Songs For Isaac 5

Sifter's Records on Fog Lane in Burnage is a second hand record shop immortalised in the Oasis single Shakermaker ('Mr Sifter sold me songs/ When I was just sixteen/ Now he stops at traffic lights/ But only when they're green'). It is about half a mile from where I grew up in Withington and a regular haunt for me until recent years. Sometime back when Isaac and Eliza were both pretty young, around 2008, I hit upon the brilliant plan that if I took them into Sifter's and gave them a fiver each, they could choose a record each while I browsed the racks. The plan only had two flaws: 1) it was high risk. I could easily end up walking out with a copy of Tango In The Night and a 12" of Whitney's I Wanna Dance With Somebody and 2) my attempt to get them crate digging didn't occupy them for very long at all, they both committed to records quickly and then got bored and wanted to leave. 

On the other hand, they both randomly came up with the goods. Eliza, round about five years old, chose a copy of Into The Groove on 12", Madonna's 1985 Desperately Seeking Susan smash hit. Nothing wrong with a bit of Madge, classic 80s dance pop (and covered by Ciccone Youth but that's for another day). I suspect the mid- 80s Madonna and Rosanna Arquette on the sleeve, all hair and bangles, may have influenced her choice. 

Into The Groove

Isaac's eyes and hands had picked out a 12" single too, There's A Ghost In My House by The Fall. 

There's A Ghost In My House

The Vinyl Villain recently wrote about this 12" as part of his weekly ramble through The Fall's singles and you can find his post and the singles B- sides here. What drew Isaac to it I don't know- the sleeve isn't exactly child friendly but it's another piece of 80s dance music, The Fall approaching accessibility with Brix in the group and a cover of one of my wife Lou's favourite Northern Soul hits (R. Dean Taylor's original came out on Motown in 1967). As for the song's title taking on new meaning now,  well, I don't know about ghosts but Isaac's presence is all over our house from his coat and bobble hat still hanging up in the hall as you come in through the front door to the hundreds of cards we've received since he died last Tuesday. Thanks again to all of you who have left comments here or elsewhere. It means a lot. 

R Dean Taylor 'Gotta See Jane'

R Dean Taylor was the first white person to record for Motown, maybe best known to us as the man who took There's A Ghost In My House to the charts (later covered by The Fall). I can't remember when or where I first heard this, co-written with Brian Holland of Holland-Dozier-Holland fame and produced by R Dean himself, but it's a belter. Starting with car engine noises and squeeling tyres, which are always a great way to start a record, and then going into 'red light green light, driving through the dark night'. Gotta See Jane, 1968, top song.

01 Gotta See Jane.wma