George Kooymans, guitarist with Dutch rock band Golden Earring, passed away last week.
Which is all the reason I need to play this...
Sorry, I meant this...
Not that. This!
Oh, go on then...
Showing posts with label Golden Earring. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Golden Earring. Show all posts
Thursday, 31 July 2025
Sunday, 29 September 2024
Snapshots #363: A Top Ten Songs Featuring Cities That Have Changed Their Names
It's Prince, of course, because he knew a thing or two about changing his name.
Here then are Ten Songs Featuring Towns Or Cities That Changed Their Names. Yep, another snappily titled Top Ten. Sadly I had to leave out the town of Fugging in Austria, which up until 2021 was known by a slightly different name...
One of the reasons they changed the name was that people kept nicking the sign.
10. Switched off the TV.
He abandoned his Television after only two albums (not counting the 1992 "let's-get-the-band- back-together-for-dollars comeback record").
It's now called Volgograd. What did Stalin do wrong?
9. Tangled up cello? Solve its mystery!
"Cello... Solve its" was an anagram.
Elvis Costello - New Amsterdam
So good, they named it once.
8. Ron Moody, Martin Jarvis, Nicholas Lyndhurst, Ben Whishaw.
Four actors who have played the part of Uriah Heep in David Copperfield.
As well as being a city in England, Salisbury was also the original name of Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe.
7. Swears he never had any matches.
He did not start the fire!
Now Saint Petersburg. I would also have allowed...
Billy Joel - Goodnight, Saigon
...although a gentleman below also had that answer.
6. Found in red and yellow swill. I am simply not going looking for it!
...red and yellow swill I am simply...
Andy Williams - The Peking Theme (So Little Time)
Peking, of course, is now Beijing. I'm still waiting for them to change the name of our local Chinese restaurant.
5. Changed, to protect the innocent.
A rather apt band, and clue, given today's theme...
4. A diamond in the rough.
That was the name of his second album. John isn't an easy man to come up with clues for...
...and it's Ho Chi Minh City these days.
3. Rich studs.
Mumbai, if you please.
2. Awake, but not taking part.
Surely the most un-Cerys picture of Cerys on the internet. The 90s have a lot to answer for.
1. Try to unravel Betty's thigh enigma.
"Betty's thigh enigma" was an anagram, you say? No way!
They Might Be Giants - Istanbul (Not Constantinople)
Only one choice for Number One this week...
Wednesday, 5 April 2023
TV On The Radio #3: The X-Files
When The X-Files landed on TV in 1993, it was like they'd made a show just for me. Monsters, UFOs, conspiracy theories... and two leads with undeniable chemistry and a repressed "Will they / Won't they?" relationship. Yes, the show made a few mis-steps along the way, the big story arcs became more important than the (more entertaining) monster-of-the-week episodes, and the Noughties revival was a damp squib... but Mulder & Scully remain two of my favourite TV characters and I still own all the DVD boxsets even though I can watch it any time I want on Disney+.
The X-Files made a huge impact on popular culture, most memorably with The Barenaked Ladies...
Watching X-Files with no lights on
We're dans la maison
I hope the Smoking Man's in this one
...and not forgetting these reprobates...
Please turn me on, I'm Mr. Coffee with an automatic drip
So show me yours, I'll show you mine, "Tool Time"
You'll Lovett just like Lyle
And then we'll do it doggy style
So we can both watch X-Files
This blog's been going 11 years now and I've yet to feature anything by The Insane Clown Posse. Time to remedy that...
My tongue's a little long, I choke people with it
Looks kinda nasty, but chicks dig it
And I told ya my neck can stretch for miles
I look like something from The X-Files
Now let's pretend I'm down with da kidz for a second...
Mark Snow's theme from The X-Files was a hit record in 1996, reaching #2 in the charts.
The less said about the dance remix though, the better. Sadly, it also made the Top Ten a few weeks later...
Once you start searching for lyrical references to The X-Files, no one will ever find you again. So I gave up and started looking for Mulder and Scully... but even that proved an impossible task. Sifting through the hundreds of references in the hope of finding gold, I did discover that Golden Earring were still in the go in the 21st Century... which is as unbelievable as anything I ever saw in The X-Files.
You know the first time I saw the X-Files
I was stoned as usual
Here comes Scully walking in
Zappin' through the Cartwrights
Fox Mulder went and lost his gun
He keeps holding on to the flashlight
Shining bright on lost memories
Scully, I can't forget your sweet sixteen
I'm not an alien
I fear it's not a dream
I wish you'd recognize the voice
That sang your favourite song
At Kansas City Airport
When it came to picking today's winner, The Truth was definitely Out There. Of all the many, many songs that mention The X-Files, Cerys is definitely a case for Mulder and Scully (and I do love the way she sings "Scully").
Finally, stepping on the toes of Celebrity Jukebox ever so slightly, I couldn't leave today without mentioning this glorious tribute to X-Files star David Duchovny. As yet, nobody's written an equivalent song about Gillian Anderson... except in my head.
Saturday, 6 January 2018
Saturday Snapshots #14 - The Answers
Almost a clean sweep for Brian and Mrs. Brian this week... staying up late on a Friday night to get first dibs.
10. Looks like she will be Jeff, but that could be an untruth.
Jeff would be Jeff Lynne, so... She'll Be Lynne.
Shelby Lynne - Your Lies
Well done to Lynchie, picking up Brian & Mrs. Brian's scraps.
9. Pulp frillies as the Transit Authority get booed off stage.
My favourite clue this week.
Pulp is paper. Lace is frilly.
The Chicago Transit Authority was the original name for the band Chicago. If they got booed off stage, they would have "died", so...
Paper Lace - The Night Chicago Died
Great live version.
Top Ten bands with (lead) singing drummers, anyone?
8. Open people's minds (with poppies), at the angelic skatepark.
OPM stands for "open people's minds", apparently... or "other people's money". It has nothing at all to do with opium.
A half-pipe, as you will all know, is that curved thing skateboarders and bmx-kids do stunts on. It has nothing at all to do with drugs, despite what I thought when this record originally came out.
OPM - Heaven Is A Half Pipe (If I Die)
(Kudos to Mrs. Brian for remembering the parenthesis.)
7. DJ dies on tape: Horny!
Too easy. (The Buggles was prety much Trevor Horn... like you didn't know that.)
The Buggles - Video Killed The Radio Star
I would listen to anyone who wanted to argue that this is one of the greatest pop songs ever recorded.
6. Greedy simian sings a song for a King... a Freeman... or one of you.
A greedy simian would be a monkey that swallowed the universe.
Martin Luther King. Martin Freeman. Martin.
Monkey Swallows The Universe - Martin
True to his name, Martin turned up just in time to nab this one.
5. Russian dreamer who hears people swearing at a river.
Apparently, Nina means 'dreamer' in Russian.
Simone, the female version of Simon, means "one who hears" in Hebrew.
You obviously need to work on your etymology of names if you're going to play this game for real.
Swearing at a river is a bit more obvious.
Well done to Lynchie & Alyson.
Nina Simone - Mississippi Goddam
4. Golfing saint gets wicked at a tough soiree.
St. Andrews is where the golf takes place.
Wicked is abbreviated to WK in the alcoholic beverage.
A tough soiree would be a hard party.
Andrew WK - Party Hard
This is POWER pop taken to its ridiculous extreme.
Sam likes this song because it features in the movie The Secret Life Of Pets (or Pets At Home as we call it), one of the better kids films I've seen in recent years.
3. Drunks in the smelly shop say bye.
Drunks are lushes.
Lush is also a shop that sells smelly things. (Do they have that shop in America, Brian?)
Lush (featuring Jarvis Cocker) - Ciao!
Best Jarvis duet ever.
2. J.R. piles on the pounds but can still move fast.
Larry Hagman was J.R. Ewing.
If he piled on the pounds, he would be Fat Larry.
If he went fast, he would zoom.
The Swede made a welcome return to deny owning this record. (A signed copy? By the whole band? Really?)
Fat Larry's Band - Zoom
Although "Fat" Larry James was a singing drummer, sadly he doesn't sing lead vocal on this track.
1. A solid yet piercing noise. I always did like him in M*A*S*H*.
Solid gold.
Earrings are piercings (and go through your ears: which register noise: d'uh).
This is Gary Bergoff: Radar in M*A*S*H*...
This is one of Holland's greatest hits...
Thanks for playing. Get up earlier next week, George.
Thursday, 27 November 2014
My Top Ten Songs About Driving At Night
When songwriters can't sleep... they go for a drive.
10. Rialto - Drive
A noirish tale from the much-missed Britpop band, always a cut above many of their contemporaries.
9. Tom Petty - Night Driver
Tom's drifting home with headlines in his eyes, fighting sleep... WAKE UP, TOM! Phew. Nearly left the road there for a second. How about pulling over at the next rest stop, buddy?
8. The Cars - Drive
Who's gonna drive you home tonight?The Cars' biggest hit (twice) comes loaded with so much extra meaning, it's hard to just listen to it as a song anymore. Plus, it was played to death on the radio when I was a teenager and I think I OD'ed on it. Good song, but Rick Ocasek & co. made far more exciting records.
7. Dion - Drive All Night
From Mr. DiMucci's late 80s comeback album, this keeps the hand-clapping doo-wop feel of his earlier hits filtered through more contemporary production courtesy of Dave Edmunds and Bryan Adams.
Well, when I say "contemporary", I mean "contemporary: 25 years ago". Sigh.
6. Roy Orbison - I Drove All Night
Fun fact - although everyone thinks Cyndi Lauper recorded this first (she made the charts with it before Roy), The Big O actually recorded it two years before Cyndi. It wasn't released as a single (with a little help from Jeff Lynne) until after his death in 1992. Anyway, much as I love Cyndi's sultry take on the tune, there's only one Roy O. Plus, although Cyndi's video features a car projected onto her naked body (not as exciting as that might sound), Roy's video guest stars a young Jennifer Connelly (and Jason Priestley, ladies). Ah, you decide. (Just don't suggest the Celion Dion version.)
5. Hamell On Trial - The Long Drive
Ed Hamell's Chandler-esque tale begins with a long drive in which his private detective hero leaves at midnight... worth a listen for any Philip Marlowe fans out there.
4. C.W. McCall - Convoy
Doubtless if I ever get round to compiling a Top Ten Trucking Songs, this'll be Number One. Although McCall's convoy (the inspiration for Sam Peckinpah's movie starring Kris Kristofferson, Ali McGraw and Ernest Borgnine) trucks on through both day and night, it nudges its way into this chart because of the hour it begins:
It was the dark of the moon
On the 6th of June...
3. Tom Robinson Band - 2-4-6-8 Motorway
Having already hurtled to the top of My Top Ten Motorway Songs, it was tempting to give Tom's trucker anthem a miss in favour of his other night driving anthem (a European retelling of the quintessentially English 2-4-6-8,) Drive All Night. But although that's a very fine song - and its title suggests it deserves a place here more than its more famous sibling - I just can't bring myself to choose it over 2-4-6-8. Plus, iffypedia informs me that the chorus of 2-4-6-8 is pilfered from a Gay Lib chant "2,4,6,8, Gay is twice as good as straight... 3,5,7,9, Lesbians are mighty fine". Brilliant!
2. Golden Earring - Radar Love
I can't think of many Dutch rock bands, and I can only think of one other record by this bunch... but this song is good enough to have been covered by everyone from REM to Def Leppard to U2... and none of them came close to matching the original. Close your eyes and this could be Led Zep. It begins with some amazing power chords before the chugging drum rhythm kicks in and then Frans Krassenburg's Robert Plant-esque voice chimes in with those masterful opening lines.
I've been driving all nightBy the time Brenda Lee starts coming on strong on the radio, I've almost driven through the central reservation. Just one fantastic rock record. Apparently Golden Earring had over 30 top ten hits in Holland. I might just have to splash out on a best of compilation...
My hands wet on the wheel
1. Bruce Springsteen - Drive All Night / State Trooper
Although I feature Bruce a lot on this blog, I'm always wary of giving him the Number One because it reeks of favouritism. (Strange, I know - after all, it's my blog, I can do what I want. And it's not as though anyone's reading...) Here though is a double bill of two of his finest songs, both involving driving at night, albeit from completely different perspectives.
Simply put, Drive All Night is one of the greatest love songs ever written. I'd rate it just a step below Wichita Lineman, and there's no finer compliment in my book.
I swear I'll drive all night again
Just to buy you some shoes
And to taste your tender charms
The simplest of gestures, yet it speaks of true love in my book... and I'm sorry if that's perpetuating the "all women like shoes" stereotype... but Louise's wardrobe is one step away from Imelda Marcos's, and she's not the only woman I know like that. (Not that I'd ever dare buy her some shoes... I'm totally clueless in that department... as so many others. I'm no Bruce.)
State Trooper, on the other hand, is a much darker proposition. From the epically lo-fi Nebraska album (famously recorded on a 4 track cassette deck in Bruce's back bedroom), it's a tale of late night desperation. A man on a long, lonely drive across the states begs a policeman not to pull him over. It's creepy, brooding and compellingly tragic.
New Jersey Turnpike, ridin' on a wet night
'Neath the refinery's glow,
Out where the great black rivers flow
License, registration, I ain't got none,
But I got a clear conscience
'Bout the things that I done
Mister state trooper please don't stop me...
Which one would you flash your headlights at?
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