this song inspired one of my favourite Doom Patrol comics.

And, no, sorry, I can't make them Number One every time.

3. Bob Dylan - Subterranean Homesick Blues

In which Bob invents the lyrics video thirty years before youtube.

See also Radiohead - Subterranean Homesick Alien.


2. Alabama 3 - Too Sick To Pray

Any song that begins thus...

I'm in a lonely room
Hank Williams sings a lovesick blues
Winter's walking up the avenue
But I ain't seen the sunshine since the 6th o' June

...well, it doesn't matter how sick you feel: this'll make you feel better.

1. Tindersticks - City Sickness

One of their finest songs, with a video directed by Jarvis and Steve from Pulp.






So, they were my sick notes... which one makes you feel better?