Interesting noise. I like it when the bass comes in.
"I also have an album called 27 Passports by The Ex. There is no title track and, as far as I can recall, no lyrical reference to the number 27 on any track, so I'm guessing that this doesn't really count?"
Probably not. But we can hear the full album on that link.
Alyson & C appeared next, not with a song, but a rather more morbid link to The 27 Club, a list of artists who tragically died at that very young age, including...
New to me, that lot, Jim. They don't pass because the 27 is a band not a song (see The Swede's SEctor 27 suggestion above). However, I don't disqualify years anymore. So you could have had this...
He put a spell on some poor little Crutchfield girl
And stayed like that for 27 seven years
As for your third suggestion... we'll come back to that.
Last week I said I was certain I knew what Martin's suggestion would be. But I reckon Martin was too busy preparing for his Land's End to John O'Groats bike ride to make the suggestion. (Wouldn't it be easier to do it the other way round? Surely there's more down-hill if you start in the Highlands?) Here's what I thought you were going to suggest anyway...
The other thing I pondered last week was where our Canadian pal Douglas had got to. Holiday? Sadly not...
"For the record, I have not in fact been on holiday, but rather on strike. I am a teacher in the province of Ontario, Canada, and we are currently in the midst of troubled contract negotiations with the government over quality of education issues, and have been so for a while now, I regret to report.
Much to my surprise and chagrin, I have discovered that standing in a picket line in the midst of a Canadian winter is in fact not much like a holiday at all. The occasional cheery mid-finger salute from passing cars, the cheap coffee roasting on an open fire, the magically diminishing pay-checks as we prepare for the Yuletide season...very festive those.
But as we have gone from province wide strikes to rotating board-by-board strikes as of today, I had a chance to look in, and after being inspired immediately to think of "Never Had No One Ever", I realized that I was, sadly, late to the game, and it had been taken! (So perhaps in the spirit of having a horse in the game for that song, I will bypass the obvious Smith's version (perhaps the fact that a certain singer seems to be persona non grata in some quarters at the moment will mean a second-stringer may get a chance off the bench?) and suggest Billy Bragg's cover?
Other than that, I place my real serious cash down on John Denver's "Rocky Mountain High", which of course opens with some delightfully contradictory lyrics...
And I am going big money on this bet as I am confident I am on to a winner; I did my research once again, and discovered that on a certain 10th of May in 2018, Mr John Denver placed 1st in a Top Ten list with a different song, "Leaving On A Jet Plane", so I am hoping there is a soft spot there for all things Denver.
Now, back to the "job action" (and what a delightful term that is!)."
Firstly, you have my sympathy - and solidarity, Douglas. As a teacher myself - and one constantly under attack - I wish you every success in your action. Even though, realistically, we're all doomed.
As to your suggestions... can I come back to those too?
First, the inevitable trawl through my own hard-drive...
And to be honest, I'm really torn this week. The Queen Is Dead is still my favourite album of the 80s. But Never Had No One ever is probably the bleakest song on there, and do we really need more misery this week?
Rocky Mountain High, meanwhile, is a fine entry from Mr. Denver... but can I really choose it over The Smiths, even in the era of Mozaggedon?
Probably not. But it was closer than you'd think...
Next week - the final letter of the alphabet. #26. Go!
There's a scary story involving a saint and a snake going on in this track from Villagers' debut album... I'm not sure I know what it's all about, but I do know that Conor O'Brien looks about 12 in the video. It's not policemen who are looking younger as I get older: it's pop stars.
Can't find this on youtube, but Billy's having a big row with them at the moment over artists' royalties, so perhaps they're limiting his exposure. It's a pretty rare track though, from his internet only release 'Pressure Drop' that followed some of the major themes in his book The Progressive Patriot...
I walked down from the station 'cause I wanted to see, The kind of things that you might miss from the back of a taxi, There's just no way to tell you what these things mean to me This is home.
The place I threw my guts up outside the old wine bar, The junk shop on the corner where I bought my first guitar, The grass verge by the pig flats where we sat and revved our cars, This is home.
Imagine if everybody in the world was as cool as Iggy Pop...
1. Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros - Home
An irresistibly catchy whistling refrain (often used as backing music on TV programmes) grabbed my attention... but it's the cutesy, conversational boy-girl vocals from Jade and Alexander that kept me coming back.
Jade? Alexander? Do you remember that day you fell outta my window? I sure do ‒ you came jumping right out after me. Well, you fell on the concrete, nearly broke you ass, you were bleeding all over the place, I rushed you out to the hospital, you remember that? Yes, I do. Well there's something I never told you about that night... What didn't you tell me? Well, while you were sitting in the back seat smoking a cigarette you thought was gonna be your last, I was falling deep, deep in love with you, and I never told you till just now!
There were a bunch of other interesting Home songs in my library - including goodies from The Lilac Time and Hefner - but I couldn't find any of them online. Bloody useless internet.
Sorry I didn't post a Top Ten last week. I was too busy being a dad, being a teacher, being a constant pain in Louise's neck etc. etc. to be a blogger. Here's ten great songs beginning with the verb 'To be...'
...well, you just know that ain't gonna end well. Full credit to B.A. though: that sucker actually finds some even worse rhymes as this creaky 70s classic progresses. It's As You Like It, you know.
Too Good To Be Forgotten... as Amazulu once had it. Though, shockingly, this one appears to have fallen off the radar completely. Not even on youtube! A crime.
Ryan's debut solo effort begins with an Argument With David Rawlings Concerning Morrissey... which is exactly what it says on the tin. Once that's out of the way, this song starts the album proper... and in many ways, Mr. Adams has yet to better it.
And there's no more swimming in a guitar shaped pool
No more reporters at my beck and call
No more cocaine it's only ground chalk
No more taxis now we'll have to walk
I make no secret of my profound admiration for Mad Billy McMad. Here he covers (and changes the title) of William Bell's 60s soul classic I Forgot To Be Your Lover to the point that it's unrecognisable, all the while doing his trademark punk-Elvis impression in a boxing ring with the cast of C.A.T.S. Eyes on backing vocals. He even ropes a human version of Rowlf from the Muppets in to play the piano. They don't make 'em like Billy anymore, and that's a sad loss to the entertainment industry.
He said: "Son, I brought you here to dream Life's not what the world would have it seem The call of the wild makes you a believer I brought you into this world... to be a dreamer."
Been listening to this a lot lately, and it keeps making me cry. What a sentimental old fool Sam's dad is.
When I got the idea for this Top Ten, I figured Nils would be top dog. But, of course, I'd forgotten this...
Another one that rarely fails to reduce me to a sobbing wreck on the carpet: particularly as featured in the movie it was written for, Winged Migration. (It's a documentary about birds, but you don't have a heart in your chest if it doesn't ache for what our feathered friends put themselves through every year for a "holiday".)
1. Nick Cave - To Be By Your Side
Another one that rarely fails to reduce me to a sobbing wreck on the carpet: particularly as featured in the movie it was written for, Winged Migration. (It's a documentary about birds, but you don't have a heart in your chest if it doesn't ache for what our feathered friends put themselves through every year for a "holiday".)
To be a commenter or not to be a commenter: that is the question...
