With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

Music reviews, gig reviews, fun trivia and extra added random stuff!

“And the first one said to the second one there; I hope you’re having fun” August 6, 2018

Filed under: Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 10:18 pm
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Many of you, I am sure, are aware that Paul McCartney recently played a gig at the iconic Liverpool venue the Cavern. The original Cavern is seen by many as were the Beatles were born. The Fabs played nearly 300 shows there. Click here to read the write-up in the Guardian. Whilst this show in itself is historical with Macca playing to a small crowd in his home city of Liverpool, (he also played the same venue in 1999) this is not the Cavern of old.

In 1973 the original Cavern Club was subject to a compulsory purchase order by British Rail. The warehouses that sat atop the club were demolished and the rubble was used to fill the famous cellar club. But it sounds like Sir Paul played a stunning set of nearly thirty songs, including 13 Beatles tracks, 6 from the Wings catalogue and many more. Were you there? If you were I would love to interview you for this blog.

The full set list, preceded by a band jam, was;

  • 20 Flight Rock
  • Magical Mystery
  • Jet
  • All My Loving
  • Letting Go
  • Come On To Me
  • Let Me Roll It
  • I Got A Feeling
  • My Valentine
  • Queenie Eye
  • Nineteen Hundred And Eighty Five
  • Lady Madonna
  • In Spite Of All The Danger
  • Things We Said Today
  • Confidante
  • Love Me Do
  • Who Cares
  • Birthday
  • I Wanna Be Your Man
  • Fuh You
  • Get Back
  • Ob La Di
  • Band On The Run
  • Hi Hi Hi
  • I Saw Her Standing There
  • Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
  • Helter Skelter

All photos were sourced via Google. If they are your pictures I would be happy to credit you on the post, or remove them. 

 

“Look out! Look out! Your Momma will shout You might as well go home” Blog Advent Calendar Day 23 December 23, 2014

Filed under: Christmas,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 12:11 am
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Only two more sleeps, wow that’s gone quick hasn’t it? Winter solstice is over for another year and the days are getting longer again, well in the northern hemisphere at least. Any how that means that it must be December 23rd and day 23 of this years Advent Calendar blog post. Regular readers will have quickly worked out that the 23rd letter of the alphabet is ‘W’. This years subject is the ABC of British bands and for today I have chosen a band who once recorded a true Christmas classic, ladies and gentlemen please welcome Wizzard to this years advent calendar posts!

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Roy Wood, the founder of Wizzard was also a leading light in the Move and co-founder along with Jeff Lynne of the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). After the first ELO album Roy was moving apart from jeff Lynne both personally and musically. he left the band to form Wizzard and the The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits says, ‘Wizzard was Roy Wood just as much as Wings were Paul McCartney‘. Given that Jeff Lynne clearly wanted to be in the Beatles maybe there are some parallels.

Wizzard-in-1973-007

The band had six UK top ten hits from 1972 to 1974, including two number ones with “See My Baby Jive” and “Angel Fingers (A Teen Ballad)”. Both of those songs hit the top spot in 1973, “See My Baby Jive” was also number one in the Irish chart. Many people probably only know Wizzard for the rather excellent “I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday” a song which only reached number 4 in the UK on its initial release in 1973. It has re-entered the top 50 ten times since then, obviously every Christmas time. On that Christmas single the band are credited as Wizzard featuring vocal backing by The Suedettes plus The Stockland Green Bilateral School First Year Choir with additional noises by Miss Snob and Class 3C. Whatever happened to Miss Snob?

Wizzard_Brew

Their first two albums made the UK album top 30 in 1973 and 1974. “Wizzard Brew”, number 29 in 1973 and “Introducing Eddy And The Falcons”, number 19 in 1974. Roy Wood is a multi instrumentalist who plays keyboards, horn, cello, guitar, bass and bagpipes. he also wrote some songs that were dedicated to his one time girlfriend, Lynsey De Paul, one of which, “Rock ‘n’ Roll Winter (Looney’s Tune)” reached number 6 in the UK singles charts.

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“The rabbits rush, around the brush” January 7, 2014

Filed under: Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 11:38 pm
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LandscapIn 1942 during World War 2 the BBC banned a rather innocuous little song. The tune was deemed to be ‘too catchy’ (an early earworm perhaps?) and the ‘powers that be’ thought that it would distract factory workers when it was played on the wireless. This of course would significantly damage the war effort. So what was that demonic song that might have caused Britain to lose the war? It was Bing Crosby’s version of “Deep In The Heart Of Texas”.

bing crosbyWhere are these people when you need them to ban such drivel as anything by One Direction, Matt Curdle, Olly Murs, Westlife and Boyzone to name but a few. However it is quite amusing that the Bing Crosby song is joined on the list of songs banned by the BBC by “Relax” – Frankie Goes To Hollywood, “Je T’Aime (Mois Non Plus)” – Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg, “Fuck You” – Eamon, “God Save The Queen” – Sex Pistols and “Give Ireland Back To The Irish” and “Hi Hi Hi” both by Wings. These songs were variously banned for being about sex or drugs, containing profanities or being too political. All Bing’s little ditty did was simply be ‘too catchy’!

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“You couldn’t be bad, Magneto was mad! Titanium too!” March 16, 2013

Filed under: Observation,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 1:02 am
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I have come across many songs that refer to Super Heroes which got me wondering how many songs there are that refer to super villains. I can think of only two right now;

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“Magneto And Titanium Man” – Wings. This song focusses on super villains from the Marvel universe and in addition to Magneto and Titanium Man who are included in the title the lyrics also mention the Crimson Dynamo. Magneto has for a long while been the nemesis of the X Men and the other two have done battle with Iron Man on a few occasions.

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“Brainiac‘s Daughter” – Dukes Of The Stratosphear. The Dukes was a side project emanating from XTC. Brainiac is possibly the greatest of all of Superman’s enemies. Superman is of course part of the DC Comics universe.

brainiac

A special mention should go to “Batdance” from Prince, largely because some of the dialogue from the film that is included on the track comes from Jack Nicholson as the Joker, who is of course one of the most infamous of Batman’s villainous enemies.

jack-the-joker

I would love to hear from you with any other songs that feature super villains.

 

“Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! You’re wearing out your shoes” September 6, 2012

Filed under: Observation — justwilliam1959 @ 9:59 pm
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Is this the first time I have sent any kind of begging letter on my blog? Probably not. But here it is anyway. I will be running the great North Run from Newcastle to South Shields on Sunday September 16th this year, barely a week and a half away! Why am I doing this? Firstly because my boss and good friend, Mr Nick Cooper ‘press ganged’ me and three others (Stuart O’Hara, Simon Downs and David Carline) into taking part. So the St John’s Ambulance volunteers along the route could have a busy day! Secondly we will be raising money for the Save The Children charity which I’m sure you will agree is an excellent cause!

So onto the begging part now. we have a target of £1,500 to raise and so far we are at £969 or 64% of target. So any donation that you can make, whatever size, would be very much appreciated. As is usual for these things we do have a ‘Just Giving’ page to make it easier to support us. Click here to get access to it.

Of course this is a music blog so I can’t end with no music can I? So here are thirteen (one for each mile of the run) running related songs for you to listen to while you donate!

1 “Running Away” – Sly and the Family Stone

2 “Run Runaway” – Slade

3 “Keep On Runnin'” – Spencer Davis Group

4 “Run For Home” – Lindisfarne

5 “Runaway” – Del Shannon

6 “Run Run Run” – Jo Jo Gunne

7 “I’m Gonna Run Away From You” – Tami Lynn

8 “Running Away” – Roy Ayers

9 “Running Up That Hill” – Kate Bush

10 “Run To The Hills” – Iron Maiden

11 “If You See My Rooster (Please Run Him Home)” – Memphis Minnie and Black Bob

12 “Run To Him” – Bobby Vee

13 “Band On The Run” – Paul McCartney and Wings

 

“Pretty lights on the tree I’m watching them shine” December 25, 2010

Filed under: Christmas,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 12:02 am
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As a special Billy Christmas bonus for those of you who have stuck with me through each and every one of the 25 posts on my UK Christmas Number Ones Advent Calendar. Here are the 21 UK Christmas number ones that did not get seen or heard on any of the original posts. Enjoy them as you digest your turkey and enjoy a nice glass of wine 🙂

And finally at the end of the post I couldn’t resist adding another bonus, the final song is my favourite Christmas song ever, it’s Darlene Love with “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)”

1953       Frankie Laine     “Answer Me”

1954       Winifred Atwell  “Let’s Have Another Party”

1956       Johnnie Ray        “Just Walkin’ in the Rain”

1959       Emile Ford & The Checkmates    “What Do You Want to Make Those Eyes at Me For?”

1969       Rolf Harris           “Two Little Boys”

1976       Johnny Mathis “When A Child Is Born (Soleado)”

1977       Wings    “Mull of Kintyre”

1980       St Winifred’s School Choir “There’s No-one Quite Like Grandma”

1982       Renée and Renato          “Save Your Love”

1985       Shakin’ Stevens                “Merry Christmas Everyone”

1992       Whitney Houston “I Will Always Love You”

1993       Mr Blobby “Mr Blobby”

1994       East 17 “Stay Another Day”

1995       Michael Jackson “Earth Song”

1997       Spice Girls           “Too Much”

2000       Bob The Builder                “Can We Fix It?”

2001       Robbie Williams & Nicole Kidman              “Somethin’ Stupid”

2005       Shayne Ward     “That’s My Goal”

2006       Leona Lewis       “A Moment Like This”

2007       Leon Jackson     “When You Believe”

2008       Alexandra Burke              “Hallelujah”

 

“Aunty Milly, ran willy nilly when her legs they did recede” December 8, 2010

Filed under: Christmas,Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 6:23 am
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So here we are then ready to reveal what’s behind the cardboard door of my UK Christmas Number Ones Advent Calendar for December 8th. Where the hell does the time go? Anyway today’s choice whizzes you way back through the sands of time to the Christmas of 1968 when “Lily The Pink” was number one for the Scaffold. It held sway at the top for three weeks. There were supported by some big stars although to be fair one of them hadn’t become a star at that point. Backing vocals on the song were provided by our stars and those stars were Elton John, who was not much more than a small stone in the celebrity universe at that time and Graham Nash off of the Hollies and later Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. In fact it is thanks to Mr Nash that the line “Jennifer Eccles had terrible freckles” was added to the song. In reference to the Hollies smash “Jennifer Eccles”

The song was based on a traditional folk song “The Ballad Of Lydia Pinkham” although the band provided most of the new lyrics. The band was from Liverpool and counted Mike McGear, Paul McCartney‘s brother among their members along with Roger McGough and John Gorman. The Scaffold performed a lot of McGough’s poetry in their live shows and they also had two other top 10 UK hits with “Thank U Very Much” in 1967 and “Liverpool Lou” in 1974. The latter was recorded with Paul McCartney and Wings.

Not the Scaffold at all, just an excuse for me to show another picture of the delightful Lily Allen........ Lily In Pink!

The band broke up in the late 70s but have reformed on a few occasions, often for charity and most recently to record a special song to commemorate Liverpool’s year as UK City Of Culture in 2008. Enjoy the band performing the song below.

 

“When my baby mistreats me, I never, never, never have a place to hide” October 10, 2010

Filed under: News — justwilliam1959 @ 4:21 pm
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Solomon Burke RIP

Another random selection of music news for you in this post. Starting with the sad news of the death of soul legend Solomon Burke. He died today at Schipol Airport in Amsterdam on his way to play a gig in the city. He was only 70 and leaves behind a staggering 21 children and 90 grandchildren. He was in possession of a truly wonderful voice and will perhaps be best remembered by most people for writing and performing the now classic song, “Everybody Needs Somebody To Love“. The song has been covered by many artists and was used to great effect in the Blues Brothers movie. Click here for the BBC report on this sad news. You can view the great man’s performance on Top Of The Pops from 2003 below.

It was never one of my favourite songs, largely due to the bagpipes, but Paul McCartney and Wings million selling single from 1978; “Mull Of Kintyre” is back in the news. The 7,360 Carskiey estate which forms the Mull Of Kintyre is up for sale. So if you have £2.95 million stashed under the blanket you have a chance of getting your hands on it. The BBC report is here.

Dido is being sued by Bruce McCandless II an astronaut on the Space Shuttle Challenger. The picture on the cover of Dido’s album ‘Safe Trip Home’ features McCandless on an untethered space walk in 1984. He claims he never gave permission for it to be used. I have tried really hard to like Dido’s stuff, but to me this is the most exciting thing relating to her in ages. The NME’s take on the story can be found by clicking here. Here is the lady herself with “White Flag“, something she may have to wave against the might of NASA.

"Oi Dido, I can see your house from here!"

A sale of Michael Jackson memorabilia in Macau in China has fetched in excess of $1 million. It includes one of his many black crystal studded gloves and also a basket ball signed by Jacko and Michael Jordan which fetched $180,000 and $245,000 respectively. Amazing isn’t that stars become so much more valuable and marketable after they die. The BBC carries the story here.

 

“They’re singing Deck The Halls, but it’s not like Christmas at all” December 24, 2009

Filed under: Christmas — justwilliam1959 @ 9:26 pm
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I thought I would share with you a little project I undertook on Facebook during December. I called it my Advent Calendar of Uncovered Cover Versions. It is repeated here exactly as it appeared daily on my Facebook pages. I hope that my regular Blog readers enjoy it and that you all enjoy a wonderful Christmas and a brilliant 2010

December 1st

OK so the advent calendar is all about uncovering something good each day leading to Christmas right? So Ithought I would try to do something slightly related and try and post a cover version each day until Christmas. Starting today 1st December with Patti Smith’s version of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit”

December 2nd

December 2nd of my advent uncovered cover versions project (did you like yesterdays?) Todays is Florence and the Machine with an excellent cover of the Source featuring Candi Staton’s “You Got The Love“…….. enjoy!

December 3rd

and so on to Day 3 of my under the cover versions advent project. The top tune for today is a cover of Britney Spears’ ‘Oops I Did It Again’ by the rather talented Richard Thompson. What do you think of it?

December 4th

Day 4 (December 4th) of the Advent Calender uncovered cover versions project (or obsession) of mine 🙂 Under the little cardboard flap today you won’t find some cheap and bland chocolate. Instead you will find Jimi Hendrix playing what in my opinion is the greatest cover version of all time. It’s Jimi’s version of Bob Dylan’s “All Along The Watchtower” recorded at the Isle Of Wight Festival in 1970 … enjoy!

 December 5th

 It’s December 5th and here is Day 5 in my advent uncovered cover versions project. This one is a real doozy! It’s Richard Cheese covering the rather spiffing Blink182 song “What’s My Age Again?” I love this one, what do you think?

 December 6th

 December 6th and day 6 of my Advent oncovered cover versions project. Today it’s the turn of Suzi Quatro with an Elvis classic “All Shook Up” . I chose this one because it is even in the news today. Check the story here

 December 7th

 It’s December 7th and therefore Day 7 of my Advent uncovered cover versions. Today’s is a bit obvious, but nonetheless a great cover. It’s Jacko’s ‘Smooth Criminal’ as done by the fantastically named Alien Ant Farm

 December 8th

 It’s December 8th and therfore Day 8 of my Advent Calendar Uncovered Covers project. Today’s was an easy choice really. On the 29th anniversary of his death this is John Lennon with a great cover of Ben E King’s “Stand By Me” I love this song

 December 9th

 Hello again peeps, it’s the 9th December which brings us to song number 9 in my Advent Calendar uncovered cover versions. Todays is a bit of an indulgent one in that it is a cover of the excellent Pendulum’s “Blood Sugar” by my son Luke’s band Steal The Smile. Enjoy!

 December 10th

 Hello folks. December 10th and obviously day 10 of my Advent uncovered cover versions project. Todays is one of my favourite songs as covered by my favourite band ever! It’s the Clash with Junior Murvin’s “Police And Thieves”

 December 11th

 It’s Friday December 11th and therefore it’s Day 11 in the Advent uncovered cover versions project. Today it’s the turn of Me First And The Gimmee Gimmees (and let’s face it no covers project would be complete without them). This is their version of the Olivia Newton John hit written by John Denver “Take Me Home Country Roads” By the way this is NOT a country version!

 December 12th

 December 12th and halfway through Advent calendar time, so onto Day 12 of my Advent uncovered cover versions project. Today’s is a must have as far as cover versions go. It’s Nouvelle Vague with an excellent cover of the Joy Division classic “Love Will Tear Us Apart“. Enjoy

 December 13th

 December 13th and the thirteenth cover version of my Advent Uncovered Covers Project. Today’s is one of my most favourite cover versions ever. It’s the late, great Jeff Buckley with a live version of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” (You may know it as the one that was somewhat massacred by Alexandra Burke last Christmas courtesy of Mr Cowell! This version really is the dog’s testicles though, what do you think?

 December 14th

 December 14th and strangely enough Day 14 of my uncovered cover versions project. Today’s is sung by someone who in my opinion the greatest female singer ever (very sexy too). Yes it’s Kate Bush with her version of Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing”

 December 15th

 Day 15 in my Advent Calendar of uncovered cover versions. Todays is perhaps one of the strangest. It is the Deep Purple Classic “Smoke On Water” a true guitar shop classic as played by Senor Coconut and his Orchestra. Go on give it a listen, you know you want to 🙂

 December 16th

 Day 16 of the Advent uncovered cover versions project and today is a song that many people often don’t realise is a cover. It’s the Beatles with their excellent version of the Isley Brothers song “Twist And Shout“. Listen to this and you’ll see just how weak Olly Murs version from the X Factor was!

 December 17th

 It’s already Day 17 in my Advent Calendar Uncovered Cover Versions project. Today’s song is performed by the Section Quartet and it’s a great instrumental orchestral cover of the brilliant Muse song “Time Is Running Out”

 December 18th

 Day 18 of my Advent uncovered cover versions project and I thought it was about time for a Christmas song. This is a cover of “Do They Know It’s Christmas” for a whole myriad of charities and it features some brilliant bands and artists (well in my opinion) Fucked Up, Tegan & Sarah, Bob Mould, the wonderful Yo La Tengo and many, many more 🙂

 December 19th

 Day 19 of my Advent uncovered cover versions and thanks to the inclement weather I nearly missed this one (but more of that story another day!). Todays song may surprise some of you. It’s Marvin Gaye with “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” which was in fact a cover of the original hit by Gladys Knight. Personally I prefer Marvin’s version!

 December 20th

 It’s now Day 20 of my Advent Uncovered Cover Versions project. This one is especially for the boys at Chris’ 50th last night (so that’ll be me, Glen, Neil, Phil and obviously Chris! Apologies from Bryan and Keith sadly!) The song goes back to the mid 70’s and was originally done by the Glitter Band. It’s “Let’s Get Together Again as recorded and mixed by the Human League. If you’d like to hear the original here it is

 December 21st

 And on to Day 21 (that’ll be 21st December then!) in my Advent uncovered cover versions project. Today’s song is the Oasis classic “Wonderwall” as sung by the brilliant Ryan Adams (not Bryan ok!!) Apparently Noel Gallagher thinks that Ryan’s arrangement is even better than his own. For the hell of it here is the link to the Mike Flowers Pops version too!

December 22nd

Day 22 of my Advent Uncovered Cover Versions Project and there will be more Christmas songs included but not today. The selection for December 22nd is the Foo Fighters with a cover of the rather good Wings song “Band On The Run”

December 23rd

Day 23 of my Advent Calendar Uncovered Cover Versions Project, that means just one more day after this! So I decided to make today and tomorrow Christmas songs as the big Chrimbo thingy is upon us. Obviously I was always going to use this one. It’s “Peace On Earth/ Little Drummer Boy” from Bing Crosby and David Bowie

December 24th

It’s Christmas Eve and here it is, the final song in my Advent Calendar Uncovered Cover Versions Project (until next year anyway!) It is a song that originally featured on the Phil Spector Christmas Album from 1963 (Incidentally that album was released the day JFK was killed!) It is “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” originally by Darlene Love and played here by U2. The original song is my favourite Christmas song by a long way. Happy Christmas everyone and I hope that Santa brings you what you wish for Joriginally by Darlene Love and played here by U2. The original song is my favourite Christmas song by a long way. Happy Christmas everyone and I hope Santa brings you what you wish for 🙂

 

“Feel sunshine sparkle pink and blue. Playgrounds will laugh if you try to ask, is it cool, is it cool?” September 28, 2009

Filed under: Trivia — justwilliam1959 @ 8:37 pm
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Hello peeps, I feel I have become a somewhat lazy blogger of late, some might say I’m just a lazy bugger, but that’s another story. Anyway first up for this post is a shout for two bands, one of whom regular readers will already have heard a great deal about.

But I’ll start with the band that up until now hasn’t been mentioned in this blog. Their name is Smash Robots and while I haven’t seen them live yet I have listened to their stuff on MySpace and in my humble opinion they are bloody good. Fantastic English rock and regular readers will know that whilst I am not anti-American in any way I have never been comfortable with British rock bands singing in American accents. What’s that all about? Anyway you really should check Smash Robots out, click here to visit their MySpace page and tell them I sent you. How did I come across this combo you may wonder, well I work with Rich who is a member of the band! I’m loving their brilliant song “When Planets Collide” which I just downloaded, that will be on my iPod very soon!

Second shout out goes to a band you will have heard a great deal about on this blog already if you’re a regular reader. The band in question is another fabulous English band, the mighty Steal The Smile. I saw them live in July for the release of their single “Rome Was Built To Burn” and they were superb. (Click here to see a review of that gig) They have an EP coming out later this year so keep your eyes and ears on them and when the EP is released BUY IT OK! Don’t fanny about JUST BUY IT!!!!! If you don’t then just ask yourself……. Do you feel lucky? Well do ya feel lucky punk?” Click here to visit their MySpace page. I am going to see them play again on 1st November when they are supporting the rather talented US band Zebrahead. The gig is at the FaceBar in Reading (click here or here to buy your ticket at just £7 each they’re a bargain!) They also have a few more gigs lined up so check out their MySpace page for news of those. If you do see them live I would love to know what you think, that’s what the blog comments section is for people, so use it! 🙂

Check out Steal the Smile on the Zebrahead poster

Check out Steal the Smile on the Zebrahead poster

I also have some very sad news to impart, the death of Lucy Vodden (nee O’Donnell) aged just 46. She was the inspiration for the classic Beatles song “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” after Julian Lennon Lucy’s school friend brought home a drawing of her. John Lennon asked his son what the picture was and Julian replied “it’s Lucy in the sky, with diamonds” The rest as they say is history. Lucy died after a long battle against the autoimmune disease known as lupus. Julian and his mother Cynthia are said to be shocked and saddened by Lucy’s death. Maybe she really is in the sky with diamonds now, RIP Lucy. To celebrate the life of the inspiration to such a great song click here to see perhaps one of the oddest cover versions ever made of the song, by none other than William Shatner!

For the rest of todays post I thought I would put my iPod on shuffle and see which are the first five songs that come up. My fingers were crossed to ensure that nothing too embarrassing came up (and in my opinion it didn’t, but you can be the judge of that) I was also somewhat surprised that there are no tracks from David Bowie, Kate Bush, KLF or the Clash as I have more songs by these acts than anyone else. So I guess I’ll have to bore you with them another day 🙂

So here we go with the first five songs that came up when I put my iPod onto shuffle along with a wee bit of trivia about each. Incidentally I currently have around 8,500 songs loaded just to give you an idea of how many these came from

“C Moon” – Wings. Paul McCartney got the idea from a song by Sam The Sham and the Pharaohs, the classic “Wooly Bully” where part of the lyric says ‘let’s not be L7’ In this context L7 is 60s slang for someone who is a square or very unhip. Apparently the opposite of someone who is L7 is a C Moon or a circle! To think for years I just assumed this was something to do with mooning! The song was actually a double A Side with “Hi Hi Hi” The latter song was banned by the BBC because of it’s ‘obvious’ drug reference as in getting high, how L7 is that Daddy-O? As a result it was “C Moon” that got all the airplay including McCartney’s missed cue which remains in the released version as “was that the intro? I shoulda been in”

Wings may not have been L7 but they did have bloody enormous fingers

Wings may not have been L7 but they did have bloody enormous fingers

“19”– Paul Hardcastle. The song was a massive hit in 1985. Basically it was a classy electronic dance track with cut ups of US journalist Peter Thomas speaking about the post traumatic stress suffered by the majority of US soldiers in Vietnam. Hardcastle also lost a court case against Mike Oldfield who successfully claimed that the tunes melody owed a great deal to his own Tubular Bells. personally I can’t see it, what do you think? Simon Fuller who went on to even greater success with the Spice Girls was Paul’s manager in 1985 and it was that very tune that he named his company after, hence the origin of 19 Entertainment!

paul may not have suffered from post traumatic stress disorder but judging from this look he clearly suffered from post traumatic fashion victim syndrome

paul may not have suffered from post traumatic stress disorder but judging from this look he clearly suffered from post traumatic fashion victim syndrome

“I Was Watching You” – Rosanne Cash. This is one of the handful of songs that regularly makes me cry (not much of a tough guy am I?) It is also one of my favourite songs. Rosanne is the eldest daughter of the late, great Johnny Cash. Her mother was his first wife, the rather exotically named Vivian Liberto Cash Distin. The song is from her wonderful album ‘Black Cadillac’ from 2006, if you haven’t heard it I recommend that you check it out. There are religious overtones in the song but there is a line in it which gets to me every time; “I didn’t know it but you were always there, until September when you slipped away” I think this hits me mostly because my Dad died in September 2001 just a couple of weeks after his 70th birthday and I never stop missing him. If you have lost a parent you’ll probably know exactly how I feel. So feel free to open up and tell the other readers if there is “one damned song, that makes you break down and cry” (to slightly  paraphrase Mr Bowie)

Rosanne had an innate ability to control UFOs with just her fingers

Rosanne had an innate ability to control UFOs with just her fingers

“Life’s What You Make It” – Talk Talk. This song was a big hit across the whole of Europe it can be found on the band’s album ‘The Colour Of Spring’. It was released as a single in 1986 and was recently covered by Weezer on their 2008 album the eponymously titled ‘Weezer’ aka the Red Album.

You can also find Talk Talk's "Life's What You Make It" on Grand Theft Auto Vice City

You can also find Talk Talk's "Life's What You Make It" on Grand Theft Auto Vice City

“Strawberry Letter 23” – Brothers Johnson. This song is without any shadow of a doubt one of my favourite songs ever. It was written and first recorded for his album ‘Freedom Flight’ by Shuggie Otis. It was inspired by a girlfriend of his who used to write to him using strawberry scented note paper. Click here for Shuggie’s version. It was recorded and released by George and Louis Johnson in 1977 and was quite succesful in the US but did hardly anything in the UK. I was so disappointed that the record buying public in the UK didn’t buy it. So if you are in the UK and you don’t own this, it’s not too late to make up for it, go and download it now! this song also goes out to my good friend Fraser Matthews who has the great taste to include it in among his all time favourites, Fraser for that I’ll forgive you Joe Satriani

The Brothers Johnson were once again shocked to learn that their guitar roadie hadn't earthed their guitars

The Brothers Johnson were once again shocked to learn that their guitar roadie hadn't earthed their guitars

So come on folks, put your iPod on shuffle and tell me what comes up, be honest now 🙂

I am also working hard on producing a list of my 100 favourite songs in readiness for my 100th post, which isn’t too far away, this one is 96!!!!

 

 
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