Snapshots #303: The Lord's Prayer In Song

This is Father Francis Browne, Irish priest and photographer, famous for his photos of the Titanic on its maiden voyage... though lucky for him, he only sailed from Southampton to Queenstown in Ireland, before getting off to go develop his film. 

Father Browne is going to lead us in the Lord's Prayer this Sunday morning. Please bow your heads...

17. Severe.

Extreme - Our Father

"Our Father..."

16. University club for disco and ballroom.

The Danse Society - In Heaven

"Who art in heaven..."

15. Mix-up at Omani Diner.

Omani Diner anagram!

Iron Maiden - Hallowed Be Thy Name

"Hallowed be thy name..."

14. Man in the box.

The box being a Television...

Tom Verlaine - Kingdom Come

"...Thy kingdom come..."

13. Shared by Omar Sharif and Tanita Tikaram.

Omar Sharif and Tanita Tikaram.

Martika - Love... Thy Will Be Done

"...Thy will be done..."

12. The answers always come on...

The answers to this quiz always come on Sundays.

The Sundays - On Earth

"On Earth..."

11. Don and Clyde follow Postlethwaite.

Don & Clyde are rivers. Add that to Pete Postelethwaite and you get Pete Rivers, or...

Peter Ivers - In Heaven

"...as it is in heaven..."

10. Janet needs a snooze.

Ms. Jackson is sleepy.

The Sleepy Jackson - This Day

"Give us this day..."

9. The best and the worst.

Tina sang The Best. Ike wasn't very nice.

Ike & Tina Turner - Daily Bread

"...our daily bread..."

8. Mercury on a car's wing.

Freddie Mercury on a fender...

Freddy Fender - Forgive

"And forgive us..."

7. Easter eccentric.

She sang about Easter and she'd pretty damn eccentric...

Patti Smith - Trespasses

"...our trespasses... as we forgive those who trespass against us..."

6. Found Inside A Clockwork Orange.

"Inside" was the fictional hit song by a band in The Clockwork Orange that gave its name to...

Heaven 17 - Temptation

"And lead us not into temptation..."

5. Shot from the heart.

Bullet For My Valentine - Deliver Us From Evil

"...but deliver us from evil..."

4. Fashionable man in the news.

Depeche Mode means "fashion news". This is their lead fashionista...

Dave Gahan - Kingdom

"For thine is the kingdom..."

3. Big softies.

Gentle Giant - The Power & The Glory

"...the power and the glory..."

2. Don't cry over spilled oil, Grace.

Spilled oil can make a slick, like Grace Slick.

Slik - Forever & Ever

"...forever and ever..."

1. Luke, Flash and Buck. 

Three spacemen...

Spacemen 3 - Amen

Let us pray again next Saturday.

Saturday Snapshots #122: The Answers

Yesterday was Saturday Snapshots.

Today - here's the answers.

Tomorrow... we'll do something different.



10. Look into my eyes, not around the eyes... can you see Michael, Neil and Buzz?

Michael, Neil and Buzz were three spacemen.

Look into my eyes, not around the eyes... well, that's just like Kenny Craig.

Spacemen 3 - Hypnotized

9. Like a fox, did exactly what she said she would, with feeling.

Samantha Fox... sang... with emotion. (The Brothers Gibb did the rest.)

Samantha Sang - Emotion

8. Collected names. Shorten trousers before wireless.

Autograph - Turn Up The Radio

(No shame.)

7. Arab sky confused by Korean digit.

"Arab sky" is a nice simple anagram.

Seoul is the capital of South Korea.

A digit is a finger.

The Bar-Kays - Soul Finger

6. Sidewalk sovereign has rumbling tum.

Echobelly - King of the Kerb

5. Scottish comic, I presume, sends text to former New York mayor.

Here's a Scottish comic...

Dr. Livingston, I presume?

The former New York mayor would be Rudy Giuliani.

Dandy Livingstone - Rudy, A Message To You

4. William was the ship's captain, not this trembling goat.

Goat = Kid.

Tremblin = Shakin'.

Pirate Captain Kidd was called William, not Johnny.

Johnny Kidd & The Pirates - Shakin' All Over

3. Excitable pontificators find their goddess with child zero.

Excitable pontificators would be Manic Street Preachers, obviously.

Goddess links to Lord.

Child Zero = Baby Nothing.

Manic Street Preachers & Traci Lords - Little Baby Nothing

Pure 6th form poetry, as Rigid Digit pointed out - manages to be trendily Woke 25 years before Woke became a thing, and verges on "mansplaining" to use another loathsome contemporary expression... but what a tune!

Meanwhile, this post namechecks both Samantha Fox and Traci Lords, so what a degenerate I must be.

2. London football team not on Eastern Standard Time, released at last.

West Ham - EST = Wham!

Wham! - Freedom

1. Saint who could be English or Welsh puts an end to the affair.

Saint George.

Jones is the most common Welsh surname.



Sophia next Saturday!

Hot 100 #35

Welcoming us to the number 35 on our countdown is Italian "cinematic funk band" Milano 35. Here they are in action. 

35 proved a tricky number for those of you who are playing along at home, with only 4 of our regular correspondents having anything to offer. Here's a selection of those...

Martin started us out with a lyrical reference which sent him down a scary internet rabbithole of old The Word performances.

Inspiral Carpets - Saturn 5

Laying down the lifeless corpse of President 35

The lady crying by his side is the most beautiful woman alive

I should have included that in My Top Ten JFK Songs.

Lynchie also had a lyrical offering...

Christy Moore - Blackjack County Chains

I was sittin' beside the road in Black Jack County.
Not knowing that the Sheriff paid a bounty,
For men like me that hadn't got a penny to their name.
So he locked my leg to 35 pounds of Black Jack County Chains.

Whereas our Canadian correspondent, Douglas, chose to play it safe this week with suggestions from two of my all-time favourite artists. Surely one of these must be the winner?

Bruce Springsteen - My Hometown

Last night me and Kate we laid in bed
Talking about getting out
Packing up our bags maybe heading south
I'm 35, we got a boy of our own now
Last night I sat him up behind the wheel and said, 

"Son take a good look around...
This is your hometown."

Billy Bragg - Speedway Hero

So fill her up and pick her up
And ride into the breeze,
You're taking all the corners
That were at the 35 degrees.
It's so hard to face up to
It's not in no highway code,
Another speedway hero's coming home.

That one even feels like Billy channeling Bruce, so extra points right there.

However, I decided to go another way this week, and I'll explain why in a moment. First though, the usual trawl through suggestions kicked up by my own hard-drive...

Saint Etienne - 4:35 In The Morning

Spacemen 3 - 2:35

Rodney Crowell - I Want You #35

Carla Bruni - Ballade At Thirty-Five

Onto this week's winner then, as suggested by The Swede (good to have you back) and seconded by Lynchie. Regular readers will know that The Swede suggests a Bob Dylan track most weeks on this feature, and most weeks his suggestions fall on deaf ears. This week he hit on an obvious classic though. Blonde on Blonde, the album this comes from, was the first Dylan album I ever bought, and for a good few years it was the only one I owned. I listened to it a fair bit while trying to get into his Bobness at a young age, and while it didn't quite persuade me to obsessively hunt down the rest of his back catalogue, I fostered a strange affection for it. If I was forced at gunpoint to name a favourite Dylan album, this would be my go-to. Everybody must get stoned.

That said, don't expect it to show up again at number 12. I can easily think of a dozen songs that would come before it.



34 next week. Another tough one. Your help greatly appreciated.

My Top Ten Hearing Aid Songs

Well, that was an obvious choice.

The hearing aid's been in a week, and the difference has been subtle, but noticeable.

Ten quick songs then , dedicated to hearing aid wearers everywhere...


10. The Move - I Can Hear The Grass Grow

My hearing aid isn't that powerful. Then again, I reckon The Move might have been augmenting more than just their ears...

My head's attracted to
A magnetic wave of sound
With the streams of coloured circles
Makin' their way around.

You may prefer the version by The Fall, of course. If you can make head or tail of it. I certainly can't. Everyone needs a hearing aid to understand Mark E. Smith's vocals.

9. The Accidental - I Can Hear Your Voice

What do you get if you mix Tunng, The Bicycle Thieves and The Memory Band?

A misspelt crime I can't remember. Or The Accidental, a folky supergroup made up of members of all the above.

8. Captain Sensible - Can You Hear Me?

Sorry, Captain, I'll be Damned if I can.

7. Spacemen 3 - Lord, Can You Hear Me?

J. Spaceman's original version. He also re-recorded it as Spiritualized. And even Low had a go at it.

They're all quite lovely.

6. They Might Be Giants - I Can Hear You

You won't hear a buzz
But I'm buzzing you in
I'm buzzing you in

Well, that's helpful, isn't it?

5. Jerry Lee Lewis - I Can Still Hear The Music In The Rest Room

Classic bit of Jerry Lee. Do your ears a favour...

4. Chris Rea - I Can Hear Your Heartbeat

The one that's guaranteed to get the musos going, "You what!?"

3. Richard Hawley - Can You Hear The Rain, Love?

Yes, I can now, love.

2. David Bowie - Can You Hear Me?

From probably my favourite Bowie album: Young Americans.

Here he is singing it as a duet with Cher. Yes, really.

1. The Beach Boys - I Can Hear Music 


It couldn't have been anything else at Number One, could it? 

A Jeff Barry song, originally recorded by Phil Spector with The Ronettes, this was Carl Wilson's first taste of being the Beach Boys' boss while Brian was off being bored... or "listening to the grass grow". If anyone ever tells you Brian was the only genius in the Beach Boys, play them this...



What's your favourite hearing aid song?

I SAID "WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE HEARING AID SONG?!?"