Showing posts with label Whiteout. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Whiteout. Show all posts

Tuesday, 29 March 2022

Conversations With Ben #27: Mocking The Elderly


Ben: Same age as you.

Rol: Thank you for that reminder. I'll be more careful with the drugs.

I think you need to move over to some downers. Balance it out.

I'm pretty good at handling the down part without chemical assistance.


This is what Ben sent me for my birthday. 
Along with a card that read "Old Man Like Old Man Music."

Thank you for the present, by the way, but you shouldn't mock the elderly.

The irony is, I still think of Britpop as modern music.

Old man.

I'm not sure even I have heard of some of the bands on those cards. Whiteout!?!

Question for you...

Pulled Apart By Horses. Trampled By Turtles. Can you think of any other bands that are named after getting hurt or killed by animals?

Here's a better one for you.

List of bands where if a person said they were their favourite you'd be suspicious of them.

Examples...

If someone said Simply Red were their favourite band, you'd think that they just hadn't really listened to much music.

They're a good band.

But even their Greatest Hits has some filler on there and compared to other bands they have limited deep cuts.

Also... Creed.

Chas and Dave.

Fine Young Cannibals.

The Breeders.

Wang Chung?

First, Simply Red are awful.

And Mick Hucknall is a tool.

Second, this reminds me of the I Just Called To Say I Love You bit in High Fidelity.

If someone told me Chas & Dave were their favourite band, I'd just think they must be a Cockney.

And at least they haven't fallen for Damon Albarn's sham.

I got a free ticket to see The Good The Bad and The Queen a number of years ago. Second most boring concert I've been to. And it would have been the most boring for most people but the most boring was a niche one. Second time seeing Godspeed! You Black Emperor. The first time is interesting and a novelty but it's a one and done thing.

In the list of Damon Albarn's crimes, being dull and sanctimonious for the last 20 years ranks much higher than 5 years of pretending to be a Cockney scamp, guvnor

Would you trust someone to babysit Sam if they said Think Tank was their favourite Blur album?

I wouldn't even let them in my house.

Louise's old boss loved Hue & Cry. He got them to play live at his 50th. Apparently they hate each other and argued the whole time.

Other than Ordinary Angel and Looking for Linda, what else have they got, really?

You forgot their big hit! 

Ben sends a photograph of his newly-mowed lawn.

Now I feel like drinking a beer in the middle of the week and watching football.

Why are you mowing grass that hasn't yet started growing?

It was knee height.

To a grasshopper.

Shut up

Am man now.

Drink Carling.

Tell Mrs. Ben there be trouble if tea not ready.

Watch futkik.

Get mad when Team A beat Team B.

I think you're more middle aged than macho man.

Am man!

Listen to Oasis.

And Kaiser Chiefs.

Give you a thump.

Finally get Mrs Brown's Boys.

Is funny coz man in dress.

Is this the first time you've ever experienced manual labour?

I used to be quite literally a site labourer.

And I'm using my ex-workmates as influence for this character.

Or...

Shurrup, soft lad.

One time back when I worked in radio, a colleague of mine had driven to work in really bad snow and basically dumped his car in a snow drift outside the building. Later that night we looked out to see if it was still snowing, and there was some random bloke sat in his car. We went out to ask him what the hell he was doing, and he said:

"I was cold. And I don't work in a fancy radio station like you guys. I'm a manual labourer. Look at my manual labourer's hands! Look, I've got calluses and everything!"

That sounds genuinely terrifying.

It was. But also kind of surreal. In the end, he just buggered off.

Are you sure he hadn't escaped from the local psych ward?

It was Bradford. Most people in Bradford have escaped from some kind of institution, or are on their way into one.

Have you seen that Anti Racist baby is in the news?

Ted Cruz went on a rant about it as a black judge was elected to the Supreme court.

Well, I guess it'll sell a shitload more copies now. I'll have that first edition back that I gave you for your birthday.

Heard the new Craig Finn song?

No.

It's good.


Yes. It is. 

Seriously though... how are you?

Well, I've not died a drug overdose yet... or been punched by Will Smith. So I guess I'm doing better than a lot of 50-somethings...

I can't believe you've listened to Simply Red's Greatest Hits all the way through.


Tuesday, 28 May 2019

Hot 100 #38


38 Special are a Southern rock band formed by Donnie Van Zant, the younger brother of Lynyrd Skynyrd singer Ronnie.

As Martin identified in last week's comments, loads of songs make mention of the Smith & Wesson .38 Special, and though he chose not to mention them "in the spirit of gun control", that didn't stop the rest of you! I was metaphorically blown away by the following fully-loaded suggestions from...

Rigid Digit:

Lynyrd Skynyrd - Saturday Night Special

And as a man's reaching for his trousers
Shoots him full of 38 holes

Mark Knopfler - 38 Special

Lynchie:

Warren Zevon - I'll Sleep When I'm Dead

I've got a .38 special up on the shelf
I'll sleep when I'm dead
If I start acting stupid
I'll shoot myself
I'll sleep when I'm dead

George:

Robert Johnson - 32-30 Blues

She got a 38 special but I believe its much too light
I got a 32-20, got to make the camps alright

And Brian, who explains...
All roads lead back to Nick Lowe. Going with "Me and My .38" by Carlene Carter off of 'Blue Nun' from 1981. This one was co-written and produced by then husband Lowe. She's backed by Lowe's band at the time... Paul Carrack, Martin Belmont, James Eller and Bobby Irwin. Love this album. Tough broad. When she leaves the key under the mat, you better show up or you'll have a double date with her and her .38.
I wish I could find that somewhere online, Brian, because it sounds like a cracker. Sadly, the internet let me down. However, I'll see your Nick Lowe suggestion and raise you this...

Nick Lowe - Switchboard Susan

When I'm near you girl, I get an extension
And I don't mean Alexander Graham Bell's invention
Switchboard Susan, can we be friends?
After six, at weekends

Hey babe, your number's great
38-27-38
Oh you bring a smile to my dial
Oh you're great, operator's great

Sticking with the smut, here's C, who went all Gallic on us this week...

Charlotte Gainsbourg - Les Oxalis

Sa mère Marie-Camille
Repose à ses côtés
Elle survit à sa fille
Encore 38 années

I'm not putting that into google translate, but I bet it's mucky.

Back to Martin then, who clearly thinks he's identified a smart way of winning this game: just choose songs by my favourite artists. (Although Lynchie's still smarting that this tactic didn't work for him last week.)

Lloyd Cole and the Commotions - Her Last Fling

And now you're underweight
And overpaid
You will not be saved
And you're pushing 38

Billy Joel - Leningrad

I was born in 49 
A cold war kid in the McCarthy times
Stop 'em at the 38th parallel 
Blast those yellow reds to hell 
Cold war kids were hard to kill 
Under their desks in an air raid drill 
Haven't they heard we won the war 
What do they keep on fighting for?

Ooh... I tell you what, Martin, that came close. It really did.

Well, that almost takes care of your suggestions this week, so here's a few thrown up by my own hard-drive...

The Wonder Stuff - 38 Line Poem

Whiteout - Thirty Eight

ELO - 10538 Overture

(Yeah, I know that last one would get quickly disqualified if one of you suggested it, but it's still a belter if you like Jeff Lynne shamelessly ripping off the Beatles.)

And a couple of lyrical drops...

Johnny Cash - The Wreck of the Old '97

They give him his orders at Monroe, Virginia
Sayin', "Steve you're way behind time
This is not Thirty-Eight, but it's old Ninety-Seven
You must put her in Spencer on time"

Donald Fagen - Planet D'Rhonda

She’s from a small town somewhere upstate
I guess she’s somewhere between 19 and 38
She stays up all night – she drives too fast
I say easy baby- baby slow down
It’s never gonna happen
On Planet D’Rhonda

And finally, because I have no shame...

Bon Jovi - Social Disease

She's full of high grade octane
She could run the bullet train on 38 Double D's
Now you know for sure, she know the cure
To make a blind man see

But, I'm sure it comes with great relief that Douglas saved you all from having to listen to Jon Bon Jovi's boob-inspired lyrics this week by suggesting this cracking story song from his oft-requested Canadian heroes, The Tragically Hip. I have a weakness for story songs, particularly when they involve breaking out of prison.



37 next week. Any ideas?


Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...