Snapshots #342: A Top Twelve Star Wars Songs

Yesterday was May 4th - Star Wars Day. (Because: May The 4th Be With You. Don't blame me. I didn't come up with that.) Did you need The Force to crack these clues...?

12. Flaming satellite. 

Named after a Russian street gang, the "sigue sigue" meaning "burn burn"...

Sigue Sigue Sputnik - Albinoni vs. Star Wars, Pt. 1 & 2

11. Sadomasochism for the Original Gangsters.

S&M for the OGs...

Smog - I Am Star Wars!

10. Armenian butcher.

Their name means "butcher" in Armenian, apparently...

Kasabian - Empire

9. Odd LA back-up. 

Odd is Weird, LA backwards is AL...

Weird Al Yankovic - Yoda

(Sung to the tune of Lola, naturally.)

8. Twice as bright.

Neon Neon - I Told Her On Alderaan

Alderaan was Princess Leia's home planet... but you knew that.

Neon Neon features Gruff Rhys of the Super Furry Animals.

7. Greasy lady found in Falkirk.

The lady in Grease is Sandy. Denny is a town in Falkirk. Han was Solo.

Sandy Denny - Solo

6. Home security camera rotates more than half way. 

I've got Blink security cameras on Top Ten Towers, in case you were thinking of coming round to steal my CD collection. If you rotate something through half a turn, that's 180 degrees. Just over that would be...

Blink 182 - A New Hope

5. Don't mess.

Don't Mess With Jim!

Jim Croce - A Long Time Ago

...in a galaxy far, far away.

4. Female warrior and bright star. 

Bellatrix is both of the above.

Bellatrix - Jedi Wannabe

3. What Johnny used for small payments.

Johnny raids the Petty Cash.

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Rebels

2. On yer bike, Nicole Kidman!

Nicole Kidman's second film role, way back in 1983, was in the movie BMX Bandits.

BMX Bandits - Star Wars

1. The genuine article.

The Real Thing - Can You Feel The Force?

Snapshots will be back next Saturday. Do. Or do not. There is no try.

Self Help For Cynics #18: Why Do You Come Here?

Why do you come here?
And why, why do you hang around?

Morrissey - Suedehead

Nothing too heavy or existential for our final Cynical Self-Help post of 2023, though it is about something our brain does, and I imagine it's something we all experience from time to time... probably with greater frequency as time goes by.

S.E. Webster - The Doorway

You go upstairs to get something from the bedroom. By the time you reach the bedroom, you can't recall for the life of you what it is you want or why you came upstairs in the first place.

William Bell - All The Things You Can't Remember

It doesn't have to be upstairs - it can be as simple as going from the lounge into the kitchen. Or even opening the fridge door. Why did I come here? What did I want?

And I thought we had a chance for love

A rare and special kind of love

Well you opened a door then shut it again

I lost your love and I lost a friend

BMX Bandits - Doorways

For a long time, I believed this frustrating phenomenon was the result of advancing years. Then again, considering that it's been happening for as long as I can remember (although, as we've just discussed, "as long as I can remember" is a relative term), I've long worried my years actually started advancing at a very early age. 

Elvis Presley - I Forgot To Remember To Forget

Turns out it's nothing to do with old age at all though... it's what scientists call The Doorway Effect. A series of experiments by Gabriel A. Radvansky and David E. Copeland which commenced in 2006 concluded that... 

Memory was worse after passing through a doorway than after walking the same distance within a single room.

Jackie DeShannon - When You Walk In The Room

One explanation for this effect is down to what neuroscientists call episodic memory...

Episodic memory involves the ability to learn, store, and retrieve information about unique personal experiences that occur in daily life. These memories typically include information about the time and place of an event, as well as detailed information about the event itself.

Drugdealer (feat. Ariel Pink) - Easy to Forget 

Simply put: if you have a thought in one room, then try to carry that thought to another room, it becomes harder to remember. You wouldn't have forgotten what it was you were looking for if you'd stayed in the room where you first realised you'd lost it. Of course, that causes something of an issue when it comes to looking for them...

Bobbie Gentry - Find 'Em, Fool 'Em And Forget 'Em

Louise gets very frustrated when she asks me to do a job, or add an item to the shopping list, and the first thing I do is run for a notepad to write it down.

"Why can't you remember?"

At last - I have an answer to that question! But will I be able to remember it when I go downstairs to tell her?

Eggs Over Easy - Forget About It

Another potential explanation for the doorway effect involves a slightly more complex understanding of how our brains are organised. BBC Science expounds...

As we move through our days, our attention shifts between [different levels of thinking] – from our goals and ambitions, to plans and strategies, and to the lowest levels, our concrete actions.

Bob Luman - Let's Think About Living

At concrete action level, I am hammering on a keyboard right now.

The strategy involves transfering the ideas in my head onto a computer screen.

My plan is to explain complex mental health issues to myself (and anyone else who might be interested).

My goal is to help me understand my own mental health.

My ambition is to feel better.

Kurt Wagner & Cortney Tidwell - Let's Think About Where We're Going

That's a clumsy generalisation of the different levels of thinking, but the fact is that our brain switches effortlessly between these different levels throughout the day. That's why we can drive home some days without thinking about the journey (or the mechanical process of changing gear or swapping pedals) at all. Other days though, our thoughts might be dominated by those things - if traffic is bad or our car is making a strange noise. 

Charles Drain - Stop And Think About It Baby

The Beeb continues...

The way our attention moves up and down the hierarchy of action is what allows us to carry out complex behaviours, stitching together a coherent plan over multiple moments, in multiple places or requiring multiple actions.

They liken this to the old metaphor of spinning plates... but every so often, a plate falls and we can't remember what we're doing or why we're doing it.  

Radiohead - Like Spinning Plates

Our memories, even for our goals, are embedded in webs of associations. That can be the physical environment in which we form them, which is why revisiting our childhood home can bring back a flood of previously forgotten memories, or it can be the mental environment – the set of things we were just thinking about when that thing popped into mind.

The Doorway Effect occurs because we change both the physical and mental environments, moving to a different room and thinking about different things. That hastily thought up goal, which was probably only one plate among the many we’re trying to spin, gets forgotten when the context changes.

If you want to remember more - stay exactly where you are! (Sidebar: would I have done better in my GCSEs if I'd done all my revision in the hall where I eventually sat the exam?)

Deee-Lite - Stay in Bed, Forget the Rest

Sorry, I just popped downstairs to make a cup of herbal tea. What was I writing about? The Doorway Effect? What was that again...?

Soul Asylum - Standing In The Doorway

Does it, I wonder, have anything to do with The Staircase Effect... or what the French call "l'esprit d'escalier"? 

Jet - L'esprit D'escalier

No. This is the frustration we feel when we leave a room after an argument or contentious conversation and - too late! - come up with the pithy reply or put-down we should have used at the time. I'm kicking myself I didn't say...

Lindisfarne - The Things I Should Have Said

A fire officer came to visit our workplace last week. When he looked at our fire plan, he complained that it wasn't a procedure, it was just a series of actions. I wish I'd thought to hand him a dictionary and ask him to look up the actual definition of "procedure". Too late now...

Record Collection Recollections #1

Because ongoing, irregular and intermittent series are the ballast that keeps this blog afloat, here's another one, in which I reflect on almost forty years of record collecting.

Over the last year or so, my interest in owning physical copies of the music I love has returned. There was a time, maybe about 5 years ago, when I considered going all digital apart from the essentials, but lately I've realised I'm far more likely to devote time to a record that I actually paid money to own a physical copy of. My hard drive is full of digital albums I've never listened to (except when serendipity throws up appropriate tracks for a Top Ten), but when I look at the CDs on my shelves, there's barely a one I haven't played until I was sick of it. And the majority of them, I'm more than happy to revisit when time allows. Even though I rarely actually need to take the discs out of their cases to play them any more, and until I get glasses (remember: no eye test until I'm 50), I can't read the majority of the inlay cards without a magnifying glass anymore.

And so, here's a series in which I will write about collecting records. Or CDs, since I long since had to sacrifice my vinyl dreams. (More on that anon.) I want to celebrate the joy of collecting music, now that I've rediscovered it. I have quite a lot to say, but I'll try to break it down into manageable chunks. And play some appropriate tunes along the way. Because, to quote Chicago, record collecting... it's a hard habit to break.

Here's a tune I was listening to on my headphones yesterday while walking in the rain.

Fact: if you Google the lyrics to this song, it'll tell you they sing that your tabloids should be stronger. Not tablets, which would make a lot more sense (and is the actual lyric). Makes you wonder if online lyrics are written by an Alexa-like AI that doesn't really understand language, just responds and transcribes sounds.

  

Hot 100 #22

The 22-20s! Remember them? Say yes, and I promise not to use them again in two weeks' time.

This is what they sounded like.

Welcome back. You know the drill. Songs with 22 in it. Remember that the Lime Green Rule now applies. Titles only, no more lyrical mentions. Unless I really, really like them.

Martin was first up this week, with a right old list...

Paul Weller - 22 Dreams

The Moody Blues - 220,000 Days

Sting and Shaggy - 22nd Street (if nothing else, it'll irk the muso's, right?)

Martin! And I thought  I had no shame!

How the mighty have fallen. What was Shaggy thinking?

The Flaming Lips - When Yer 22

That was on my list.

Golden Smog - 5-22-02 

That should have been.

Ariane Moffatt - 22h22 (double whammy!)

New to me. I'm presuming she's not related to Adrian Moffat?

Iron Maiden - 22 Acacia Avenue  (I'd better stop there)

No, you should have stopped before you got to Sting. As should Shaggy.

Hang on, though, here's Rigid Digit to second your suggestion - with added info...

...the second song of the "Charlotte Saga" (Charlotte The Harlot / 22 Acacia Avenue / Hooks In You / From Here To Eternity).
The first two are Charlotte songs, the last two are a bit tenuous but still considered part of the ongoing story.

Fair enough. If we're going metal this week... here's my contribution.

Queensrÿche - Waiting For 22

Martin, meanwhile, had one more point to make:

And more songs called Catch-22 than you can shake a stick at.

You'd think so, wouldn't you? Although I could only find two. This one...

Pink - Catch 22

And this one from Douglas...

Erasure would be my go-to for one of the plethora of "Catch 22" songs. I left the Erasure train long before 2000's "Loveboat" album.

Erasure - Catch 22

While we're with Douglas, what else did he have to offer?

Norah Jones - She's 22  Sad, if you listen to the lyrics.

She's twenty two

And she's loving you

And you'll never know how it makes me blue

Does it make you happy?

But the real pick of the lot would be my Can-Con contribution ("Canadian Content", for those outside my home country, a term coined decades ago by government regulators of our airwaves to protect our ears from over-Americanization). How about the obscure and experimental b-side by Martha and the Muffins called "22 in Cincinnati"? Very moody, that one.

Martha & The Muffins - 22 in Cincinatti

That's just weird. Is that a purring cat in the middle? (Amazingly Jim in Dubai seconded that rather obscure choice.) Still, we like weird here. That's why we keep The Swede around. Here he is with this week's even weirder selections...

'Room Twenty Two', a dubwise selection from the marvellous 'Black Market Meets Mired & Wise Owl in​ the Twilight Zone'.

Black Market Meets Mired & Wise Owl in​.​.​. THE TWILIGHT ZONE - Room 22

Thank you, Swede. I never thought I'd hear The Twilight Zone theme tune gone reggae. Anything else?

The Album Leaf - Twentytwo Fourteen a quite lovely instrumental.

Cheers, as always, Swede.

Oh, hang on. Douglas isn't done yet.

Oh, and if we're getting lax about the Lime Green Rule now, what about the iconic opening lines of Billy Bragg's "A New England". A Classic, that one, though I suspect Billy's a bit older than 22 now.

It's worth pointing out that Billy Bragg is the easy way round most rules and regulations, lime green or otherwise.

Billy Bragg - A New England

I was twenty one years when I wrote this song

I'm twenty two now, but I won't be for long

People ask when will you grow up to be a man

But all the girls I loved at school

Are already pushing prams

The irony, of course, is that as of last week, we do have a new England (and Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland). Sadly, not the one Billy wanted though.

Of course, if we're playing that, we also have to play this...

Kirsty MacColl - A New England

And this, the place Billy stole those lines from...

Simon & Garfunkel - The Leaves That Are Green

I was twenty-one years when I wrote this song

I'm twenty-two now but I won't be for long

Time hurries on

And the leaves that are green

Turn to brown

OK, we've got all those out of the way now. Fine tunes each one, but we won't be revisiting them next week. Just in case you were tempted.

Lynchie's up next, with a track that's probably the inspiration for the band at the top of the page.

Skip James - 22 20 Blues He plays piano instead of guitar on this track.

Oh, but he's not done there. Still looking to irk the ref (Charity Chic) by flouting the Lime Green Rule...

If it wasn't for the lime green rule, I'd have gone for the awesome... 

Neil Young - Powderfinger

Daddy's gone, my brother's out hunting in the mountains

Big John's been drinking since the river took Emmy Lou

So the powers that be left me here to do all the thinking

And I just turned twenty-two

I was wondering what to do

And the closer they got,

The more those feelings grew...

Don't worry, Neil. As has already been pointed out above, you won't be 22 for long.

Back to Rigid Digit, who has another suggestion from my own shortlist...

Lily Allen - 22

When she was 22 the future looked bright

But she's nearly 30 now and she's out every night

I see that look in her face, she's got that look in her eye

She's thinking how did I get here and wondering why

It's sad but it's true how society says her life is already over

There's nothing to do and there's nothing to say

'Til the man of her dreams comes along

Picks her up and puts her over his shoulder

It seems so unlikely in this day and age

She's got an alright job but it's not a career

Whenever she thinks about it, it brings her to tears

'Cause all she wants is a boyfriend, she gets one night stands

She's thinking how did I get here, I'm doing all that I can

And while we're in that area, I'm surprised nobody suggested this...

Taylor Swift - 22

She may have gone a bit mental in recent years, but she can definitely crack out a fine pop song from time to time.

Almost at the end of your suggestions, and it's a welcome return from Swiss Adam...

Moon Duo - Stumbling 22nd Street

...which turns out to be a fine old racket. Thanks for that, SA.

OK, let's scrape the barrel of my hard drive...

Travis - 1922

Styx - 22 Years

That's better than you think it will be.

Kelis - 22nd Century

Babes In Toyland - 22

Night Beds - 22

The Divine Comedy - 22nd of February

Monkey Swallows The Universe - 22

Much missed, Monkey Swallows The Universe.

Roy Orbison - 22 Days

BMX Bandits - 4 Minutes 22

(Which is actually 2 minutes 23, just to be awkward.)

All of which leaves of with just two final suggestions. The first comes from C, who's been biding her time, waiting to suggest this one...

The Rakes - 22 Grand Job

I wonder what an entry-level job in London pays 15 years later?

The Rakes almost clinched it too. Until Jim in Dubai played his trump card... and knocked all the other fish out of the water.

The Man from Delmonte - Drive Drive Drive (22 And Still in Love With You)

Well, I never liked your politics

Never read your books

Our only common interests were...

Your looks

What can I say to that, other than the rather obvious... YES! What a great tune.



Next week, just like Benjamin Button, we slip back from 22 to 21. Key to the door, anyone?

Neverending Top Ten #2.2: Kylie's Crush

This is one of Sam's favourite songs at the moment.

He doesn't know who Kylie is.

He doesn't know what a BMX is.

I doubt he even knows what a crush is.

But he loves singing along to the chorus, happily unaware that the song was written by Gerard Love of Teenage Fanclub or that Kurt Cobain once said, "If I could be in any other band, it would be BMX Bandits".

When I first heard this song, I wondered if the band had actually ever met Kylie. The answer to that can be found here.

Anyway, the point is, you don't need to know any of this stuff to enjoy a good pop song. Sam doesn't - and he loves it.

Saturday Snapshots #25 - The Answers

Here we go with this week's answers...

I think we can safely say that The Swede is this week's winner!


10. Lost your afterlife? Ask Syd's heartbreakers.

Syd Barrett recorded a song called Gigolo Aunt, which Urban Dictionary defines as "A Girl who is usually very cute and pretty that seduces men makes them madly fall in love with her using her specific ways".

The Gigolo Aunts - Where I Find My Heaven 

The Swede #1.

9. Irish operas make for rubbish poetry.

Gilbert & Sullivan becomes...

Gilbert O'Sullivan - Nothing Rhymed

One of the saddest song ever written.

The Swede #2.

8. What you need when you're ill in Niagara.

TLC - Waterfalls

Lynchie!

7. Toothpaste flavoured Irn Bru.

Spearmint - Scottish Pop

Martin and a holidaying Charity Chic.

6. Chicks sing on the white lines.

Where's your mama gone?

Middle Of The Road - Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep

Forgotten how good this was. I just ordered a copy of their Best Of.

Alyson got this - of course!

5. Skinny Spaniards play it safe.

Delgado means skinny in Spanish.

The Delgados - No Danger

Another one for Martin.

4. Buddies waiting for the Number 73.

The Hollies - Bus Stop

The Swede #3.

3. Fashionable jigsaws.

The Stylistics - Let's Put It All Together

George & Lynchie - nice try from Rigid Digit.

2. Bicycle thieves get chased by a neighbour.

BMX Bandits - Kylie's Got A Crush On Us

The Swede #4.

1. Russian dolls in the topiary.

Chris got the Early Bird glory this week...

Be still, my pre-teen heart... never did so many young men dream of being a double bass...





Thanks for playing. More next week.