Welcome back to the Hot 100. Before Christmas we got as far as #27, so basic accounting dictates we move on to number 26, as illustrated by Australian band... erm... 26. Appropriately enough, here is their song
A New Beginning. Muse fans may want to give that a spin.
OK, what do you have for me this week?
Martin?
"Marshall Mathers by Eminem has the lyric..."
Startin' shit like some 26-year-old skinny Cartman...
Good start. I still can't help but love Eminem. Good job, because Martin continues...
"Also by
Eminem, My Fault has the line...
She said, 'I am 26 years old and I am not married
I don't even have any kids and I can't cook'...
Still makes me grin.
Anything else, Martin?
"I'm revisiting
Reelin' and Rockin' by Chuck Berry for the line..."
Well, I looked at my watch, it was 10:26...
That one could run and run.
"Chic had a song called
26..."
On a scale of 1 to 10, my baby's a 26...
They did indeed, and it was on my shortlist. It was on Rigid Digit's too.
"But I reckon it has to be
Waiting for the Man by The Velvet Underground and Nico, for the opening verse:"
I'm waiting for my man,
Got 26 dollars in my hand,
Up to Lexington 125,
Feelin' sick and dirty,
Huh, I'm waiting for my man.
Good choice. Even
Lynchie approves...
"Damn and blast. I was going to post I'm Waiting for the Man - it's one of the few Velvets songs that's any good!*"
"*There'll be complaints about that line..."
Probably. But you're entitled to your opinion. Even if it
is wrong.
C was up next, going all Gallic on us...
"If, like me, you are a bit of a sucker for just about anything sung in French, then I give you
Stereolab's OLV 26."
And then came
Douglas, still freezing his elbow patches* off on the picket line...
(*I'm presuming Canadian teachers have elbow patches on their threadbare blazers, just like teachers in the UK.)
"I don't recall if it has been mentioned many times already for other numbers, but Roger Miller's song
Got Two Again is chock full of numbers and sums, including this verse containing our beloved number 26:
For the second verse
I need someone to give me a number
Between 12 and 14, I'll make a verse (13!)
13, ah, 13, well, 13 multiplied by 1
You still got 13 but wasn't that fun?
Now, take that same 13 multiply by 2
26 hours the train's overdue…
Never heard that before, Douglas, but I approve.
"And if the train is indeed 26 hours overdue, then that would make R.E.M.’s 26 hour road trip described in the song
Departure unfortunately twice as long, at 52 hours (keeping with the sums theme, though I suspect that if they are going via Singapore and Spain to Salt Lake City I suspect their mode of travel is more likely a plane?):
Just arrived Singapore, San Sebastian, Spain, 26-hour trip
Salt Lake City, come in spring
Over the salt flats a hailstorm brought you back to me
Salt Lake City, come in spring
Over the salt flats a hailstorm brought you back to me
"And that's all I got, folks."
Both good suggestions. Not heard Departure in ages.
Finally, Rigid Digit returned with another fine lyrical offering...
Paul Hardcastle - 19
In World War II the average age of the combat soldier was 26...
In Vietnam he was 19...
Surely that will be a shoe-in in 7 weeks' time?
OK, besides those, what did my own hard-drive have to offer?
Paramore - 26
Catfish & The Bottlemen - 26
The Charlie Daniels Band - Was It 26?
(Or this more recent version...)
Chris Stapleton - Was It 26?
However, for this week's suggestion I'm going with 12 minutes of protest song, from Gil Scott Heron, reacting to the election of President Ronald Reagan in 1981. Listen to this today and change a few names and statistics and it can surely apply to a couple of more recent election results as well..
Well, the first thing I want to say is..."Mandate My Ass!"
Because it seems as though we've been convinced
That 26% of the registered voters
Not even 26% of the American people
But 26% of the registered voters form a mandate...
Or a landslide...
The idea concerns the fact that this country wants nostalgia
They want to go back as far as they can ...
Even if it's only as far as last week
Not to face now or tomorrow, but to face backwards
Next week, we reach the last quarter in our century. Your 25s will be much appreciated...