When I'm putting Snapshot together, I try to get a mix of bands that haven't featured often before, which means that some of the usual suspects and old favourites end up on the operating room floor...
Here's a famous organ player - Booker T. Yesterday, Ray Manzarek introduced our quiz. But neither of them played the kinds of organs you'll hear below...
15. Charles, could be another #4.
Charles Mansun would be in good company with the names listed in Clue 4.
The AI says, "Yes, individual muscles are considered organs because they are structures composed of different tissues working together to perform a specific function, like movement."
Look, this was the first thing I found when I put "Brazilian celebrities with cameras" into Google, OK. If I could have found a picture of Pele holding a camera, he would have been here instead of Gisele.
Honest.
10. Vadim's villain.
The villain in Roger Vadim's movie Barbarella was... Durand Durand.
8. Will Pakistan get zebras, Trudy wonders? The answers lie within.
The image above is, as revealed by Walter, Alain Delon and Romy Schneider, who have nothing to do with Brazil... though they did feature prominently in an image search for these guys...
Although it's named after the Brazilian beach, the Copacabana nightclub can't be in Brazil, since it's the hottest spot north of Havana. I'm not brilliant at Geography, but even I can work that one out.
3. Mad king steps down the peer.
Mad King George goes down the peerage to become a Duke.
D12 (which stands for Dirty Dozen) was the rap band Eminem was in before he became famous. He got the old gang back together a few years later, notably for the song below...
Those of you with better memories than me (or The Swede) may remember that that song won #35 on the Hot 100 Countdown, and at the time I remarked: "don't expect it to show up again at number 12. I can easily think of a dozen songs that would come before it." Which may have been an exaggeration on my part, but I have to stick to my word.
That was obviously a popular suggestion with Alyson, who says: it was one of my first singles. I also had a Donny pillowcase and a Donny Cap (not a euphemism for a form of contraception as I was only aged 12 - apt).
Well, I suppose that's less embarrassing than Respect Yourself by Bruce Willis. Sadly, the only version I own of that song comes from this fellow...
Speaking of welcome returns, after my plea last week, Douglas McLaren returned to explain where he's been recently... and it seems as though life is pretty unpleasant for teachers in Canada... as I can attest it is in the UK. His explanation below sounds very familiar to these ears...
...our entire school system has moved during these times to an online platform, as we figure out how to get teenagers to do work from home while they are stressed and concerned about what is going on in the world beyond their doors. And that has meant trying g to figure out how to upload video lectures, hold virtual office hours online, screencasting, web-textbooks, and a whole lot of other insanely time consuming nonsense for an old dinosaur of the classroom like me to learn.
You have my sympathy, Douglas, as all this has nearly broken me over the past few weeks, not to mention the fact that Louise is also supposed to be working from home and we've got to home-school Sam while we're doing it. If I read one more article about "how to spend your free time" or "what to watch on Netflix now we're all at home, taking it east", I'm going to scream.
Anyway, here's Douglas to tell us about his suggestion for this week...
Great Big Sea are from Newfoundland on Canada's east coast, with their lyrical and folksy "Come And I Will Sing You (The Twelve Apostles)", which I think is worth the listen.
This week's winner though. Alyson got it, but first to name it was Martin who normally spreads his bets over a whole load of tracks but this week was so certain of a win, he piled all his chips onto one bet. And guess what? It paid off...
Makes you wonder why they weren't huge... although I guess a band that size had to sell a heck of a lot of records to break even...
Next week, eleven. After that, things get really tricky. I might need to come up with some new rules...
A quieter week on the countdown than last week, thankfully, and the only band I could find with 15 in the name was the one above. I'm guessing they're Spanish, but beyond that.... no idea. Here's a tune from them anyway...
Inspiral Carpets - 8:15 From Manchester (the theme to a 90s Saturday Morning kids show - it's actually a re-recording of Find Out Why. But it does evoke a memory of late teenage/early 20s hangovers.)
Alyson was up next, with two very fine... if distinctly un-Alyson... suggestions...
Oh, wait... I've forgotten to pick a winner, haven't I? Tough one this week as I don't have a clear favourite, although the two that got the most votes are clearly leading the field.
You can choose your own favourite, but for me... although in most matches, Roger Daltrey would defeat Robert Smith... in this one, Bob just edges it. Maybe it's because this song reminds me so much of Saturday nights in my 20s... although I don't remember ever sitting in the kitchen sink.
Only one band could illustrate the moment that Life Begins in our Hot 100 Countdown (even though, like Benjamin Button and the hero of Martin Amis's Time's Arrow, we're aging backwards). I was never s huge UB40 fan, and I prefer the Neil Diamond original of the above song to their hit version, but I always quite liked their famous "I'm a prima donna" mondegreen. (Apparently they sing "Ivory Madonna"... but I don't believe it for a second.)
...which is always welcome here because it features Leonard Nimoy in the video. And if you're wondering how The Bangles know what a UB40 is/was, they probably didn't. The original was by Katrina & The Waves.)
Anyway, as you can imagine, there were a hell of a lot of songs with the number 40 in the title. I'm not even getting onto lyrical nods this week, unless you guys specifically brought them up. Let's see how quickly we can rattle through the list...
Starting, as if often the case, with The Swede, who kicked us off with a serious contender...
Longtime readers will know that I've always got time for Jimmy B - I may even be a parrothead. As with many of Jimmy's songs, this one has a nautical theme... yet it also tackles the mid-life crisis in a beautiful way.
Yes I am a pirate, two hundred years too late
The cannons don't thunder, there's nothing to plunder
I'm an over-forty victim of fate
Arriving too late, arriving too late
Ian McNabb does a pretty cool version of that too, but sadly I can't find it on the interweb and don't have time to upload it right now.
Onto The Swede's other fine suggestions, the last of which opens up a whole avenue of possibilities...
And now I shall hand you over to our Canadian correspondent, Douglas McLaren, making a welcome return this week with a whole bunch of fine suggestions...
I felt like I had to keep up the Canadian side once again when we hit 40. A fun one, for starters, is by Canada's (former) house band...
Then there is, of course, the granddaddy of Canadian folk rock, Gordon Lightfoot, who can teach you how to be an Auctioneer. And no, we don't actually have a forty-five dollar bill here in Canada.
Perhaps that's because the original came from the USA, Douglas (it's featured here before as my dad used to be an auctioneer when I was a boy).
From Canada we then journeyed halfway round the world to Australia, with another welcome
return from my old pal Deano who's just about to celebrate a rather relevant birthday. Remember, Deano - "life begins!" Cough cough.
He describes his first offering as "a silly, but oh so much fun, one hit wonder from New Zealand." Sounds perfect!
Next, "a Tasmanian-via California-via Nashville country singer
that I have really started to enjoy recently. She’s lived those forty
years (“I got battle scars around my eyes. I got old boyfriends with
bitchy wives. I look back and I wonder why.I’m forty.”) Sadly, she died
young after a cancer
Deano's final offering comes from a classic country songwriter: "In the process of discovering Tom
T Hall at the moment, and enjoying every moment of it. What a
songwriter. In this one, he talks about a funeral, and reflects on the
fact that the dead guy owed him $40."
All of which leaves me with just a handful of my own selections that nobody else mentioned, so I thought I'd make this post even longer by counting down my Top Five 40 Songs. I actually did a Top Ten 40 Songs seven years ago when I did turn 40 and three of these (as well as a bunch of your suggestions) featured there. That was on the old blog though which exists now only in my archives, so no link, I'm afraid.
The Swede recently ran a post about a 24 minute song and asked "Do we have time to listen to it?" Not at the moment, I'm afraid... work is still sucking all the joy out of my life.
So here's ten songs that all clock in at under 30 seconds. Easy enough to compile, I just got my music player to put my library in order by duration.
The only rule I had was it had to be a complete song - no excerpts, reprises, intros, fillers, talky bits or skits. Once I'd sifted all those out, here's what I was left with...
I want to be a field day for the Sundays so they can Fuck up my life Embarrass my wife And leave a bad taste Striped toothpaste can't remove on Monday mornings I want to be a target for the dailies so they can show Pictures of me with a nude on page three So lacking in taste Touched up near the waist, looking as limp as Monday morning Touched up near the waist, looking as limp as Monday morning
You could argue that the second side of Abbey Road is all one long track, but it's probably my favourite Beatles album and this is a fine coda.
1. Slaves - Girl Fight
Very loud, very funny - particularly the end... and I'm making it Number One because, despite being only 15 seconds long... they still made a video for it!
Any short songs you'd recommend? They have to be under 30 seconds... I may well do a follow-up post on songs under a minute.
Cheer up, sleepy Jean - it's time for this week's answers.
I think we can all agree that Rigid Digit takes the prize this week, claiming 4 and a half points early on. Charity Chic got 2 and half. C got 2. Lynchie took the last point. Alyson and Chris snoozed and losed.
Let's stop monkeeing about and get on with the solutions...
10. Wife-swapping Bowie song exercises with a hula hoop.
9. Get Michael Caine's mini - it's about to topple over! The police have lost their magic.
Michael Caine was Carter (Get Carter). If his car was about to topple over, it would be a Car-lean. The Police sung Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic. Lose the magic and...
