Snapshots #345: A Top Ten Fishing Tackle Songs

Yesterday, I left you fishing for the identities of the ten top tuna makers below. Did you catch them all... or was there one that got away?

10. Blake's gang wear plates to show they're still taking lessons. 

Blake's 7 wearing L-plates...

L7 - Packing A Rod

9. Gordon's alive! (But only 25%.)

Flash... but only a quarter.

Quarterflash - Love Without A Net (You Keep Falling)

8. Regicidal Mac meets Loot-making Joe.

Macbeth killed a king. Joe Orton wrote Loot.

Beth Orton - Worms

7. Michael Ne, Fred Eagle, Ron Sex.

Mike Nesmith, Fred Eaglesmith, Ron Sexsmith...

Here's the full photo...

The Smiths - Reel Around The Fountain

6. BB King on the bus.

Blues Traveler - The Hook

5. They sound a bit like the First Lady of the United States.

The First Lady of the United States is the FLOTUS. These guys are...

The Floaters - Float On

4. Nasty drug and those who indulge.

Amyl & The Sniffers - Maggot

3. Drink cake - it'll help you unwind!

"Drink cake" was a rather obvious anagram...

Nick Drake - Fly

2. Boo! went Richard, when his cake was left out in the rain.

Betty Boo meets Richard 'McArthur Park' Harris...

Betty Harris - Hook Line 'n' Sinker

1. Don't mess with their Toot Toot. 

Toot is probably the shortest anagram I've ever dared...

Toto - Hold The Line

A handful of runners up, left over in the tackle box...

The Little Hands of Asphalt - Bait

Peter Gabriel - The Family & The Fishing Net

Beautiful South - The Lure Of The Sea

And if you're after really big fish...

The Jayhawks - Broken Harpoon

Catch more Snapshots next Saturday.

Celebrity Jukebox #26: Rosanna Arquette

In 1985, Rosanna Arquette won the best supporting actress BAFTA for her role in Desperately Seeking Susan. I'm not suggesting this was made easier by the fact that her co-star wasn't really great shakes in the acting department... then again, Sean Penn was also in that movie, so Rosanna did have some competition. 

Desperately Seeking Susan is a mistaken identity movie, based on the premise that someone might think Madonna and Rosanna are the same person because they wear the same jacket. Well, Mary Prankster has a few thoughts about that...

Mary Prankster - Breakfast

"Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?" he said

"Rosanna Arquette doesn't look like a thing like Madonna

And you'd have to be a moron

To desperately seek either one."

Rosanna Arquette also appeared in Pulp Fiction, After Hours, Crash and a bunch of other movies and TV shows. She also has a few famous siblings, meaning this might not be the last time an Arquette features here. However, her biggest claim to immortality surely comes from the fact that she inspired not one but two huge 80s songs. 

The first is the most obvious. Rosanna was dating Toto keyboard player Steve Porcaro at the time this was written by the band's other keyboard player, David Paich, and sung by Bobby Kimball. Could have been awkward, although Paich claimed the song was actually about his old high school girlfriend and Not About Rosanna Arquette At All. 

Many years later, he confessed that might have been a bit of a lie... by which time, Rosanna and Steve Porcaro were history anyway.

All I wanna do when I wake up in the morning is see your eyes

Rosanna, Rosanna

I never thought that a girl like you could ever care for me

Rosanna

All I wanna do in the middle of the evening is hold you tight

Rosanna, Rosanna

I didn't know you were looking for more than I could ever be

Soon after, Rosanna ended up in a relationship with Peter Gabriel. When director Cameron Crowe wanted to use a song from the album So in his movie Say Anything, Rosanna apparently persuaded Gabriel to let him have it. (Apparently Gabriel asked to see a rough cut of the movie first and was willing to let them use his song, although he didn't like the downbeat ending... but the production company had sent him the wrong film anyway.) All this led to a particularly iconic (and much parodied) scene featuring John Cusack and Ione Skye...

In your eyes

The light, the heat (in your eyes)

I am complete (in your eyes)

I see the doorway (in your eyes)

To a thousand churches (in your eyes)

The resolution (in your eyes)

Of all the fruitless searches (in your eyes)

The cognoscenti are convinced Gabriel wrote this song about Rosanna Arquette, although Pete has refused to Say Anything. Rosanna married film composer James Newton Howard the following year, So... 

Not wanting to end on such a downbeat note, I found one more song that mentions Rosanna Arquette, by the French answer to Neil Hannon, Vincent Delerm. This is from his 2004 album, Kensington Square, although the title rather dates it. "Les filles de 1973 ont trente ans" translates as "The girls of 1973 are thirty years old". Well, next year, they'll be 50, Vincent. Will they still be wearing their bandanas and Rosanna Arquette Reeboks then? Let's hope so...

Snapshots Spillover: Another Ten Million Songs

With the new format of Saturday Snapshots essentially becoming the new way for me to continue doing thematic Top Tens on this blog, I've found I often don't get to feature all the songs I'd like. Partly to avoid too much repetition of artists, eras or genres in the quiz. That's why I label it "A Top Ten..." ratherthan "The Top Ten..."

Then it occurred to me: why not start a new Monday feature where I squeeze in some of the songs I didn't have room for? Not every week. Just when I have an overspill. 

So here we go with a few more Million songs...

10. Human Radio - My First Million

When I make my first million

Think I'll buy myself some happiness

If there's a sale on satisfaction

I might just have to stock up

Maybe I'll buy myself some muscles

And a California lifestyle

An irresponsible Ferrari

An ex-cheerleader to knock up

Sadly, it never happened for them.

9. The Ovations - One In A Million

Well-produced Memphis soul. 

8. Orange Juice - A Million Pleading Faces

Impossible not to tap your feet to.

Trumpets, too!

7. Queen - The Millionaire Waltz

Freddie played a great piano.

6.   The Pastels - A Million Tears

Kurt Cobain's favourite 80s Glaswegian indie band.

5. Toto - A Million Miles Away

From one of Toto's least successful albums. Meaning it only sold a million copies rather than 5 million, probably. Starts slow but then, woah, mama! 

4. Lowell George - Twenty Million Things To Do

Solo album from the Little Feat man, manages to get the words "mysterious wisteria" into the lyrics. Points for that.

3. Ooberman - A Million Suns

I will never understand why this band weren't massive.

2. Kirsty MacColl - I'm Going Out With An 80 Year Old Millionaire

He won’t last much longer if he keeps drinking gin

I filled up the bottle that’s marked medicine

He says that he’ll leave all his empire to me

And sitting on top is the best place to be

So don’t get impatient now boys you must wait

We’ll all have such fun when I own the estate

Britt’s got her toy boys but I don’t care

‘Cos I’m going out with an 80 year old millionaire

1. The Wedding Present - A Million Miles

New version, from the just-released Locked Down & Stripped Back album, which is getting a lot of spins in this house right now.

Actually, I found quite a few more. Maybe not a million, but I could have gone another ten.

Any you would have featured?

My Top Ten Isolation Songs

Inspired by Swiss Adam's excellent Isolation Mixes, here's ten songs about keeping your distance. I make no apologies for the fact that the Number One song appeared here just a couple of weeks ago.


10. Teri Nunn - Dancing In Isolation

Stop dancing in isolation

9. The Hoodoo Gurus - Isolation

You from me isolation!

Quarantine, Isolation! Refugee, isolation!

Apathy, isolation! 

8. Toto - Isolation

I'm stranded here in a dream and there's no ticket back

I feel a cold wind blowin', my future looks black

7. John Lennon - Isolation

The sun will never disappear,

but the world may not have many years.

Isolation.

(I'm a fan of the Mercury Rev version.)

6. Joy Division - Isolation

In fear every day, every evening

5. John Mellencamp - The Isolation of Mister

I always felt like sorrow was a lesson

I always felt I needed to feel the pain

I thought happiness was a transgression

And I just took it as it came

I never wanted to say too much

To other people I did not understand

4. The Chameleons - Soul In Isolation

Oh, when you think of it, when you think of it

We're all souls in isolation

Alive in here, I'm alive in here

I'm alive in here

3. Iggy Pop - Isolation

Got a lot to do

Got a lot to say

Got a life to live

Here I stand

In isolation

2. The Darling Buds - Isolation

Silence

Does it ever get that good?

1. Warren Zevon - Splendid Isolation

Cool live version, different to the album version I posted recently. Just for variety.

Don't want to wake up with no one beside me

Don't want to take up with nobody new

Don't want nobody coming by without calling first

Don't want nothing to do with you

Hot 100 #21

Yes, I could have chosen the logo of Twenty One Pilots to illustrate this post, but I don't think they ever recorded a song as good as this. Feel free to disabuse me of that notion should you wish. Jim In Dubai also suggested another 12 group...

Jim's Twenty One - Throwaway Friend

...which I don't think is his own bad, but it's pretty good regardless.

Welcome to the 80th post in this series (look, I did the Maths, you work it out)... which means The Key To The Door: Number 21.

Let's start with Martin, who appears to be struggling somewhat this week...

Erm. 21. Feels like there should be loads.

Well, I found a fair few.

So Solid Crew - 21 Seconds

That... wasn't one of them.

Alanis Morrissette - 21 Things I Want In A Lover

Neither was that. Although it's a step up from So Solid Crew.

Sigue Sigue Sputnik - 21st Century Boy which is probably the first time they've rubbed up against Alanis...

Blimey, you really are scraping the barrel this week.

The Who - 1921

That's more like it.

ELO - 21st Century Man

That's not bad either. Not a winner though.

While we're in the 21st Century, we might as well get these out of the way too...

The Soundtrack of Our Lives - 21st Century Rip Off

Mike Peters - 21st Century

Laptop - 21st Century World

Toto - 21st Century Blues

Frank Hamilton - 21C

Glenn Frey - Love In The 21st Century

Frank Turner - 21st Century Survival Blues

Jamie Cullum (yes, Jamie Cullum, deal with) - 21st Century Kid

Midland - 21st Century Honky Tonk American Band

Jim in Dubai offered Luke Haines - 21st Century Man

C tried King Crimson - 21st Century Schizoid Man

The Swede had T.Rex - 21st Century Stance and The Membranes - 21st Century Man, but curiously not The Mebranes - The 21st Century Is Killing Me.

And Rigid Digit supplied Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown, which hails from the same album as Green Day - 21 Guns. Not their best, no, but no their worst either.

Finally, Douglas offered...

Bad Religion - 21st Century (Digital Boy)

But... well, let's face it: the 21st Century is pretty horrible, so I think we'll skip all those, fine songs though they may be.

Back to The Swede...

Luxuria - Lady 21

Bon Iver - 21 Moonwater

Juana Molina - Wed 21

Sounds like John Shuttleworth on the keyboards there, Swede.

Snailhouse - Twenty One Years

Personally though, The Swede concludes, I'd like to suggest Twenty One by The Apartments. What a truly wonderful band they are.

That is very nice, I have to admit it. Doesn't exist in my own record collection (yet), which is the one stipulation to be a winner on this series. But I definitely have to investigate it further.

Where's Lynchie? Putting all his eggs in one basket this week, it seems...

Well, it's obvious the winner is Twenty-One by The Eagles.

I was very tempted, I'll admit it.

Here comes Brian, who's backing The Swede's final suggestion, but also throws in this...

The Flaming Lips - One More Robot / Sympathy 3000-21 

...which I'm glad he did, because somehow the trawl through my own 21s missed that. Here's a few more of those, if you're at all interested...

Jim Bob - Coach A Seat 21

Dave Gahan - 21 Days

Frank Black - 21 Reasons

The Charlatans - Come In, Number 21

Ash - Death Trip 21

Blink 182 - 21 Days

The Divine Comedy - 21st of May

Jeff Rosenstock - June 21st

And finally, Douglas had a couple more suggestions...

The Cranberries - 21

(Which owes quite a debt to Cyndi Lauper's Time After Time, if you ask me.)

Chuck Berry - 21 Blues

These lead us quite nicely into the subsection "Songs about being age 21", to which I can add...

The Paddingtons - 21

Jack White - Freedom At 21

Wilko Johnson & Roger Daltrey - Turned 21

The Shirelles - Twenty-One

The Lonesome Pine Fiddlers - Twenty One Years

And... of course... this, which was our opening suggestion this week, from Charity Chic, who almost begged...

The Adverts - No Time to Be 21, please, Rol.

C seconded that too, and, well... why not?

Life's short, don't make a mess of it
To the ends of the earth, you'll look for a sense in it
No chances, no plans
I'll smash the windows of my box
I'll be a madman
It's no time to be 21
To be anyone

To be honest, even though I'm not particularly enjoying 47... I don't think I'd fancy being 21 again. Would you?


And so we finally reach the Top 20. On your marks... get set...

Go!

Saturday Snapshots #17 - The Answers

Sunday morning
Brings the dawn in...

...but also brings the answers to Saturday Snapshots.

Thanks, as always, for taking part.


10. All Bar 1 (or 50), a bit like fishing tackle, taking photos of a Soft Cell song.

All bar 1 would be Al (similar L = the Latin 50).

Fishing tackle would be a Rod, as in Stewart.

There's a cool little Soft Cell song called Bedsitter (Carter did a great cover of it too).

Al Stewart - Bedsitter Images

The Swede means business this week. First point of many.

9. Saucy dancers have a mirror in the bathroom.

Saucy dancers would be go-go girls.

Mirror In The Bathroom was a song by The Beat.

The Go-Gos - We Got The Beat

And that is why Belinda Carlisle will always be cool.

Half a point to The Swede, half a point to Alyson. (Rigid Digit got there too, but later in the day.)

8.  Good for cars, fires and burglars in Southern Australia.

Car alarm. Fire alarm. Burglar alarm. I make this too easy.

New South Wales is part of Southern Australia, though obviously they weren't really singing about that.

The Alarm - A New South Wales

Great to hear that one again. Always sends shivers down my spine.

Another point for The Swede.

7. Can a real boy's dad stomach this?

Pinocchio wanted to be a real boy. His "father" was Gepetto.

Stomach? Do I really have to...

Belly - Gepetto

Tanya Donnelly. Sigh.

Yet another one for The Swede.

6. Hang on twice to Dot's dog.

My favourite clue this week.

Dorothy's dog was Toto.

To x 2 (twice) = Toto.

Hang on...

Toto - Hold The Line

Half a point each for Alyson & George.

5. London prisoners turn to this in a power cut.

Holloway is a prison in London.

In a power cut, you might need a generator.

The Holloways - Generator

George tried his best, checking into all the London prisons he could think of... but old lag Martin had already done time with this bunch so he recognised their mugshots immediately.

4. Syd was pretty tough - and loaded!

Syd Barrett.

Tough = strong.

If you're loaded, you have "LOADSAMONEY!" (You had to be there. Yes, I bought that. Listen musos - William Orbit was involved in that, so it must have been cool. I was 16, OK? Give me a break.)

Sorry. Where were we?

Barrett Strong - Money (That's What I Want)

Despite an initial confusion with the footballer (!?!) Earl Barrett, George nabbed this one.

3. German stone guy makes a Take That song even worse.

Stein is German for stone.

Take That did Bad For Good (possibly Gary Barlow's finest hour, though I prefer Robbie Williams' solo version: you have to stick with it past the first 50 seconds. I saw him do that live. Twice. One time, he rode a toilet round the stage while doing it. Don't tell me Robbie Williams isn't great. I won't believe you.)

In my humble opionion, Jim Steinman is one of the greatest songwriters ever to have set foot on this planet.

A rock star, he was not.

But Meat Loaf had a sore throat, so...

Jim Steinman - Bad For Good

(If you were shocked by the Robbie Williams, you'll probably be in a coma after that. Great song though, hilariously camp video notwithstanding.)

The Swede knew the answer, but wasn't willing to risk sacrificing his street cred.

Lynchie & Chris had no such qualms: they share a point between them.

RD adds, "not a terrible album, just not that brilliant either", which is the best I could have hoped for under the circumstances.

2. Little miss sunshine makes half-serious music in pursuit of her target.

KC had his sunshine band, so this must be Kacey.

Grave is serious, half of music is Mus.

Kacey Musgraves - Follow Your Arrow

Top work from C.

1. Voodoo creates an invisible woman.

Voodoo created zombies.

An invisible woman would not be there.

Really, I'm spoiling you.

The Zombies - She's Not There

And with that, The Swede takes this week's trophy.



More next... er... Saturday.

My Top Ten Wizard of Oz Songs

With Sam Raimi's Wizard of Oz prequel in cinemas this week, I thought I'd cobble together ten songs (mostly) inspired by the land over the rainbow... 

Special mention, of course, to Toto...


10. Squeeze - No Place Like Home

Domestic violence, Difford & Tilbrook style. Get whacked round the head by their ruby slippers.

9. Emit Bloch - Dorothy

Probably not about the Dorothy...or any of her friends.

Just be happy yourself
Don't worry 'bout nobody else
You've got problems of your own, she said
Quit your nosing around...

8. Everclear - The Good Witch of the North

A lot soppier than the title lets on, and surprisingly upbeat for the Everclear lads. Most of their songs are about Wicked Witches...

7. The Flaming Lips - If I Only Had A Brain

Wayne Coyne's version is scary-genius.

6. James - Scarecrow

It's hard to believe James were around back in 1985, in the days when everything was still in black and white.

5. Mumford & Son - Little Lion Man

OK, so I couldn't find a song called The Cowardly Lion. I did think of throwing in the awesome Coward of the County instead. But I'm saving that for later. Still, any excuse to play my favourite from Mumford and his boys. (That second album was a bit of a water-treader, but the first still holds up.)

4. The Avett Brothers - Tin Man

They see pain but they don't feel it. You can slap them as much as you like.

3. Scissor Sisters - Return To Oz

True munchkins...

He said, "Is this the return to Oz?"
The grass is dead, the gold is brown and the sky has claws
There's a wind-up man walking round and round
What once was Emerald City is now a crystal town

2. Judy Garland - Somewhere Over The Rainbow

Timeless. As is Eva Cassidy's version. And, as I discovered earlier this week, also the inspiration for the chorus of Starman by David Bowie. The leap of between octaves on "Some... where" and "Star...man" is identical.

1. Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Supposedly the first film lyricist Bernie Taupin ever saw, The Wizard of Oz obviously had a profound impact.

The b-side, when this was released as a 7", was called 'Screw You'. Which leads us nicely up Eminem's own Yellow Brick Road...



Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain...