I didn't take History at school, so I know very little about the Kings & Queens of England, Scotland & Wales. Everything I do know, I learned from songs...
Don't laugh at me because I'm a fool... clearly I didn't fool any of you by suggesting that yesterday's Snapshots had nothing to do with the date on the calendar. You all have far too much Wisdom...
Al Matthews was the actor who played Gunnery Sergeant Apone in the movie Aliens... and Benny's dad in Grange Hill. He was also a Radio 1 DJ for a time, and hit the UK Top 20 in 1975 with this...
Here's a cover I unearthed on an old mixtape CD I found kicking around. I didn't know anything about the artist, so I suspect this originated as a blog download somewhere in the dim and distant past.
The song is Here I Go Again, originally a Top Ten hit from my teenage years. I'm pretty sure I bought the 7 inch, and I have no shame over that. It's the ultimate poodle rock anthem, and David Coverdale's hairdo is easily as impressive in the video as the girl dancing on the car. It also has a killer riff and a lyric about being a lonely outsider which appealed to my 15 year old self... and still does, if I'm honest.
Twenty-some years later, the song was covered by Audra Mae, apparently for the soundtrack of The Good Wife, another show Louise watched but I never had time to (probably because I was blogging).
As I said, I didn't know much about Audra Mae, but she appears to have had a pretty crazy career, having worked with The All-American Rejects, Avicii, Flo Rida, Frank Turner and Celine Dion, while she's written songs that have been covered by Miranda Lambert, German Eurovision entrants and Susan Boyle.
I've not heard anything else she's done, but I have a fondness for her Whitesnake cover... especially as she keeps the killer riff.
It's Oh So Quiet on a Sunday morning while we're all waiting for the answers to Saturday Snapshots.
Apparently yesterday's featured some tough ones... well, they all seemed easy enough to me. (But then, they come from my record collection.)
Very close match between Lynchie & Charity Chic, both getting three full correct answers, though Lynchie also gets a quarter point for #7, making him the winner. Martin mopped up the last two, but George deserves extra credit for #5.
10. The Boss finds religion with well stirred rice.
1. Reverse double bottom to a school on a French hill.
Look how short those beards are!
Reverse bottom for Top.
The bottom letter of the alphabet is Z.
A school on a hill would be Grange Hill.
In French, that might be...
Possibly Maybe more Saturday Snapshots next week... well, no we'll definitely have something extra special next week for our fiftieth anniversary edition. Don't miss it!
This is Millie, the new addition to our family. Too soon? I did think so... but I've been proved wrong. A welcome blast of sunshine and fun in these darkest of times...
The big problem with songs about kittens is that they're rarely actually about kittens. Kitten, is seems, is a popular metaphorical term of endearment, and just about the only song on this list which appears to be about an actual kitten is about a dead one. So I'm not dedicating any of these to Millie. Ten great songs, nevertheless...
The thing about Whitesnake was, around about the time this came out, they were showing their kitten side more than their claws. Power ballads had taken them into the charts and their metal beginnings were all but forgotten. This was them showing they still had their claws. You won't like it, it ain't cool, but it did the job for teenage rock fans back in the mid 80s.
Can you believe this is the first time Whitesnake have featured on this blog? I can't.
Dark and creepy - Nick Cave would be proud. From Lily's debut record, available on The Indelicates' Corporate Records label. Since then she's gone on to form the band Fightmilk: also worthy of your attention.
Don't forget that little kittens have the sharpest claws!
I guess that should be **** Me, Kitten... or @%$# Me, Kitten. It's one of those songs that sounds beautiful, but if you study the lyrics you'll choke on the metaphors. Of course, you could also scare yourself half to death with the REM & William S. Burroughs version...
Forgotten noughties indie from half of The Lovely Eggs. Indie-girly-pop loveliness with a sting in the tail.
1. Little Willie John - Leave My Kitten Alone
"Laying in the back seat, listening to Little Willie John..."
Yes, it was Elvis Costello who introduced this song to me... but it was Robbie Robertson who introduced me to Little Willie. And the original has added meows!
