Snapshots #399: Drunk Songs (Volume 2)

Way back in December 2021, Snapshots #218 featured ten Drunk Songs. Today, I invite you to sample a few more beverages. I can't join you: I haven't had a drink since the 20th Century.

Please drink responsibly.

15. Pablo Escobar's last stand.

The War On Drugs - Wasted

14. Wild Cherry? Aha! 

Anagram!

Richard Hawley - Caned

13. Pricey set meets Suzanne in a diner. 

Alan Price Set meets Suzanne Vega in Tom's Diner.

Alan Vega - Hammered

12. Whatchu talkin' bout, Phil & Don / Luke & Matt?

Whatchu talkin' bout, Willis? And some brothers...

The Willis Brothers - Three Sheets In The Wind

11. 90s dance party at small suffixes.

A rave on ettes (ette being a suffix which means small).

The Raveonettes - Blitzed

10. White smoke, and it really changes a woman. 

"Changes a woman" was an anagram. White smoke announces a new Pope.

Shane MacGowan & The Popes - That Woman's Got Me Drinking

Look at the state he's in!

9. Rubber lips and the invisible rabbit.

Rubber lips is Mick Jagger. Harvey was the invisible rabbit.

Mick Harvey - Intoxicated Man

8. Flick a frightening switch in the Milky Way.

Galaxy featuring Phil Fearon - Dancing Tight

7. Like Mel's mate, but with a deeper voice.

Mel (Smith)'s mate was Griff Rhys (Jones). This guy is a bit more Gruff.

Gruff Rhys - People Are Pissed 

6. Randy & the Rainbows get stuck in a French room.

Randy & the Rainbows sang about Denise. A French room is la salle. 

Denise LaSalle - Under The Influence

5. On target.

The Arrows - A Touch Too Much

4. Hazy oboes: out of order.

"Hazy oboes" was an anagram. You might not know this guy, but this is one of Sam's favourite tunes at the moment. He's very popular with the young people. And actually quite listenable, unlike a lot of the stuff they dig.

Shaboozey - A Bar Song (Tipsy)

3. A mild day comes between Williams and Nick. 

Between Andy Williams and Nick Lowe, there is fair weather.

Andy Fairweather Low - Wide-Eyed & Legless

2. A Cooke, a Clark, a Fox, a Berry. 

Two Sams, two Daves.

Sam & Dave - I Can't Stand Up

1. They've got a Pedigree, like George and Andrew surrounded by sheep. 

Pedigree Chum meets baa Wham baa. Easy when you know how.

Chumbawamba - Tubthumpin'

He drinks a whiskey drink. He drinks a Vodka drink. He drinks a Lager drink. He drinks a cider drink. And he ends up pissin' the night away. Or 'issing the night away, if he's on Top of the Pops.

I'm giving you a week to sober up before the 400th edition of Snapshots.

The Best Of 2024 (Part 4)

I know I need a small vacation, but it don't look like rain. So here's one final batch of records I enjoyed this year, but not quite enough to get them into my Top 24 of 2024 (which starts on Wednesday). Interspersed with random lyrics from my head that nobody's bothered about identifying, but it keeps me happy. Without further ado, let's move before they raise the parking rate!

As mentioned just a couple of weeks back, I've been very much enjoying the work of Hannah and her Dad, in the band Hann. Up until very recently, it's all been singular releases through the camp of bands... then, at the last minute, Hann finally released their debut album. Too late for my Year End countdown, I'm afraid... though we really did try to make it.

Forever In A Glance is available digitally, or digitally with an accompanying lyric booklet. No CDs, because Hannah's from the post-CD generation, clearly. Which is a shame (Why do you use me? Try to confuse me?) because I'd have bought one.

More young ladies, although perhaps not that young since they've been making records as far back as 2004. The Veronicas come from Australia, and the track below got lodged in my head for a good part of the year with its anti-celebrity-glamour hook. You probably think this song is about you. 

The rest of the album wasn't bad either.

Slightly older (but a gentleman should never mention a lady's age) Eddi Reader returned to her Fairground Attraction roots this year and together with her original partner in crime, Mark Nevin, they threw their Lego in the lake, releasing their second full LP (only 36 years after the first one). And the great thing is, they haven't changed a bit... though clearly the world around them has. (Oh, has the world changed or have I changed?)

And finally, a Super Furry Animal. Because we can never have too many of them. Cry wolf, baby! Sadly, Gruff is estranged from his old pals these days. He must be a Bad Friend...

Listen up, Gruff - You've got to tolerate all those people that you hate!

24 albums from 2024 will now be shuffled into a loose order of preference in time to bore the pants of you all entertain you over the festive period. I'm about to lose control and I think I like it! 

Starting Wednesday. 

The List #4: How Many Times?

How many times do you have to listen to a song before you decide if you like it or not?

The answer to that, of course, depends on the song. Take this, which I heard for the first time a couple of weeks back...

Now there's nothing particularly original about it. In fact, it reminds me of a hundred other things, including this...

Blur - Song 2

While the drum intro sounds very much like this...

Katrina & The Waves - Walking On Sunshine

And the spiky attitude is particularly reminiscent of this...

Liam Lynch - United States Of Whatever

...which in turn reminds me of this...

Eddie Cochran - Something Else

But familiarity is good. It's reassuring. As long as there's a new spin, and nobody gets sued, I don't mind songs that rip off other songs. Let's face it, rock n roll has been devouring its own tail since day one. 

Bad Mary are from New York, but that goes without saying. One listen and you can immediately hear Blondie, the Ramones... all those CBGB bands. (By the way, I just discovered that CBGB stands for Country, Bluegrass, Blues, none of which immediately spring to mind when you think of that particular establishment. Who knew?)

The live version of Forget About It is also worth 90 seconds of your time...

Bad Mary - Forget About It (Live)

And here's a clear winner in any Title Fight I could ever enter it for...

Bad Mary - I Just Called To Say Fuck You

Anyway, I ended up adding Forget About It to a couple of playlists and mixtapes and it may be starting to wear out its welcome now. That's the problem with songs that are instant earworms... sometimes they burn out on you.

On the other hand, a song that takes a few listens to really grab your attention, a song that steals slyly into your subconscious, that can often be even more satisfying...

Amy Rigby - Slow Burner

Exactly what I'm talking about, Amy. 

I figured I'd close today with a couple of less immediate tunes. Real slow-burners. Like this lovely little number from Gruff Rhys, which has crept up on me and is now threatening to become one of my songs of the year. I'd like to think 6Music will have been all over this, but as I can't listen to 6Music any more, I have no idea...

And then there's this, from an artist I stumbled across due to the algorithms. Our AI overlords presumably spotted my fondness for John Prine and recommended Texan Americana fella Sam Baker, who iffypedia tells me has quite a fascinating back story. In 1986, he was on a train to Machu Picchu when a terrorist bomb exploded in the luggage rack above his head. Seven of his fellow passengers were killed - Sam escaped with brain damage (he now struggles to remember names), permanent tinnitus and a gnarled guitar hand. But he didn't let that stop him writing beautiful songs like this... an inspiration for us all.

Radio Songs #33: My Top Ten Radio Dial Songs

It could be argued that the opening of Rush's Spirit Of Radio features a guitar that sounds like a radio being retuned... but I'm saving that Canadian classic for a future edition of Radio Songs. In the meantime, here are ten songs that actually begin with the sound of a radio dial being retuned. Some have featured here before, but not for that reason.

With the advent of digital radio, tuning round the dial is becoming a thing of the past in the same way that tuning in your TV channels has. Kids these days don't know what they're missing...


10. ELO - Mr. Blue Sky

Still one of the greatest pop songs ever recorded (I know I say that a lot - but there are lots of them): I'm only putting it at #10 because it's featured here many times before.

Mr. Blue Sky has something of an identity crisis though. It begins with a radio dial tuning into a weather forecast... but ends with a request to "please turn me over", which suggests it knew it was just a record all along.

See also Mr. Radio.

9. Falco - Vienna Calling

Because he wasn't just about rocking Amadeus.

8. Skee-Lo - I Wish

If you're tuning in your ghetto blaster, here's the prefect tune.

7. Fastball - The Way

Slacker anthem - for the days when even retuning the radio is an effort!

6. Gruff Rhys - Shark Ridden Waters 

Hotwiring your car on the beach causes the radio to retune, apparently.

5. Flaming Lips - Turn It On

If you ever get bored in the launderette, try retuning your radio.

4. Eels - Mr. E's Beautiful Blues

If you're looking for an Eels song on the radio, you couldn't do better than this sunshiny pop gem.

Goddamn right, it's a beautiful day!

3. The Carpenters - Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft

Space aliens, it seems, tune around the dial until they can find a request show...

2. The Ramones - Rock & Roll Radio

Whereas Joey and the gang tune around the dial until they find a radio station that plays it like they used to...

This is rock 'n' roll radio - come on, let's rock 'n' roll with the Ramones!

1. Dexys Midnight Runners - Burn It Down

Originally released under the title Dance Stance, this was Dexys' first 7" single. It was re-recorded and rechristened Burn It Down as the opening track to their 1980 debut album Searching For The Young Soul Rebels.

The record begins with 50 seconds of the band tuning around the radio dial, hearing snippets of Deep Purple, the Sex Pistols and the Specials amid the shipping forecasts and brass bands, before Rowland turns off the radio and shouts to Big Jim Paterson, "For god's sake, burn it down!"

The rest is history...



Any great retuning tunes in your collection?