Earworms 8 April 2024

Good evening, and welcome to your selection of songs about anything to do with Blue. And a warm welcome back to Magicman, who has popped in this week.

If you have an Earworm you’d like to share, please send an .mp3, .m4a or a link to adempster73@gmail.com, together with a few words about why you’ve chosen it. Next week’s theme will be round things. Coins, buttons, records, plates, planets, wheels, marbles, tennis balls, like a circle in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel… or something. Anything round will do. Worms should reach me by close of play on Sunday 14 April.

Many thanks to all contributors – keep calm and carry on!

Half Man Half Biscuit – Blue Badge Abuser – severin: People in the UK with certain disabilities affecting mobility can apply for a Blue Badge which entitles you to various rights, including using reserved parking spaces. The narrator here is a rotten cheat.

Blue Lu Barker – Trombone Man Blues – tincanman: Ali asked for safe-for-work ‘blue’ songs, and that’s exactly how Louisa Barker got her nickname. I’ll never listen to trombone music with a straight face again.

Dorothy Moore – Misty Blue – severin: Just a beautiful classic song with an astonishing singer.

Alela Diane – Age Old Blue – Suzi: ‘The sea beneath the cliff/ Is the blue in my mother’s eyes/ That came from the blue in her mother’s eyes/ Thrown on down the line.’ Her family had ‘worked the field/ On borrowed land above the ocean.’ That’s where she feels that she belongs, rather than on those ‘higher hills…where water is captive to the well.’

I Am Kloot – Deep Blue Sea – DebbyM: An early Festive ‘Spill choice, this is one of my all-time goosebumps songs. Also, Little’Un can sing along to it!

Grateful Dead – Stella Blue – Chris7572: In this 1973 concert the band takes a minute to adjust after Truckin’ but then they contrive to deliver a version of gossamer delicacy that floats in air. There’s nothing you can hold for very long…

Wynton Marsalis Septet – Joe Cool’s Blues – Fintan28: One of the great ways to shirk off the blues is to dance. And the Snoopy Dance can’t miss as Wynton & friends share.

Artie Shaw – Pastel Blue – Suzi: Discovered Artie via RR. I have a few recordings of his with ‘blue’ in the title – Blue Skies, Rhapsody in Blue, My Blue Heaven. Maybe this one is a little less familiar? Not sure, but it really shows off his amazing skill on the clarinet.

Chubby Carrier & The Bayou Swamp Band – Blue Runner – tincanman: What is a runner and does it come in any other colours? Who cares – it’s zydeco time.

Carl Perkins – Boppin’ The Blues – Fintan28: If you’re feeling the need for miracles just Bop them blues. Even Grandpa’s got the feeling. “Oh, the old boy done got rhythm and blues / And he threw them crutches down / Grandma he ain’t triflin’ / Well, the old boy’s rhythm bound”.

Randy Newman – Miami – Magicman: Here’s Randy Newman winging Miami. He has a way with words, and is slyly funny or just outright funny very often, “best dope in the world – and it’s free !”

Bright Eyes – True Blue – shoegazer: Quite a few blue items in this one.

The Murder Capital – Green and Blue – glassarfemptee: Irish band The Murder Capital give you two colours for the price of one. From their dark 2019 album ‘When I have fears’.

Patricia Kaas – Mademoiselle Chante Le Blues – DebbyM: A huge hit from the late ’80s.

Madeleine Peyroux – Blue Alert – severin: Like a red alert. Except that it’s the warning signs you get about an emotionally shattering love affair.

Little Walter – Blues With A Feeling – Fintan28: Nothing as glorious as a fine blues harp and Little Walter has it going on.

Alli Neumann – Blue – DebbyM: Some contemporary German pop music for you.

Bohren and Der Club of Gore – Patchouli Blue – glassarfemptee: I have tickets to a Bohren gig later in the year. Here’s the title track from their last album. 

Jeffrey Martin – Sad Blue Eyes – tincanman: Few write about sorrow with such elegance.

Lana Del Rey – Blue Jeans – glassarfemptee: There are lots of ‘blue jeans’ songs, but this one from Lana Del Rey is too good to miss. 

Main Playlist, blurbs above:

YouTube Playlist, blurbs below:

George Gershwin – Rhapsody in Blue – MaggieB: Simply because I like it 🙂

Edith Piaf and Charles Aznavour – Plus Bleu Que Le Bleu De Tes Yeux – Suzi: Aznavour, who wrote the song, duets with Piaf’s ghost (apparently!) Both no longer with us now. Très charmante!

The Rolling Stones – I Got The Blues – MaggieB: I’ve not got the blues right now but will have if this wind keeps on blowing the way it has for the last three days.

Chickn – Shifting Time Blues / Akhedia – AliM: From their brilliant 2016 album, “Chickn”. “I met her underwater / In the deepest secret sea / She took me for a ride / She had something to hide / It’s the shifting time blues…” OK, not the most exciting lyrics, but the band are from Greece, writing in English. I certainly couldn’t write a song in Greek. Probably not in English, either.

Earworms 14 June 2023

Good day and welcome to your selection of songs about vehicle parts. Sorry it’s late, but sometimes the wheels come off the well-oiled Earworm machine.

If you have an Earworm you’d like to share, please send an .mp3, .m4a or a link to adempster73@gmail.com, together with a few words about why you’ve chosen it. Next week’s theme will be fathers – I’m sure we’ve had the theme before, but who cares? Try and think of a different nomination, or a different way of approaching it (Land of my Fathers?)

Worms should reach me by close of play on Sunday 18 June (Fathers’ Day). Many thanks to all contributors – stay sane!

Five Alarm Funk – Wheels On The Bus – tincanman: Yup, it’s what it says on the tin. That Wheels On The Bus song. Big funk. Enjoy.

Golden Earring – Radar Love – Fintan28: Hand on the wheel, heel on the pedal & Brenda Lee on the radio. That’s enough to get this jalopy down the road to where she’s waitin’.

Al Green – Driving Wheel – severin: He’s her driving wheel. More to the point, he’s Al Green.

Lee Dorsey – My Old Car – UncleBen: Successive car parts break down on Dorsey’s journey home, preventing him from getting back to his baby (fortunately not the newborn variety, I suspect). First it’s the clutch, then the battery, the fan belt, the fuel pump, and a flat tyre. I’m so glad I don’t own a car anymore.

Alan Jackson – The Talkin’ Song Repair Blues – tincanman: Alan, one of the few country guys who can actually write a song by himself, can do feelings and stuff, but isn’t afraid to have a laugh either. I think he names every part of a car (although I know four of them) in this one.

Commander Cody & The Lost Planet Airmen Hot Rod Lincoln – Fintan28: “With a 4-barrel carb and a dual exhaust / 4.11 gears you can really get lost… / and the brakes are fair”. Flying down the back roads sure is fun.

Chuck Berry – No Particular Place To Go – glassarfemptee: The greatest song about a seat belt ever.

Neil Young – Get Behind the Wheel – glassarfemptee: Neil Young is a car nut and former hearse driver, but has now converted his Lincoln to be a battery hybrid. He devoted most of an album to this event (Fork in the Road). It was not one his better albums, but here’s a passable track.

The Beach Boys – Shut Down – Fintan28: Impossible to mention car songs without thinking of The Beach Boys. This has fuel injection and burning clutch plates flying down the track.

Leisure Society – Cars (Gary Numan) – shoegazer: The acoustic version.

Brigitte – Ma Benz – DebbyM: Brigitte was a wonderful duo – but I believe they’ve split up as I can find neither music nor blog posts anywhere that are less than 4 or 5 years old. I caught them once upon a time on a French TV show and fell in love. This is a cover of a rap hit by Suprême NTM and definitely belongs in the category ‘better than the original’.

Moddi – Rabbit In the Headlights – severin: A metaphor, of course. In this case for being horror struck by political developments.

Jonathan Byrd – The Fifth Wheel – Suzi: Jonathan is feeling a bit spare.

Neil Young – Roll Another Number (For The Road) – Fintan28: Only song I know that makes mention of a hood ornament and after a long night on the road why not.

Mary Chapin Carpenter – The Bug – DebbyM: Sometimes it’s the windscreen, sometimes it’s the bug. I adored this album when it first came out, but I haven’t listened to it for years (that appears to be a recurring theme for me when it comes to picking earworm tracks 😉 )Never realised at the time that this is a Mark Knopfler song.

Tom Waits – Diamonds on my Windshield – Suzi: Tom’s driving home on a rainy night, observing everything that he passes. The raindrops on his windshield look like diamonds, but are they tears from heaven?

Half Man Half Biscuit – See That My Bike’s Kept Clean – severin: More practical than worrying about your grave I suppose. And, it mentions wheels, at least. Which will have to do. I seem to have very few vehicular related songs.

The Mrs Ackroyd Band – Dipsticks and Seals – Suzi: The late, much lamented Les Barker’s parody of Slip Jigs and Reels, sung by Steve Tilston, who sang the original. About a guy who spends more time underneath his car than actually driving it. ‘There’s nothing quite like a blown cylinder head.’ I think we can all agree on that.

Sniff ‘n’ the Tears – Driver’s Seat – DebbyM: This song was played in every pub and at every party when I first came to Germany in the early 1980s. I think everyone my age gets immediately transported back to their t(w)eens when it comes on the radio – and, yes, it’s still getting airplay.

T Rex – Get It On – severin: She’s got a hub cap diamond star halo. Like you do.

Ariel Posen and Cory Wong – Spare Tire – DebbyM: Funky instrumental.

Heavy Salad – Battery Acid – LongTallSilly: Great song, and Rob (lead guitar) in a pink shift just makes it amusing.

Frank Zappa – Joe’s Garage – LongTallSilly: I know there is only a bent Dodge door featured, but it is a garage and it is a Zappa classic.

The Beach Boys – Little Deuce Coupe – Suzi: The Deuce Coupe is a 1932 Ford Coupe 18, modified for hot rod racing. Various car parts are mentioned in the song – a flathead mill (engine, a V8 in this case), a competition clutch, and lake pipes (long chromed exhaust pipes), as well as the usual gears and wheels. There seems some confusion as to whether they’re singing about a ‘big slip daddy’ (a limited slip differential) or a ‘pink slip daddy’ which is the car’s registration slip. Either way, a fun song which makes you want to dance, or possibly drive a hot rod if you’re so inclined!

Car Parts Symphony – MaggieB: Musc played on car parts and it’s not too terrible either; kind of a modern take on a jug band or skiffle group?

Darius Rucker – Wagon Wheel – AliM: Rock me baby, like a wagon wheel…

Earworms 9 January 2023

Good evening, and welcome to your selection of songs about “things you might find with a metal detector”. Some varied and interesting finds, under the surface. Well, what else would you be doing in a cold, grey January?

If you have an Earworm you’d like to share, please send an .mp3, .m4a or a link to: adempster73@gmail.com, together with a few words about why you’ve chosen it. Next week’s theme will be Museums and/or things you might find in them, a wide brief, because I’m feeling kind. Make the most of it.

Worms should reach me by close of play on Sunday 15 January. Many thanks to all contributors – stay sane!

Téléphone – Argent Trop Cher – DebbyM: The only song I could come up with was Fleetwood Mac’s ‘The Chain’, but then I thought of coins – money, and so I give you this.

Broken Family Band – Diamonds in the Mine – Shoegazer: Leonard Cohen cover.

Joni Mitchell – Court And Spark – tincanman: Busker buries his coins in a park while he goes off looking for a woman to court. Did someone find them before he got back? Dunno. Joni doesn’t say.

Marbles – Tindersticks – Fintan 28: “A handful of marbles thrown in a dustbin / Memories, memories”… and left for others to find. Not the Elgin Marbles mind but meaningful for some.

A Knife And A Fork – Rockpile – Fintan28: Probably best if this set stays buried. Dave Edmunds and friends dug them up anyway for this great cover.

My Valuable Hunting Knife – Guided By Voices – Fintan28: This knife is quite a bit more than country cutlery. Should he be worried? Should we?

Joan Armatrading – The Key – severin: You may well find a key of some kind when out metal-detecting. Probably not to somebody’s heart though. This was the title track of one of her eighties albums and comes straight after Drop The Pilot. Which, for me, meant that it always suffered by comparison. Sounds great in isolation though imho.

Orbital – Steel Cube Idolatry – severin: A steel cube, possibly. Whether you choose to worship it is up to you. The music sounds pleasingly metalllic and clanging.

Martin Carthy – Dominion of the Sword – severin: A sword is the sort of find that might make you think you had uncovered the site of a battle. The recent Christmas episode of Detectorists was based around much less dramatic evidence.

Mamas Gun – Pots of Gold – glassarfemptee: Andy Platt formed Mamas Gun via an ad on Myspace. Here’s the single from 2008 that encouraged them to carry on, and their fifth album was out last year. They are, as they say, “Big in Japan”.

The Delines – Gold Dreaming – glassarfemptee: This is from the Delines limited edition album “Scenic Sessions” (2015) sold at their gigs, and I snagged it when I saw them a while ago in the backroom of a pub in Winchester.

Iron and Wine – Boy With A Coin – glassarfemptee: The coin was found in the weeds – I’m sure a metal detector was involved! From the prolific Sam Beam’s fourth album, “The Shepherd’s dog” (2007).

Toots and the Maytals – Gold and Silver – Uncleben: Or, I guess, Toots and the Metals for these purposes.

Kraftwerk – Metal on Metal – Suzi: Metal train wheels, lengths of metal track, these might well be found by a metal detector. About halfway through, the theme from Trans Europe Express kicks in, revealing that this is an instrumental variation of a song from that album.

Black Sabbath – Iron Man – Suzi: Ferrous metals are the kind most likely to be found by a metal detector. But what if detectorists found a vengeful Iron Man, returned from the future to wreak havoc on those who hadn’t believed his warnings of the coming apocalypse? Go carefully, I say.

Dolly Parton – Silver and Gold – MaggieB: I suppose gold is what every detectorist would like to find, but here is the legendary Dolly singing about how it’s not the most important thing in life.

Led Zeppelin – The Battle of Evermore – LongTallSilly: Just imagine what your metal detector might find here! Mithril vests, rings of power, dragon scales? The possibilities are endless.

Stone Temple Pilots – Pretty Penny – AliM: Well, you might find a pretty penny.

I Wish I’d Written: Jack Straw

Sorry, Ali, but this seems like too good an idea to use up in one Earworms post. I’m sure we all have at least one song that we’d love to have created if we only had the talent and imagination, so write a Spillpost about it, waxing as lyrical as you like. Here’s mine:

We can share the women, we can share the wine

We can share what we got of yours, ’cause we done shared all of mine

What a misogynistic way to start a song! What kind of people would talk like this and why would anyone want to sing those words? For many years, I just glossed over these thoughts, as I loved the way the song flowed in the version on Europe ’72 (and my vague memory of hearing it at Bickershaw) but, eventually, I figured out what was going on by actually listening to the whole lyric!

It helped that the next lines were sung by Jerry and then Bob on those renderings, as it indicated a dialogue and, once I’d discerned that Bob’s lines were addressed to Shannon, it became clear that he was speaking as the eponymous Jack. These were two men on the run from the law, one reckless and violent, the other capable of strategic thought.

The conversations and intervening descriptive lines re-iterate this difference, causing Jack to complain how Shannon’s behaviour is keeping them on the run, until we reach this ambiguous-but-not-really statement:

Jack Straw from Wichita cut his buddy down

And dug for him a shallow grave and laid his body down

Earworms 29 March 2021

Apologies for no show. WordPress won’t let me use Classic editor which means I can’t insert a playlist.

I am trying to figure something out but at the moment assume a delay!

The sun is out … Hope it is with you.

Cheers

Ali

Earworms 22 March 2021

Greetings everyone, and welcome to your selection of songs about toys and games (some of which may have sustained us over the past twelve months).

If you have an earworm you’d like to share, please send an .mp3, .m4a or a link to adempster73@gmail.com, together with a few words about why you’ve chosen it. Next week’s theme will be flowers and plants, and worms should reach me by close of play on Sunday 28 March.

Many thanks to all contributors – stay safe.

Grateful Dead – Doin’ That Rag – Chris7572: Apparently the designers of the original Windows Solitaire put an ace crawling up and down the sleeve of a one-eyed Jack as a consequence of this song. Deadheads are everywhere (I recently discovered the execrable Tucker Carlson and Steve Bannon are huge fans – ugh!). (See above).

Mindy Smith – Raggedy Ann – Suzi: Mindy identifies with Raggedy Ann, a classic US rag doll. She sings of ‘the tears that I covered with patches, Red & yellow patterns, nothing I own matches,’ She’s ‘falling apart at the seams.’

Ivor Cutler – Rubber Toy – severin: It’s that man again. I used to have the Jammy Smears album on cassette and only just bought a digital version. So you can expect more of this sort of thing. Oy, oy, oy what a toy.

Joni Mitchell – Song for Sharon – tincanman: If someone asked “so what’s this Joni Mitchell all about” I’d play this. It’s not a song I need an excuse to put on, but it is rife with nods to play and games 😀.

Future Loop Foundation – Sunshine Philosophy [Rob Da Bank & Chris Coco Rmx] – shoegazer: From:The Fading Room – Memories & Remixes.

The Zambonis – Hockey Monkey – glassarfemptee: Connecticut band the Zambonis are extraordinary – because they only write songs about ice hockey! Talk about niche, and still going after thirty years and seven albums. But they are fun, and that’s what’s games should be about …

Janet Kaye – Silly Games – severin: Not literally about games, of course. South London’s finest example of lover’s rock and a classic. I try to sing this sometimes. Not in front of other people, obviously.

Cher – Bang Bang – Suzi: A childhood game in which the singer always lost, and when she grew up, she lost again. ’60s classic.

The Pineapple Thief – The Game – AliM: “You’re taking us all for fools / You’re selling us down the river / And you know where it leads / We’ve been here before / No, it’s not a game anymore …” Sound familiar?

Blood Brothers Soundtrack – Just a Game – severin: If you get shot, you can just count to ten and get up again. At least you can when it’s just a game. I’ve seen this musical four times, you know.

Matt Stevens – Dolls House – glassarfemptee: Matt Stevens (of The Fierce and the Dead) has two solo things going too, and releases albums on a “pay what you feel” basis. Here’s a lovely instrumental from his album Echo.

Uncle John – The Dildo Song – LongTallSilly: Is this the sort of thing you meant? 😂😂

March Of The Toys” – from “Babes In Toyland” – MaggieB: Disney from 1961. I loved this when I was about the same size as the toys.

The Dark – French Toys – wyngate carpenter: Have no idea what this is about . Am I missing something obvious? great tune though.

Earworms 15 March 2021

Good afternoon everyone, and welcome to your choice of songs about holidays – probably something that we are all looking forward to, whether local or not.

If you have an Earworm you’d like to share, please send an .mp3, .m4a or a link to adempster73@gmail.com, together with a few words about why you’ve chosen it. Next week’s theme will be toys and games – interpret it as you will – and worms should reach me by close of play on Sunday 21 March.

Many thanks to all contributors.

Bill Bailey – Scarborough Fair – LongTallSilly: Oh to sit on Scarborough beach in the summer gales!! (See above).

The World – I’ll Fly Away – glassarfemptee: I don’t fly, I take a train or a boat. But The World (about whom I know zilch) have such an infectious plan to fly away, it’s hard to resist.

Front Bottoms – Vacation Town – tincanman: I’m sure we all miss walking naked to the outhouse and writing songs about it. Front Bottoms are a New Jersey indie-folk-punk outfit who sound a bit like many of your favourite bands.

Joan Armatrading – Ma-Me-O Beach – severin: It’s in Canada, apparently. A “summer village” no less. Not sure what it is during the winter.

Kraftwerk – Trans Europe Express – Suzi: Rendezvous in Paris, a late-night cafe in Vienna…back to Dusseldorf. A train journey through Europe, what’s not to love?

The Clint Boon Experience – Cool Vacation – glassarfemptee: Clint Boon formed the Experience after Inspiral Carpets broke up. He decides he’s “Going by myself on a cool vacation In the sunshine”. That’ll do me…

Christy Moore – Joxer Goes to Stuttgart – tincanman: The lads go on a footie trip to Germany and are rewarded with an historic victory during the UEFA Championships. The year was 1988, when you could do those things.

Oleta Adams – Lover’s Holiday – severin: An invitation you don’t get every day. At least I don’t.

Joni Mitchell – Carey – Suzi: Joni has beach tar on her feet from her stay in ‘this tourist town,’ and she longs for clean sheets and fancy French cologne. She’ll spend one more evening with her friend Carey in the Mermaid Café – yes this would have done for last week’s topic too! – before setting off on her travels once more. Amsterdam? Rome? She hasn’t decided.

Patti Smith – Redondo Beach – severin: Rather grim story set to a rather jaunty tune. Not a true incident apparently but written after Patti’s sister took off from a hotel without explanation prompting panic and morbid imaginings.

Anouar Brahem – Dancing with Waves – AliM: Not directly to do with holidays, but a wonderful thought.

Olivia Chaney – Roman Holiday – severin: Her song “Holiday” is a bit too bleak for the continuing theme of things we look forward to post-lockdowns. Especially since I’ve already sent the Patti Smith song in. This one is a lot more positive.

Phillip Roebuck – Travel Light – shoegazer: Difficult with a bass drum strapped to your back.

Beyoncé – Sandcastles – AliM: OK, so this isn’t about holidays, either.

Chaos UK – Take Me Back To San Clemente – wyngatecarpenter: A bona fide holiday song, with the cider addled Bristol punks getting out the “shorts and knotted hanky”. This was possibly the first song I ever nominated on RR , although I can’t remember for sure.

Rory Gallagher – A Million Miles Away – MaggieB: A million miles away: where we are all probably dreaming of being. (Any excuse to post Rory Gallagher) 🏝️.

Earworms 8 March 2021

Good morning all, and welcome to this week’s earworms about dining out,  something we are probably all looking forward to doing again, be it an onion bhaji or a bacon sarnie, or something all together more complicated.

If you have an earworm you’d like to share, please send an .mp3, .m4a or a link to adempster73@gmail.com, together with a few words about why you’ve chosen it. Next week’s theme will be holidays and travel, again suggested by ghe, who is in a very positive mood, looking forward to some sort of normal.

Many thanks to all contributors – stay safe.

Frank Zappa – Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow – LongTallSilly: Ultimate warning against eating out?😂😂(see above).

Saint Etienne – Mario’s Cafe – glassarfemptee: Saint Etienne really nail the joy of meeting up in a cosy cafe. “Squeezy bottles under Pepsi signs/Joe and Johnny chew the bacon rind… Everyone’s dreaming of all they’ve got to live for”.

David Shrigley – What I Ate – shoegazer: Fine dining.

Ivor Cutler – Bicarbonate of Chicken – severin: Next time I go to a restaurant (some time in 2024) I’m ordering this. That’ll get me barred until 2030 at least.

Sinead O’Connor – Nothing Compares 2 U – AliM: “I can eat my dinner in a fancy restaurant / But nothing
I said nothing can take away these blues…”

Ray Davies – Working Man’s Cafe – glassarfemptee: Ray Davies has always loved nostalgia, from the village green to the working man’s cafe. “We all seem to pass the time of day/online at the internet cafe…long ago we were all working men/and sat and spent the time of day/at the working man’s cafe”.

Weakerthans – None Of The Above – tincanman: Sat in what used to be their favourite restaurant, John K. Samson is talking nostalgically with an ex and waxing a bit poetic. Not the first Canadian songwriter that comes to mind for most, but 3 or 4 refills of this should change that.

Jonathan Byrd – The Waitress – Suzi: Neither the waitress nor the place where she works sound too classy, but he loves her anyway – or so he says! Gentle humour.

Suzanne Vega – Tom’s Diner (live) – severin: Long version from her Solitude Standing 25th anniversary concert. As mentioned in the intro, she had already performed it twice. The previous ones being similar to those on the original album. The album also includes a live version of Marlene on the Wall. Which means that I have heard it performed live and have had a version in my iTunes for some time. In fact I vaguely remember saying to my brother at the gig how good it was and what was the title. But I still said it was new to me a couple of weeks ago. It’s my brain, you know.

The Beat – Mirror in the Bathroom: AliM: Mirror in the bathroom / Please talk free / The door is locked / Just you and me / Can I take you to a restaurant / That’s got glass tables / You can watch yourself / While you are eating …”

Thomas Lang – Me And Mrs. Jones – tincanman: They meet every evening at the same café for “a thing” they’ve got going on. Originally it was with Billy Paul in the ’70s in America; this is a decade later (’87) with Liverpool crooner Thomas Lang.

Tom Waits – Eggs and Sausage – Suzi: ’Nighthawks at the diner/ Of Emma’s 49er, there’s a rendezvous/ Of strangers round the coffee urn tonight.’ If the opening words remind you of Edward Hopper it’s no coincidence, for the artist’s famous painting was the inspiration for this song.

The Psychedelic Furs – Dumb Waiters – severin: Nothing whatsoever to do with this week’s topic. Even the title is pushing it. Good though, eh?

The Penguin Cafe Orchestra – Penguin Cafe Single – Suzi: Sounds like a busy place, filled with a variety of people. Instrumental.

Chineapple Punx – Tandoori Story – wyngatecarpenter: The apparently true tale of a band member falling asleep drunk in the gents at his local curry house and waking long after it had closed. Features possibly my favourite ever rhyming couplet “No one around when I left the khazi / Like the Marie Celeste with onion bhaji”.

Arlo Guthrie – Alice’s Restaurant – Maggie B: This is simply the first one I thought of … and here is Part 2.

Earworms 1 March 2021

St. David’s Day greetings! I hope you’re all paying attention at the back there, because today we have a selection of songs about schools and teaching. And if any of you out there have been home-schooling during lockdown, you have my admiration and sympathy.

If you have an Earworm you’d like to share, please send an .mp3, .m4a or a link to adempster73@gmail.com, together with a few words about why you’ve chosen it. Next week’s theme, again suggested by ghe (thank you), is dining out, one of the many things you may be looking forward to in the future. Worms should reach me by close of play on Sunday 6 March.

The Housemartins – Always Something There to Remind Me – severin: A version of their final single. Class war beginning in the classroom. Not as bitter as The Smiths’ similar themed “Headmaster Ritual”. Mentions “drawing willies on soldiers”. Since you ask.

Sam Cooke – Wonderful World – Suzi: He admits to not knowing very much about the subjects that he’s been studying at school, but he’s fallen in love, so he’s going to make a bit more effort!

White Buffalo – The Witch – tincanman: She always put her students’ needs before her own, but children are cruel at the recess bell.

Crosby, Stills and Nash – Teach Your Children – glassarfemptee: After all the hard rock, blues and psychedelia, I found the first CSN album a bit of a surprise. This Graham Nash song was written when he was still with the Hollies. Not sure if all the home schooling parents wouldn’t rather have a teacher do the teaching…

The Tours – Language School – severin: Back in 1979 when this was released John Peel declared it his second favourite single, after Teenage Kicks. I don’t suppose that lasted as long as his love for the Undertones song but it is a great piece of power pop/new wave/whatever. Never been sure quite what’s going on in the lyric

The Saw Doctors – Presentation Boarder – Suzi: She’s a fourth year, dead feek girl who’s let out of her Irish convent school for two hours every Saturday. He’s hoping to make the most of this … and he’s especially looking forward to St Patrick’s Weekend break, when she says she can stay with friends.

Our Native Daughters – Better Git Yer Learnin’ – tincanman: Carolina Chocolate Drops alumni Rhiannon Giddens and Leyla McCalla and producer Dirk Powell used their prodigious talents and scholarship to amplify the struggles of black women in America on this 2019 project.

Dub Syndicate w/Andy Fairley – Lack Of Education – shoegazer: Late with my homework.

Alice Cooper – School’s Out – glassarfemptee: Many kids dream of school holidays, but perhaps some are missing it after all, despite the sentiments of this classic Alice Cooper track, which I’ve had the pleasure of seeing live.

Pink Floyd – Another Brick in the Wall – Part II – Suzi: ‘Hey, Teachers, leave them kids alone..!’ Is education really just a means of brainwashing you into conformity? (Mostly. Ed.).

Abba – When I Kissed The Teacher – severin: When this song was included in the second Mama Mia film, the narrator/singer was changed from a girl at school to an Oxford graduate. Probably just as well.

Dexys Midnight Runners – All In All (This One Last Wild Waltz) – wyngatecarpenter: Kevin Rowland recalls becoming disillusioned with a teacher he had looked up to, and gets a bit intense about it. Like Van Morrison, but better 🙂

Jerry Lee Lewis – High School Confidential – MaggieB: A rock ‘n roll classic for more dancing round the kitchen 😀

John Lee “Sonny Boy” Williamson – Good Morning, Schoolgirl – AliM: Struggling to find something I haven’t posted before, so here is Sonny Boy Williamson with a blues classic covered and adapted by many, including the Yardbirds and The Grateful Dead.

Earworms 22 February 2021

Morning all, or whatever time of day it is – never too late to party, which is the theme of this week’s Earworms, as suggested by glassarfemptee. Sorry this is late, but more people turned up than I expected and what with the flowing wine, the dancing girls and the recreational substances, I seem to be a bit worse for wear.

If you have an Earworm you’d like to share, please send an .mp3, .m4a or a link to adempster73@gmail.com, together with a few words about why you’ve chosen it. Next week’s theme will be school and teaching.

Many thanks to all contributors – stay safe.

The Pointer Sisters – Wang Dang Doodle – MaggieB: Sounds like quite a party! (See above).

The Cadillac Three – Get Your Buzz On – DsD: I just love the line “From Start Me Up to Tuesday’s Gone”; sums up my teenage party years perfectly.

Little Axe – All Night Party – DsD: This is the sound of the small hours when the party’s getting into a full-on alcoholic fug. Someone puts a blues CD in the player, and eyelids start getting heavy …

Shack – Natalie’s Party – DsD: Shane says me and him discussing this was the first time someone had really engaged with him on RR. I’m proud of that. Sending him all my best wishes; I’m seriously worried about him, as it seems to me he’s playing down the issues he told us about the other week. Hopefully he’ll come on here and tell me off for fretting.

Redlands Palomino Company – Music’s On – DsD: This is when you know a relationship’s over, right? When you’re third to arrive at a party for two.

Mogwai – George Square Thatcher Death Party – DsD: When the mad cow finally f***ed off, I was home alone; DsMam had taken the girls up to Granny’s for a couple of days. I had no work on. I heard the news over the radio in our local farm shop, and I kid you not, skipped round the aisles singing “Ding Dong, the witch is dead!” I treated myself to a bottle of Jack Daniels, and as I exited the car park, I sat there for a couple of minutes debating whether to turn left and go home, or turn right and head for Glasgow. Home + a downing large proportion of the JD won, and I found a CCTV livestream of the cameras covering George Square. There was indeed a party, but it looked disappointingly small and subdued. Ah well.

Apollo Four Forty – Stadium Parking Lot – DsD: What a riff. What an opening line. I wanna be at this party, alright!

Linda Rum – Old And Wise – DsD: I appreciate this one might be a stretch to fit what we usually think of under the definition of party, but as I grow longer in the tooth, less fit, and more world-weary, I’ll nominate this as a Post-Covid-Age party song. Cheers all!

The WIld Angels – Rock n’ Roll Party Gal – glassarfemptee: I still can’t quite believe Mitch has left the building. He lives on in the music of the Wild Angels.

Jenny Lewis – Party Clown – glassarfemptee: Jenny Lewis’ album ‘On the line’ was a highlight for me a couple of years back. Here she’s the party clown. Don’t ask me to explain the lyrics!

David Bowie – Boys Keep Swinging – Alfiehisself:  What about some Bowie in a party mood – wouldn’t be at all surprised if that weren’t a William Burroughs reference, lots of boys messing about in them.

Santana – Samba Pa Ti – Alfiehisself: As for a party, what about a bit of Samba by Santana.

Bob Marley and the Wailers – Punky Reggae Party – shoegazer: No boring old farts will be there.

Jimmy and Johnny – I Can’t Find the Doorknob – tincanman: A lot of musical vectors intersected in Texarkana (where Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Arkansas meet) in the 1950s and got called rockabilly. Johnny Cash, Fats Domino, Presley, Charlie Rich, Wanda Jackson, Jerry Lee and all those guys were part of that scene. (Lonnie Effing Donegan was not).

Alejandro Escovedo – Shave the Cat – tincanman: Something something cat, something something party, something something cloud … If there’s anything to this song beyond an excuse to play crunchy guitars with Peter Buck I’ll shave my own cat.

Velvet Underground and Nico – All Tomorrow’s Parties – severin and Suzi: Sev: A view of the Warhol Factory’s party scene (and the people who had to be seen at every event) from someone who was there:”I watched Andy watching everybody” said Lou. “I heard people say the craziest, funniest and saddest things”. Suzi: A song inspired by a woman who frequented Andy Warhol’s Factory. Nico’s mesmerising voice and John Cale’s piano – modified by a string of paperclips wound between the strings – create a sound that’s hard to describe – ravishing, evocative, extraordinary.

Joni Mitchell – People’s Parties – severin: Snapshots from an LA party. Some are watching from the wings, some are standing at the centre. Court and Spark was the first Joni album I bought and I’m still playing and loving it forty seven years later.

Half Man Half Biscuit – San Antonio Foam Party – severin: The song has very little to do with the title or parties in general, I’m afraid. But it does mention sniffer dogs in fluorescent bibs which must count for something.

Leonard Cohen – The Guests – Suzi: A melancholy violin tune winds its way through this song. The house and garden where this party is held is perhaps a metaphor for the world, where people stumble around, loving and losing, passionate and confused.

Richard Thompson – Happy Days and Auld Lang Syne – Suzi: He chooses the New Year’s Eve party to tell her he’s leaving. ’She said to herself, I won’t cry, I won’t grieve / But I’ll laugh and I’ll flow with the wine.’ So she hides her feelings and tells herself that the singing and the company bring her comfort – for a while, at least.

Prince – 1999 – AliM: Sort of obvious but none the worse for that.

Earworms 15 February 2021

Good day to you all, I hope the weather is thawing for you, as it is here. Earworms this week features your songs about stars of the entertainment industry – real or imagined.

If you have an Earworm you’d like to share, please send an .mp3, .m4a or a link to adempster73@gmail.com, together with a few words about why you’ve chosen it. Next week’s theme will be something we miss, and can’t have for a while (as suggested by ghe) – parties.

Many thanks to all contributors, and to chris7572 for stepping into the breach and keeping The ‘Spill up and running. Stay safe.

Judy Garland – Dear Mr. Gable – MaggieB: Judy Garland writes a fan letter to Clark Gable. The voice is rather too mature for the actual image, but Judy can be forgiven anything. (See video above).

Lal and Mike Waterson – Magical Man – Suzi: Come to the show and see his amazing conjuring tricks! In the final verses, however, Mike takes on the persona of the eponymous hero, and suggests that he has a magical way with the ladies, too…

Les Divaz – La Voix d’Aretha – DebbyM: This is a foot-tapper bound to lure you to the dance floor when we’re partying again. It was also very nearly France’s entry at a recent Eurovision Song Contest, where I think the added visual component of red-sequinned ball gowns would have guaranteed success.

Primus – Lee Van Cleef – shoegazer: No mention of Eli Wallach.

Half Man Half Biscuit – Eno Collaboration – severin: Number one in Britain and successful in the States. You hang around with Chrissie Hynde. It’s time for your…..

Johnny Cash – The Night Hank Williams Came To Town – Suzi: Johnny recalls his teenage years and the excitement of a gig by the country and western star in the local gym.

The Lottery Winners – Rockstar – DebbyM: Apparently the ”best live band’ in the British Isles’, they may be jumping on the tiktok shanty bandwagon here, but why not? We need a bit of fun in these locked down times.

Frank Turner – The Ballad of Me and My Friends – tincanman: That time you finally got offered a gig and had to text around like mad to make up a band.

Deep Purple – Smoke on the Water – Alfiehisself: Simplicity demands Smoke on the Water which has Frank Zappa but also Claude Nobbs (funky Claude ) who was big in Switzerland.

Tyrannosaurus Rex – Child Star – severin: I’m not sure if I’ve sent this one in before. If so, I’ve sent it in again.

The Fox & The Hounds and Mason’s Case – Fame – DebbyM: Looking for covers of the Bowie song, I stumbled on this collaboration between two Chicago-based bands, and I adore it. It’s played on tiny instruments, kazoo, ukulele etc., and a good time was hand by one and all.

Home – Fancy Lady, Hollywood Child – AliM: This was from their second album, released in 1972. Can’t believe it was nearly 50 years ago. My friend had the album – we used to sit and play records in her room, which had orange paint, a purple table, a pink geranium and a drawing of Shadowfax on the wall. Loved it.

Richard Thompson – From Galway to Graceland – Suzi: Devotion to Elvis Presley moves into delusion and beyond. Recorded at the Cropredy festival in 1996.

Alex Chilton – I Wish I Could Meet Elvis – tincanman: Playfully recorded on the sly between Big Star and Box Tops, Chilton’s 1970’s Sessions had the feel of a 20-yr-old wunderkind let off his leash for a weekend. Here he seems to channel Dillard & Clark.

David Bowie -Ziggy Stardust – Suzi and LongTallSilly: Bowie’s mythical alien musician and alter ego. His success inspires the jealousy of his band, The Spiders From Mars, and leads to his downfall. He sure did play guitar!

Suzanne Vega – Marlene on the Wall – Alfiehisself: From her debut album (1985).

The Dickies – I’m Stuck In A Condo (With Marlon Brando) – wyngatecarpenter: Dickies frontman Leonard recalls an awkward encounter with Marlon Brando after delivering him a pizza (possibly not a true story).

Earworms 8 February 2021

Greetings all, I’m wheely sorry that I duplicated a recent theme from Songbar, I will be more diligent in future, although it’s a chance in a million that I would chose the same theme by coincidence. On the bright side, it gives you a chance to suggest the songs about wheels that rolled off down the hillside and into the swamp.

If you have an Earworm you’d like to share, please send an .mp3, .m4a or a link to adempster73@gmail.com, together with a few words about why you’ve chosen it. Next week’s theme, extrapolating from a suggestion by ghe, is stars of the entertainment industry, real or imagined. Interpret this how you will.

Worms should reach me by close of play on Sunday 14 February. Many thanks to all contributors, and stay safe.

Bellowhead – Fakenham Fair – suzi: ‘So swing around the merry-go-round/ Give the wheel of fortune a whirl.’ Can he win the heart of the pretty carnival girl? Yes, he can, and fairground-style music helps to paint the picture.

Merton Parkas – You Need Wheels – severin:  “A man ain’t a man with a ticket in his hand.”  Apparently. South West London’s answer to The Coasters had one (minor) hit single and featured one future member of The Style Council.

William Prince – Eddy Boy – tincanman: This indigenous Canadian has recorded his first three albums over the last three years, and I am spellbounded. This is from his debut, Earthly Days. Eddy Boy is his father. And he uses the ‘someone take the wheel’ metaphor so it almost fits this week’s “wheels” topic.

Spear of Destiny – The Wheel – Shoegazer: Opener from 1st (& best) S.O.D. album.

I am Kloot – Ferris Wheels – glassarfemptee: Former Manc band I am Kloot did this touching love song on their 2007 album Play Moolah Rouge. Spoiler alert – it’s not really about Ferris wheels…

Deep Purple – Highway Star – Alfiehisself: Got his wheels, hitting the road with Coverdale & Blackmore in the line-up. Clear the cobwebs.

Al Green – Driving Wheel – severin: From the 1971 “Al Green Gets Next To You” album. Or from one of his greatest hits compilations in my case.

Mindy Smith – Train Song -Suzi: ‘I’ve been listening/ For those metal wheels/ To come scraping across/ That old rusty track’… but is her sweet man on that train? She knows in her heart that he isn’t, but she still clings to the hope that he might be.

Gretchen Peters – Woman On The Wheel  –  tincanman: When you let a blindfolded man throw knives at you, sometimes it’s better not to ask yourself how you feel. “You’re thinking one false move and it’s a real bad day at the amusement park,” is a heck of an earworm.

Kate and Anna McGarrigle – Heart Like a Wheel – glassarfemptee: I may have troubled Earworms with this song before, but this is one of my all time faves. When Kate and Anna McGarrigle toured their eponymous 1976 album in Europe, I was lucky to see them play Fairfield Halls and the gig has stuck more clearly in my memory than many. I was enchanted. I wheely hope you are too…

The Doors – Roadhouse Blues – AliM: Keep your eyes on the road and your hands upon the wheel. Good idea, when driving.

Megson – William Brown – Suzi: Socialist song, also known as ‘Keep that wheel a-turning.’ William’s boss tells him to work harder but then there are problems of over-production…

Jerry Garcia – The Wheel – Chris7572: Created on the fly by Garcia and Billy The Drummer during recording, with Robert Hunter writing the lyric on the spot, this was one of several tracks from his eponymous first solo album that became Grateful Dead stalwarts. And, as it was born during Garcia’s brief love affair with the pedal steel, it shimmers.

Eastfield – The Second Fastest Cycle Courier In London – wyngatecarpenter: As the band explained it – “A friend, in all honesty, thought he was”. Wheels aren’t specifically mentioned, but their use is heavily implied.

Joe Loss and his Orchestra – Wheels Cha Cha Cha – Maggie B: One I have always hated …

John Whitehead – The Spinning Wheel – MaggieB: And one I have always loved. 😉

Earworms 2 February 2021

Many thanks to tincanman for the impromptu Earworms, and thanks to shoegazer for suggestions about how to clean up my Mac – an ongoing and painful process, but at the moment it’s working again. Long may that continue (fingers and toes crossed)!

Thanks to all of you as well, for sending in songs that remind you of February, which is now upon us. If you have an Earworm you’d like to share, please send an .mp3, .m4a or a link to adempster73@gmail.com, together with a few words about why you’ve chosen it. Next week’s theme will be wheels (as they seem to be back on my wagon), and worms should reach me by close of play on Sunday 7 February.

Many thanks to all contributors, and stay safe.

Foo Fighters – February Stars – Maggie B: (Above) – thought of this one because I will be taking part in CPRE’s Star Count later in the month. As we are in lockdown we are asked to go into our gardens and count how many stars we see in Orion. This track will accompany that activity quite well …

Jimi Hendrix – Lullaby For The Summer – Alfiehisself: Just a longing for some sunny days and going out with thin layers on.

Replacements – Valentine – tincanman: Replacements songs are always a bit of work, which is part of the appeal. This sounds too snarly and gritty to be a love song, but who doesn’t want to be told; If you were a pill, I’d take a handful at my will/And I’d knock you back with something sweet and strong? Westerberg, man – gets it every time.

The Unthanks – Sad February – Suzi: Sad, because a shipping disaster has taken the lives of ten men from the local community.

The Imagined Village – Winter Singing – glassarfemptee: We need cheering up in the February gloom, so how about joining the Imagined Village in a bit of winter singing?

Flora Purim – Lock Love – Debby M: Haven’t listened to this in a long, long time, but I recall reading the Festive Spill was jazzy this year (still haven’t listened yet, hangs head in shame), so thought I’d dig deep. February connection? Love for Valentine’s Day, lock for February’s lockdwn, Purim for the Jewish festival of fancy dress and inebriation, which this year falls on February 26 … Hope you’re all doing as well as can be. We’re in Proper Lockdown again and aghast at lack of vaccination supplies. Roll on 2023 (no, that’s not a typo).

Boards of Canada – Aquarius – shoegazer: Jan 20 – Feb 18.

The 5th Dimension – Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In – AliM: Someone had to do it, so it may as well be me.

James Taylor – Mud Slide Slim – AliM: According to Wikipedia, historical names for February include the Old English term Solmonath (mud month). As anyone with a dog will know, this is very appropriate.

Julie London – February Brings The Rain – severin: From her celebrated Calendar Girl album with the iconic cover. The title is taken from a poem by Sara Coleridge called The Months. Which was parodied by Flanders and Swann on their Song Of The Weather. Which is a kind of weird connection really.

Sibylle Baier – Remember the Day – tincanman: February is as known for the blues as it is the red hearts, and it is the blues that drag Sibylle to the water’s edge.

Jake Thackray – Rain on the Mountainside – Suzi: A tribute to his native county of Yorkshire, and its people. ‘The north countryside is patiently waiting again,’ – it can only be for Spring to arrive, and, despite the cold and wet, the shepherd is whistling on his moorland, and the farmer is singing in his meadow below. How lovely, and it sounds very much like February.

The Kathryn Tickell Band – Hareshaw Burn – Suzi: February is traditionally a month of heavy rain – ‘February fill-dyke’, as the saying goes. At this time of year streams and rivers are at their fullest, so here’s a lovely instrumental, descriptive of a fast-flowing stream.

Birdy – Winter – glassarfemptee: Birdy sings “It’s so cold, baby it’s dark outside. Winter comes creeping in through the night”. So a good time to jilt an unwanted lover …

Nico – My Funny Valentine – severin: I used to have more versions of this song in my collection than any other but since most of them were on cassette albums this is no longer the case. It was never a conscious intention anyway so I’m not sure how it happened tbh. Anyway, Nico’s version is my favourite.

Dr. John – Iko Iko – Debby M: Mardi Gras in New Orleans – let’s dream on from our cold and dismal lockdown land.

Jimi Hendrix – Sunshine Of Your Love – Alfiehisself: When it’s too wet and cold to go outside, maybe stay in and make your own warmth – I think that’s what the lyrics are about.

Altered Images – Happy Birthday – LongTallSilly: AliM and I both have birthdays in February, so it’s a good month!

How’s about an impromptu Earworms?

While Ali wrestles with her technical demons, shall we have an impromptu Earworms about … being impromptu? Here’s Was (Not Was) and Frank Sinatra Jr to kick it off with Wedding Vows In Vegas.

No rules. I don’t expect to be around today so be nice and have fun.

Earworms 25 January 2021

… “But Mousie, thou art no thy lane, In proving foresight may be vain: The best-laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men Gang aft agley, An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain, For promis’d joy!” Too true, too true. A very happy Burns Night to you all, and to accompany the proceedings here’s the haggis, neeps and tatties with a wee dram of music thrown in – your choice of songs about Scotland and all things Scottish. Thanks to LongTallSilly for Billy Connolly’s welly song, and welcome back to tfd and DsD.

If you have an earworm you’d like to share, please send an .mp3, .m4a or a link to adempster73@gmail.com, together with a few words about why you’ve chosen it. Next week’s theme will be February – perhaps not literally, but whatever you anticipate February will bring. Rain, snow, thaw, the first bulbs of Spring, pancakes, vaccinations … I leave it to you.

Worms should reach me by close of play on Sunday 31 January. Many thanks to all contributors.

Serci and Davies Guitar Duo – Scottish Landscape – glassarfemptee: Jazz guitarist Georgio Serci wrote two “landscapes” dear to my heart. This is Scotland, performed with Simon Davies (the other is Cornwall).

The Proclaimers – Cap In Hand – Suzi: Openly Scottish Nationalist song, railing against English domination.

Admiral Fallow – Four Bulbs – tincanman: From their debut, Boots Met My Face, an album based on Louis Abbott’s memories of growing up in Glasgow. He’s a clever writer, and I never felt he or the band got their due. Perhaps because Frightened Rabbit from The Borders nearby debuted at the same time.

Steeleye Span – Prince Charle Stuart – Suzi: Many Jacobite songs speak in code, for fear of possible consequences, but this one openly praises the Young Pretender.

Concerto Calidonia – A New Scotch Tune/Peggie I Must Love Thee – severin: From the album, Purcell’s Revenge: Sweeter Than Roses. The liner notes say: “Purcell’s ‘New Scotch Tune’ proved to be very popular in Scotland in the following century. ‘Peggie I must love thee’ is played here first in Purcell’s setting, and then in the slightly later version derived from the playing of Edinburgh violinist John McLachlan which is found in the Balcarres Lute Book, written down around 1695–1701”.

The Proclaimers – Sunshine On Leith – DsD: One of the best Scottish songs EVER! And yes, I’m prepared to fight my corner against a thousand years of musical heritage on that. But – as the cliché has it – I’m a lover, not a fighter, so I’ve brought along a few people to help back me up: The best ever rendition of Sunshine on Leith. – YouTube. Goddamn, I miss these sorts of days. Because of my privileged job, I’ve seen my own beloved team play twice live in the last month, but in empty stadia, it’s just so sterile, so sad. Admittedly, two nil-nil draws didn’t help, but you know what I mean!

Karine Polwart – Cover Your Eyes – Suzi: The song recalls Karine’s childhood in Aberdeenshire, before a certain very wealthy person had a coastal SSI destroyed in order to build a golf course. A short time after this song was written, that same person became President of the US….thankfully, his tenure is coming to an end. “And the waves fall / How they fall.” Presidents, too.

Lau – Noltland Castle – AliM: Three piece folk band; members are from Scotland and England. Named after an Orcadian word meaning “natural light”.

The Poozies – Ma Plaid / Freya Dances – Suzi: A love song, or a veiled reference to Jacobite sympathies? Beautiful harmonies.

Dick Gaughan – Now Westlin Winds – treefrogdemon: Now Westlin Winds by Dick Gaughan is my favourite Burns song by my favourite Scottish singer. I’ll be at a virtual Burns Supper this year, but I’ll dress up in my usual gear and have a haggis and a dram to hand. If only I had managed to move to Scotland, as I intended, before the pandemic started…Never mind. I’m young yet – there’s time.

The Proclaimers – Letter From America – Suzi: About emigration from Scotland to America and Canada, enforced in the past by the Clearances. Heartbreaking list of the Scottish places which the emigrants have left behind: ‘Lochaber no more, Sutherland no more, Lewis no more, Skye no more …’

Arab Strap – New Birds – AliM: Aidan Moffat reminds us that a bird in the hand is worth two in a bush. So to speak.

Steeleye Span – Parcel of Rogues – Suzi: Words from a poem by Robert Burns, decrying the Scottish Parliament members who signed the Act of Union with England in 1707. ‘We were bought and sold for English gold,’ – bribery and corruption, it was ever thus.

King Creosote – Cargill – glassarfemptee: The Kingdom of Fife has an undisputed ruler – King Creosote. And he extolled the land of his birth in the wonderful “From Scotland with Love”- a movie of archive footage that he soundtracked. (Cargill is a town on the River Tay north of Perth).

Karine Polwart – Salter’s Road – Suzi: Written in celebration of her former neighbour, Molly Kristensen, who had recently died. Molly had recounted stories of her youthful travels around the Scottish countryside and further afield, and there’s mention of some evocative Scottish place names including the eponymous road from Preston Pans to Fala Dam.

Jackie Leven & Ian Rankin – The Haunting of John Rebus – tincanman: While waiting for Rankin to finish the fourth Rebus I went back to reread the series looking up all the music references as I went. Jackie Leven was my first discovery. Thank you Inspector.

Capercaillie – Coisich, a Ruin – Suzi: A love song from the Outer Hebrides, sung in Scottish Gaelic. The protagonist wants to send a message to her love, brown-haired John Campbell, a mighty hunter of geese, seals, swans, leaping trout and bellowing deer, who lives on the Isle of Harris. She won’t go hungry, then, and I’m sure he’s handsome too!

Ballboy – I Hate Scotland – shoegazer:  A bunch of new live lockdown sessions on Bandcamp if anyone’s interested.

Clanadonia – LongTallSilly: Can you get more Scottish than this? 😉

The Real MacKenzies – Kilt – wyngatecarpenter: A band whose ouvre includes songs such as Scots Wha Hae and Scottish & Proud. They are from Canada, obviously. This song might sound strangely familiar to one or two of you such

as Severin.

Sensational Alex Harvey Band – Anthem – MaggieB: Sixteen or so minutes of aural joy from the Gorbals’ finest; the great and much missed Alex Harvey and his Sensational Band. A shame there is no decent video of this performance as they were such good showmen. Guid Burns Night to all. 😉

Concerto Caledonia (feat Olivia Chaney & Mairi Campbell) – Up In the Morning Early – severin: Words by Robert Burns. Scottish musicians and two singers (one of them Scottish) perform the piece. No other reason.

Earworms 18 January 2021

Greetings all and welcome to the third Monday in January, which is said to be the most depressing day of the year. Fortunately, that means that all the days after this in 2021 will be better, and, even more fortunately, here is your selection of songs about dancing, to cheer us up.

If you have an Earworm you’d like to share, please send an .mp3, .m4a or a link to adempster73@gmail.com, together with a few words about why you’ve chosen it. Next week’s theme will be Scotland and all things Scottish, in honour of Burns Night. Worms should reach me by close of play on Sunday 24 January.

Many thanks to all contributors – stay safe!

Anouar Brahem – Dancing with Waves – glassarfemptee: Tunisian oud master Anouar Brahem is an excellent RR discovery for me, courtesy of Nilpferd. Here he’s dancing with waves.

Afro Celt Sound System – Fissiri Wali Polka – AliM: From their 2018 album, “Flight”.

Leonard Cohen – Take This Waltz – Suzi: A loose translation of a poem by Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca. Surreal, but beautiful, images, which seem to imply that this may be the last waltz with the object of his desire. “Take this waltz, it’s yours now, it’s all that there is.”

The Lords of the New Church – Dance With Me – vanwolf: A sweet sounding song but with more than a hint of new church sleaze.

Emmylou Harris – Waltz Across Texas Tonight -Suzi: The word to describe the emotional feel of this song is possibly “saudade” – a kind of tender melancholy, both loving and wistful. Emmylou made more than one recording of this song; I’ve chosen the version from her beautiful “Wrecking Ball” album, which was produced by Daniel Lanois.

Soul II Soul – Dance – severin: It’s by Soul II Soul and it’s called “Dance”. Ha ha ha …

Artie Shaw And His Orchestra – Begin the Beguine – Suzi: Instrumental version of the Cole Porter tune. Shaw’s stunning virtuosity on the clarinet is a joy to listen to.

John Fahey – Dance Of Death – tincanman: John Fahey was as obsessed with 1920-30s Americana roots music as the Lomaxes, and he could play them, too. Oh how he could play them.

Leonard Cohen – Dance Me To The End of Love – Suzi: A statement of intention to surrender himself to love, wherever it takes him – or simply a romantic invitation.

David Byrne – Dance on Vaseline – shoegazer: My favourite from Mr Byrne since the demise of Talking Heads.

Sandy Denny – Like an Old-Fashioned Waltz – Suzi: From her acoustic album, “I’ve Always Kept A Unicorn”, it’s as beautifully romantic and evocative as you might expect .

Pinkshinyultrablast – Dance AM – vanwolf: Not sure they’re really shoegaze but nice track anyway.

Penguin Cafe Orchestra – Air à Danser – Suzi: Starts slowly and gently, then becomes faster and more expansive. Joyous.

Katie Gately – Waltz – severin: The song that both Fuel and I considered including in our Festive Spill picks. From her wondrous “Loom” album. Songs mostly written while caring for her mother during her final illness but (to me) strangely uplifting. Unlikely to be featured on next year’s Strictly …

David Bowie – Let’s Dance – Suzi: “Let’s dance/ Under the moonlight, this serious moonlight…” Who could possibly resist such an invitation?

Blue Lu Barker – Now You’re Down In The Alley – tincanman: A couple of years ago Maria Muldaur decided to do an album of Blue Lu Barker (who dat?) covers. One listen to “Don’t You Feel My Leg: The Naughty Bawdy Blues Of Blue Lu Barker” and I went down the same rabbit hole.

Jacques Brel – La Valse a Mille Temps – Suzi: A waltz in a thousand time? Not quite, but a tour de force from Brel as he waltzes around Paris with increasing speed!

Kate Davis – I’ll Do Anything But Breakdance For Ya, Darling – glassarfemptee: I’m not usually up to date, but this track by US songstress Kate Davis is from an album “Strange Boy” released this month. This is about NOT dancing…

Walk the Moon – Shut Up and Dance – AliM: Let it all go, and have fun. From 2014.

The Defects – Dance – wyngatecarpenter: So many songs about dancing that aren’t actually about dancing. This one sounds straightforward enough . Turns out it’s not actually about dancing at all – oh well.

The Blues Brothers – Shake a Tail Feather – Maggie B: Two for you first Ray Charles getting us to shake a tail feather…

Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake – Maggie B: And on the subject of feathers this one from Mathew Bourne who revolutionised Dance. (I’m finding dancing round like an idiot is good lockdown excercise) 😊

Earworms 11 January 2021

Good evening all, on this wet, cold and fairly typical January evening. We’re all missing the company of friends right now, so here is your selection of songs about them, some happy, and some sad. I am very grateful for the friendship of those of you on The ‘Spill.

If you have an Earworm you’d like to share, please send an .mp3, .m4a or a link to adempster73@gmail.com, together with a few words about why you’ve chosen it. Next week’s theme will be dancing – dirty, in the street, on the ceiling, wherever you like. I know we’ve had the theme before but I am struggling to think of anything cheerful! Worms should reach me by close of play on Sunday 17 January.

Many thanks to all contributors, and stay safe.

Free – Be My Friend – LongTallSilly: Has to be the ultimate plea for loving friendship, something we all need for good mental health:- “All I need is a friend / Someone to give a helpin’ hand / When I’m afraid in the night / Someone to squeeze me / And tell me it’s alright / You know I worry such a lot / And I would give all I’ve got / Just to have someone believe in me / Just to do that and put me / Back on evenly … ” (see video above).

Palma Violets – Friends – shoegazer: Some racket from Lambeth.

Basement Revolver – Friends – vanwolf: Off nice album, couple years old I think (“Heavy Eyes”, 2018 – Ed.)

Elvis Costello – The Stamping Ground – severin: Where all your old friends still hang around. And nothing much changes.

The Saw Doctors – Never Mind The Strangers – Suzi: The guys from Tuam, County Galway, with “a tribute to all the people who’ve helped and stuck with us along the way.”

Laura Marling – Hope We Meet Again – tincanman: I was never able to warm to Laura like I know I should until last year’s “Song For Our Daughter”, which is a timeless masterpiece. This is a “can we still be friends” song that is breathtakingly delicate and detailed.

Placebo – Pure Morning – AliM: This one is open to interpretation, but I like it.

The Wave Pictures – All My Friends – glassarfemptee: Leicestershire’s finest, at their quirky best, with a wig out. No good crying over spilt milk.

Sonic Youth – My Friend Goo – vanwolf: ‘Cos it’s ace.

John Martyn – May You Never – severin: An old favourite. Wishes for a good friend who “never talks dirty behind my back”.

James Taylor – You’ve Got A Friend – Suzi: One of his most beloved songs. “You just call out my name / and you know wherever I am / I’ll come running / To see you again.”

Everything But the Girl – Old Friends – glassarfemptee: Is it really twenty years since EBTG’s last gig …

Alabama Shakes – Boys & Girls (HY Live) – tincanman: This was a single and the title track to their 2012 album, but it took a HearYa Live webcast session with Chicago engineer/producer Stephen Shirk to find it’s heart and soul. As he typically does.

Mike Harding – The Accrington Pals – AliM: Mike Harding takes time off from comedy with this song telling the story of the East Lancashire “Accrington Pals” regiment, who served in WW1.

Led Zeppelin – Friends – Long Tall Silly: Led Zeppelin take on friendship this time, same sentiment as Free:- “Met a man on the roadside crying / Without a friend, there’s no denying / You’re incomplete, they’ll be no finding / Looking for what you knew / So anytime somebody needs you / Don’t let them down, although it grieves you / Some day you’ll need someone like they do / Looking for what you knew …”

Dougie MacLean – Auld Lang Syne – Maggie B: What we would have sang if any of us had been together at New Year’s Eve. To our absent friend, Ravi.

Earworms 4 January 2021

 

Good day, happy new year to you all. Earworms are back with songs about optimism and new beginnings, to cheer us through the grim start to 2021. Well, that’s the theory.

If you have an earworm you’d like to share, please send an .mp3, .m4a or a link to adempster73@gmail.com, together with a few words about why you’ve chosen it. Next week’s theme will be friends, companions and that sort of thing; earworms should reach me by close of play on Sunday 10 January.

Many thanks to all contributors – stay safe.

Xavier Rudd – Follow the Sun – AliM: Talented Australian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, with a social conscience. Also, unusually for me, an up-beat song.

Moddi – New Dawn – severin: I just suggested this for Song Bar songs for 2021. But it’s probably a long shot and Earworms is posted first anyway.

The Ruminant Band – Fruit Bats – tincanman: I can’t think of a better promise for a new year than “You’ll always have smokes if you always give buckets of love.” I don’t smoke, but the rest sounds good. (And no, I have no idea how a band can be ruminant.)

The Beatles – In My Life – Suzi: A tender, thoughtful song about new love, one of the Beatles’ most beautiful. ‘But of all these friends and lovers/ There is no one compares with you/ And these memories lose their meaning/ When I think of love as something new.’

Orange Juice – Rip it Up – shoegazer: Made the top 10 (briefly) back in ’82.

Radiohead – Optimistic – glassarfemptee: It’s 20 years since Radiohead dropped ‘Kid A’. Here’s the most played track. “The best you can is good enough”.

Dave Griffiths & Tim Renwick – Dawn Returning – AliM: I found this in my iTunes. I have no idea where it came from, I suspect one of you lot, but I don’t remember who. Anyway, it’s sort of ambient and uplifting, if that’s a thing.

Adrian Borland – Someone Will Love You Today – severin: Melancholy positivity is still a kind of optimism I think.

Joan Armatrading – More Than One Kind Of Love – tincanman: I used this song to kick off a longer playlist I made that suits hunkering down for an afternoon.  Invest in friends, Joan lectures, and you’ll never have to face anything alone.

The Monkees – Daydream Believer – Suzi: Happy and optimistic, both melody and words are guaranteed to lift the heart. All-time favourite.

The Walkmen – In the New Year – glassarfemptee: In the same year as “Kid A” was released, The Walkmen were formed. On “In the New Year” they sing “It’s gonna be a good year/Out of the darkness”. Yes, please…

Chumbawamba – Tubthumping – Debby M: First thing that came to mind.

Neil Young – After the Goldrush – Maggie B: Happy New Year all and I hope you had a decent holiday given the restrictions. I’ve been waiting to slot this classic into a category for ages… A dream of an extreme new start… flying in a silver spaceship to a new home. Not a very optimistic number but I love that harmonium. Stay safe, the vaccine is on the way. Virtual hugs all round 😀

Earworms 14 December 2020

Good evening and sorry I’m late, I’m having Internet problems here (or it could be that my old Mac is on its last legs, it can’t even keep up with my typing. Or perhaps it’s protesting at Young Munday’s attempt to “do something with it.”). Anyway, notwithstanding and whatever, here are your songs epitomising the very strange Christmas that we’re about to receive. I wish everybody good health and happiness for Christmas and the New Year, and thank you for all your contributions in 2020. A warm hug and a big jug of something alcoholic for Fuel and DebbyM, who re-join us this week. And kind thoughts and good wishes to absent friends.

If you have an Earworm you’d like to share, please send an .mp3, .m4a or a link to adempster73@gmail.com, in time for the next Earworms post on Monday 4 January. The theme will be optimism and new beginnings (we live in hope). In the meantime, enjoy Panthersan’s albums of the year and shoegazer’s Festive ‘Spill.

The sun is well and truly over the yardarm. Love and hugs and inappropriate social contact to you all.

Vandals – My First Xmas As A Woman – tincanman: There will be firsts for all of us this Christmas. Most ‘Spillers won’t wake up to a gender reveal under the Christmas tree, but there’s certain to be other challenges. If they can’t all be solved, we might as well cheer for this guy.

The Pogues – Fairytale of New York – Suzi: The opening notes never fail to evoke a sense of pleasurable anticipation, and you can’t say that about every song that you hear. An absolute classic.

Count Basie Orchestra – I’ll Be Home For Christmas – severin: Maybe I will…

Josh Rouse – Snowy – Fuel: American singer/songwriter, from Nebraska.

MIU – Chocolate Santa – DebbyM: This is a Covid song involving Christmas sweeties, so I’m submitting it for the playlist! The singer is Miu from Hamburg, who recorded a Corona Tapes EP for her patreons during lockdown. I have mostly been away from music this year, but projects like this are helping me ease my way back in.

I LIKE TRAINS – Last Christmas – glassarfemptee: I like trains have been busy this year. Following their album Kompromat, they have released this excellent cover of a Wham classic – can it really be from 36 years ago?

Jesca Hoop – White Winter Hymnal – AliM: I know it’s a cover of the excellent Fleet Foxes song, but I can’t get it out of my head. With bits of Happy Xmas War is Over thrown in. From a compilation of (mostly) original holiday songs from Memphis Industries artists in aid of Crisis’ Home for All Campaign.

Amy Speace – Kindness – tincanman: This song, written by Britain’s Ben Glover (not the Nashville Ben Glover), makes me feel like I’ve gone down on my knees at the end of the day to ask forgiveness and guidance. May you know kindness this Christmas, fellow ‘Spillers, and may kindness know you.

Phoebe Bridgers w/Fiona Apple & Matt Berninger – 7 O’Clock News / Silent Night – shoegazer: Update of the Simon & Garfunkel version.

Harry Nilsson – Remember (Christmas) – severin: You could choose to remember what Christmases were like in the past. Or just get on with how it is now. Topicality shoehorn alert. It’s a good song though.

Joni Mitchell – River – Suzi: It’s hard to join in the Christmas festivities if you’re feeling miserable, and ‘songs of joy and peace’ are cold comfort to unhappy Joni. ‘Oh, I wish I had a river/ I could skate away on,’ she laments, in one of the saddest songs about this time of year.

Joensuu 1685 – Sweet Saviour – Fuel: I was listening to the new Joensuu 1685 album and I think Sweet Saviour is very Christmassy. A bit like finding your own personal Jesus wrapped in tinsel under the tree.

Otis Redding – Merry Christmas Baby – glassarfemptee: Otis Redding with a cover of an R&B Christmas classic from 1947. Merry Christmas to all ‘wormers!

Show of Hands – Innocents’ Song – Suzi: A Charles Causley poem set to music, sung by Steve Knightley, with suitably menacing fiddle accompaniment by Phil Beer. ‘Who is the laughing stranger/ With hair as white as gin?’ It certainly isn’t Father Christmas, and the presents that he brings take on a sinister quality.

Pretenders – 2000 Miles – AliM: Not new, but apt. Many of us will be missing friends, lovers and family this Christmas.

Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan – Time of the Season – Fuel: Like a child I gave my heart/Now why do you have to break it?/ If there’s sense inside that head of yours/ Well, now’s the time to wake it.

Tom Lehrer – A Christmas Carol – Suzi: A song from over 60 years ago, still bringing comfort and joy to those of us who may be weary of Christmas, especially its more commercial aspects. As beautifully cynical as you might expect.

The Polyphonic Spree – Happy Xmas (War Is Over) – Fuel: American choral rock band, from Dallas, covering the John Lennon classic.

Steeleye Span – The Holly and the Ivy – AliM: Our local wood is full of holly, ivy and even deer. Not sure about the merry organs, but perhaps they only come out at night.

Au Revoir Simone – Christmas Time is Here – Fuel: Laid-back Indie / synth-pop band from New York.

Phoebe Bridgers – If We Make It Through December – Severin and Fuel: Sev: From a new 4 track EP of the same name. A cover of a Merle Haggard song. Not even the first cover I gather. I hadn’t even heard the original when somebody pointed this one out to me. Not exactly about Christmas, not exactly about our current situation but it couldn’t sound more topical. Fuel: If the others aren’t seasonal enough, there’s always Phoebe Bridgers’ version of If We Make It Through December, though I’m sure someone will have recommended the original.

Kevin Bloody Wilson – Hey Santa Claus – Suzi: Very, very rude, and definitely Not For The Easily Offended. How it got into my music library I can’t be sure, though I have my suspicions.

Saturnalia – Soul Song – LongTallSilly: That will teach me to Google stuff!! 😂😂

Blackmore’s Night – Once Upon December – LongTallSilly: How the mighty have fallen!!

Jingle Cats – White Christmas – Maggie B: The daftest Christmas “music ” I have ever come across. I think what’s really going on is that these kitties are demanding to be fed ALL the turkey. Hope everyone is well. 🎄

Earworms 7 December 2020

Good evening, and welcome to your songs about hotels, motels, inns, and that sort of thing – I must have chosen the topic in a wave of nostalgia.

If you have an earworm you’d like to share, please send an .mp3, .m4a or a link to adempster73@gmail.com, together with a few words about why you’ve chosen it. Next week’s theme will be Christmas (not predictable at all) – but with a slight twist this year. By all means, pick out the old favourites, but if you can think of a song that sums up the weird Christmas we are anticipating, then go for it. Funny, sad, daft … whatever. Worms should reach me by close of play on Sunday 13 December, then I will be having a week off to make way for Shoey’s Festive Spill. Yay!

Many thanks to all contributors.

Fred Astaire – Puttin’ on the Ritz – AliM: Have you seen the well-to-do? / Up and down Park Avenue / On that famous thoroughfare / With their noses in the air / High hats and arrow collars / White spats and lots of dollars / Spending every dime for a wonderful time.

Graham Parker and the Rumour – Hotel Chambermaid – severin: As Captain Mainwaring would say “I think we’re entering into the realms of fantasy here”. In 1976 I passed over Anarchy in the UK and picked this as my single of the year in one of the music paper’s polls.

Fol Chen – Cable TV – shoegazer: A cheap motel getaway.

Leonard Cohen – Chelsea Hotel #2 – Suzi: In an interview much later, Cohen said that he regretted identifying the person to whom this is a tribute. However, as memory of a very fleeting relationship, and as an evocation of a particular time and place, it seems both tender and honest.

The Stars Of Heaven – Sacred Heart Hotel – glassarfemptee: I know very little of the long-disbanded Dublin band “The Stars of Heaven”, but Toffeeboy of this parish was a fan, and that’s good enough for me. So join me in a toast to Toffeeboy in the residents’ bar of the Sacred Heart Hotel.

Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain – Stompin’ at the Savoy – severin: Well, it’s a hotel. And this is the only version of the tune that I have. Do they do much stompin’ there? It’s quite posh, I gather.

Joni Mitchell – Blue Motel Room – severin: Soon goes off topic, but it does start off describing the room. Plus it’s Joni – and Jaco.

Little Feat – Cadillac Hotel – glassarfemptee: Little Feat’s Shaun Murphy sings this classic tale of folk “living on their hands and knees” and the flashes of hope that can still arise. “Every story has a hero/down at the Cadillac hotel”.

The Velvet Underground and Nico – Chelsea Girls – Suzi: Written by Sterling Morrison and Lou Reed, a song in which Nico catalogues the varied residents of New York’s famously bohemian Chelsea Hotel back in 1967.

The Rolling Stones – Memory Motel – Maggie B: From the Black and Blue album.

Leonard Cohen – Paper-Thin Hotel – Maggie B: Lennie gets sleazy and stalky- the reason that it sounds so awful is because it was produced by Phil Spector who imposed his wall of sound on it. Apparently he was waving guns around the studio too …

Gun Club – Moonlight Motel – wyngate carpenter: Sounds like a grim place, Jeffrey Lee Pierce seems to be singing from the point of view of a prostitute.

Earworms 30 November 2020

Good day, and welcome to your selection of songs about beds and sleeping places. And thanks to glassarfemptee, who sent the above Kathy Heideman song to Earworms a long time ago – it doesn’t quite fit today’s remit, but it’s a lovely song, with a salutary lesson for us all.

If you have an Earworm you’d like to share, please send an .mp3, .m4a or a link to adempster73@gmail.com, together with a few words about why you’ve chosen it. Next week’s theme will be hotels, motels, inns, hostels and that sort of thing, and worms should reach me by close of play on Sunday 6 December.

Many thanks to all contributors.

At Swim Two Birds – In Bed With Your Best Friend – glassarfemptee: Beds are for sleeping, but also for other things. This At Swim Two Birds song is a tale of the unexpected. ASTB was the moniker of Roger Quigley (of Montgolfier Brothers), which he took from the title of the marvellous book by Flann O’Brien (also a moniker, the pen name of Brian O’Nolan). Sadly, Roger died in August this year.

Strawbs – Song of a Sad Little Girl – Alfiehisself:  About sleep or more about waking up, but a bed is implied.

Bat For Lashes – In Your Bed – severin: From her 2016 song cycle CD (I’m trying not to say “concept album”) The Bride. I missed the premier of the album at The Union Chapel because I didn’t realise it was happening. More proof that 2016 was the year when everything started to go wrong.

The Beatles – I’m Only Sleeping – Suzi: John Lennon just wants to stay in bed, float upstream … I think we all know that feeling!

Echo & the Bunnymen – Bedbugs and Ballyhoo – Alfiehisself: Got a bed in the title.

Over the Rhine – Let’s Spend The Day In Bed – glassarfemptee: Over The Rhine (Linford Detweiler and Karin Bergquist) specialise in languid and lush songs, of which this is a good example. I was introduced to them years ago by Shane of this parish. A classic case of the wonders of RR and the Spill. I guess the lifestyle of rock stars makes them hanker for their beds! John and Yoko had the bed-in; Belle and Sebastian want to sleep the clock around; Dusty has breakfast in bed; Laura Marling wants to rest in bed. Zzzz.

Eliza Carthy – Clark Sanders – Suzi: ‘A bed, a bed,’ Clark Sanders said, ‘A bed, a bed for you and I’. His beloved fears what may happen if her brothers find out, but he persuades her, and the night of passion ends very badly indeed.

Mary Coughlan – There is a Bed – severin: Have I sent this in before? I have a memory of somebody saying they liked it. Maybe that was on SongBar. Anyway, it’s a Marc Almond song but this is the version I heard first and, to me, it’s always going to be Mary’s.

Leon Bridges – Mrs. – tincanman: Going to bed mad keeps them together, and I like to listen.

Thee More Shallows – Monkey Vs. Shark – shoegazer: Bedwetting & animal imagery.

Kate Bush – Dream of Sheep – AliM: I am not much of a KB fan, but I love this. “Let me be weak, let me sleep and dream of sheep /Ooh, their breath is warm / And they smell like sleep / And they say they take me home / Like poppies, heavy with seed / They take me deeper and deeper.”

Ghostpoet – I Grow Tired But Dare Not Fall Asleep – tincanman: Who knows what will await if he falls too deep? This is the title track from his fourth album, out earlier this year. If it follows form he will be shortlisted for the Mercury Prize and not get it. And that, I don’t get either.

Leadbelly – Where Did You Sleep last Night? – severin: In the front bedroom. It was Wednesday. I only have this song in my iTunes btw because Ravi sent it in to the Worms in April 2019. Stop press: And on Thursday I listened to BBC Radio 4’s Front Row where American singer Jake Blount played a version of the song and suggested that the original version may not have been a “jealous lover” story at all. He pointed out, that at the time of its writing, the non appearance of a black person in the deep South was likely to provoke worries about lynching rather than infidelity and that the lyric has evolved since then due to misinterpretation of the story.

The Full English – Awake, Awake – Suzi: A young couple are sneakily in bed together when the girl’s father suspects what’s going on, and his appearance at the window scares the young man away. The young woman bewails her lover’s disappearance, but says she’ll turn her bed the next morning and call him back again. Lovely a cappella.

Pink Floyd – A Pillow of Winds – LongTallSilly: Just can’t get enough Floyd!!

Queen – Sleeping on the Sidewalk – LongTallSilly: Brian May on fine form.

Mississippi John Hurt – Make Me a Pallet on the Floor – MaggieB: In Ravi’s absence (temporary we hope) I’m trying to keep the blues songs coming. The first time I heard this I thought it was J.J.Cale for a minute.

Earworms 23 November 2020 – We’re Ear for Ravi

Hello there, and welcome to Earworms. We have been feeling the absence of Ravi Raman, who hasn’t been able to contribute recently, so this week our theme is “songs for Ravi“, as suggested by tincanman. We hope that Ravi will, at least, be able to listen and to know that we all wish him well. If any of Ravi’s close friends are reading this, and can give us an update, we would be very grateful.

If you have an Earworm you’d like to share, please send an .mp3, .m4a or a link to adempster73@gmail.com, together with a few words about why you’ve chosen it. Next week’s theme will be beds and sleeping places, and worms should reach me by close of play on Sunday 29 November. Many thanks to all contributors.

Nahko & Medicine For The People – Dear Brother (w Xiuhtezcatl) – tincanman: I assume brother Ravi’s situation is dire like this guy’s or we’d have heard from him, so I plucked it from my “Best Of 2020” folder. I get angry at having to live as we are and often wish I could teleport from bubble to bubble and fully connect with others. But Covid don’t care what I want and Nahko’s advice has served me well: “Let it go, get over yourself.”

The Playwrights – The National Missing Person – vanwolf: I seem to have two albums by this now absent band.

Seckou Keita – Missing You – glassarfemptee: Seckou Keita is a great Sengalese kora player, and this track “Missing You” matches the feeling that Ravi’s absence leaves.

Genesis – For Absent Friends – LongTallSilly: I don’t know Ravi, but here’s my contribution from my favourite Genesis album.

Tal Wilkenfeld – Truth Be Told – AliM: Yesterday, LongTallSilly introduced me to the music of Tal Wilkenfeld, a talented Australian singer, songwriter, bassist and guitarist, and it occurred to me that this is just the sort of jazz/blues fusion that Ravi would enjoy.

Joe Cocker – With A Little Help From My Friends – AliM: Whilst we might never entirely agree about jazz, Ravi and I share a taste for the blues and overblown rock songs, so here is Joe Cocker at his best, expressing our hopes and encouragement for Ravi to get back to us soon.

LCD Soundsystem w/John Cale – All My Friends – shoegazer: John Cale guesting with the LCD crew.

The Triffids – Open for You – vanwolf: A sweet song, like all of my noms 😊

Joe Bonamassa – Bridge to Better Days – glassarfemptee: Joe Bonamassa says ‘better days are coming’ and we so much wish that for Ravi.

Rival Consoles (Ryan Lee West) – Recovery – glassarfemptee: Rival Consoles (Ryan Lee West) conveys the one thing we all wish for Ravi  – Recovery.

Dave Hause – Doublewhiskeycokenoice (Dillinger Four cover) – tincanman: Hause, Philly’s Brian Fallon, unearthed this sleeper from his hard core punk collection. Come on over Ravi, and we’ll pass the Beam around and listen to records.

Joni Mitchell – The Silky Veils of Ardour – severin: Not about absent friends. Just a song from an album that I know Ravi has said he likes and that I like too. Hope it fits. It’s a lovely song.

Hound Dog Taylor – Dust My Broom – MaggieB: I  thought about Wish You Were Here, because we all do, but not sure if Ravi likes Floyd much, so I settled on this Blues classic.

Grateful Dead – Here Comes Sunshine – Chris7572: This is sent with the intention of willing Ravi’s safe re-appearance, along with the warming sun. I don’t know if he’s battling with the effects of the annual monsoon or an inundation of another kind, but I hope he finds a solid floor to stand on soon.

Earworms 16 November 2020

Good evening, best wishes to you all and welcome to your songs about Town Planning.

If you have an earworm you’d like to share, please send an .mp3, .m4a or a link to adempster73@gmail.com, together with a few words about why you’ve chosen it.

I still have no news from Ravi, and we can only hope that he is in good care. Tincanman has suggested that next week’s theme should be Songs for Ravi, or absent friends. We hope he will be able to enjoy them.

Worms should reach me by close of play on Sunday 22 November. Many thanks to all contributors.

Bruce Springsteen – Thunder Road – IamIan: see video above.

Beirut -Canals of our City – vanwolf: An essential form of transport for many decent city breaks.

Billie Holiday – On The Sunny Side Of The Street – tincanman: It’s meant metaphorically, but it’s odd because in the early 1930’s when it was written people coveted the shady side of the street. Why? Shade. No air conditioning yet, so city streets were laid out at an angle from the sun’s path and lined with trees to keep homes cooler in summer and warmer in winter. Later in the 1930’s suburban sprawl began, and anyone who could afford it was moving to green, leafy suburbs. Downtown trees were either removed (cops urged this) or left to age and die. The result is ‘shade ghettos’; yet another deprivation poor and marginalised people suffer. (There’s a book coming out on this).

Gus Elen – If It Wasn’t For The ‘ouses In between – severin: I sent this in a couple of years ago for “barriers”. It fits this topic better though. The houses built in the early 20th century for the workers of London were small and crammed together. He can still make a sort of garden in his tiny back yard. Just takes some cabbage leaves and imagination.

The Proper Ornaments – Bridge by a Tunnel – vanwolf: You can’t do it, I think is the implication.

Bert Jansch – Lost and Gone – Suzi: A pipeline has been constructed, a city has grown up around it, and the beautiful valley where he grew up has been lost to the expansion of industry. ‘What a bloody shame,’ indeed.

Ben Harper & Ellen Harper – City of Dreams – glassarfemptee: It’s not all the planners’ fault. Some planning horrors are due to corruption and politicians ignoring advice. Planners act under democratic control. And because they seek to resist the rape of our towns and countryside by unbridled capitalism, the present government is determined to reduce the role of planners and local councillors, so that their private sector developer mates can make even more money. But the result is our towns change for the worse. Or as Ben and Ellen Harper sing “Now freeways crawl though the suburban sprawl”.

James Taylor – Our Town – glassarfemptee: Planners get a lot of stick. We have them to thank for the segregation of polluting industry from homes; for garden cities; for conservation areas and the green belt. But we also rue the unliveable high rises, the urban motorways, and the spread of out of town superstores that have destroyed our town’s beating hearts, and fuelled the car’s dominance. And it is these laments that inspire songwriters. Here’s James Taylor’s take “Main street isn’t main street anymore/Lights don’t shine as brightly as they shone before/To tell the truth, lights don’t shine at all”. Severin: From the film “Cars”. Written by Randy Newman. I’m not a great James Taylor fan but I do like this.

Underworld – Ring Road – shoegazer: Observations wandering around a town – a change-up from their usual completely random lyrics.

Arcade Fire – Sprawl II – AliM: “Living in the sprawl / Dead shopping malls rise / Like mountains beyond mountains / And there’s no end in sight / I need the darkness, someone please cut the lights …”

The Imagined Village (John Copper & Sheila Chandra) – ‘Ouses, ‘Ouses, ‘Ouses – Suzi: Words spoken by John Copper, remembering his grandfather’s dismay at how the rolling downs, where he’d worked as a shepherd boy, had all been built over. Sheila Chandra provides backing vocals, while the band evokes both the present bustle and the lost beauty.

Sufjan Stevens – Detroit, Lift Up Your Weary Head! – severin: “Once a great place, now a prison” Apparently.

Pink Floyd – Mother – LongTallSilly: Only a little stretch. Mother as town planner?

Hawkwind – Uncle Sam’s on Mars – LongTallSilly: Future planning.

The Jam – The Planner’s Dream Went Wrong – Maggie B: Hope not too many more people suggested this one. In our local area, there is a plan to build a ‘garden village’ all over meadows wher skylarks nest- they will have to build it over my cold dead corpse.

The Lurkers – Slabs of Grey – wyngate carpenter: Earworms on town planning; that’s a difficult subject I thought. Within about 2 seconds I thought of this. Arthur Bassick vents his feelings about town planners and councillors.

Earworms 9 November 2020

Happy Monday after a good news weekend – mainly – and welcome to your songs about perfume, scent, smells and all things related.

If you have an Earworm you’d like to share, please send an .mp3, .m4a or a link to adempster73@gmail.com, together with a few words about why you’ve chosen it. Next week’s theme will be town planning, or anything vaguely related that you can shoehorn in. Worms should reach me by close of play on Sunday 16 November.

Many thanks to all contributors.

Holger Czukay – Ode to Perfume – shoegazer: Holger & Jaki. Going for the longest earworm record.

Fela Kuti & Ginger Baker – Ye Ye De Smell – tincanman: If you are somebody’s friend and he is doing things that a friend doesn’t do, then he… wait, what am I doing? We don’t need a reason to spin the king of Afrobeat and his good friend Ginger Bakuh. Play on fellas.

Frank Zappa – Stink-Foot – AliM: A classic from “Apostrophe”.

Ben Bullington – Sage After Rain – tincanman: Ever wonder what what an earworm smells like? No, me neither. Sounds don’t wrap you in their arms and lock on forever the way a smell can, nor do the other senses. This is because one section of your brain does dual duty processing smells and storing emotional memories – a factoid I would probably remember past tomorrow if wikipedia had a scent.

Madonna – Candy Perfume Girl – Suzi: Madonna in seductive mood.

OutKast – Roses – Suzi: Caroline is not so sweet. Her (metaphorical) roses really smell like poo-poo. Oh dear. A cover of this song by Hayseed Dixie… not sure what to say about this one!

Cesaria Evora – Miss Perfumado – severin and glassarfemptee: Severin: “Cape Verdean singer who was nicknamed “The Barefoot Diva” because she performed without shoes. Clearly a major influence on Sandy Shaw. The album this is from was released in 1992 and was her first real international success.” Glassarfemptee: “I was lucky enough to spend time in Mindalo, in the Cape Verde Islands a year or two ago. It’s a musical hotbed to rival New Orleans, with wonderful performances at every turn. There are many different genres, but perhaps the best known is Morna. And the most famous exponent was the late Cesaria Evora. Here she sings (in Portuguese): “Let me die dreaming/Under the vigil of sad eyes/Of a kind young lady/With a sweet-scented body”.

Jens Lekman – What’s That Perfume That You Wear? – glassarfemptee: I don’t listen to Jens Lekman enough, as I enjoy his very personal, quirky and closely observed songs. In this 2014 effort, he runs through a gamut of scents. There aren’t many songs that mention vetiver, which is an ingredient normally imported from Asia, but now grown at a perfumery near me in Dorset.

Maria Dimitriadi – Mirizi O Kosmos Giasemi – severin: Translates (roughly) as “the world is fragrant with jasmine”. Dimitriadi was a popular Greek singer particularly in the ’80s and ’90s. She was also very politically active and, for a while, a member of the Greek Revolutionary Communist Movement.

The White Stripes – I Think I Smell a Rat – Suzi: It’s a metaphor, and I don’t suppose that actual rats smell very nice either…except perhaps to other rats.

Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit – LongTallSilly: Was the go to track on the way to climbing, gets the blood flowing!!

Buddy Guy – I Smell Trouble – MaggieB: Here’s a song for you. The smell of trouble from a Blues legend.

Splodgenessabounds – Wiffy Smells – wyngate carpenter: Max Splodge is surrounded by wiffy smells , I’m sure my wife can relate to this.

Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band – Canyons of your Mind – AliM: “… yes I kiss your perfumed hair – the sweet essence of giraffe …”

Earworms 2 November 2020

Good evening, and welcome to your songs about fireworks, opening with Maggie B‘s pick, an explosive performance from Rammstein, above. I’m not sure how Bonfire Night is going to pan out this year, but I hope you get some enjoyment out of it, and a toffee apple or a beer, or something cheery.

If you have an Earworm you’d like to share, please send an .mp3, .m4a or a link to adempster73@gmail.com, together with a few words about why you’ve chosen it. Next week’s theme will be perfume, scent, fragrance, aroma … or anything smelly along those lines that you can shoehorn in. Worms should reach me by close of play on Sunday 8 November.

Many thanks to all contributors.

Lara Cantrell – Indoor Fireworks (live) – severin and shoegazer: Proper country singer from Nashville covers an Elvis Costello song. All metaphorical (for domestic strife) but it does mention building a bonfire for extra points.

Indoor Fireworks – Elvis Costello – Suzi: Metaphorical fireworks – they may not be spectacular but they can still burn your fingers.

Les Joyeux Alsaciens & Joseph Graff – Feu d’artifice – AliM: From the album “Refrains d’Alsace” Vol.2.

Luke Haines & Peter Buck – Jack Parsons – tincanman: Parsons was a real American rocket engineer, but may not have literally “went to the stars on a firework and a prayer.” Falling somewhere between esoteric and eccentric, he was of course irresistible to Haines. (This album, Beat Poetry For Survivalists, is one of my faves of the year.)

June Tabor and The Oysterband – Susie Clelland – Suzi: Burning someone at the stake is not an activity recommended for your average firework party.

Yola – Walk Through Fire – severin: Not something I would recommend on Bonfire Night even if there are any celebrations. The fire-walk is in part a metaphor for escaping an abusive relationship for something better. But Yola does also tell the story that she wrote it after accidentally setting fire to her dress and subsequently the house. So mind how you go.

Ryan Adams – Gimme A Sign – tincanman: Ryan is so talented he often doesn’t know what to do with it (or where to keep his hands to himself). Here he is channeling his inner Paul Westerberg on his 2002 album Demolition, an outlet for his fascination with the Replacements.

A Fire Is Burning – Oysterband – Suzi: A metaphorical fire, but the music evokes the sound of flames taking hold and spreading quickly.

The Catherine Wheel – Sparks Are Gonna Fly – LongTallSilly: This one covers the brief in title and band name, not as good as “Eat my dust …” Though.

Bovver 96 – Mischief Night – wyngate carpenter: Almost on topic. Wikipedia says ” an informal holiday on which children and teenagers engage in pranks and vandalism” that has variously taken place over the years around May Day, Halloween and Bonfire Night, In some parts of the US it has resulted in widespread arson, as depicted here by one of my favourite US bands of the ’90s.

James Yorkston – Guy Fawkes’ Signature – AliM: Slight shoein, but superb in both lyrics and video.

Handel – Music for the Royal Fireworks; La Rejouissance: Allegro – Maggie B: The original event in 1749 didn’t work as well as the display in the video- It rained, a pavilion caught fire and there were injuries from stray fireworks and one of the cannons which were also used.The music has lasted though- pretty isn’t it?

Jimi Hendrix – The Star Spangled Banner – LongTallSilly: Jimi nailing it. (“O! say, can you see, by the dawn’s early light, what so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming: Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight, O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming, And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air …”)