Snapshots #398: Songs Named After Hitchcock Films

Good evening. My name is Alfred Hitchcock... and these are my films, set to music.

15. Insomniacs before a Beckham.

Not David or Victoria, but Brooklyn Beckham...

And these guys had no sleep till they met him.

The Beastie Boys - Sabotage

Anyone shouting at their computer, "but the Hitchcock film was Saboteur!" You're right. Saboteur was his 1942 movies, starring Robert Cummings, Priscilla Lane and Norman Lloyd. But six years prior to that, he also had a film called Sabotage, starring Sylvia Sidney, Oskar Homolka, and John Loder.

Thank you, Ghost of Barry Norman. 

14. Lacking substance or importance.

It's Immaterial - Rope

13. Unhappy aphrodisiacs at Heaven's Gate.

Heaven's Gate was a cult. 

Blue Oyster Cult - Dial M For Murder

12. Nick was a big fan of her movie band.

Nick Lowe loved the sound of breaking glass... which was the name of Hazel's band in the movie of the same name.

Hazel O'Connor - Rebecca

11. Can be good, but I was never any good at them.

Be a good sport, will you?

Sports - Strangers On A Train

Love that video, it's so 1980.

10. I'm with them.

"I'm with the band."

The Band - Stage Fright

9. Could she be a robot, then?

"Robot, then" was an anagram...

Beth Orton - Shadow Of A Doubt

8. Kojak's full name.

Kojak was Telly, so this must be...

Television - Torn Curtain

7. Accept no substitutes.

The Originals - Suspicion

6. Fancy a joint?

Elbow - The Birds

5. Ripper in a Jewish robe.

A kittel is a Jewish robe, worn by Jack...

Jack Kittel - Psycho

There are, of course, two other versions of this famous song... but they've both featured here before.

4. Aaaaah! -Z. Stranger town. 

A scream, Jay-Z and Hawkins, the town in Stranger Things. But I imagine the photo was enough...

Screamin' Jay Hawkins - Frenzy

3. Second person.

Second person stories are written about you. Second is also 2.

U2 - Vertigo

2. Basie & The Unisex Shoes... unpeel that one!

Anagram! (Obviously.)

Siouxsie & The Banshees - Spellbound

1. Duffy defected.

Their original singer was Stephen Duffy. He left, to be replaced by Le Bon.

Duran Duran - Notorious

Set your compass North by North West and it should steer you in the direction of more Snapshots next Saturday...

Snapshots Spillover - More Elvis Cos-Covers

Here are some more songs sung by Elvis when he's not singing his own songs. Compare and contrast, if you've got nothing better to do today.

We'll start with one from my third (or possibly fourth, or possibly fifth) favourite Springsteen album...

Bruce Springsteen - Brilliant Disguise

Elvis Costello - Brilliant Disguise

Next up, a classic from Gram and co... even if Elvis chose to change the title.

Flying Burrito Brothers - Hot Burrito No. 1 

Elvis Costello - I'm Your Toy

Let's go way back now, to 1953, and one of the founders of rock n roll...

Big Joe Turner - Honey Hush

Elvis Costello - Honey Hush

Sadly, I couldn't find a photograph of Teacher's Edition, otherwise I would definitely have featured them in this week's quiz, for obvious reasons...

Teacher's Edition - I Wanna Be Loved

Elvis Costello - I Wanna Be Loved

Quite a fun video, I hadn't seen that before.

Here's something strange to make you scream...

Screamin' Jay Hawkins - Strange

Elvis Costello - Strange

And also from Kodak Variety, a singer who always makes me think of Somewhere Down The Crazy River...

Little Willie John - Leave My Kitten Alone

Elvis Costello - Leave My Kitten Alone

Meanwhile Elvis is obviously a big fan of Memphis Soul Man James Carr, having covered him twice...

James Carr - Pouring Water on a Drowning Man

Elvis Costello - Pouring Water on a Drowning Man

James Carr - The Dark End of the Street

Elvis Costello - The Dark End Of The Street

I like to pick a couple of obscure acts for Snapshots every week, just to stretch your braincells. But this Aussie band might have been pushing the obscurity factor a bit much, even for Ernie.

Jo Jo Zep & the Falcons - So Young

Elvis Costello - So Young

Far less obscure, in fact one that's been covered by everybody and his dog...

The Kinks - Days

Elvis Costello - Days

And I need no excuse to feature these guys, ever...

Louvin Brothers - Must You Throw Dirt in My Face

Elvis Costello - Must You Throw Dirt in My Face

I had a load more, but you're probably getting sick of them now, so let's finish today with the song that almost tipped Ernie off to this week's answer, and probably helped Parsley The Goat clinch it.

My Top Ten Alligator Songs

An album with an alligator on the cover.

A much better album without an alligator on the cover.

As promised, here is the inevitable follow-up to My Top Ten Crocodile Songs... in a snap!

Be warned... though there were lots of alligator songs in my tomb of tunes... there weren't very many great ones.


10. Bill Haley & The Comets - See You Later, Alligator

Buddy Holly. Chuck Berry. Gene Vincent. Eddie Cochran. Fats Domino. The Everly Brothers. Jerry Lee Lewis. Etc. Etc. Etc.

I love them all.

Never quite got Bill Haley though. He never felt rock 'n' roll enough for me. (Ironic, considering a lot of people call his biggest hit 'the first rock 'n' roll record'.)

9. REM - Alligator Aviator Autopilot Antimatter

If you ever wondered why REM called it a day, this video offers ample evidence. From their final album, for good reason.

As for alligator alliteration, Carole King does a better job on Alligators All Around.

8. Foxboro Hot Tubs - Alligator

What Green Day did on their day off. Pretended to be The Who. 

7. Paul Gilbert - Alligator Farm

This really rocks. You might enjoy it. (So I won't tell you it's by the bloke who used to be in Mr. Big.)

6. Curve - Alligators Getting Up

Sounds a bit like a rejected Bond theme. Maybe Curve were thinking of remaking Live & Let Die? (i.e. The One With Alligators. Or Crocodiles. Don't be pedantic.)


5. Chely Wright - Alligator Purse

The alligator version of Crocodile Shoes. Only better.

4. Screamin' Jay Hawkins - Alligator Wine

Genuinely scary.

3. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Gator On The Lawn

Tom does his best Elvis shuffle because every other day he's got a gator on his lawn.

2. ZZ Top - Alley-Gator

Sounds like most  other ZZ Top songs you've ever heard, only twice as fuzzy. Therefore it's amazing. (At least in the context of this list.)

1. Cameo - Alligator Woman / Lionel Ritchie - Night Train (Smooth Alligator)

Look, I know this particular Top Ten hasn't been my finest moment. There are some top notch artists on this countdown, but they've all done far better things in their careers, and none of the songs featured today can hold a candle to last week's Crocodile post. But I promised an alligator follow-up, and so I felt contractually obliged. Hence this two-fer-one Number One of 80s soul shudders which I'm sure will make most of you run for the hills, but I actually think are quite fun in a very much of-their-time sort of way.

Look, it was either this or Paul McCartney and Mark Ronson. Believe me, you got off lightly.





Maybe I missed the lost classic alligator song that's lurking in your swamp. If so, do tell...

My Top Ten Songs Named After Hitchcock Movies

After last week's Top Ten Psycho Songs, I was inspired to compile a list of songs that share a name with other famous Hitchcock movies...

10. Duran Duran - Notorious

Hands up if you, like me, used to sing "Mo-mo-monotonous!" whenever this came on the radio. Looking back through nostalgic goggles, it's not that bad.

Is it?

9. Ash - Spellbound

Tim Wheeler's got us in his spell...

8. The Libertines - Vertigo

There may be a U2 song with the same title. You won't find it here.

7. Foo Fighters - Rope

Wonder if the Foos recorded this in one take, as Hitch tried to do with Rope?

6. Television - Torn Curtain

Very unsettling, like all the best Hitchcock movies.

5. Screamin' Jay Hawkins - Frenzy

Great lip-gargling on this track from 1957.

4. Beth Orton - Shadow Of A Doubt

It's true that I have got a head full
Of voices saying the first thing that's in their heart
And I go to throw a ball with my best intention
And it gets caught up and carried away
In completely the opposite direction

3. Elvis Presley - Suspicion

From the legendary songwriting partnership of Pomus & Shuman. Gee. Knee. Us.

2. Amanda Palmer & Neil Gaiman - Psycho

Of course, the Elvis Costello version is better, but I made that a Number One already. So here's the wonderful Amanda Palmer with her slightly less wonderful hubby on vocals. It shouldn't work... and yet, it kinda does.

Download this, free & legal, along with Amanda's version of Lana Del Rey's Video Games, and more... by clicking here.

1. Elbow - The Birds

Like much of Guy Garvey's songwriting, there's a drama here that's really quite sinister...

The birds are the keepers of our secret
As they saw us where we lay
In the deepest grass of springtime
In a reckless guilty haze

OK, those were my favourite songs that share a title with Hitchcock films. Do you have a Rear Window, North By North West or To Catch A Thief in your record collection?