At one of the hospitals where I work, we get a monthly delivery of books to hand out to children on the ward.
This arrived the other day.
Nobody wants to go anywhere near it...
Showing posts with label Ohio Players. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ohio Players. Show all posts
Friday, 7 November 2025
Sunday, 4 May 2025
Snapshots #394: Musical Organs... but not the kind you play
15. Charles, could be another #4.
Charles Mansun would be in good company with the names listed in Clue 4.
Mansun - She Makes My Nose Bleed
Or even...
And yes, your nose is an organ. Trust me, I'm a doctor.
14. McNulty, Bunk, Omar, Stringer Bell.
All characters from The Wire...
13. Educating an Italian peacock.
Educating Rita. Pavone is Italian for peacock.
12. Home to Silvio Dante.
Silvio Dante was a character in The Sopranos, played by E Street Band member Stevie Van Zandt.
11. Helps lyrics become untangled.
"Helps lyrics" was an anagram...
Cypress Hill - Insane In The Brain
10. Supreme Ruler.
The AI says, "Yes, individual muscles are considered organs because they are structures composed of different tissues working together to perform a specific function, like movement."
9. Satanism.
8. Retriever in both ears.
Stereo Labrador?
7. Lee, Holloway and Russell enjoy making tables.
Three famous Brendas indulge in a bit of tabulation.
Brenda & the Tabulations - Right On The Tip Of My Tongue
6. Buffy.
Buffy was a Vampire... Slayer.
Slayer - Hardening Of The Arteries
That's got to be one for George's next mixtape.
5. She's a neat one... but pretty messed up.
"She's a neat one" was a rather obvious anagram
Sheena Easton - For Your Eyes Only
4. Jack, Peter, Jeffrey, John Wayne.
Jack The Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe, Jeffrey Dahmer and John Wayne Gacy...
3. Tin soldiers and Nixon coming... presumably for a game.
"Tin soldiers and Nixon coming" is the opening line of Ohio.
2. Invoice for the Mills... and Cupid's friends.
Bill Hayley Mills! Cupid was friends with Comet.
Bill Haley & His Comets - Rock The Joint
1. Subs.
In case you were wondering, here were the two I had left over...
I'll organ-ise more Snapshots next Saturday...
Sunday, 30 September 2018
Saturday Snapshots #52 - The Answers
It's been twenty-three hours and zero days since you finished answering (most of) this week's Saturday Snapshots... and, as often is the case, the early bird walked away with the prize. Well done, C! Nothing compares to you lot...
10. Riding through Dublin or Lynchburg (but not Campbeltown) with Bruce's dad.
Dublin and Lynchburg are towns that produce Whiskey with an e. Campbeltown produces Whisky without an e. Back when I was a whiskey/y connoisseur (20+ years ago), I preferred Scotch to Irish, but Bourbon beat them both.
In the song My Hometown, an 8 year old Bruce Springsteen rides through town with his dad. This is a different song with the same title.
Yes, Martin, that is Ryan Adams. But it could also have been Tim Burgess with that haircut.
Whiskeytown - My Hometown
9. Dick Kapital ☠.
Dick Kapital was easy: Richard being Dick, Marx writing Das Kapital.
The skull & crossbones caused a lot more trouble - it's used as a hazard symbol, specifically for poisons and other lethal substances.
Nice mullet/stubble combo, by the way.
Richard Marx - Hazard
8. Earthquake breaks up angelic ork.
Easy, it seems. Anagram.
Carole King - I Feel The Earth Move
7. Short hello in Oo fancies a big dipper.
Stick hi in the middle of Oo and you get Ohio.
A big dipper is a rollercoaster.
Ohio Players - Love Rollercoaster
6. The longest key on your street.
The longest key on a keyboard is the space bar.
Space - Neighbourhood
5. Troglodyte onomatopoeia.
Troglodytes were primitives.
Crash is an onomatopoeia.
Primitives - Crash
4. Washington Butler can see clearly.
George Washington.
Robert Guillaume played the Butler Benson.
If you can see clearly, you have 20/20 vision.
George Benson - 20/20
3. Wilde meat glares at Joan Crawford.
Kim Wilde.
Meat = carne (as in carnivore).
Bette Davis glared at Joan Crawford.
Kim Carnes - Bette Davis Eyes
2. Bad bad (almost) Beach Boy Brown ups the bidding.
Bad Bad Leroy Brown + Van Dyke Parks.
My dad used to be an auctioneer. This song always makes me think of him.
Leroy Van Dyke - The Auctioneer
1. What if Alan Bennett only wrote one monologue?
Alan Bennett wrote a series of monologues called Talking Heads. But if he'd only written one...
(If you've not seen it before, check out the Donald Trump version.)
Erm... Mandinka next Saturday. Or something.
Friday, 9 August 2013
My Top Ten Rollercoaster Songs
Following on from my Fairground Top Tens, Adrian requested "a Ronan Keating-free Rollercoaster Top Ten" over on Facebook. Well, I'm always happy to oblige... though I have a curious love/hate relationship with Ronan's biggest hit as it was written by former New Radicals man Gregg Alexander, and if he'd bothered to record it himself I can't help thinking I'd have liked it a lot more.
Adrian suggested both Fly by Moxy Früvous and Eleanor, Put Your Boots On by Franz Ferdinand, two excellent songs that both mention rollercoasters in the lyrics (see also Everyday by Buddy Holly)... but I decided to restrict myself to songs with titular rollercoasters (there were plenty to choose from).
So strap yourself in... and get ready for the ride of your life!
10. Sleeper - Rollercoaster
From the final Sleeper album, the one so few people bought, I can't find this song anywhere online. A shame, because it's a cute little indie pop song which Louise & co. always excelled at.
9. The Whitest Boy Alive - Rollercoaster Ride
King of Convenience Erlend Øye's other band.
8. Helen Love - Rollercoasting
What if the Ramones were girls?
7. M Ward - Rollercoaster
The less perky Him to Zooey Deschanel's She goes on an unbelievable ride and gets some heavy metal dreams.
6. Machine Gun Fellatio - Rollercoaster
Thanks to Deano for pointing me in the direction of these mental Aussies. If the band name alone doesn't get them points, the video throws in the kitchen sink.
5. The Jesus & Mary Chain - Rollercoaster
Any theme park worth its salt should have a Jesus & Mary Chain Rollercoaster. That would be one hell of a ride.
4. Belle & Sebastian - The Rollercoaster Ride
If you were to remove your clothes d'you think the singer would notice?There's not many bands who could deliver a line like that and make it heartbreaking.
3. Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers - Roller Coaster by the Sea
Jonathan is feeling bad.
Jonathan goes on a rollercoaster.
Jonathan gets knocked out of his head.
2. Stephen Duffy & The Lilac Time - The Rollercoaster Song
Sadly, I can only find a 30 second clip of this wonderful song online, but that's still enough to fall in love with....
I had a friend who treated loveOne of Adrian's biggest problems with that Ronan Keating song was the creakingly obvious metaphor of life being a rollercoaster. Here, Mr. Duffy has a similar go, calling love a rollercoaster... yet it's much, much sweeter. Conclusive proof that there are no bad metaphors, just metaphors used badly.
Like a luxury development
On the other side of town
And one day his girl got up
And left and slammed the door
And his fine walls came falling down
But don't be blue, he built a fairground there
For you and I to ride
Or something.
1. The Ohio Players - Love Rollercoaster
There's a gruesome urban legend that the background scream around about the 2 1/2 minute mark in this song actually came from a woman being murdered in the studio during the recording. (Was it the engineer's girlfriend?) It's utter bogwash, of course, but you could believe just about anything when it comes to The Ohio Players. Those guys were mental.
Covered more recently by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers... but that wasn't a patch on the original.
As requested, ten rollercoaster songs and not a Ronan in sight. Any other scream-worthy suggestions?
Wednesday, 27 February 2013
My Top Ten Charming Songs
What do you mean you already know the Number One? Charming!
10. Black Kids - I've Underestimated My Charm (Again)
A song that begins with a tribute to Sparks before going on to reveal...
And you, you're not doing too well.I don't know what happened to Black Kids, but I wish they'd come back.
All the blogs are about you, girl.
They caught you in the park after dark
giving head to a statue, girl.
Oh, cruel!
9. The Ohio Players - Good Luck Charm
Sleazy, in all the right ways.
8. Elvis Costello - Charm School
From my favourite Costello album, when his lyrics were at their most playfully malicious...
You & I as lovers were nothing but a farce7. The Divine Comedy - Charmed Life
Trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's arse...
Neil Hannon looks back on a charmed life in which he may not have made a lot of money, but he always seemed to land on his feet. Which is maybe about all you can hope from life, in the long run...
6. Cinerama - Your Charms
I love the fact that when David Gedge tries to write an out and out love song, he can't help but be self-deprecating...
And darling, I just can't think clearly5. Aimee Mann - Charmer
It happens when I'm in your arms
And my heart is pounding
How pathetic is this sounding?
Finally got around to buying the new Aimee Mann CD... sorry, Aimee, I'm six months behind schedule, but I don't have a lot of money these days. Thankfully, the record is every bit as wonderful as her earlier releases. Still among my Top Five All Time Favourite Female Recording Artists... that voice!
4. Blur - Charmless Man
Blur's Charmless Man is certainly a boorish oaf in the video... but you can't help but cheer when he gives Damon Albarn a kicking. Much as I love the Blur boys... Damon probably had it coming.
Wikimadeupia tells me this inspiration from this song came from some graffiti on a toilet wall. The title no doubt came in response to another song you're already expecting to find at the top of this countdown.
3. Elvis Presley - Good Luck Charm
Nobody could "ah-ah-ahh" like The King...
2. Adam & The Ants - Prince Charming
...but nobody could "ah-ahh ey-haa!" like Adam.
What's the biggest problem with pop music these days? Nobody makes video like this... in which Adam plays Jesus, Alice Cooper, Clint Eastwood and a pantomime princess... and there's Diana Dors as his fairy godmother too!
Ridicule is nothing to be scared of...1. The Smiths - This Charming Man
Mere words cannot do this song justice. From the opening line, "Punctured bicycle on a hillside desolate" to Johnny's jangling-reverby guitars to the infamous refrain, "I would go out tonight, but I haven't got a stitch to wear"... it is perfect.
None of the cover versions are worthy of comment, but if you're a child of the 80s, and a fan of both The Smiths and The Housemartins, you might appreciate this magical mash-up: This Charming Caravan.
Those were the songs that charmed me... but which is your four leaf clover?
Friday, 18 January 2013
My Top Ten Ohio Songs
Not done one of my US road trip Top Tens for awhile. Wasn't sure I could get a whole post out of songs about the Buckeye State, but it's amazing what you find when you start digging around in your music library...
10. Over The Rhine - Ohio
A native band who take their name from a historic neighbourhood in Cincinnati. Lovely song.
9. The Ohio Players - O.H.I.O.
The funkiest Ohio band ever, these guys were together in one guise or another for over 40 years, scoring a pair of US Number Ones in the mid-70s, Fire and Love Rollercoaster (covered in the 90s by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers who had a minor UK hit with it). O.H.I.O. isn't their greatest moment, but it is the one that spells out their state of origin.
8. Super Furry Animals - Ohio Heat
Sycamore trees blowing green in the distanceAnd that is why the SFA are ace.
She sucked on her thumb in her beautiful jail
A sentence to serve as her dynasty blows up inside her balloon
Salty Maureen had a bun in the oven
The daughters of charity let out a sigh
As she suffered they pleaded for mercy she needed a long time ago
7. The Melting Ice Caps - Ohio
You have to wonder whether professional British miserablist David Shah has ever set foot in Ohio. Sometimes I wonder if he ever sets foot out of his house. Still, more power to him as long as he keeps recording tunes like this one, free to download from the band's website at the link above.
I also just discovered they released a new album last year - available to buy from the Indelicates' Corporate Records site. I look forward to giving that a spin.
6. The Handsome Family - Banks of the Ohio
A traditional folk song murder ballad covered by everyone from Johnny Cash to Olivia Newton John (in, of all places, a Cliff Richard movie). But the Handsome Family always win in the Murder Ballad Olympics as far as I'm concerned.
5. Bowling For Soup - Ohio (Come Back To Texas)
Bowling For Soup always make me smile.
4. Lambchop - Ohio
A song about Kurt Wagner's childhood paper round. I think. It's too lovely to dwell on the meaning - just enjoy the feeling.
3. Nilsson - Dayton, Ohio 1903
A Randy Newman song (here's the original), but the Harry Nilsson version is preferable... because it's Harry bloody-beautiful Nilsson.
Sing a song of long ago2. The National - Bloodbuzz Ohio
When things were green and movin' slow
And people'd stop to say hello
Or they'd say "hi" to you
"Would you like to come over for tea
With the missus and me?"
It's a real nice way
To spend the day
In Dayton, Ohio
On a lazy Sunday afternoon in 1903
The National get carried to Ohio in a swarm of bees. Just another day at the office for them guys.
1. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Ohio
Neil Young's scream of protest against the Kent State massacre was banned by American radio for pointing the finger of blame at Richard Nixon. It remains one of the most powerful protest songs ever written.
The Dandy Warhols also did a suitably trippy cover.
Those were my Buckeyed Best... but which is your champion conker*?
(*On investigation, I discovered that the Buckeye is a tree which produces conkers similar to our own Horse Chestnut. See, we're not only about the obscure pop records here.)
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