My Top Ten Summer Rain Songs

Well, we all knew it couldn't last, didn't we...?


10. Ash - Summer Snow

Steady on, Tim, you always have to take these things to an extreme, don't you?

9. ELO -  Summer and Lightning

For Christmas, 1976, Jeff got the BBC Sound Effects: Weather LP.

8. Elkie Brooks - Sunshine After the Rain

 The original: much better than the 90s cover.

7. Placebo - English Summer Rain

Good one from the goth-pixie.

Always stays the same, nothing ever changes,
English summer rain seems to last for ages.

6. Peter Gabriel - Red Rain

OK, I realise this is a stretch, but I love the song and that's all it takes to get out my shoehorn.

Warning: do not google search what this song is about. It's by Peter Gabriel... just accept the story behind it will be more mental than anything you can imagine.

Don't watch the scary video either.

5. Turin  Brakes - Pain Killer (Summer Rain)

Olly and Gale's biggest hit. Great to hear it again. 

Leave all this misery behind...

4. Belinda Carlisle - Summer Rain

Another of my unashamed teenage pop crushes. Ah, Belinda...

3. The Alarm - Rain In The Summertime

Some knew them as the Welsh U2. Except: they were good.

2. Bruce Hornsby & The Range - Mandolin Rain

Can't believe I've published over 150 posts on this blog and this is the first time I've been able to include any Bruce Hornsby. Gorgeous stuff.

Running down by the lake shore,
She did love the sound of a summer storm,
Played on the lake like a Mandolin,
Now it's washing her away... once again....

1. Beta Band - Dry The Rain

"I will now sell five copies of The Three E.P.s by The Beta Band", says John Cusack in the film version of Nick Hornby's High Fidelity (which, you will not be surprised to discover, is one of my favourite movies). However, the pedant in me always wants to complain that the version he plays in the shop isn't the one on The Three E.P.s... it's been specially edited for the movie.

Still. Great song. 



Which one is sheltering under your umbrella?

My Top Ten Sloth Songs (Seven Deadly Sins #4)

Yawn. I really can't be bothered introducing the fourth deadly sin...


10. Oasis - The Importance Of Being Idle

Yes, I chose an Oasis song. It's not completely unheard of. I reckon this is one of their best, perhaps because it owes far more to The Kinks than The Beatles. Plus I like Rhys Ifans in the video... but more on that later.

9. The Charlatans - Can't Get Out Of Bed

See also Can't Get Up by Supergrass, I Should Get Up by Teddy Thompson and, of course, Get Out Of Your Lazy Bed by Matt Bianco. Give it time, I'll do a whole Top Ten of them.

8. Moxy Früvous - The Lazy Boy

Ah, Moxy. Whatever happened?

I have a life of pleasure
I am submerged in armchair leisure
I put my feet on the ottoman....empire!

7. Belle & Sebastian - Lazy Line Painter Jane

Another infamous lazybones, Stuart Murdoch did write most of his most famous songs in his bedroom. See also Sleep The Clock Around and We Are The Sleepyheads

6. Suede - Lazy 

Here they come, gone 7am
Getting satellite and Sky, getting cable,
Bills and Bens and their mums and their friends
Who just really, really want to be loved,
Uncle Teds and their legendary vests
Helping out around the disabled,
From the flats and the maisonettes
They're reminding us there's things to be done.

Nothing lazy about those lyrics.

See also the gorgeous One Lazy Morning by Brett Anderson, solo (i.e. the rest of the band stayed in bed).

5. The Kinks - Sunny Afternoon

As in "Lazing on a..."

Poor old Ray, the taxman's taken everything he's got.

See also Dead End Street... then go listen to that Oasis song again. (Lazy Noel even nicked the video from Ray & Dave.)

4. The Supernaturals - Lazy Lover

What a bunch of lazy bleeders the Supernaturals were - not only lazy lovers who can't be bothered getting into bed... but when they eventually do, they moan I Wasn't Built To Get Up. They can't even stay awake in their videos.

See also this little ditty from The Auteurs, who have apparently been married to The Supernaturals for 20 years.

3. The Small Faces - Lazy Sunday

Probably should have been Number One... but I just couldn't be bothered.

Gor blimey, hello, Mrs. Jones - how's your Burt's lumbago?

2. Morrissey - Lifeguard Sleeping, Girl Drowning

When it came time to select songs about sloth, Morrissey was obviously going to feature. Take your pick from The Lazy Sunbathers or All The Lazy Dykes... but this one's my favourite: quintessential Mozzer... 

Please don't worry
There'll be no fuss
She was... nobody's nothing
 
When he awoke
The sea was calm
And another day passes like a dream

1. The Lemonheads - The Outdoor Type

While the rest of the artists on this Top Ten are bone idle Brits (with the exception of comatose Canadians Moxy Früvous), the laziest man in rock has to be American "Slacker King" Evan Dando. This could well be my favourite Lemonheads song, in which Evan confesses his lethargic credentials...

I can't go away with you on a rock climbing weekend
What if something's on TV and it's never shown again?
It's just as well I'm not invited, I'm afraid of heights
I lied about being the outdoor type

Can you be bothered to leave a comment?

My Top Ten Songs About (The) Rolling Stones

As Mick Jagger turns 70 (and I already did My Top Ten Rolling Stones Songs), here's ten songs about Rolling Stones... and Stones that Roll.

Happy birthday, Mick!


10. Maroon 5 feat. Christina Aguilera - Move Like Jagger

Don't expect either Maroon 5 or Christina Aguilera to be making regular appearances on this blog, but as it's Mick's birthday and he apparently finds this track "very flattering", I pretty much had to give it  spin.

I actually used this in my class to demonstrate the use of simile in pop song.

9. Tim Hardin - Rolling Stone

The only song on this list that officially doesn't gather any moss.

8. The Verve - The Rolling People

A slight cheat, but The Verve were famously sued by Andrew Loog Oldham for sampling his cover of The Last Time (by The Stones) on Bittersweet Symphony with the credits on that track being forcibly changed to Jagger / Richards / Ashcroft and 100% of the royalties ending up with Mick 'n' Keef.

The Rolling People comes from the same album, and presumably was written and recorded before all that kicked off. It still sounds pretty cool...

7. Cloud Control - The Rolling Stones

This song by Australia's Cloud Control has very little to do with Mick 'n' Keef, but it is quite lovely.

6. Dr. Hook - Cover of the Rolling Stone

About the magazine, not the band, obviously.

I got a freaky old lady name o' Cocaine Kitty who embroiders on my jeans
I got my poor ol' grey haired daddy, drivin' my limousine
Now it's all designed to blow our minds but our minds won't really be blown
Like the blow that'll getcha when you get your picture on the cover of The Rolling Stone

Worth checking out Poison's cover version too... if you're a glutton for hair metal punishment (as I am).
5. Mott The Hoople - Roll Away The Stone

Ian Hunter gets born again. Top guitar and sha-la-las.

4. Carly Simon - You're So Vain

There is great debate over who this song is actually about... and Mick Jagger is only one of many suspects (Warren Beatty, David Geffen and Nick Nolte are also likely candidates). Whether Mick is the vain one (he probably thinks this song is about him), he did sing backing vocals on Carly's biggest hit... and it's too good a song not to include here. Amazing lyrics...

3. The House Of Love -  The Beatles & The Stones

 If I ever get round to doing a Top Ten Songs About The Beatles... expect this to make a return appearance.

The Beatles and the Stones
Sucked the marrow out of bone
Put the V in Vietnam
The Beatles and the Stones
Made it good to be alone
To be alone

2. Bob Dylan - Like A Rolling Stone

Ooh... controversial. Hands up if you thought this would be Number One?

How does it feel...?

1. The Temptations - Papa Was A Rolling Stone

Better than Dylan? I'll leave that to the musos to argue over. For me, this is the Temps finest hour, one of the greatest basslines in the history of pop, and the intro alone gets it to the top spot.




Which one would you dedicate to the birthday boy?

My Top Ten Bag Songs

What have I got in my bag today...?


10. Robert Palmer - Trick Bag

Forgotten tune from the Riptide album - not listened to this in years. Great stuff.

9. Dean Friedman - Shopping Bag Ladies

See, I'm not going to apologise for thinking that Dean Friedman is an under-appreciated genius. And his voice is still so good, even on the tiny stages he plays thirty years after his peak.

8. Mystery Jets - Little Bag of Hair

 There's a story in this song, and it's heartbreaking.

7. Malcolm Middleton - Blue Plastic Bags

The whole world's going home with blue plastic bags,
6 bottles of Stella, Jacobs's Creek and twenty fags
And you know there is no shame
'Cus we're are all doing the same, 
Staying in is the new going out,
No one's even coming round,
We'll have toy fights in the hall...

Who needs visitors?

6. Rod Stewart - Handbags & Gladrags

Written by Manfred Mann's Mike D'Abo, originally recorded by Chris Farlowe, used as the theme tune of The Office, slaughtered by Kelly Jones... but it's Rod's version I favour. Whatever else you might think of Rod, you can't deny that voice. 

5. James Brown - Papa's Got a Brand New Bag

I was lucky enough to see James Brown live back in the late 90s. I'm pretty sure he did this... once he eventually arrived on stage. Longest build up to an entrance ever, each member of the band got their own intro song before The Godfather finally appeared. Worth the wait though.

4. George Baker Selection - Little Green Bag

You ever listen to K-Billy's Super Sounds of the Seventies?

3. Wheatus - Teenage Dirtbag

I had high hopes for Wheatus after this song, a cracking self-pitying loser-rock single. They followed it up with - of all things - an Erasure cover... then promptly disappeared off the face of the earth.

Still, we'll always have dirtbag.

2. Lloyd Cole & The Commotions - My Bag

Hey I was walking my bag
Through a 20 story non stop snow storm
Pirelli calender girls wrestling in body lotion
My head's swimming with poetry and prose
Excuse me one moment whilst I powder my nose...

No prizes for guessing what was in Lloyd's bag on the final Commotions album.

1. Pixies - Bag Boy

A new entry, in at Number One with a silver bullet. First new Pixies material in some time (minus Kim, sadly) and it's a classic. Download it free from their website.

Cover your breath... polish your teeth.

I was surprised how many great bag songs there were in my collection - could easily have gone another ten. But I thought I'd leave some room for you guys... what's in your bag?

My Top Ten Summer Clothes Songs

What are you wearing to keep cool in this hot weather?


10. Animal Collective - Summertime Clothes

The Animal Collective are soaking their heads in the sink. Which can't help but remind me of these guys.

9. Ben Kweller - Sundress

Ben takes his girl to all the most glamorous parts of town, just to see her in her sundress.

8. Sonic Youth - Swimsuit Issue

In which Kim takes a summer job as a secretary for a lecherous boss... with hilarious consequences.

7. ZZ Top - Cheap Sunglasses

Spied a little thing and I followed her all night
In her funky fine Levis and her sweater kind of tight
She had a west coast strut that was as sweet as molasses
But what really knocked me out was her cheap sunglasses

Stalker alert.

See also Sunglasses by Skeeter Davis... or Tracey Ullman. Take your pick.

6. The Wedding Present - Silver Shorts

Wear your silver shorts today and David Gedge won't go away.

5. The Airborne Toxic Event - Girls In Their Summer Dresses

A guilty husband protests that he's not perving over the girls in their summer dresses... and anyway, they were looking at him first!

4. Timbuk 3 - The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades

I'm a Peeping Tom Tacky with X-Ray eyes...

They're all at it!

Dig that crazy harmonica.

3. Baz Luhrmann - Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)

Accept certain inalienable truths: 
Prices will rise, 
Politicians will philander, 
You too will get old, 
And when you do you’ll fantasize that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were
noble and children respected their elders. 
 Respect your elders.

2. Bruce Springsteen - Girls In Their Summer Clothes

If this wasn't one of Bruce's best radio pop records since the heights of Born In The USA, you might be attempted to accuse him of being the bloke in the ATE song. Then you listen to the lyrics and hear an aching melancholic nostalgia... and everything's right with the world.

1. Gene - Long Sleeves For The Summer

Exquisite.

Does you heart sag?

I'm just sitting here waiting for someone to suggest Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini so I can tell them where to go.