It's Christmas morning. What better way to celebrate than ten versions of one of the very best Christmas songs ever written... and they're all worth a listen.
In the sitcom Roseanne, she had two daughters: Becky and Darlene. No score at tennis is Love.
Happy Christmas to everyone who's ever visited this page, whether you're here every day or you just strayed here by accident and couldn't get away. Every visit, every comment, keeps me going. In more ways that you'd think. Take care of yourselves. Have a good one (whatever that might mean to you).
Another new feature. I pick a famous actor or actress, then find ten songs which
link to them one way or another... and try to explain the link in as
few words as possible.
We're starting with Humphrey Bogart because he is a legend. Not the greatest actor ever, but certainly one of the greatest movie stars. This guy had charisma, attitude, presence by the bucketload. He was a tough guy, sure, but he knew how to take a beating too. And while the kids of today probably wouldn't even know his name, the songwriters of yesterday couldn't stop writing about him. I could probably have made this a Top 20, just from songs that mention him by name (I won't be as direct with every star I choose), and I didn't even have to go to Nik Kershaw.
Anyone who doesn't dig Hall & Oates, well... when you're slapped, you'll take it and like it.
We've seen a million faces All staring at you and me But just like Humphrey Bogart said Before he passed out on his bed Here's looking at you kid And the rocky road ahead
Probably one I should haved saved for volume 2 of My Top Ten Stalker Songs...
Sure I'm alright No I'm not very cold Every now and then I can feel the subway heat So go on inside I'll leave you alone Anyway Bogart's on in the window down the street And I gotta do something
But there's always someone who's gotta spoil it for the rest of the gang You're such a little Bogart and I'm sorry but you just can't hang
Why don't you pass it around Don't bring the party down If you don't pass it around We'll run you right outta this town
I had to Urban Dictionary this one...
"To keep something all for oneself, thus depriving anyone else of having
any. A slang term derived from the last name of famous actor Humphrey
Bogart because he often kept a cigarette in the corner of his mouth,
seemingly never actually drawing on it or smoking it."
On a morning from a Bogart movie In a country where they turn back time You go strolling through the crowd like Peter Lorre Contemplating a crime She comes out of the sun in a silk dress running Like a watercolor in the rain Don't bother asking for explanations She'll just tell you that she came In the year of the cat
Definitely Al's finest moment. (I wonder if I could have managed a Peter Lorre Top Ten?)
1. Bertie Higgins - Key Largo / Casablanca
Two for the price of one. Another couple I owe to Wogan, I suspect. No idea how else I'd remember these songs. The interweb informs me that "Bertie Higgins is one of China's most requested American entertainers". Good for him.
We had it all Just like Bogie and Bacall Starring in our old late, late show Sailing away to Key Largo...
If you think I've missed any obvious ones out... they might crop up in volume two of this series... so you might be able to guess who's coming next.
Feel free to leave a comment, but remember: people lose teeth talking like that. If you want to hang around, you'll be polite.
