Snapshots #359 - A Top Ten Songs To Help You Get Better

If you're feeling a little under the weather today, take ten of these and see me in the morning...

10. Do you want a job, Zane? No? Too bewildering?

"A job, Zane" is an anagram...

Joan Baez - We Shall Overcome

9. Spend 24 hours with the Reverend and the Professor.

The Reverend Al and Professor Green invite you for the day...

Green Day - When I Come Around

8. No wimps allowed in this family.

They're All Man!

Allman Brothers Band - Revival

7. Parabola.

One for the mathematicians...

Curve - Recovery

6. Firm enough to build on. 

The Foundations - Back On My Feet Again

5. Wet Wet Wet.

SOAK - Get Well Soon

4. One of us.

John Medd - I'm On The Mend

3. Womanise Huey? That sounds confusing.

"Womanise Huey" was an anagram...

Amy Winehouse - Rehab

2. Found in the garden, with six others.

Shed Seven - Getting Better

1. Where Tarzan swung, he listened.

Marvin Gaye - (Sexual) Healing

Hope you're all feeling well enough to join me back here next Saturday...

Hot 100 #41

Sum 41 were the obvious choice to illustrate this week's entry in the countdown... I was always partial to getting a Fat Lip from them.

There was early agreement over this week's winner, although those of you who aren't big Boss fans were keen to offer worthy alternatives.

George was obviously going to try his best to steer me away from New Jersey, with a couple of fine suggestions...

Iron & Wine & Calexico - Prison on Route 41

Eddie Cochran - Somethin' Else

My car's out front and it's all mine 

Just a '41 Ford, not a '59

No, I don't think that was suggested for #59, George, but it should have been.

And what a riff on that song! Stolen - blatantly - by Liam Lynch... Whatever!

Our other resident non-Springsteen fan is C... although I have to say, I felt she was scraping the barrel a little with her offering...

The Dave Matthews Band - #41

Not sure what my final verdict is on Dave Matthews... but he's no Eddie Cochran. He's not even Hootie & The Blowfish.

Onto those of you who accepted the inevitable but offered alternatives for variety, starting with Martin (who only owns one Bruce Springsteen album, so I might have to send him some more in the post)...

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - US 41

Pretty good, Martin, but if we're going with Tom, I'm probably going to have to bend my own rules a little and offer this one...

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - American Girl

It was kind of cold that night 

She stood alone on her balcony 

She could the cars roll by 

Out on 441 

Like waves crashin' in the beach 

And for one desperate moment there 

He crept back in her memory 

God it's so painful 

Something that's so close 

And still so far out of reach

Actually, I was rather surprised that Martin didn't suggest this one...

Sleeper - Factor 41

I was equally surprised that Alyson didn't suggest this one...

The Bee Gees - New York Mining Disaster 1941

Or even this one, from the same year...

Harry Nilsson - 1941

Thanks, guys, leave the heavy lifting to me, that's fine.

Lynchie, meanwhile, offered an alternative which was a new one to me...

The Paul Butterfield Blues Band - Born In Chicago 

I was born in Chicago 1941

I was born in Chicago in 1941

Well, my father told me,

"Son, you'd better get a gun."

Sounds a bit like what my dad told me about Huddersfield. Lynchie adds...

"The song was written by the wonderfully named Nick Gravenites, who's worth checking out."

And from the sound of that, I concur.

Today's final suggestion was a lyrical one, from Rigid Digit...

The Allman Brothers - Ramblin' Man

My father was a gambler down in Georgia

He wound up on the wrong end of a gun

And I was born in the back seat of a Greyhound bus

Rollin' down Highway 41

All of which brings us to today's obvious choice, as identified by The Swede, Alyson, Lynchie and Martin. Inspired by the death of Amadou Diallo, an innocent young black man who was mistaken for a rape suspect by plain clothes police officers in 1999 and shot dead.



Life begins next week. We may be some time.

Saturday Snapshots #54 - The Answers

This Is Love that makes you come back to play Saturday Snapshots, I know it is. Whether you're Man-Size or a 50 Ft Queenie, you know This Mess We're In can only be solved by working out the answers... and you never let me down. Early bird prize goes to No-Lie-Ins Lynchie, with Alyson & Walter both sharing a respectable two and a quarter in joint second place. Although if I was being really mean, I might knock a smidgen of Alyson's mark off for not getting the full title of our Number One (including parenthesis). Charity Chic and Rigid Digit mopped up the rest this week.

Thanks for playing, as always.



10. Untie 6-E = foundations x 2.

Untie untie 6 and take away the e and eventually you might end up with...

Unit 4 + 2 - Concrete & Clay

Video of the week!

9. Tough stereos are invincible.

A tough stereo would be a hard-fi.

Someone invincible is hard to beat.

Hard-Fi - Hard To Beat

8. Get beaten up riding up to the top of the mountain.

You ride to the top of a mountain on a chairlift.

Getting beaten up leaves you with bruises.

Chairlift - Bruises

Yes, Lynchie, there is a band called Chairlift.

7. Sad stoat greets early Wham! song.

Sad stoat = blue mink.

The Wham! song is Freedom.

An early greeting would be Good Morning.

Blue Mink - Good Morning Freedom

6. How do I feel about an open, honest pickett?

Open & honest is frank.

Pickett is Wilson.

Frank Wilson - Do I Love You? 

5. No chance of parole in a French prison when Chamberlain left Take That.

If you've no chance of parole, it's life. What's that in French?

Robbie left Take That.

Chamberlain was Neville.

Robbie Nevil - C'est La Vie

4. Noel and Liam stay up late thinking deeply about miserable faces.

Mull over dour faces.

Maria Muldaur - Midnight At The Oasis

3. Hunky monks go jogging alone.

All-man brothers. Geddit?

The song was a little harder.

The Allman Brothers - No One To Run With

2. Adolescent admirers meet a philosopher with a heart of gold.

Teenage Fanclub, obviously.

Neil Jung, obviously.

Teenage Fanclub - Neil Jung

1. Definite & indefinite TV girls try to remember a tragic heroine.

The definite article is The.

The indefinite article is A.

The Gilmore Girls was an American TV show.

Juliet was the tragic heroine.

(Try to remember = Keep That In Mind.)



Saturday Snapshots will return next week. You can't get Rid Of Me that easily.

My Top Ten Bad Woman Songs

Sometimes I pick a topic that, for one reason or another, fills the Top Ten with music of one particular genre, or era. Most of this week's list comes from the 60s and 70s... which suggests it's no longer seen as politically correct to write about bad women. Which is nonsense, considering some of the misogynistic crap that gets on the airwaves these days. (Although it'd be just as sexist to stop writing songs about bad women - since true equality comes from seeing the bad and the good in everyone.)

Oh, and in case you were wondering where all the bad girls are... They'll get their turn one day.


10. Skip James - Devil Got My Woman

Originally recorded in the early 1930s, though it wasn't widely known until its re-release in the late 60s (shortly before James's death in 1969) and, no, I didn't discover it until I read / saw Ghost World. I guess the blues don't get much more authentic than this. But I'm not going to pretend to be an expert.

9. Cher - Dark Lady

Cher had three US Number One Hits in the 70s, though only Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves was an international success.The second #1 was Half-Breed, in which she portrayed a woman outcast for being half white, half Cherokee. (The video for that, from The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, is hilariously wrong in a Parks & Recreation-style way.) And then came Dark Lady, in which Cher returned to her Gypsy roots with a watered-down version of Redbone's The Witch Queen of New Orleans (which I'm saving for my Top Ten Voodoo Songs, in case you were wondering why I hadn't found room for it here). It was 25 years before she had another Number One record... you know, the one that gave us Auto-Tune. Don't hate her for that.

By the way, Cher is 69 this year. Isn't it time she started putting some clothes on?

8. Allman Brothers - Black-Hearted Woman

A direct descendant of Skip James's woman - and his music.

7. Eric Church - Devil, Devil  (Prelude: Princess Of Darkness)

The only contemporary record on the list this week, this is from Eric Church's latest album, The Outsiders, and it's an eight minute epic. Think you know what modern country music sounds like? Think again...

Oh, and the Devil in question...? Her name is Nashville.

6. Lou Rawls - Evil Woman

Lou Rawls has one of my favourite voices in soul music . Don't go searching for the lyrics online though - every lyrics site I checked had confused this song with another Evil Woman we'll meet a little bit further down this list. Which only goes to show that all those sites steal content from each other and don't bother to check its veracity.

Lou's song is actually a cover of Evil Woman by Spooky Tooth,  a cool slice of laidback 60s psychedelia. Cool... but not Lou.

5. Cliff Richard - Devil Woman

OK, you have every right to hate me for this... like I care what you think. This is one of Cliff's three  biggest selling singles; I was four when it came out and my mum listened to a lot of Radio 2. Plus, I prefer it to the Marty Robbins track of the same name. Just.

If you don't like Cliff's version, I suggest you listen to the one by Krystine Sparkle (the song's co-writer). I can guarantee you'll go back to Cliff. Alternatively, check out the versions by All About Eve, Hayseed Dixie or Cradle of Filth. Something for everybody.

Also, if it wasn't for Devil Woman, we wouldn't ever have had...

4. Flight of the Conchords - Demon Woman

Demon woman
You sit on a rock
Looking nice in your frock
But you're scaring my livestock

'Nuff said? Oh, all right then...

Demon woman
You cut puppies' toes off
Pull an animal's nose off
How'd you magic my clothes off?

I can't wait for the Flight of the Conchords movie.

All of which leads quite nicely into...

3. Crow - Evil Woman (Don't Play Your Games With Me)

You may be more familiar with the Black Sabbath version, but this is the original from a year earlier (1969). Ozzy's is heavier but it doesn't have a trumpet solo.

While we're on the subject of Black Sabbath, I suppose I should also offer Lady Evil for your consideration.

2. Elvis Presley - Hard Headed Woman

Rock 'n' roll Elvis at his most pure. Scotty Moore's guitar just blows me away here.

Samson told Delilah
Loud and clear
"Keep your cotton-pickin' fingers out my curly hair!"

See also Cat Stevens' song of the same name - Cat obviously hasn't heeded Elvis's warning.  

1. ELO - Evil Woman

It's good to see Jeff Lynne getting some respect again this year - proof positive that if you stick around long enough, even the muso-snobs will come around to the fact that you're a national treasure. Not heard the new ELO album yet (beyond the typically Lennon-esque single), but this is one of their very best. Love that opening...





Who's your favourite naughty old lady?

My Top Ten Whipping Songs

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My Top Ten One Way Songs

There is only one way you'll get into this Top Ten (and it ain't "My Way"... or the highway).


10. The Darkness - One Way Ticket To Hell & Back

To anyone who considers The Darkness a one-joke band whose joke isn't funny anymore... take the ticket above, with my love.

See also One Way Ticket by Carrie Underwood, who, Louise took great pleasure in informing me the other day, started her career as a winner on American Idol. The fact that proper songwriters and genres other than pop were allowed on that show sets it streets ahead of The X-Factor in my books. Not that I'd have watched it... but it's good to see an artist as strong as Ms. Underwood come out of it. The best we've managed in this country is Ollie Murs...

9. The Allman Brothers - One Way Out

It's amazing that the Allman Brothers are still going, considering all the tragedy in their past. Some top guitar playing on show here. 

8. Skint & Demoralised - One Way Traffic

And like a street lined with litter on a Sunday morning  
You left me bitter; left me with no warning 
You had to go...and left me thinking, did you have to go?  
And then you sent me a text, and I was desperate to reply 
But to tell you that I'm happy, would have been a desperate lie 
And every time I talk to you, I struggle not to cry 
I still adore you, and I'm sure I should ignore you... 
And these lists of problems, seem to come without thinking 
Almost like they've been rehearsed, and I can feel my heart sinking...

Good to see Matt Abbott has a new S&D album out right now. Check it out here.

7. Dexys Midnight Runners - One Way Love

From the days when Kevin Rowland sang like an unintelligible drunk at a karaoke machine. And yet, he was (and still is) amazing.

Giving Kevin a run for his money in the pub singer states is lead Tinderstick Stuart Staples. See their One Way Street for a top example.

6. The Clint Boon Experience - Only One Way I Can Go

Class tune from Mr. Boon, available to download free from his website (if you can handle .ram files).

5. Bruce Springsteen - One Way Street

Back in the late 70s, Bruce recorded enough unreleased music to fill a couple of box sets, but legal issues and a crazed sense of quality control kept most of it unheard. This finally saw the light of day on the The Promise back in 2010... it was worth the wait.

4. Karine Polwart - Only One Way

My favourite KP song... and yes, Department of the Peculiar fans, this is where I stole one of my character's names.

And when a genocidal maniac talks about grief
And you kinda get the feeling that there’s nothing underneath
But you can’t believe a man would lie through such nice teeth
There's only one way 

3. Blur - There's No Other Way

See, if there's no other way... there must only be one way.

It's easy to forget that long before Britpop, Blur were baggy. If you want a good laugh, check out Damon's haircut in this video... 

2. Blondie - One Way Or Another

She's gonna get you, get you, get you, get you...

While not in the same class as Debbie, I always had a soft spot for Sophie Ellis Bextor's version too...

1. The Levellers - One Way 

Reminds me of being a young man... as so many of these songs end up doing. I hope to be able to share these songs with my own son... though I have a terrible feeling he'll rebel against his old dad and end up liking dance music, blingy r 'n' b or U2...

There's only one way of life - and that's your own!

Which is your one way? (And anyone who suggests One Direction...hang your head in shame.)