Another Day #3: National Weatherperson's Day

Today is National Weather Person’s Day, primarily in the USA where it marks the birthday of John Jeffries, thought to be America's first weatherman. He was also the first person to ever collect weather data from a balloon over London in 1784, rising to a height of 9000 feet with a thermometer, a barometer, and a hygrometer to see if it was raining. Presumably he also took an umbrella.

Here are some predictable tunes about Weather People to celebrate…

A Tribe Of Toffs - John Kettley (Is A Weatherman)

The Weather Prophets - She Comes From The Rain

The Weather Girls - It's Raining Men

Spearmint – The Weather Forecaster

Opinionated weather forecasters telling me it’s going to be a miserable day
Miserable to who? I quite like a bit of drizzle, so stick to the facts

Half Man Half Biscuit – A Country Practice

Hank Williams Jr. - Weatherman

Blur – This Is A Low

Sheryl Crow – Weather Channel

Tom Waits – Emotional Weather Report

ELO – Mr. Blue Sky

Snapshots #298: A Top Ten Weather Forecast Songs

It's 10 years since I last did a Top Ten Weather Forecast Songs, and although I did re-use a couple of the tracks from that old list this weekend, I also skipped some of the more obvious selections, including The Weather Girls, ELO, and... of course... this...

A Tribe Of Toffs - John Kettley (Is A Weatherman)

Every week I try to include a mix of well-known artists alongside artists that have never featured here before... otherwise, you guys get them all immediately, and where's the fun in that? Hence why I always call it "A Top Ten..." rather than "My Top Ten...", since chances are, I might include a track or artist I don't really care for. Although even the ones I might not choose to listen to in my own time uusally spark a brief nostalgic smile. Even the worst bits of the pop past look better from a distance.

Anyway, with thanks to C for suggesting it, here are ten songs about weather forecasting...

10. Before Ella could be bothered.

Ella Fitzgerald was Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered...

B*Witched - Blame It On The Weatherman

9. Jump in the middle of a newspaper tycoon.

The famous newspaper tycoon was not Rupert Murdoch or Robert Maxwell, but William Randolph Hearst. Add a jump to his middle name and you get...

Randolf's Leap - Weatherman

Great video, featuring a post-retirement Michael Fish, infamous for his "don't worry, there's isn't" a hurricane coming forecast back in 1987.

8. Artistically apt... but also prepared for the worst.

It's OK, these guys brought an umbrella.

Weather Report - Umbrellas

7. Rumour has it...

Graham Parker, whose back band was "The Rumour"...

Graham Parker - Weather Report

6. The warm up act on Mars.

The Radiators From Space - Let's Talk About The Weather

5. When upset, she chews lorry.

"She chews lorry" is an anagram. This is what Sheryl looked like when she was a backing singer on Michael Jackson's Bad Tour.

Sheryl Crow - Weather Channel

4. He'll grow on you.

Bob Mould - Forecast Of Rain

3. Doctor, could be related to Shatner's cop.

Shatner's cop was T.J. Hooker. But this is guy's a D.R....

D.R. Hooker - Weather Girl

2. Could easily be confused with the hard part of the Appalachian trail... if your hearing aid isn't working. 

One of the hardest stretches of the Appalachian Trail is the Mountains of Maine. Pardon? I said...

The Fountains of Wayne - Traffic & Weather

Look, I can do hearing aid jokes since I wear them. Don't try and cancel me!

1. That's a Stretch.

I was thinking specifically of...

What do you mean Louis Armstrong never did a song about weather forecasters?

I don't care what the weatherman says
When the weatherman says it's raining
You'll never hear me complaining
I'm certain the sun will shine

Louis Armstrong - Jeepers Creepers

You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows. It blows towards more Snapshots next Saturday.

Snapshots #279: A Top Ten Skating Songs

This week's clues led to ten songs about skating - on rollerskates, ice skates, maybe even a skateboard. Here are the answers...

10. Not entirely tone deaf.

The Deftones - Rocket Skates

9. Slow cherry.

Anagram!

Sheryl Crow - Roller Skate

8. Inside the house, little minx sees all.

...little mINX Sees all.

INXS - Roller Skating

7. French vineyard for fools.

Vineyard in French is La Vigne. April is the month for Fools, Avril in French.

Avril Lavigne - Sk8ter Boi

No marks for spelling.

6. Loverboy gets sad.

Billy Ocean sang Loverboy... then got blue.

The Ocean Blue - Ice Skating At Night

5. The worst way to travel between seas.

On the dire straits...

Dire Straits - Skateaway

4. Napoleon Solo rolls up his trouser leg.

Napoleon Solo was played by Robert Vaughn. I don't think he was a Mason.

Vaughan Mason & Crew - Roller Skate

Or even...

Vaughan Mason & Crew - Bounce, Rock, Skate, Roll

3. Andrew hated elks.

Anagram!

Kathleen Edwards - Hockey Skates

2. This Mr. Trotter was more than just a plonker.

Del was a bit of an a-soul.

De La Soul - A Roller Skating Jam Named Saturdays 

1. A great bond links Steve & Frankie.

Roger was a great Bond. Frankie and Steve are both Millers.

1. Roger Miller - You Can't Roller Skate in a Buffalo Herd

Get your skates on - there'll be more Snapshots next Saturday.

Celebrity Jukebox #40: Loretta Lynn

Country must be the second most self-referential genre in all of popular music. Only rap likes to talk about itself and name-drop other noteworthy practitioners of the artform more than country… the difference being that such references are largely positive in country, whereas rappers do like to slag each other off any chance they get.

With that in mind, I’m not going to pretend to have listened to every song that mentions Loretta Lynn in passing. She was a legend, and an inspiration, so it’s only right she be immortalised in many, many tunes. Here are just a handful… and they're not all straight down the line country songs either.

Carly Pearce – Dear Miss Loretta

I ain’t a coal miner’s daughter
But I’ve sung it all my life
I ain’t been a widow
But I’ve been an ex-wife
And I hear your truth
And I feel your pain
Now I know why you sang that way

Angelica Garcia – Loretta Lynn

Me and Loretta, Loretta Lynn
Black coffee and cinnamon
The price of gin beats rememberin'
How did we not see this comin' from him?

Josh Turner – Loretta Lynn’s Lincoln

Like any other would be country singing sensation
I had no visible means of transportation
One Saturday morning I was searching the ads
When I found one that I wanted and I wanted it bad
 
I called up the salesmen, he said, c'mon in
I've got the Lincoln right here belonged to Loretta Lynn
The Coal Miner's Daughter used to drive it to town
It's yours for a song and five hundred down

Johnny Gates – Loretta Lynn

Oh my sweetheart where you been
Cuz I miss you like the radio misses Loretta Lynn

Sheryl Crow – Woman In The White House

Don't you think it's time we put a woman in the White House
With a whole new attitude?
Just look at the mess we're in
Heck, I'd vote for Loretta Lynn
I guarantee that we'd all be
Singing a different song

Nanci Griffith – Listen To The Radio

I am leaving Mississippi in the evening rain
These Delta towns wear satin gowns
In a high beamed frame
Loretta Lynn guides my hands through the radio
Where would I be in times like these
Without the songs Loretta wrote?

Lucinda Williams – Car Wheels On A Gravel Road

Sittin' in the kitchen, a house in Macon
Loretta's singing on the radio
Smell of coffee, eggs, and bacon
Car wheels on a gravel road

As I said at the top, I could be here all day. Perhaps only Hank Williams and Johnny Cash get name-checked in more country songs than Loretta. And here she is with Johnny, in one of my favourites.

When Loretta Lynn goes dancing
With the ghost of Johnny Cash
Father Time takes forever
And to make it look like less than lightning flash
Violins bow into fiddles
Two iconic symbols crash
When Loretta Lynn goes dancing
With the ghost of Johnny Cash

Snapshots #203: A Top Ten Songs Covered By Johnny Cash

A slightly different link this week, though I'm sure you had no trouble working it out.

All the artists below wrote songs that were covered by The Man In Black...

10. MOT failed over trivialities.

The MOT failed because it went backwards = TOM.

Trivialities are petty things.

Tom Petty - I Won't Back Down

Johnny Cash - I Won't Back Down

Or you could have had...

Tom Petty - Southern Accents

Johnny Cash - Southern Accents

9. A good Manchester lawn.

That would be a sound garden. Sound as a pound.

Soundgarden - Rusty Cage

Johnny Cash - Rusty Cage

8. Old devil from the underworlde.

Old Nick was the devil, down low(e) in the underworld.

Nick Lowe - The Beast In Me

Johnny Cash - The Beast In Me

7. Bequest of past-its-sell-by-date pork.

A bequest is a will, the out of date pork would be old ham.

Will Oldham (Bonnie "Prince" Billy) - I See A Darkness

Johnny Cash - I See A Darkness

6. Welsh seaside resort declares itself female, with pride.

The resort would be Rhyl, which is proud to declare itself a She. To the point that it crows about it.

Sheryl Crow - Redemption Day

Johnny Cash - Redemption Day

Sheryl Crow & Johnny Cash - Redemption Day

5. Guevara goes in deep - that's just how he travels.

Add Che (Guevara) to deep and to might get Depeche. The way he travels is his mode of transport.

Depeche Mode - Personal Jesus

Johnny Cash - Personal Jesus

4. Embryo lab.

Anagram!

Bob Marley - Redemption Song

Johnny Cash - Redemption Song

3. Forever Young?

Diamonds are forever, of course. With Neil Young.

Neil Diamond - Solitary Man

Johnny Cash - Solitary Man

And here's Johnny and Neil together.

2. Swedish detective.

This one...

Beck - Rowboat

Johnny Cash - Rowboat

1. Lenin in chains.

Anagram!

Nine Inch Nails - Hurt

Johnny Cash - Hurt

I'll be Hurt if you don't come back for more next Saturday...

Snapshots #198: A Top Ten Favourite Songs

Is it that time already? Time for the answers to yesterday's Snapshots. And as the link was Favourite Songs, above is an image from my favourite film as a teenager, Back To The Future.

Most of these are oldies. Well, they're oldies where I come from...

10. He is in debt to Mr. Simon.

He's owing Paul.

Owen Paul - My Favourite Waste Of Time

9. A Shaky Oh and a golfing saint.

Oh Julie + St. Andrews...

Julie Andrews - My Favourite Things

8. Matt Lucas on the drums.

Matt Lucas was George Dawes.

Dawes - All Your Favourite Bands

7. Sell-out cynic.

Anagram!

The Style Council - Our Favourite Shop

6. Arachnids get mixed up.

Unmix "arachnids get" and you get...

The Cardigans - My Favourite Game

5. Spare parts.

The Replacements - Favourite Thing

4. Early British cars.

Specifically these, the Armstrong Siddeley...

The Siddeleys - My Favourite Wet Wednesday Afternoon

3. Sounds like a gloating angel.

Cheryl Ladd was an Angel (for Charlie). Gloating is crowing.

Sheryl Crow - My Favourite Mistake

2. You're fired!

Says Sir Alan Sugar.

Sugar - Your Favourite Thing

1. Bob Century.

A bob is a type of haircut. A century = 100.

Get Back to Snapshots in the Future... next Saturday, to be precise. Great Scott!

2019 Contenders: Turn Off The News...

Willie's boy has done it again. Hot on the heels of one of the best albums of last year, here comes his latest. I called Craig Finn one of the busiest men in rock last week, but Lukas Nelson is giving him serious competition, also playing guitar in Neil Young's band as his "day job".

I've not listened to the whole album in detail, but the title track (with Sheryl Crow on backing vocals) is a powerful statement about the state of the world today...



Here's a pretty cool acoustic version too..