...I don't need a reason. I just need something to make me feel a little better after another long, horrible week "at work".
The worst thing is, you can't even go out looking for another job right now, can you? I mean, who wants to go through the agony of applying for jobs when the world is already upside down? Doing a job interview in Teams? Starting work somewhere new but only actually meeting your colleagues via a computer screen?
And so, we cling to the awful old, upside down jobs we've got... because at least we've got a job right now, and so many don't... or soon won't. Be grateful for what you've got! Ughh.
So yes, I need Elvis Fridays right now. Because it means I can listen to this...
There must be lights burning brighter somewhere
Got to be birds flying higher in a sky more blue
If I can dream of a better land
Where all my brothers walk hand in hand
Tell me why, oh why, oh why can't my dream come true
There must be peace and understanding sometime
Strong winds of promise that will blow away the doubt and fear
If I can dream of a warmer sun
Where hope keeps shining on everyone
Tell me why, oh why, oh why won't that sun appear
We're lost in a cloud
With too much rain
We're trapped in a world
That's troubled with pain
But as long as a man
Has the strength to dream
He can redeem his soul and fly
Deep in my heart there's a trembling question
Still I am sure that the answer gonna come somehow
Out there in the dark, there's a beckoning candle
And while I can think, while I can talk
While I can stand, while I can walk
While I can dream, please let my dream
Come true, right now
...and I can listen to this...
I said, "I'm so happy I could die"
She said, "Drop dead" then left with another guy
That's what you get if you go chasing after vengeance
Ever since you got me punctured this has been my sentence
Oh, I used to be disgusted
And now I try to be amused
Since their wings have got rusted
You know the angels wanna wear my red shoes
But when they told me 'bout their side of the bargain
That's when I knew that I could not refuse
And I won't get any older
Now the angels wanna wear my red shoes
More next week. Unless things brighten up around here.
This week, JC, the Vinyl Villain, is back with another timely Top Ten. He wrote this one a few weeks back, but I still think it's relevant. Yes, they may be easing those lockdown restrictions, but most of us still feel like prisoners, maybe enjoying day release from time to time, but with the ever-present threat of going back into solitary confinement very soon. Anyway, it's another great list of songs from the Blogfather himself. Take it away, JC...
It really does feel that the lockdown and the various restrictions have been with us forever, but as I read on some wag's social media account the other day, we are still only around half the time that Bryan Adams had a terrible song at #1 back in 1991.
Here's ten songs whose titles kind of sum up my mood in recent weeks.
Surely there's nobody out there who will disagree? The way we go about earning a living, especially for those who spend their time in offices, has been transformed beyond recognition and an increasing move to more home-working, post COVID-19, does seem likely. The knock-on effects on the sustainability of town and city centres, which were already under threat from changing ways that we undertake retail therapy, will be significant.
OK, so some of the initial restrictions are being eased, but if the scientists are right with their predictions, then we will likely have to revert to the draconian state of affairs when the second wave of the pandemic comes swooping across the UK.
I wasn't paying too much attention to what was going on outside of my own city of Glasgow, but it was utterly surreal to go online and look at images of totally deserted streets which would normally be thronged with workers, shoppers and folk out socialising and having a good time. The picture that will long stick in my memory is that of a wild deer strolling care-free outside the entrance of our largest shopping centre.
No matter how frustrating it is to be stuck indoors for much of the time, especially during such an extended period of dry and hot weather, unable to have any real social interaction with family, friends and loved ones, the advice is there for the benefit of us all and reflects that a collective effort is required to get us through the worst of times. It does appear, for various, if understandable reasons (see #2 above) that more and more folk are breaking free. It's probably best that everyone follows the advice in the next song title...
Malcolm almost got two entries in this list. 'Blue Plastic Bags', written in 2008, has the chorus to end all choruses just now - 'Staying in is the new going out'.
OK, it's a tad obvious. Dedicated to the essential workers, and not just in the NHS and Care Homes. If you're a hedge fund manager or an investment banker, then don't you ever dare tell me again that what you do is important and without which our economy and society would collapse.
I took early retirement from my job on Friday 27 March, an event that had been long in the pipeline. All sorts of plans were in place to travel and do things I'd long dreamed of. Everything is on hold and I've found that there are only so many books to be read or re-read, television boxsets to be devoured and old albums dusted down to be listened to before frustration and angst settles in.
No apologies for finishing off with two songs together. The President has been an abject failure in his handling of the COVID-19 crisis which is now being exacerbated by his responses to the protests in the wake of the murder of George Floyd. Everyone is entitled to be angry, but it really is worth clinging to the words of hope in this, sadly still highly relevant, civil rights anthem from the 60s.
There've been times that I thought
I couldn't last for long
But now I'm able to carry on
It's been a long time coming
But I know
A change gonna come
Oh, yes it will
And on that day, there will be a collective rendition of Hallelujah.
JC
Thank you, JC. I don't think anyone could argue with any of your choices there. It's an honour to have you guest again... ...but now, the doors are open to everyone else. As it stands, I don't have any more guest posts lined up (not even Lynchie's Jerry Hall story), so the future of Guest Post Thursday is in your hands. Do you have a Top Ten, a story to tell, a Grumpy Old Man (or Woman) Song, a Positive Song For Negative Times or even a Mid-Life Crisis tune? Email me if you do. I'll try to remember to leave my email address in the comments section, but if I don't, shout at me really loudly.
Before turning 81 in a few weeks time, Dion DiMucci has just released his latest record, Blues With Friends, a duets album teaming him with a fine selection of collaborators - Bruce, Patti and Stevie Van Zandt, Van The Man, Jeff Beck, even Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top. At this stage in his career, you might expect him to rely on covers or re-recordings of old songs, but Dion wrote most of these tunes fresh, and this one in particular stopped me in my tracks when I heard it last week.
Song For Sam Cooke (Here In America) tells the story of when Dion went on tour with Sam Cooke in the 60s and considering what's going on in the world right now, it's the most relevant tune I've heard all week. Paul Simon duets here, though it's really just harmonies, and he doesn't appear in the video.
We travelled this land back in nineteen sixty-two
We played the places that were home to me and you
We drove to Memphis, we rocked a set
We walked the streets at night and smoked a cigarette
Here in America
There was so much I didn't know
About the way that life could go
Here in America
Down the block I saw the people stop and stare
You did your best to make a Yankee boy aware
I never thought about the colour of your skin
I never worried 'bout the hotel I was in
Here in America
But the places I could stay
They all made you walk away
You were the man who earned the glory and the fame
But cowards felt that they could call you any name
You were the star, standing in the light
That won you nothing on a city street at night
Here in America
Do you want to know the craziest thing about my reaction to this song? I think it's Dion's version of This Is America by Childish Gambino, one of the only contemporary hits to make it into my record collection in many a year. I know their messages are different and they come from very different places, but they have more in common than just the title.
You can't have equality without also recognising diversity.
There are indeed many great bands with 4 in their name... but there's only one Four Tops. My sister had a Four Tops greatest hits in her record collection when I was growing up and I played the grooves out of it. (I'm also thankful to her for having a similar Supremes compilation.)
And then came Martin, who insists on doing that thing I had to train The Swede not to do, listing artist & title the wrong way round. It does make copy and paste so much harder. Grumble, mutter.
Cilla Black - Work Is A Four-Letter Word(and covered by The Smiths! A version that ought to be in with a shout, if only because covering Cilla at Moz's insistence so irked Johnny...)
I'm with Johnny on that one. I loved their cover of Golden Lights by Twinkle, but this one never really worked for me.
And if you like the title but (strange to consider!) are put off by the whine in lead singer Raine Maida's voice (it generally goes over pretty well here in Canada, but still)...
You know what, Douglas, I didn't mind it at all. Though there was maybe a bit of Chad Kroeger in there. (Should I duck now/)
...then you may be drawn more to Cherry Ghost's very different song "4 a.m."
And this, which Martin picked out, and it was definitely on my shortlist because it is glorious, and would have won most other weeks. (Don't give up though, Aimee, there's still chance for you to take the top spot.)
I remember Elvis Costello praising that, way back when, particularly for lyrics such as these...
Today's the fourth of July
Another June has gone by
And when they light up our town, I just think
What a waste of gunpowder and sky
However, as I said: predictable.
From his debut album, and quite different from the kind of music that would make him famous, but still deeply affecting, and with some truly glorious imagery.
Somewhere in that ancient mystic trinity, you'll get three... and that's next week's magic number.
The good thing about old blog series is that they never really end... they just go on hold until you find the perfect song to bring them back. To wit, this one, which I heard for the first time last week... and realised I'd been waiting most of my life for it. (Or at least since I started driving at the grumpy old age of 18.)
The band is I See Hawks In LA, an alt-country combo who have been gradually sneaking their way onto my radar over the past few months. Their latest tune, recorded in lockdown, is pretty good too and I may well feature that here another day.
For now though, I give you Stop Driving Like An Asshole. If it isn't the greatest thing you've heard this week, then I want to know what else you've been listening to.
