Snapshots #291 - A Top 25 King Songs

In lieu of pledging allegiance to our new King, which I'm not about to do because I'M NOT A 17TH CENTURY KNIGHT, here are 25 songs in his "honour"...

25. Slip severely and jumble.

"Slip severely" is an anagram.

Elvis Presley - King Creole

24. Trendy appliance.

Fad Gadget - King of the Flies

23. Stare at the text closely.

Stare at the teXT Closely.

XTC - King For A Day

22. Musk without Nitrogen.

Take the N from Elon...

ELO - Rock n Roll Is King

Now that's a king I will pledge allegiance too!

21. This is what happens when you go out in the cold without a proper top on, ladies.

The Nipple Erectors - King of the Bop

Shane MacGowan's first band!

20. They say it all started in Wuhan...

China Crisis - King In A Catholic Style

19. They were probably mild-mannered.

Remember Penry, the mild-mannered janitor...?

The Janitors - Good To Be The King

18. A peach from the same town as John's angel.

John Prine sang of an Angel From Montgomery. Peach Melba.

Melba Montgomery - King of Kings

17. Derek Dick's having a wobble.

Derek Dick is Fish. Jelly wobbles.

Jellyfish - The King Is Half Undressed

16. Their leader crashed his bike.

Look out, look out, look out!

The Pack - King of Kings

15. What will you find inside Bob's adequate box?

Bob'S ADEquate box.

Sade - Your Love Is King

14. Eureka! Reno is where you'll find the solution.

EureKA REN O

Karen O - King

13. Hi-didly-ho, Glenn & Roger!

"Hi-didly-ho," is what Ned Flanders might say to Glenn & Roger Miller.

Ned Miller - From A Jack To A King

12. Brendan, all a muddle.

"Brendan" is an anagram.

Dan Bern - King of the World

11. Candy, Denver, Legend.

The Three Johns - King Car

10. Maybe she's caught a chill.

She looks a bit shivery to me.

Shivaree - Cannibal King

9. Michael Holliday had something similar.

Michael Holliday sang about the Story Of My Life.

My Life Story - The King Of Kissingdom

8. A big hit out of Radio Nowhere.

RaDIO Nowhere

Dion - King of the New York Streets

7. Tips for colouring.

Felt Tips are good for colouring.

Felt - Dismantled King is Off the Throne

6.  Anagram? Shh!

Graham Nash - I Used To Be A King

5. Sounds like Jack's aircrafts.

Jack White has quite a few planes by now, I'd imagine...

White Plains - When You Are A King

4. Thinly plot a mix up.

"Thinly plot" is an anagram.

Phil Lynott - King's Call

3. Where the Green Giant's son lives.

The Green Giant's son was called Sprout. He was like the Scrappy Doo of sweetcorn adverts.

I understand he lived in a prefab.

Prefab Sprout - The King of Rock n Roll

2. Something that gets passed down in the family.

Genes are hereditary.

Gene - We Could Be Kings

1. He tolls to conquer.

Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for William the Conqueror...

William Bell - A Tribute To A King

Just ten Snapshots for you next Saturday morning. I do like to get out of the house occasionally.

Snapshots #249: A Top Ten Field Songs

Gracie Fields introduced this week's quiz yesterday. I was most disappointed that I couldn't find a photo of Sally Field holding a camera... so you'll just have to do with a picture of a camera in a field. 

Everyone who takes part in this quiz is Outstanding in their Field.

10. Steal in a pleasant or attractive manner.

Nick Nicely - Hilly Fields (1892)

9. What Electric Jeff uses to tie up Othello's people.

Jeff from ELO would use a Lynne Knot, when tying up a Moor of Venice.

Gary Moore & Phil Lynott - Out In The Fields

8. LSD + MDMA.

Apparently if you take the two illegal substances above, you will experience a candy flip.

Candy Flip - Strawberry Fields Forever

Even worse than the original, which is annoying enough as it is.

7. What the Great Duke of Hell goes home in.

One of the archdukes of Hell is Dantalian. Apparently.

Dantalian's Chariot - Madman Running Through the Fields

Look, if you think I'm making this quiz easy for you after 250+ weeks, you can think again.

6. Short, cherubic communications satellites.

The abbreviation of communications satellite is ComSat.

Comsat Angels - Field of Tall Flowers

5. A Ronnie and a Tina, with what the bargain basement angels are wearing this year.

Ronnie Barker and Tina Turner, with a Red Clay Halo.

Emily Barker & The Red Clay Halo featuring Frank Turner - Fields of June

4. Yeah, so, BBC?

Anagram!

Beach Boys - Cottonfields

3. Abstract expressionism, beginning with Rothko.

That's Colourfield, art fans.

The Colourfield - The Colourfield

2. Rugby Tonic.

Anagram!

Big Country - Fields Of Fire

1. A spate of super-absorbent avatars hides the answer.

A sPATe of super-absorBENt avATARs hides the answer.

Pat Benatar - Love Is A Battlefield

More fields of fun next week...

Hot 100 #49

Many thanks to Jim in Dubai for suggesting this week's opening image and reminding us all of 90s Italo House band The 49ers... though, to be honest, I could have done without the reminder.

Far more interesting was Jim's second band-related suggestion, 49 Americans with the track Should Be More Ideal...

True enough, Alan... but at least it's not Italo House.

As for the 49ers... call me an old fogey, but I far preferred Douglas McClaren's latest, Canadian-themed suggested...

Neil Young & Crazy Horse - My Darling Clementine

In a cavern, in a canyon 

Excavatin' for a mine, 

Dwelt a miner, 49-er

And his daughter, Clementine.

I have to say I never knew Neil Young had recorded that... but it's a bloody marvellous version, so it is.

Speaking of Neil, Marie suggested this fine track from some old mates of his...

Crosby, Stills & Nash - 49 Bye Byes

Back to the 49ers... here's a couple more...

The Quireboys - 49er

The I.L.Y.s - 49er Lighter

The Swede, meanwhile, returned to Old Faithful...

Bob Dylan - The Days of 49

And then, on a different hard-drive, but the same theme...

Wilco - Bob Dylan's 49th Beard

(When you've got more than one hard-drive full of music, you may need to ask yourself if you've got enough. Or at least buy a bigger hard-drive.)

The Swede also kindly provided this week's (soulful) jazz suggestion...

The Lightmen - Luke 23 32 49

...which, he assures us, we'll be hearing from again (and again) in a few weeks times.

Lynchie was up next, with one song... and loads of artists...

Big Joe Williams - Highway 49

Bukka White - Highway 49 (couldn't find that version)

Eric Clapton (with Howling Wolf) - Highway 49

Omar and The Howlers - Highway 49

To which Rigid Digit added...

George Thorogood - Highway 49

Take your pick... I'm rather partial to the Omar & The Howlers version.

Of course, Chris Rea might have been in with a shout there... had he not got lost on the way...

Chris Rea - Somewhere Between Highway 61 & 49

Lynchie also suggested my favourite lyrical suggestion of the week, and I've got to admit I was sorely tempted to run with this one...

Bruce Springsteen - Cadillac Ranch

James Dean in that Mercury '49

Junior Johnson runnin' through the woods of Caroline

Even Burt Reynolds in that black Trans Am

All gonna meet down at the Cadillac ranch

That's not our only classic car this week though, because Swiss Adam had this one...

I love the bit in Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros song Johnny Appleseed where he sings 'there it goes, Buick 49....'

Can't argue with that - probably my favourite Joe Strummer solo track.

Later, after consulting his many hard-drives, Rigid Digit returned with these beauties...

Stiff Little Fingers - Gate 49 

The number of the Departure Gate at Heathrow songwriter Henry Cluney regularly walked through to get back home to Belfast 

10CC - Rubber Bullets 

Down at Precinct 49
Having a teargas of a time

Phil Lynott & Gary Moore - Parisienne Walkways 

I remember Paris in 49
The Champs Elysees, St Michel
And old Beaujolais wine

Some serious fretwankery going on in that last track.

OK, what did I have left? How about this lot...

The Jazz Butcher - Lot 49

Jonathan Wilson - 49 Hair Flips

Paddy McAloon - I'm 49

Only a couple of years to go that on last one.

Meanwhile, lyrically...

Billy Joel - Leningrad

I was born in '49

A Cold War kid in McCarthy time...

Kind of like Russians by Sting, but not as embarrassing. (I know some of you will debate that.)

And speaking of Billy Joel...

Tom T. Hall - Don't Forget The Coffee, Billy Joe

Well, they wonder why there ain't no rabbits left this day and time

To tell the truth I guess we ate 'em all in '49

Was that yesterday or was it over 20 years ago

"Don't forget the coffee Billy Joe"

The Who - Too Much Of Anything

I can't remember before '49

But I know that '48 was there

Brilliant mathematicians, The Who.

This week's winner though was correctly identified by The Swede. Proof, if further proof were needed, that Joe Walsh was far more interesting than the Eagles gave him credit for. Remember: this man ran for President against Ronald Reagan (even though he was too young at the time to have been elected).


I have an obvious cool answer and an obvious slightly-less-cool answer for 48... but I'm sure we'll find some others too. Over to you.

My Top Ten Songs About Elvis

Because, as Neil Young will remind us later in this list, He Was The King.

Before I begin, can I just point out that much as I love 'The King of Rock 'n' Roll' by Prefab Sprout... it ain't about Elvis. Just in case you were wondering...


10. The Gaslight Anthem - Wherefore Art Thou, Elvis?

Then again, I'm not sure this is much about Elvis either. But it's more about Elvis than Paddy's song was. Honest.

9. Phil Lynott - King's Call

It was a rainy night the night the king went down
Everybody was crying it seemed like sadness had surrounded the town
Me, I went to the liquor store
And I bought a bottle of wine and a bottle of gin
I played his records all night
Drinking with a close, close friend

Featuring Mark Knopfler... not the last we'll hear from him on this list.

8. Generation X - King Rocker

No one owes their career (and their sneer) to Elvis more than Billy Idol.

7. Dire Straits - Calling Elvis

The video features a freakish Gerry Anderson style Knopfler puppet. It scares the hell out of me.

6. Manic Street Preachers - Elvis Impersonator: Blackpool Pier

American trilogy in Lancashire Pottery

5. Gillian Welch - Elvis Presley Blues

Just a country boy that combed his hair
And put on a shirt his mother made and went on the air
And he shook it like a chorus girl
And he shook it like a Harlem queen
He shook it like a midnight rebel, baby
Like you never seen

4. Bruce Springsteen - Goodbye, Johnny

In which Bruce tries to break into Graceland to meet Elvis... and ends up writing a song about it (with a little help from Chuck Berry).

3. Belle & Sebastian - A Century Of Elvis

In which Elvis moves in with B&S bassist Stuart David... and watches a lot of TV.

2. Neil Young - He Was The King

The last time I saw Elvis
He was shooting at a colour TV
The phones were ringing in the pink motel
And the rest is history
He was the King

See also Hey Hey, My My / My My, Hey Hey... the songs that gave Kurt Cobain his suicide note.

1. Kirsty MacColl - There's a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis

We miss you, Kirsty.

And Elvis too.

See also Killen ner' på Konsum svär att han är Elvis: the, erm, Swedish cover version by Elisabeth Andreassen.



Thank you very much.