On one of the last working days of the old year, this was the sky that greeted me on my journey to work. Doesn't bode well for the New Year and whatever might be waiting for us after January 20th.
But while we wait for the end of the world, it's back to work for a lot of us today. My commiserations if that leaves you with a feeling of dread...
In a postscript to my year end countdown, I wanted to take a moment to revisit the record at #14, Who Will You Believe? by the Pernice Brothers.
Songwriter Joe Pernice was a huge fan of The Smiths when he was growing up. He even wrote a novel (published as part of Continuum's 33 1/3 series) about growing up in thrall to Morrissey.
So when I heard the following lyrics, I had to wonder...?
I remember when you spoke with gravitas, with care and eloquence.
Here are some more records from this year which I found to be a good distraction from the hollow futility of existence...
15. Scott Lavene - Disneyland In Dagenham
I'm not sure if it was George (in his tribute to Fray Bentos) or John Medd who first tipped me off to the work of Scott Lavene, but then I was fortunate enough to see him play live earlier this year, in support of Craig Finn. Since then, I've spent rather a lot of time listening to his latest album, which is all about how they originally tried to build Eurodisney in Essex, the perils of not being Steve McQueen, and Scott's great love of custard. With the odd tender love song thrown in for good measure... and even a "duet" with Mr. Finn himself. Very enjoyable stuff and nonsense.
Take the bread out of that - it's not a toaster!
14. The Pernice Brothers - Who Will You Believe?
Joe Pernice has slipped off my radar somewhat in recent years, so I was pleased to rediscover his work through the ninth Pernice Brothers album (I remember getting into the first two around the turn of the millennium). It's another collection of shiny indie pop with soaring vocals and heartfelt lyrics. Not a bad song to be heard, though the one that really stopped me in my tracks was the epic closer, The Purple Rain (no connection to the equally epic Prince tune, just half the duration).
If you were here we could hang out all night and wash our rags till they were almost white I stopped there on my way, but it didn't feel right No longer knew a soul No soul knew me I never called you, and you never came I stayed a couple streets away from blame Hole up in a poem made of pith and pain I often read the end before the start
13. The Decemberists - As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again
On the other hand, here's a band who've never really fallen off my radar. As long as Colin Meloy keeps putting out tragic indie-folk paeans like these, I'll keep lapping them up. Special mention to the 19 minute closing track, Joan In The Garden, which descends around the 10 minute mark into a long section of "unexpectedly sick ambient noise" (to quote Stereogum) before rousing itself for a rocking finale. Despite that, I never want to skip it, the band carry me with them right through to the end.
Oh, Len, come down And meet at the burial ground They undid the aerial Tore down the merry-go-round This world's all wrong So let's go where we belong Pack up the stereo, meet at the burial ground
Like many people, I tried to take a photo of last week's Northern Lights display... though all I really got on film was Steve. Bloody Steve, hogging the twilight...
However, it's the epic closing track which I've become most obsessed with over the past few weeks, despite its titular similarity to an equally epic Prince tune...
Joe Pernice's Purple Rain is a completely different proposition, differentiated by the addition of the definite article... which almost seems cheeky, under the circumstances. As I say, they're both epic tunes... but hats off to Joe for making his epic clock in at just over 3 minutes (unlike Prince's, which doesn't give you much change from 10). And he still manages to throw in a brass band and full choir along the way...
(That's the only song on this list - I think - which is an actual TV theme tune reworked into a song. Although actually it's two... the first 50 seconds are the theme from Taxi.)
1. Affleck catches a theatre award.
Ben Affleck catches a Tony in his net.
Tony Bennett - The Good Life
Twelve sitcom songs... and I'll be back with a few more later in the week.
I discovered that a new Pernice Brothers album had sneaked out last year via a comment left on Brian's blog a month or so back. I immediately set out to track it down as they haven't had a record out for almost a decade. The only place I could find it was on their bandcamp page, but I was happy to throw them some money and definitely not disappointed on receiving my download.
Spread The Feeling is classic Pernice Brothers - bright, sunshiny pop tunes with blissful harmonies and an underlying air of melancholy. If you've never heard of them, here's a Venn Diagram I drew to explain the band in as few words as possible...
Hear the full album over on Bandcamp, but here's one of my favourites...
The Swede recently ran a post about a 24 minute song and asked "Do we have time to listen to it?" Not at the moment, I'm afraid... work is still sucking all the joy out of my life.
So here's ten songs that all clock in at under 30 seconds. Easy enough to compile, I just got my music player to put my library in order by duration.
The only rule I had was it had to be a complete song - no excerpts, reprises, intros, fillers, talky bits or skits. Once I'd sifted all those out, here's what I was left with...
I want to be a field day for the Sundays so they can Fuck up my life Embarrass my wife And leave a bad taste Striped toothpaste can't remove on Monday mornings I want to be a target for the dailies so they can show Pictures of me with a nude on page three So lacking in taste Touched up near the waist, looking as limp as Monday morning Touched up near the waist, looking as limp as Monday morning
You could argue that the second side of Abbey Road is all one long track, but it's probably my favourite Beatles album and this is a fine coda.
1. Slaves - Girl Fight
Very loud, very funny - particularly the end... and I'm making it Number One because, despite being only 15 seconds long... they still made a video for it!
Any short songs you'd recommend? They have to be under 30 seconds... I may well do a follow-up post on songs under a minute.
The waking world is full of cynics' sighs Cynicism's a box I don't want to be in I'll stay in bed until I stabilize
Staying in bed. The dream...
7. Queen - It's A Hard Life I try and mend the broken pieces Oh, I try to fight back the tears Oh, they say it's just a state of mind But it happens to everyone
Because sometimes all you can do is say bad words to make you feel better...
That amazing grace Sort of passed you by You wake up every day And you start to cry Yeah, you want to die But you just can't quit Let me break it on down: It's the fucked up shit
As it's the Wimbledon final this weekend, I thought I'd have a go at a Top Ten Songs About Tennis. I had a great Number One in mind, but was surprised by how difficult it proved to scrape together the rest of them. I had to go pretty obscure in places, but sometimes that's a nice change of pace from being overwhelmed by choice (as I often am when I think of a subject these days). Still, I can't believe there aren't more songs about tennis. Perhaps you know some that I couldn't think of...?
So. Lorde. OK, middle-aged music lovers, what do we make of Lorde?
I was very much enamoured with Lana Del Rey when she hit big with Video Games (although the law of diminishing returns applied with later releases). Lorde appears to follow Lana's template aurally, the differences being she's younger and hipper, a New Zealander, and secretly Stan's dad in South Park. Yeah, South Park pretty much put paid to me talking Lorde seriously.
Anyway, Tennis Court is a perfectly decent pop song. There's a little too much of what da kidz call "beatz" for my liking, but that's just because I've already preferred instruments to computers. I have it in my collection because google play had an offer on the album for 99p a year or so back and I like to try new things. Not really listened to it that much, but as I've said before, I'm not really the target audience for cool contemporary pop music any more, am I? So they're not doing their job right if old fogies like me dig it too much.
The problems I have with Eric Clapton aside, there's no denying Cream made some excellent records. I'm not sure this is one of them... but it's worth watching the video to see the embarrassing things pop stars had to do to get their records seen on TV in the 60s.
I first discovered Phranc when I heard Steve Lamacq play her excellent single Folksinger as an oldie on 6Music. Turns out it was released all the way back in 1989, on Phranc's second album, I Enjoy Being A Girl. M-A-R-T-I-N-A is from the same album, which I soon secured a very cheap copy of. Strangely, Folksinger (which is a far better song) isn't on youtube, yet this is. Still fun, but perhaps not the best place to start if you've never heard Phranc before...
A warm and lilting sunshiney American indie song from Adam Young, the guy also behind the band Owl City (y'know: Fireflies), taken from the 2010 album An Airplane Carried Me to Bed.
I served and scratched a rainbow So curved, I felt the pain go Through my joints And now I don't wanna play Swinging down, I sent the birdie Downtown, At 7:30 And I'm convinced that I've got tennis elbow
You may remember Lilys as the band who had a Top 20 hit back in 1996 with the short, sharp spunkiness of A Nanny In Manhattan (after it was featured in a Levis' ad). This is from the same album (perhaps surprisingly, the band released a total of 8 between '92 and '06). Very 60s influenced, filtered through 90s indie (which perhaps explains why they were successful in the UK at the height of Britpop)... and the lyrics are proper mental.
Tossing young men from high windows Care air lighter than Cosmo Knows no bounds of charming Building aisles of sound from my room And sung so softly none understood
Title track from Rea's third album, released in 1980, which I'm guessing wasn't particularly successful as it falls into a hole between his brief 70's success with (Fool) If You Think It's Over and mid-late 80's superstardom.
Tennis is an interesting song, looking at how the media concentrates all its attention on sporting tournaments and ignores much bigger world events...
There are people in boats in the middle of the sea Crying and dying like Jews Do you like tennis? Freedom is the man with the red grenade She ran out of gas, got beat and raped Do you like tennis?
Didn't really work for the Chilcott Report, did it, Tony?
Cool "lost classic" from the sole 1999 album from this American guitar band... although the album was re-released in 2001 with quite a different track list. Tennis Shoes is on both versions, so it must be considered one of their better songs. I think it is, anyway.
Sun was comin' up on New Orleans When I opened my eyes It was another perfect morning I didn't know where I was Or where I was going For most of my life If there was a chance to fuck it up Well, I did... Yeah, I did
3. The Pernice Brothers - The Ballad of Bjorn Borg
A gorgeous track by Joe Pernice & co. from their excellent 2001 album The World Won't End.
Poetic lyrics and lush harmonies combine to evoke the long hot summers of our youth... back when Bjorn was in his prime. Sadly I can't find the audio anywhere online.
Knowing very little about tennis, I originally selected this track only because it contains the amusing pun, "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wade?"
However, on further investigation, I learned that Vitas Gerulaitis was actually a Lithuanian tennis player who won the Australian Open in 1977 and the Men's Doubles at Wimbledon in 1975 (partnered with Sandy Mayer). Nigel Blackwell: king of obscure references. I particularly like the Scooby Doo bit...
Why, it’s Mr Kowalski It was you all along! That ski lodge would have been mine If it wasn’t for you meddling kids
But what can you do When your Mum’s in Rampton, bouncing off the walls And singing “Who’s afraid, of Virginia Wade?” Why do that today when you can always put it off until tomorrow? Was our motto Subsequently engraved on a plaque As a reminder of the attack Of Vitas Gerulaitis
1. Frank Turner - Love Forty Down
Good old Frank Turner, you can always rely on him to save the day. It seems incredible to me that more songwriters haven't used tennis as a metaphor for relationships (given the obvious pun on the word 'love'). Perhaps it's too obvious. Frank doesn't take the obvious path here though - he's much cleverer than that. Instead, this is a song about staring down "the barrel of (his) fourth decade" and being afraid that life's slipping away from him. As with many of Frank's songs, it's also about not giving up. Maybe that's why he remains one of my absolute favourite contemporary songwriters. I feel every word he writes...
Which one takes Game, Set and Match as your favourite tennis song?
Because it's been snowing this week. Round these part, anyway. And, as usual, people have been acting like it's the end of the world...
The only rule for this one was that I couldn't have any Christmas songs. For obvious reasons. Hence, no matter how good a song 'Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow' might be... it's not getting in.
Having grown up on a farm and seen the after-effects of a fox in a chicken house, I shouldn't have much sympathy for the animals. But I do. Besides, Stuart Murdoch could make me shed a tear for even the most hateful of creatures: that's just his gift. One day he'll write a song about Tom Hanks or Michael McIntyre and all will be forgiven...
9. Shirley Lee - The First Time You Saw Snow
I make no apologies for featuring two Shirley Lee records in the space of two Top Tens, even if most of you have never heard of him. Sadly this one has disappeared from its original online source, but I'm sure you can hear it somewhere if you search hard enough. It's worth the effort!
All through this short life we give of ourselves
Giving and giving and slowly diminishing
Leaving a mark that will gradually fade
Ash in the breeze, snowballs in negative
Not only is this a beautiful song, but Anne Murray was also once the world's best female celebrity golfer. Elvis's version is pretty good, but he was rubbish with a golf club.
1. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Fifteen Feet of Pure White Snow
Nick goes all Mike Oldfield on our snowy ass. Chilling... in every sense of the word.
I waved to my neighbour
My neighbour waved to me
But my neighbour
Is my enemy
I kept waving my arms
Till I could not see
Under fifteen feet of pure white snow
Those were my snowy songs... which one gets you all flakey?
Pop bands, eh? They're an endless source of wisdom for those of us struggling to negotiate the perilous rapids of L-I-F-E. If they weren't writing hit (and non-hit) songs, they'd be writing self-help books. Here's a sampling of the 'How To...' advice I've received throughout my listening years...
Good old Stephin Merrit, translating his chat-up best lines into Japanese so we don't have to. Not that I'd pay him much attention: his success rate can't be that good, based on this song from his other band, The Magnetic Fields.
Dressed like that you're gonna get roughed up
You're like a benefit scrounger in a fun pub
I'll meet you on the corner of Amherst Road
Let's start a party of our own
Don't worry, Luke hates the middle and upper classes just as much.
From their brand new album, Mirage Rock, the Horsemen show us how to write another beautiful slab of harmonic Americana. And they make it look so easy.
Surviving isn't enough for Joe Pernice. This longtime Smiths fan is struggling to find a way to get through all on his own-some.
Keep a foot out of the blacker end
Keep away the crush of years
But we prayed too hard and everything was ordinary
A life without the bitterness of years
Something we all must feel like doing every now and then, Thom Yorke more than most.
1. Elvis Costello - How To Be Dumb
The album Mighty Like A Rose contains some of my favourite Costello lyrics. The only advice he has to offer in this song though is How To Be A Misanthrope. And who needs any help with that?
Now you're masquerading as pale powdered genius
Whose ever bad intention has been purged
You could've walked out any time you wanted but Face it, you didn't have the courage
I guess that makes you a full time hypocrite Or some kind of twisted dilettante
Funny though, people don't usually get so ugly Till they think they know what they want
Scratch your own head stupid
Count up to three
Roll over on your back
Repeat after me
Don't you know how to be dumb?
Are you ready to take your place in the modern museum of mistakes?
Don't you know how to be dumb?
Like a building thrown up overnight in one of those reverse earthquakes.
