Saturday Snapshots #107 - The Answers

Nobody puts Baby in the corner on a Sunday morning. Baby wants her answers! And here they are...

Did you have a Ghost of a chance of getting them all right?

Regardless, every track's a belter this week...



10. A wee vacuum riddle torments and teases.

Jimmy Riddle?

Jimmy The Hoover - Tantalise

9. Still a child at heart, secretly famous.

Forever young...

Neil Young - Unknown Legend

Still sends shivers down my spine, this track. Written about his former wife, Pegi, who sadly died earlier this year.

8. Melon twisting dancer gets an A for running over southern states.

Bez was the Melon Twisting dancer. Add an A and you get Baez.

Joan Baez - The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

7. Save the earth in 2009? If not then, how about...

If not in 2009, how about...?

Ten Years After - I'd Love To Change The World

6. I refuse to accept a brother of York can go beyond sanity.

Thom Yorke's brother was in this band.

(Bonus clue - Hal Hartley made a film called The Unbelievable Truth, David Mitchell hosts a Radio 4 quiz show with the same name.)

Unbelievable Truth - Higher Than Reason

5. Town that died, but not long ago, meets French weirdo.

The Night Chicago Died. Take away ago.

A French weirdo would be Le Freak.

Chic - Le Freak

4. No charge for pierced organ ring.

(That's my favourite clue ever.)

No charge is free. Electricity also comes with a charge. Hammond make organs. A pierced organ is a Prince Albert. A ring is sometimes called a (wedding) band.

I thank you.

Albert Hammond - The Free Electric Band

3. Rubbing out, occasionally.

Erasure - Sometimes

2. Melted Pac Man puts gas in your tank.

If the arcade was on fire, Pac Man might melt.

Arcade Fire - Keep The Car Running

1. Michael Caine and James Brown hit the Martini, relentlessly.

Michael Caine was Carter. James Brown was a Sex Machine. Relentlessly is unstoppable.

Ride a Point Break back here again next Saturday morning for more of the same...

My Top Ten Higher Songs

I'm here to take you higher...


10. The Cardigans - Higher

Dreamy.

9. Primal Scream - Higher Than The Sun

I find it amusing that the top youtube comment for this song is one word: "Drugs."

8. The Unbelievable Truth - Higher Than Reason

 A song about the problems caused by building a shrine in your front room... from Thom's little brother.

7. Cats On Fire - Higher Grounds

I don't approve of the band name, but the Morrissey-esque lyrics made me a fan...

Stay there for the whole day if you must.
May the seagulls take you,
Well, I don't mind.
Stay there for the whole day, you're not getting paid anyway.
Were getting tired of your antics,
Well, so am I.

6. Sly & The Family Stone - I Want to Take You Higher

This. Is. Seriously. Funky.

5. Black Grape - Get Higher

In which Shaun Ryder has fun by getting Ronald Reagan to confess to Nancy's terrible drug habit.

4. Stevie Wonder - Higher Ground

Also covered by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, but the less said about that the better.

3. Grandmaster Flash & Melle Mel - White Lines

Get higher, baby... and don't ever come down.

On second thoughts... don't do it, Zammo!

2. Steve Winwood - Higher Love

Despite the fact that this song begins with Steve banging a bunch of pan lids in his kitchen... it's still a classic.

Various misheard mondegreens exist for this record, including "Bake me a pie of love", "Baked beans on high or low" and, my personal favourite, "Bring me an iron lung".

1. Jackie Wilson - (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher & Higher

Now once, I was downhearted
Disappointment was my closest friend...





Those were my higher loves (or iron lungs)... but which one takes you higher?

My Top Ten Songs With Reasons

I have ten good reasons why you should listen to this blog post...


10. Franz Ferdinand - You're the Reason I'm Leaving

Was it something I said? (Was it 'cos I told you the band's name is pronounced R-E-M, not "Rem", you bunch of idiot-twits?)

9. The Unbelievable Truth - Higher Than Reason

OK, I'm stretching the criteria to include this one, but it's a lost classic from a songwriter who deserves to be remembered as more than just Thom Yorke's younger brother.

8. Loretta Lynn & Conway Twitty - You're The Reason Our Kids Are Ugly

I was introduced to this via the excellent Indelicates cover, which manages somehow to be even more bitchy. Sadly, it's also too ugly for youtube.

7. Jeff Klein - Five Good Reasons

Jeff's got five good reasons why he never sleeps alone. One of them being: he writes some lovely songs.

6. Half Man Half Biscuit - Reasons to be Miserable (Part 10)

Of course, Nigel Blackwell has hundreds of reasons to be miserable. He's built a career writing songs around them. That's why we love him.

See also Paradise Lost (You're The Reason Why).

5. Roddy Frame - Reason To Live

Wow. Forgotten how good this one was.

4. My Life Story - 12 Reasons Why I Love Her

Ah, Jake Shillingford. Where are you now?


Reason #11 is the one I couldn't get down with. She leaves the pie but always eats her greens? Who the heck leaves pie?

3. Tim Hardin - Reason To Believe

Or, you may have reasons to prefer Rod's version. Nothing wrong with that. I, of course, have a very special place in my heart for Bruce's song of the same name... philosophy from roadkill.

2. Frank Turner - Reasons Not To Be An Idiot

Reasons why I love Frank Turner #84.

So why are you sat at home?
You're not designed to be alone
You just got used to saying "no"
So get up and get down and get outside
Cos it's a lovely sunny day
But you hide yourself away
You've only got yourself to blame
Get up and get down and get outside

1. Ian Dury & The Blockheads - Reasons To Be Cheerful (Part 3)

If you're struggling to find reasons to be cheerful... any of these should suffice:

Something nice to study
Phoning up a buddy
Being in my nuddy
Saying hokey-dokey 
Singalonga Smokey
Coming out of chokey

Be reasonable - don't just tell me your favourite. Tell me your reasons...