Coffee Break #2: Cheers!

Welcome back to my coffee shop. Grab a table, what can I get you...?

Oh, hang on, I think John asked for a song about drinking coffee in bed. I'm sure he must mean this one...

Savage Garden - Two Beds And A Coffee Machine

But just to broaden John's horizons a little, I thought I'd offer this one instead...

Squeeze appear to have stumbled into a Robert Palmer video there. Isn't it glorious? I'm also impressed that the subtitles tell me that "jazzy music plays" before the singing starts. I'm sure that'll make Messrs Tifford and Dilbrook's day. 

And if that wasn't enough for you, here's a couple of alternative takes on that song...

Daryl Hall and Glenn Tilbrook - Black Coffee In Bed

Chris Difford - Black Coffee In Bed

 

And: a dilemma for Martin, given his aversion to the cup of joy and his fondness for a certain Bangly lady...

Susanna Hoffs - Black Coffee In Bed

Would you kick her out of bed for that, Martin? Or try to persuade her to switch to an alternative beverage...?

Frank Turner - A Decent Cup Of Tea

I'll leave you to ponder on that one. Meanwhile... What are we going to chat about today? 

How about cheering?

Barrett Strong - Stand Up And Cheer For The Preacher

Why do I have such a problem with cheering?

One of the reasons I can't watch shows like Strictly or the X-Factor or any kind of talent-based performance TV is that I can't bear all the cheering. It sets my nerves on edge even when I hear it from the other room (which is where I'm usually consigned to when Louise and/or Sam is watching such fluffle). Particularly when I hear a cheering audience on a TV show, it all sounds so false. I picture some guy stood at the side of the stage holding up a "Cheer Now!" sign because the cheering never sounds sincere or spontaneous... it sounds like a performance in its own right.

Bananarama - Cheers Then

It's the same thing at gigs. I've got no problem with applause - I'll stand up and clap with the best of them. But I never feel the urge to cheer... and I'd certainly never entertain the bastard son of the cheer: the whoop. But this does make me wonder... am I not enjoying the gig as much as the people who have to vocalise it in such fashion? Are their uncontrollable outbursts a sign that they're engaging with this experience on a much deeper level than I am? Is there something wrong with me?

Orange Juice - Three Cheers For Our Side

And don't even start me on wolf whistles...!

Jack Butler - An Old Wolf Whistle

We'll close with an appropriate tune from Titus Andronicus, which I'd like to point out, despite its title, is NOT a cover version of this...

Gary Portnoy - Theme From Cheers (Where Everybody Knows Your Name)

...although that is up there as one of my all-time favourite theme tunes, from one of my all-time favourite TV shows. It makes me feel warm inside whenever I hear it. But this, while also being very good, has nothing to do with that...

Snapshots #235: A Top Ten Shakespeare Songs

Is this a dagger I see before me? No, it's the answers to this week's Saturday Snapshots. Ten songs named after some of William Shakespeare's finest plays...

10. I'm Ross Rye.

Anagram - and a slight misreading of the play...

Morrissey - King Leer

9. Malfoy.

Harry Potter fans will know that Malfoy's first name was Lucius.

Lucius - (The) Tempest

8. The first man has gotta have it.

Adam was the first man. And you gotta have Faith. 

Adam Faith - As You Like It

7. Mafia Moggie.

The Mafia is the Family. A moggie is a cat.

The Family Cat - Hamlet For Now

6. Hello, this is Phil. Or Grant.

Hello, this is Joanie.

Phil & Grant Mitchell. (Bear in mind that I haven't watched Eastenders in at least 30 years.)

Joni Mitchell - A Midsummer Night's Dream

Quite a rarity that, but it's a lovely little tune.

5. Curly cabbage.

Curly kale, I was thinking of.

John Cale - Macbeth

4. Yes, sex is important. But it's not everything.

David Essex - A Winter's Tale

Out of season, but still applicable.

3. Roman General wins two points.

One point for title, one for artist.

Titus Andronicus - Richard II Or Extraordinary Popular Dimensions And The Madness Of Crowds (Responsible Hate Anthem)

2. Sparse rugs.

Anagram!

Supergrass - Richard III

1. Are you attired, Sir?

"Attired, Sir" was another anagram.

Great song. Terrible video, in which they choose to represent the lyrics literally, from exploding die to gold and silver chains. Clearly directed by a 6th Former.

Dire Straits - Romeo & Juliet

To be or not to be more Snapshots? That is the question that will be answered next Saturday.

My Top Ten Richard Songs

Ten songs about Richard... and not a dick in sight.

Special mentions to messrs. Wagner, Strauss, Hawley, Thompson, Ashcroft, Carpenter, Oakes, Reed Parry, Marx, Swift, Hell and Cheese... and, of course, Keef and Sir Cliff. Plus any other famous musical Richards you might think of.


10. The Faces - Pool Hall Richard

Hardly Ron and Ronnie's finest hour, here they lose at both pool and love due to the titular Rich. They may be the victims of their own dodgy lyrics though, not least the closing lines...

You're breakin' my heart
But you're stealin' my tart
Shut up

 There may also be more going on than just simple pool hall rivalry...

You make me jealous but I worship you
One day soon I'm gonna beat you clean
Wipe that smile right off your chin

...or that just could be my depraved mind.

9. The Lilac Time - Gone For A Burton 

Stephen Duffy pays homage to one of his celluloid heroes...

The night that Richard died
The newscasters cried...

I tried to google whether this was actually the case... google let me down.

8. First Aid Kit - Waltz For Richard

Great storytelling from the Söderberg sisters' debut album: a relationship falls apart, yet we're only given half the story...

On our last trip to the coast
We watched the boats sail the sea
'How effortlessly they float,'
You turned and said to me.

And sedately I sat there
In my quiet mist of rage
How I wanted to tell you
But I was hushed by my shame..

7. Titus Andronicus - Richard II or Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds

The New Jersey titans delve deeper into their Shakespearian roots - and also paraphrase this week's top song in one verse - in this angry dissection of why people do really bad things in times of war.

6. Frank Turner - Richard Divine

Frank's Richard can't cope with life; Frank has little sympathy for folk who give up without a fight...

He said he's not for sale, 
Said that he felt hounded, 
Crowded and surrounded by this life he didn't choose. 

But everybody plays this game on a daily basis. 
They're not heroes, 
They're survivors, 
And its not Shakespearean if they lose.

5. Sun Kil Moon - Song For Richard Collopy

A typically personal song from Mr. Kozelek, this deals with the disappearance / death of the bloke who fixed his broken guitars. It seems to be asking the question: in a case like this, do we mourn the individual or the loss of what they did for us?

See also Richard Ramirez Died Today of Natural Causes in which Kozelek considers his own mortality following the death (from cancer) of an infamous serial killer on death row.

4. Simon & Garfunkel - Richard Cory

Based on a poem by Edwin Arlington Robinson, Richard Cory is a song about envying the rich and powerful... even when they're bloody miserable.

So my mind was filled with wonder,
When the evening headlines read:
'Richard Cory went home last night
And put a bullet through his head'

And I - I work in his factory
And I curse the life I'm living
And I curse my poverty
And I wish that I could be
Oh, I wish that I could be...
Richard Cory

3. Supergrass - Richard III

One of Supergrass's loudest and most in-your-face singles, this also became one of their biggest hits: released at the height of their popularity in 1997 (yes, 18 years ago). It has nothing to do with the king buried in a car park or Shakespeare's hunchbacked villain. Apparently the 'grass had a habit of giving their songs people's names before they settled on an actually title and this was the third song they'd christened Richard. They decided to stick with Richard III because it seemed angry and bitter like the king (is often portrayed) himself.

2. Joni Mitchell - The Last Time I Saw Richard

Another artist at the height of her powers, Joni's Richard comes from her seminal album Blue. Legend has it the Richard in question is actually her ex-husband Chuck Mitchell, though I'm not sure whether Joni has ever confirmed this. Amazingly evocative lyrics on this one...

Richard got married to a figure skater
And he bought her a dishwasher and a coffee percolator
And he drinks at home now most nights with the TV on
And all the house lights left up bright...

1. Billy Bragg - Richard

There's a raw beauty to the songs on Billy's debut album, and it's no wonder that they caught John Peel's ear... although the mushroom biryani Billy bribed him with certainly helped. It was originally recorded by Billy and Wiggy's band Riff Raff.

Richard comes from the lovelorn side of Billy's songwriting spectrum (rather than the politically charged) and it's the kind of bittersweet ode to rejection only a young man could / should write... though even old men like me can remember what it felt like.

I really love your style
Did you read it on the Look and Learn?
How long can we go on?
Do you think I only love you
Because you sleep with other boys?

So which is your Richard Burton... and which is your Richard Whiteley?

My Top Ten Strike Songs

I've been on strike today for the first time in my life. I managed 41 years without ever going on strike; I've been a full time teacher just over a month and already I'm unionised and refusing to cross the picket line. Billy Bragg would be proud.... which probably gives away this week's Number One.

Special mention to the Flying Pickets... obviously.


10. Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger - Daddy, What Did You Do In The Strike?

Perhaps one day Sam will ask me this question. Perhaps I'll point him to this post.

The song itself... you won't hear a better chronicle of the darkest days of the 1980s.

9. Strike Anywhere - You're Fired!

Very loud but extremely apt.

Hopefully the name of the band won't lead me to the title of the song.

8. Elvis Costello - Clown Strike

I hate clowns, so they can stay on bloody strike for all I care. 

7. Titus Andronicus - A More Perfect Union

Perhaps not about that kind of union, but what it lacks in relevance it makes up for in passion. And any song that mixes Bruce Springsteen with Billy Bragg gets my vote every time...

No, I never wanted to change the world, but I'm looking for a new New Jersey
Because tramps like us, baby, we were born to die

6. Ry Cooder - Strike!

Lots of songs about striking miners... couldn't find any about striking teachers.

We've got it easy, to be honest.

5. Manic Street Preachers - A Design For Life

Growing up in Wales, the Manics were hit hard by the miners' strike. Their biggest hit was inspired by it... and they're still angry (referencing the Battle of Orgreave) on their excellent new album, Rewind The Film.

4. The Smiths - Bigmouth Strikes Again

Yes, yes, this is also somewhat off-topic... but you didn't really think I was going to leave it out, did you?

3. Billy Joel - Allentown

Even the union can't help the inhabitants of Allentown. For anyone who dismisses Billy as a balladeer, here he's as angry at his country as Springsteen on Born In The USA. Great song.

2. Pulp - The Last Day Of The Miners' Strike

Coming from South Yorkshire, Jarvis will have seen the worst effects of the miner's strike firsthand too. Working in Barnsley, I'm reminded of it regularly. Those scars are still raw.

Well by 1985, I was as cold a cold could be
But no-one was underground to dig me out and set me free
'87 socialism gave way to socialising 
So put your hands up in the air once more
The north is rising

1. Billy Bragg - There Is Power In A Union

Sharing its title with a song written in 1913 by Joe Hill (presumably not Stephen King's son... unless time travel or supernatural naughtiness are involved), Billy's version sounded defiant against Thatcherism in the 80s... but is it a forlorn hope today?

Now I long for the morning that they realise
Brutality and unjust laws cannot defeat us
But who'll defend the workers who cannot organise
When the bosses send their lackies out to cheat us?

Those were my striking anthems. Which one would cross your picket line?

My Top Ten Songs About Bruce Springsteen

This year is the 40th anniversary of Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J., the debut album by the one artist whose music has meant more to me throughout my life than any other (sorry, Moz). While I still don't feel able to compile a Top Ten Springsteen Songs... maybe I never will... here's the closest I can get to a tribute. Ten songs that mention The Boss...


10. Ezio - Bruce Springsteen

Only just discovered Ezio in the course of compiling this Top Ten. They're from Cambridge. You wouldn't know it...

I'll never be the boss just lower management I guess
I've never had a Thunderbird
A beat up Volvo is less absurd
I'd do anything to impress you
I'd do anything to caress you
I grew up in a town called Whittlesey
I've never been to New Jersey
I don't know too much about you
But your friend said you like Bruce Springsteen

9. Rick Springfield - Bruce

Jessie's Girl coveter Rick Springfield finds himself confused for his more famous (half-)namesake. A witty song about not being as famous as that other guy.

8. Titus Andronicus - A More Perfect Union 

Fellow New Jersey-ites Titus Andronicus mix Bruce with Billy Bragg on this, one of their best songs, when they declare...

No, I never wanted to change the world
But I'm looking for a new New Jersey
Because tramps like us
Baby, we were born to die

7. The Gaslight Anthem - Meet Me By the River's Edge

Another New Jersey act, unkindly dubbed by some critics a "Springsteen tribute band", and tracks like this, baby, they were born to back up that argument. "No surrender, my Bobby Jean" the GA sing, amid lyrics that sound like Bruce's songbook chopped up and reassembled Bowie-style. But, as I've said before, if you're gonna wear your influences on your sleeve... these cufflinks are 24 carat gold.

6. Nosferatu D2 - Springsteen

Ben Parker released one album as Nosferatu D2 (with his brother Jamie) prior to taking on the solo mantle of Superman Revenge Squad. This song, a tirade against Ben's hometown of Croydon, was written around a loop of the guitar from Springsteen's 'My Hometown' before Ben ditched that in favour of a somewhat more aggressive backing track.

Throw away your autographs
Of people you don't care about
Andy Peters, Andy Crane
They're all the same, they're all the same

5. Lana Del Rey - American

It was obvious the second I first heard Video Games that Lana was a Springsteen groupie. And like Titus Andronicus before her, she too is Born To Die.

Play house, put my favorite record on
Get down, get your crystal method on
You were, like, dark tan driving round the city
Flirting with the girls like you're so pretty
"Springsteen is the king, don't you think?"
 I was, like, "hell, yeah, that guy can sing."

4. Frank Turner - Redemption

 There are few bigger Bruce fans than Frank Turner. Frank just gets it...

I was walking home to my house through the snow from the station 
When Springsteen came clear in my headphones with a pertinent question
Oh, is love really real and can any of us hope for redemption?
Or are we all merely biding our time down to lonely conclusions?

3. Bran Van 3000 - Speed

In which the Bran Vanners pay tribute with a Born To Run rap. God, that really shouldn't work. And yet...

Sliup - Ummm - Crack
Goes the backscreen door
She wanted to go for coffee
But I sleep an hour more
See Mary dancing across the porch
She put her rolled up Ziggys in her rock and roll jersey
Jersey, she was born to run
She was the spirit of midnight
She was blinded by the light
She was holed up in jungleland
Straight up
The rock and roll big boss
Turnpike down by the river of desire
Just off Thunder Road
Where you catch her in the Tenth Avenue
Freeze out
She was lost in a flood
Mary, Queen of Arkansas
Dreaming of a Cadillac ranch with a hungry heart
But most of all she was born in the USA
Asbury Park, New Jersey
Inner state babe
To be exact she was her own rock and roll video
Rolls Royce, low riding
Speed climbing, driving by the sea
Making mad love on other people's private property
While being on the run from the local law for unpaid parking tickets!

...it bloody does.

2. Prefab Sprout - Cars & Girls

There's tremendous irony at work here: Paddy McAloon (of all people!) having a sly, if affectionate, dig at Bruce for being a lyrical romantic.

Brucie dreams life's a highway, too many roads bypass my way
Or they never begin. 
Innocence coming to grief
At the hands of life's stinking car thief, 
That's my concept of sin.
Does heaven wait all heavenly over the next horizon?
But look at us now, quit driving, 
Some things hurt more much more than cars and girls.

That said, Paddy can't help but conclude:

Brucie's thoughts - Pretty streamers
Guess this world needs its dreamers 
May they never wake up.

And the same goes for you, Paddy. 
  
1. Eric Church - Springsteen

One of my favourite songs of last year. It's not so much a tribute to Bruce as a tribute to the kind of golden sunset nostalgia he used to reflect on songs like Glory Days and Bobby Jean. Good times...

When I think about you, I think about 17.
I think about my old Jeep.
I think about the stars in the sky.
Funny how a melody, sounds like a memory.
Like a soundtrack to a July, Saturday night....

I don't expect anybody else will have much of an opinion about this Top Ten... but it's my blog and I've got to keep my number one fan happy!