Snapshots #364: A Top Ten New York Landmark Songs

Start spreading the news, I'm leaving today...

10. Cracking quads.

Lynsey de Paul had thighs of thunder!

Thunderthighs - Central Park Arrest

9. Norma irons V into all her shirts. 

"Norma irons V" was an anagram... of course!

Van Morrison - Coney Island

8. Wuthering Heights meets The Walking Dead.

Emily Brontë wrote Wuthering Heights. This is actress Emily Kinney who appeared in The Walking Dead... and she's a pretty good singer-songwriter too.

Emily Kinney - Times Square

7. A Ewing in the shower.

When Bobby Ewing came back from the dead, he was naked as the day he was born.

Bobby Bare - Brooklyn Bridge

6. Two & three. One & four not pictured.

One-two-three-four! This is Johnny and Dee Dee. Joey and Tommy were elsewhere on the bus.

The Ramones - Rockaway Beach

5. They put Sting 'n' Git together... surely not?

Sting a git? No way!

Anagram!

The Ting Tings - Guggenheim

The Guggenheim was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

4. He wouldn't say it if he didn't mean it.

Lyrics from Lost Weekend.

Lloyd Cole - Radio City Music Hall

3. It's very strange in Donna's attic.

"Donna's attic" was an anagram.

Candi Staton - Nights On Broadway

2. Text Cher and ask for her insight.

Text Cher...

XTC - Statue Of Liberty

1. Found confused in the icky aisle. 

Lots of anagrams this week. Sometimes that's all I can come up with. I'll try harder next time.

Alicia Keys - Empire State Of Mind

And I'm gonna make a brand-new start of it next Saturday, with more Snapshots...

My Top Ten Square Songs

Ten songs for squares. Special mention to L7, obviously.



10. Love & Money - Jocelyn Square

Better than most of the singles that made the Top 40 in 1989... so obviously it made #51.

I still live on Jocelyn Square, nothing much has really changed

I still think about you, but only really when it rains

Sometimes you don't know something's open till it shuts

I loved you so much, I hated your guts

9. Iggy Pop - Squarehead

I think I should start reserving one place on every Top 10 for Iggy, even for his late 80s output which the cool kids will tell you is not all that good. If the song doesn't do it for you, take a look at this...

What do you want: blood?

8. Blondie - Contact In Red Square

Anyone seen the movie Atomic Blonde? It's basically "What if Debbie Harry was James Bond?" They really should have found room for this in the soundtrack...

Although I'm young I got a job to do

Hid the microfilm in the lining of my shoe

Call it a business trip

Got to hide inside my trench coat and be clever

I got my papers and a cyanide pill

My Polaroid's a taser in disguise

There's a base in the hills

And the wheat fields looks like Kansas in November

7. The Beta Band - Squares 

Owes quite a lot to Daydream, a 1969 Belgian hit by The Wallace Collection (which in turn lifted its melody from Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake) that also inspired I Monster's Daydream In Blue.

6. Emily Kinney - Times Square

Just lovely. Why isn't she a bigger star?

5. The Boo Radleys - The Old Newsstand at Hamilton Square

Great John Barry-esque tune from the final Boo Radleys album.

Sad songs are easier to play, I'm afraid...

4. The Wonder Stuff - Circlesquare

I've been a long-term disappointment to myself...

'Nuff said.

3. Harry Connick Jr. - A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square

Yeah, I know, Frank's version is far superior, but I have a special fondness for Harry's take. It's just so... lounge.

2. Elvis Presley - (You're So Square) Baby I Don't Care

Listen to the bassline in this. Guess who played it. Only bloody Elvis!

Of course, it took me many years of therapy to get over the Shreddies version. I can smile about it now, but at the time it was terrible. Because of that, I still believe there's a line in the original about not liking toast and jam. (There isn't.)

Much better is The Primitives' cover from The Last Temptation of Elvis.

1. Huey Lewis & The News - Hip To Be Square

You see... I dunno... I dunno how you could possibly listen to this and not think it's one of the greatest pop songs ever recorded. I mean, I'm sure you'll tell me otherwise and I'm a square for loving it, but I don't mind. It's hip to be square!





Which song makes you happy to be square?

My Top Ten Molly Songs (Tribute To Molly The Cat Part 2)

Molly getting ready to go on holiday with us.

In the inevitable follow-up to last night's post: ten Molly songs.

The main reason I write, the main reason I've always written... stories, comics, novels, plays, blogs, anything... is to try to make sense of it all. Writing these posts has been cathartic. Thanks for all the kind words.



10. The Kingston Trio - Run, Molly, Run / Molly Dee

I was fortunate to stumble across a box set compilation of early Kingston Trio albums in a charity shop a year or so back. Here's two for the price of one from that collection.

9. The dB's - Molly Says

Top mid-80s powerpop racket. Great lyrics.

She could stand at the top of the world
And still complain that she could not see
She could stand in a deep dark hole
And still look down on me

8. Kings of Leon - Molly's Chambers

On paper, the Kings of Leon should exactly the kind of band I dote over. I just never quite got it, though. Still, this is undoubtedly one of their best.

7. Strawberry Story - Molly Ringwald

I'm sure one of my fellow bloggers will be able to tell you a lot more about Strawberry Story than I can (Brian? JC?) but any band that namechecks 80s teen heroine Molly Ringwald scores points in my record collection.

6. Travis - Only Molly Knows

One for Martin, I'm sure.

Arguably the best song on The Man Who was the hidden track, Blue Flashing Light. Turns out that on the US edition of the CD, there were three hidden tracks. None of them particularly shabby.

5. The People The Poet - Molly Drove Me Away

Contemporary Welsh rock that sounds like it hails from New Jersey? Yes, please.

4. Kenny Rogers & The First Edition - Molly

Epic country tragedy. The internet claims this was written by Alex Harvey... but surely that must be some other Alex Harvey?

3. The Vaselines / Nirvana - Molly's Lips

The original is an off-kilter classic, obviously. No wonder it was one of Kurt's favourite records.

2. Emily Kinney - Molly

So much more interesting as a singer-songwriter than she ever got to be on The Walking Dead.

1. Little Richard - Good Golly, Miss Molly

One of the most influential recordings in the history of rock 'n' roll? Check. Seems like a fine place to end this tribute to a unique feline.



What's your favourite Molly song? (Points will be deducted for suggesting Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Dah because it's bloody annoying. If you're one of those people who doesn't read to the end of the post, don't say you weren't warned.)