Snapshots #307: A Top Ten Songs Named After Boats

All aboard!

Ten songs with boat names in the title...

10. Known for spreading their seed.

Jethro Tull invented the seed drill.

Jethro Tull - The Flying Dutchman

9. Plucked from the Ashes.

That's Charlotte Hatherley, former guitarist in Ash...

Charlotte Hatherley - Dawn Treader

The Dawn Treader is a boat in CS Lewis's Narnia novels. 

8. Hallyday Hears A Who.

Johnny Hallyday + Horton Hears A Who...

Johnny Horton - Sink The Bismarck

7. From the harbour, through the turnstiles, onto the bridge.

Coldspring Harbour, Turnstiles & The Bridge are all albums by...

Billy Joel - The Downeaster Alexa

6. Kisses on the Liffey.

The Pogues are Irish kisses; the Liffey is in Dublin.

The Pogues & The Dubliners - The Irish Rover

I never get tired of watching a young Shane McGowan perform.

5. Churchwarden very angry inside bathroom. 

Inside "Churchwarden very angry" you will find den-ver. The John is the bathroom.

John Denver - Calypso

4. Copacabana, Bathsheba or Omaha, lads? 

They're all beaches, boys.

The Beach Boys - Sloop John B

3. Cornershop.

Bodega - Jack In Titanic

2. I forgot old thong.

Anagram!

Gordon Lightfoot - The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald 

1. This is the day of the expanding man.

That's the opening line of Deacon Blues by Steely Dan. 

Set sail for more Snapshots next Saturday...

Saturday Snapshots #80 - The Answers

Hey Ya! If you've been Outkast for not knowing the answers to Saturday Snapshots, don't be Unhappy. Yesterday was a 3-all tie for the Early Bird prize between Lynchie & Alyson, but I'm going to award the actual prize to C who spotted those that turned out to be the hardest this week, #5, #1 (with a lot of help from Chris) and especially #10.

It's time to shake it like a Polaroid picture...


10. Bowie's tenant says goodbye.

Most obscure band ever featured here?

David Bowie had an album called Lodger.

"Lodger was formed in 1997 by Supergrass drummer Danny Goffey and his girlfriend Pearl Lowe, the former vocalist with Powder. The line-up was completed by co-vocalist Neil Carlill and guitarist Will Foster, both of Delicatessen."

Lodger - I'm Leaving

No, I'm not familiar with Powder or Delicatessen either, but I did quite like this tune at the time.

9. Catching up with Estefan - death is not an option.

Bit easier this one.

If you were catching up with Estefan, you would be a Gloria Gainer.

Gloria Gaynor - I Will Survive

8. Reclusive Munsters suffer calcium deficiency.

Herman Munster, reclusive, would be a Hermit.

Herman's Hermits - No Milk Today

7. Enemies of Brexit near their end.

Those in support of Brexit consider themselves enemies of Europe.

(And if anyone is any doubt about where I stand on that: Brexit is the worst thing to happen to this country since WWII.)

Europe - The Final Countdown

Ms. May, of course, seems to allow herself as many final countdowns as she wants until everybody votes her way. Sigh.

6. Leonardo DiCaprio visits Spanish grocer's.

Bodega - Jack In Titanic

Good spot from Chris.

5. Casserole painting & petroleum relation plan a gathering.

Stew-art and Gas-Kin?

Dave Stewart & Barbara Gaskin - It's My Party

(Up until putting this post together, I honestly thought this was Dave Stewart from the Eurythmics. Turns out he was actually the keyboardist in a number of prog bands: Uriel, Egg, Khan, Hatfield and the North, National Health, and Bruford. Gaskin was in some of those bands too.)

4. Fairytale brothers tell cruel stories about cursed beavers.

The Brothers Grimm tell fiendish stories about damned dams?

The Damned - Grimly Fiendish

3. Charlie's cherubs complain about sweetheart's rear.

Charlie's Angels, obviously.

The Angels - My Boyfriend's Back

2. Confused eel gas helps you chill out.

Eel gas is a confused anagram of Eagles.

The Eagles - Take It Easy

1. Old detective magazines get mashed up within house of Eels.

Old detective magazines were pulp, so is mashed up wood.

Eels sang about Susan's House.

This was the first Pulp song I ever heard. After this, there was no going back...



I'm sorry, Ms. Jackson, you'll have to wait till next Saturday for any more of these...

My Top Ten Indie/Alt Songs From 2018

For many years, the majority of my musical purchases came from indie/alternative guitar bands. This started in the early Britpop era and lasted well into the 21st Century. Over the last ten years or so, however, my tastes have changed. I've found it harder to engage with the kind of guitar bands that used to excite me, and drawn more to the storytelling of singer-songwriters and Americana. That's not to say I don't still enjoy my indie tunes... just that I'm rarely captivated by a whole album, more the odd track here and there.

Has the world changed or have I changed?

Who knows? Anyway, here are ten top tunes from my old flame that proved it can still flicker quite brightly when it wants to...


10. James - Coming Home Part 2

I still love James. They produced some of my favourite songs of the 90s. I do struggle a bit with their recent output though. It's unmistakably James, and yet... not quite.

9. Arctic Monkeys - The Ultracheese

I still don't know what to make of the latest Arctic Monkeys album. But I'm kinda glad they did it anyway.

8. Courtney Barnett - Nameless Faceless

Couldn't get into the latest Courtney Barnett record in the same way I've connected with her previous offerings, but there's no denying the power of the feminist statement (adapted from Margaret Atwood) she makes on Nameless Faceless.

I wanna walk through the park in the dark

Men are scared that women will laugh at them

I wanna walk through the park in the dark

Women are scared that men will kill them

7. Morrissey - Rose Garden (Live At The Grand Ol' Opry)

Confounding those who would easily label him once again, Morrissey played The Grand Ol' Opry this year... and covered The Pretenders. For those who want to bury him, he just gave them two more rusty nails to hammer into his coffin. For the dwindling few who remain (semi-)faithful... well, we apologetically squeeze him into our year end reviews with as little fanfare as possible.

6. Goat Girl - The Man

Another one from the "must get round to listening to the album" pile.

5. Slaves - Acts of Fear & Love

Slaves are a band I like a lot... yet they don't half make me feel old. Maybe that's a good thing. Angry guitar pop shouldn't really be aimed at 46 year old fathers. Their latest record was great in places... and way too loud in others. The title track though... wow.

4. Bodega - Jack In Titanic

American alt-pop this, and so far I've only heard this one track by them, though they're also on the list to investigate further.

3. Shame - One Rizla

I'm not much to look at

And I'm not much to hear

But if you think I love

You've got the wrong idea

Punky attitude and ringing guitars... these lads could go far. Love the Farmer's Boys video too.

Worth checking out their ode to Theresa May too (from last year) if you've never heard it before.

2. Manic Street Preachers - International Blue

Of all the guitar bands of my youth, the Manics are probably the ones who still manage to deliver more than anyone else, due to the winning combination of Nicky Wire's Slash-style guitar riffs and James Dean Bradfield's voice - easily the best of the Britpop era. Their latest album, Resistance Is Futile, came close to making my end of year list... but in the end, it was a little too derivative, gleefully stealing its best tunes from The Vapors, The Coasters, Boney M, Elton John, Springsteen et al.... more about that here.

1. Idles - Danny Ndelko

Like Slaves & Shame, Idles are intellectual yobs. Occasionally too loud for my aged eardrums, but catchy as hell when they put their mind to it... and they definitely have something to say about the state of their nation. Here's their two-fingered salute to gammon Brexiters...