Meaty, Beaty, Big & Bouncy #153: Simple Minds

[NothingFails]

Nice Talking Heads track, Byrne's delivery reminds me of James Brown

[ShayLaB]

Song #: 493
Title: I Lost My Heart To A Starship Trooper
Artist: Sarah Brightman and Hot Gossip
Year: 1978
Available on: Various compilations
UK Chart peak: #6

Notes: Hmmm...it's either the greatest piece of disco music ever committed to vinyl or the most appalling travesty of taste. I haven't quite decided but either way it raises a smile every time it's on.

501 is a lot of songs...there was bound to be at least one aberration in taste.

From wikipedia:
"I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper", sometimes cited as "(I Lost My Heart to A) Starship Trooper", is a 1978 single written by Jeff Calvert and Max West of Typically Tropical[1] and performed by Sarah Brightman and Hot Gossip. It is notable as the debut of the then teenage Brightman as a singer, and reached number six in the UK Singles Chart.

The song is a lightweight space disco track that cashed in on the media hype surrounding the original Star Wars film: the lyrics include the lines "And evil Darth Vader has been banished to Mars" and "Or are you like a droid, devoid of emotion". The song also samples music from Star Wars and Thus Spoke Zarathustra (from 2001: A Space Odyssey). Many of the lyrics contain mild sexual innuendo; for example, "Take me, make me feel the force". Other television and film science fiction references are "Flash Gordon's left me, he's gone to the stars", "What my body needs is close encounter three", and "Fighting for the Federation" and "Static on the comm - it's Starfleet Command" (both Star Trek, or the Federation from Blake's 7; alternatively, "the Federation" and "Starfleet Command" are evident references to Starship Troopers).

Clip: I Lost My Heart To A Starship Trooper

Speaker 1:
Arcaida
X-ray X-ray delta niner niner zero
This is Starfleet Control
You are clear to go hyper space
Acknowledge
Speaker 2:
Affirmative, Star Comm
We have situation gold
Speaker 1:
Niner niner zero, roger
You're looking good for trans-light

Sarah singing:
I lost my heart to a starship trooper
I lost my heart to a starship trooper
Oh...

Hey, Captain Strange, won't you be my lover
You're the best thing that I've ever discovered
Flash Gordon's left me, he's gone to the stars
An evil Darth Vader has me banished to Mars

Tell me, Captain Strange, do you feel my devotion
Or are you like a droid, devoid of emotion
Encounters one and two are not enough for me
What my body needs is close encounter three

I lost my heart to a starship trooper
Flashing lights in hyper space
Fighting for the Federation
Hand in hand we'll conquer space

Listen, Captain Strange, what's our destination
The scanners seem to indicate a small deviation
Static on the comm - it's Starfleet Command
Requesting your position, it's their final demand

You're intentions are known, they've found out at last
So if you're gonna take me, please make it fast
Touch me, feel me, do what you will
I want to feel that galatic thrill

I lost my heart to a starship trooper
Flashing lights in hyper space
Fighting for the Federation
Hand in hand we'll conquer space

Speaker 1:
Niner niner zero
This is Star Comm
We got a problem
On your vector
Request status check
Over

Sarah singing:
Oh, baby...

Speaker 3:
Arcadia
This is Strategy Control
You have course devation
At five mark six
Acknowledge

Sarah singing:
I love you...

Speaker 1:
Arcaida
We show condition red
Confirm

Sarah singing:
Love me...

Speaker 3:
What's going on out there

Sarah singing:
Oh...
I lost my heart to a starship trooper
Flashing lights in hyper space
Fighting for the Federation
Hand in hand we'll conquer space
I lost my heart to a starship trooper
Oh...

Space suit is lying on control room floor
Pulse rate increasing as the heat factor soars
Take me, make me feel the force
Ignore the computers, we're locked on course

I lost my heart to a starship trooper
Flashing lights in hyper space
Fighting for the Federation
Hand in hand we'll conquer space

I lost my heart to a starship trooper
Flashing lights in hyper space
Fighting for the Federation
Hand in hand we'll conquer space

Speaker 1, while Sarah sings
the previous lines repeatedly:
Niner niner zero
This is Star Comm
Be advised
You have serious vector deviation
I repeat: serious vector deviation

Arcadia
Niner niner zero
Do you copy

This is Starfleet Control
To all ships in sector five
Be advided
Arcadia
Niner niner zero
Is off course
All ships squawk ident

Starship Arcadia
This is Starfleet Control
Squawk ident
I repeat: squawk ident

[Marius]

I love 493! Am I losing all credibility if I say i prefer this to stuff like All I Ask Of You?

[NothingFails]

I'll come out of the Starship Trooper closet too. Not really into Sarah Brightman's music at all but her cheesy disco 70's stuff was great. Such a campy classic, who would've ever figured in 1978 that she would still be around in 2010?

[Tiger]

Song #: 493
Title: I Lost My Heart To A Starship Trooper
Artist: Sarah Brightman and Hot Gossip

WEIRD song from such a classic singer

[ShayLaB]

Song #: 492
Title: Flight of Icarus
Artist: Iron Maiden
Year: 1983
Available on: Piece of Mind
UK Chart peak: 11

Notes: There are a lot of Iron Maiden songs to choose from but this was always my favourite. It's a splendid song and the subject matter of Greek mythology is something I have always been interested in.

From Wikipedia: The Song
The song is loosely based on the ancient Greek myth of Icarus who was imprisoned with his father Daedalus in the Labyrinth on Crete. In an attempt to escape the pair fabricated wings from feathers and wax so they could fly away. Unfortunately Icarus, not heeding the advice of his father, flew too close to the Sun, melting the wax that held the feathers and thus fell to his death in the sea. Vocalist Bruce Dickinson admits that he had modified the original tale to make it an allegory of teenage rebellion against adult authority, which caused the death of Icarus in this case.

The single cover, in something of a parody of the original myth, portrays a winged Eddie killing Icarus with a flamethrower. Icarus resembles the figure in Evening: Fall of Day, by William Rimmer, which was used as a label logo by Led Zeppelin. The death of the figure on this single cover is a reference to Led Zeppelin's break-up a few years before.

Bassist Steve Harris feels that the studio version should have been played faster, so they play it faster live, claiming "This little extra touch gives it a bit more fire".

From Wikipedia: The Legend

Icarus' father, Daedalus, a talented and remarkable Athenian craftsman, attempted to escape from his exile in the place of Crete, where he and his son were imprisoned at the hands of King Minos, the king for whom he had built the Labyrinth to imprison the Minotaur (half man, half bull). Daedalus, the superior craftsman, was exiled because he gave Minos' daughter, Ariadne, a clew[1] of string in order to help Theseus, the enemy of Minos, survive the Labyrinth and defeat the Minotaur.

Daedalus fashioned two pairs of wings out of wax and feathers for himself and his son. Before they took off from the island, Daedalus warned his son not to fly too close to the sun, nor too close to the sea. Overcome by the giddiness that flying lent him, Icarus soared through the sky curiously, but in the process he came too close to the sun, which melted the wax. Icarus kept flapping his wings but soon realized that he had no feathers left and that he was only flapping his bare arms. And so, Icarus fell into the sea in the area which bears his name, the Icarian Sea near Icaria, an island southwest of Samos.



Hellenistic writers who gave philosophical knowledge underpinnings to the myth also preferred more realistic variants, in which the escape from Crete was actually by boat, provided by Pasiphaë, for which Daedalus invented the first sails, to outstrip Minos' pursuing galleys, and that Icarus fell overboard en route to Sicily and drowned. Heracles erected a tomb for him.


Clip: Flight of Icarus

As the sun breaks, above the ground,
An old man stands on the hill.
As the ground warms, to the first rays of light,
A birdsong shatters the still.

His eyes are ablaze,
See the madman in his gaze.

Fly, on your way, like an eagle,
Fly as high as the sun.
On your way, like an eagle,
Fly touch the sun.

Now the crowd breaks and a young boy appears,
Looks the old man in the eye
As he spreads his wings and shouts at the crowd,
"In the name of God my father I'll fly!"

His eyes seem so glazed
As he flies on the wings of a dream,
Now he knows his father betrayed
Now his wings turn to ashes, to ashes his grave.

Fly, on your way, like an eagle,
Fly as high as the sun.
On your way, like an eagle,
Fly touch the sun.

Fly, on your way, like an eagle,
Fly as high as the sun,
On your way, like an eagle.
Fly as high as the sun,
On your way, like an eagle.
Fly touch the sun,
On your way, like an eagle.
Flyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

Fly as high as the sun!
Aaaaaa!

[Marius]

Fantastic entry!
Sad to hear this is their only entry, however.

[ShayLaB]

Song #: 491
Title: Rock Island Line
Artist: Leadbelly
Year: circa 1940
Available on: When the Sun Goes Down, Vol. 5: Take This Hammer
UK Chart peak: n/a

Notes: Leadelly has been a favourite of mine for many years but in those days artists seemed to record the same song a number of times. My favourite version, with the vocal quartet backing, doesn't seem to be available on YouTube but you can listen to it here on Spotify.

From Wikipedia:
"Rock Island Line" is an American blues/folk song performed and first recorded by Kelly Pace in the 1930s, but later popularised by Leadbelly. Many versions have been recorded by other artists, most significantly the world-wide hit version in the mid-1950s by Lonnie Donegan. The song is ostensibly about the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad.

The chorus to the old song reads:
The Rock Island Line is a mighty good road
The Rock Island Line is the road to ride
The Rock Island Line is a mighty good road
If you want to ride you gotta ride it like you find it
Get your ticket at the station for the Rock Island Line

The verses tell a humorous story about a train operator who smuggled pig iron through a toll gate by claiming all he had on board was livestock

"John A. Lomax recorded this song at the Cumins State Prison farm, Gould, Arkansas, in 1934 from its convict composer, Kelly Pace. The Negro singer, Leadbelly, heard it, rearranged it in his own style, and made commercial phonograph recordings of it in the forties. One of these recordings was studied and imitated phrase by phrase, by a young English singer of American folk songs [referring to Lonnie Donegan], who subsequently recorded it for an English company. The record sold in the hundreds of thousands in the U.S. and England, and this Arkansas Negro convict song, as adapted by Leadbelly, was published as a personal copyright, words and music, by someone whose contact with the Rock Island Line was entirely through the grooves of a phonograph record."

According to Harry Lewman Music, "Lead Belly and John and Alan Lomax supposedly first heard it from prison work gang during their travels in 1934/35. It was sung a cappella. Huddie sang and performed this song, finally settling on a format where he portrayed, in song, a train engineer asking the depot agent to let his train start out on the main line."

Lonnie Donegan's recording, released as a single in late 1955, signalled the start of the UK "skiffle" craze. Donegan "did nothing to credit Lead Belly as the author, even though he simply copied Huddie's entire arrangement"


Clips:
Rock Island Line - Leadbelly
Rock Island Line - Lonnie Donegan
Rock Island Line - Johnny Cash

I couldn't find a proper clip of the Kelly Pace Recording but there is this which has additional layers of instrumentation over the original track. Sacrilege

Now this here's the story about the Rock Island Line
The Rock Island Line she runs down into New Orleasn
And just outside of New Orleans is a big toll gate
And all the trains that go through the toll gate
They gotta pay the man some money
But of course, if you got certain things on board
You're okay and you don't have to pay the man nothin
And just now we see a change comin down the line
When you come up to the toll gate
The driver, he shout down to the man
I got pigs, I got horses, I got cows
I got sheep, I got all livestock, I got all livestock
I got all livestock
The man say, you alright boy just
Get on through, you don't have to pay me nothin
And then the train go through
And when he go through the tollgate
The train gotta have a little bit of steam
And a little bit of speed
And when the driver think he safely on the other side
He shouts back down the line to the man
I fooled you, I fooled you
I got pig iron, I got pig iron
I got all pig iron,

CHORUS:

Down the rock island line is a might good road
Oh the rock island line is the road to ride
The rock island line is a mighty good road
Well if you want to ride you gotta ride it like you find it
Get your ticket at the station of the rock island line

it was cloudy in the west, looked like rain,
but round the corner come-a passenger train.
North-bound train on the south bound track,
you were all right a-leavin but you won't be back

Chorus

now I may be right and I may be wrong
but you're gonna miss me when I'm gone

Now the engineer said before he died,
there were two more drinks he'd like to have tried,
the doctor asked him "what could they be"
he said "a hot cup of coffee and a cold glass of tea"

chorus

[ShayLaB]

Song #: 490
Title: Rainbow Flows
Artist: Husky Rescue
Year: 2004
Available on: Country Falls
UK Chart peak: n/a

Notes: I came across this little track on a magazine cover CD a few years ago. I generally don't gravitate to ambient music but I like this and the little guitar riff is splendid.

From wikipedia:
The band was formed by Marko Nyberg who began composing under the name in 2002, wanting to create cinematic music influenced by film, photography and painting. When recording the debut album Country Falls Nyberg recorded around 20 musicians and singers for use on the album—each of them good friends of Marko's and all Helsinki-based. As Marko Nyberg puts it himself:

"Every track is designed to be a warm breeze to counter the chill of daily life, whether you live in cold climes or not. All moments from life become part of the music. Husky Rescue reflects our background in Helsinki where the winter nights are so cold and long while the summer is hot and short, but oh so sweet. It's melancholic music but there is always hope. Husky Rescue's music is like the first snow on the ground when you can still see the green grass through the snow. It's like spring's sunbeam after the long, dark, sunless winter time."

Clip: Rainbow Flows

Rainbow flows across the sky
And kites are rising high alive
And cotton clouds they're passing by

[ShayLaB]

Song #: 489
Title: Dedicated follower of Fashion
Artist: The Kinks
Year: 1966
Available on: Non LP single. On various compilations and as bonus track versions onThe Kink Kontroversy.
UK Chart peak: 4

Notes: Ray Davis is England's foremost man of letters - the best songwriter and lyricist of his generation. It's a shame that they have been largely ignored by the masses as their body of work stands comparison with any other act. This single appeared early in their career and is another splendid slice of brash guitar pop.

From Wikipedia:
"Dedicated Follower of Fashion" is a 1966 single by British band The Kinks. It lampoons the contemporary British fashion scene and mod culture in general. Originally released as a single, it has been included on many of the band's later albums.

Musically, it and "A Well Respected Man" marked the beginning of an expansion in the Kinks' inspirations, drawing as much from British music hall traditions as from American rhythm and blues, the inspiration for breakthrough Kinks songs like "You Really Got Me". While it was quite scornful toward them, many of the fashionistas the song mocks would later take its title to heart.

In the mid-1960s fashion in Britain was becoming increasingly daring and outrageous, driven by the youth-oriented culture of Swinging London. Boutiques such as Biba, designers like Mary Quant, and the television personalities like Cathy McGowan who popularized them became celebrated as much as the entertainers who wore their mod clothes.
Fashion trends changed rapidly, and the Carnaby Street shops did a brisk business from those trying to avoid seeming out of step with the latest craze. Ray Davies saw all this and satirized the hypothetical extreme, a superficial dandy whose "clothes are loud but never square / It will make or break him so he's got to buy the best ... He thinks he is a flower to be looked at ... In matters of the cloth he is as fickle as can be."

Davies claims he wrote the song in one sitting, typing the lyrics out on a typewriter, with no later revision. It was performed with Davies mostly accompanying himself on acoustic guitar, with the rest of the band joining in on the "It will make or break him so he's got to buy the best 'cause..." and echoing the "Oh yes he is" lines in the refrain. The band attempted recording the song a number of times, playing with the arrangement, lyric diction, and guitar sounds. Davies was never totally satisfied with the release version, and was angered that the song's production and release were rushed by Kinks managers and Pye Records. At least two of the alternate versions are available as bonus CD tracks and as bootleg recordings.

Clip: Dedicated Follower of Fashion

They seek him here, they seek him there,
His clothes are loud, but never square.
It will make or break him so he's got to buy the best,
'Cause he's a dedicated follower of fashion.

And when he does his little rounds,
'Round the boutiques of London Town,
Eagerly pursuing all the latest fads and trends,
'Cause he's a dedicated follower of fashion.

Oh yes he is (oh yes he is), oh yes he is (oh yes he is).
He thinks he is a flower to be looked at,
And when he pulls his frilly nylon panties right up tight,
He feels a dedicated follower of fashion.

Oh yes he is (oh yes he is), oh yes he is (oh yes he is).
There's one thing that he loves and that is flattery.
One week he's in polka-dots, the next week he is in stripes.
'Cause he's a dedicated follower of fashion.

They seek him here, they seek him there,
In Regent Street and Leicester Square.
Everywhere the Carnabetian army marches on,
Each one an dedicated follower of fashion.

Oh yes he is (oh yes he is), oh yes he is (oh yes he is).
His world is built 'round discoteques and parties.
This pleasure-seeking individual always looks his best
'Cause he's a dedicated follower of fashion.

Oh yes he is (oh yes he is), oh yes he is (oh yes he is).
He flits from shop to shop just like a butterfly.
In matters of the cloth he is as fickle as can be,
'Cause he's a dedicated follower of fashion.
He's a dedicated follower of fashion.
He's a dedicated follower of fashion.

[ShayLaB]

Song #: 488
Title: Milk bottle symphony
Artist: Saint Etienne
Year: 2005
Available on: Tales from Turnpike House
UK Chart peak: n/a

Notes: The best song about a milk round you'll ever hear...beating Ernie , The Fastest Milkman in the West to that particular title. I am not really a huge fan of theirs but this is a splendid little pop song.

Clip: Milk bottle symphony

Tony leaves the Depot late.
Seventeen years with the Unigate,
Drives his float down Goswell Road at twenty-five to eight.

Number Nine, Mrs. Doris Brown.
Pulls on her quilted dressing gown,
Shuts the fridge and boils the kettle,
Wipes the table down.

La la la la la la
Just as she pours the tea,
She's whistling randomly,
The Milk Bottle Symphony.

Milk Bottle Symphony

Number Twelve, there's Amy Chan.
Writing down a line for the CandyMan,
About the time she saw Tom Baker,
Drinking down the Hat and Fan.

The man next door is Gary Stead.
Shuffles downstairs with heavy head,
Scans the paper, takes a pill,
And stumbles back to bed.

La la la la la la
Didn't get home till Three
Singing appallingly
A Milk Bottle Symphony

A Milk Bottle Symphony

Emily Roe's at Thirty-One,
Twenty minutes left to get her homework done.
Leaves her cornflakes on the sofa,
Says good-bye to Mom.

La la la la la la
Jumps on the Forty-Three,
Humming unconsciously,
A Milk Bottle Symphony.

Milk Bottle Symphony

[android]

Notes: Ray Davis is England's foremost man of letters - the best songwriter and lyricist of his generation. It's a shame that they have been largely ignored by the masses as their body of work stands comparison with any other act. This single appeared early in their career and is another splendid slice of brash guitar pop.

So do agree

[ShayLaB]

Song #: 487
Title: We are...The League
Artist: Anti-Nowhere League
Year: 1982
Available on: We Are... The League
UK Chart peak: n/a

Notes:
When you look up the Anti-Nowhere League on Allmusic.com it states the following:

"There is an old expression about a blind pig finding a chestnut now and again, and that certainly rings true when addressing the overnight phenomenon known as the Anti-Nowhere League. Fronted by a codpiece-wearing goon of a lead singer with questionable personal hygiene who went by the name Animal, the League somehow managed to release one vulgar, loud, stupid, funny, thoroughly great EP, but hung around like a bunch of talentless louts who never got the message to clear off. Playing standard, raunchy, Sex Pistols-influenced punk rock, Animal cranked up the disgust factor either by uttering a string of obscenities or..." etc, etc.

You get the idea. Vulgar, profane, offensive and to be honest this is the only track of theirs I even want to hear. The rest is probably as bad as I imagine and, rather than shocking, it's probably just crass nonsense.

That said, 'We Are...The League' is still a fantastically bouncy, boisterous punk anthem, taken from the afore mentioned "thoroughly great" EP, that had me sneering and head banging in my bedroom as a 13 year old.

Amazingly they are still on the go. They had split up but when Metallica started covering 'So What' and got lead singer, Animal, to appear on stage with them it seemed to set them rolling again.

Clip: We are...the League

Lyrics not printable

[ShayLaB]

Song #: 486
Title: You Know I'm No Good
Artist: Amy Winehouse
Year: 2006
Available on: Back to Black
UK Chart peak: 18

Notes: Seemingly hell-bent on oblivion but apparently not getting there fast enough. I am really not that big a fan but for me this was clearly the stand out track from the much feted Back in Black album.

Clip: You Know I'm No Good

Meet you downstairs in the bar and hurt,
Your rolled up sleeves in your skull t-shirt,
You say "what did you do with him today?",
And sniffed me out like I was Tanqueray,
'Cause you're my fella, my guy,
Hand me your stella and fly,
By the time I'm out the door,
You tear men down like Roger Moore,

I cheated myself,
Like I knew I would,
I told you I was trouble,
You know that I'm no good,

Upstairs in bed, with my ex boy,
He's in a place, but I can't get joy,
Thinking on you in the final throes,
This is when my buzzer goes,
Run out to meet you, chips and pitta,
You say 'when we married",
'cause you're not bitter,
"There'll be none of him no more,"
I cried for you on the kitchen floor,

I cheated myself,
Like I knew I would,
I told you I was trouble,
You know that I'm no good,

Sweet reunion, Jamaica and Spain,
We're like how we were again,
I'm in the tub, you on the seat,
Lick your lips as I soak my feet,
Then you notice little carpet burn,
My stomach drops and my guts churn,
You shrug and it's the worst,
Who truly stuck the knife in first

I cheated myself,
Like I knew I would
I told you I was trouble,
You know that I'm no good,

I cheated myself,
Like I knew I would
I told you I was trouble,
Yeah, you know that I'm no good.

[Tiger]

Song #: 486
Title: You Know I'm No Good
Artist: Amy Winehouse

Cool

[Marius]

Never heard 487, but I know their version of Streets Of London and i think it was good.
486 is Winehouse's best song but that's not saying much.

[ShayLaB]

Song #: 485
Title: Pour Man
Artist: Lee Hazlewood
Year: 1969
Available on: Love and Other Crimes
UK Chart peak: n/a

Clip: Pour Man

Notes: He is probably most famous for his collaborations with Nancy Sinatra and Duane Eddy but there are fantastic tracks to be found throughout his catalogue. Pour Man is (I think) a tale a man waiting to be hung for murdering his brother after an affair with his wife. I am still discovering his back-catalogue but this won't be his only appearance.

You can't beat this with a big stick.

I'm just a pour' man with a heart full of love..
I'm just a pour' man with a heart full of love.
I'm just a pour' man with a heart full of love.
Just for you. Just for you.

One year tomorrow since I cut Billy down.
He was your lover and I cut Billy down.
One year tomorrow since I cut Billy down.
Cut him down. Cut him down.

I miss the robins and the little songs they sing.
After tomorrow I miss everything.
I miss the robins and the little songs they sing.
Songs they sing.

I'm just a pour' man with a heart full of love..
I'm just a pour' man with a heart full of love.
I'm just a pour' man with a heart full of love.
Just for you. Just for you.

If God is watching when I pay for my sin.
Tell him I'm sorry but I'll do it again.
If God is watching when I pay for my sin.
For my sin.

I'm just a pour' man with a heart full of love..
I'm just a pour' man with a heart full of love.
I'm just a pour' man with a heart full of love.
Just for you. Just for you.

Buy me no roses when they lay me in the ground.
Go tell my mother I cut my brother down.
Go tell my mother I cut my brother down.
Cut him down.

I'm just a pour' man with a heart full of love.
I'm just a pour' man with a heart full of love.
I'm just a pour' man with a heart full of love.
Just for you. Just for you

[ShayLaB]

Song #: 484
Title: Johnny Come Home
Artist: Fine Young Cannibals
Year: 1985
Available on: Fine Young Cannibals
UK Chart peak: 8

Clip: Johnny Come Home

Notes:
When bassist David Steele and guitarist Andy Cox left The Beat they obviously knew what they were doing because in Roland Gift they found one of the most distinctive and talented singers of their generation. They may never have been particularly 'cool' but they had some cracking originals and a couple of great covers versions. This was their debut single and it's a storming ska tinged tale.

From Wikipedia:
"Johnny Come Home" was the debut single release by British band Fine Young Cannibals, taken from their debut album Fine Young Cannibals.

It is similar to the style of many other of the band's hits, a mixture of rock and ska with Roland Gift's distinctive vocals, as well as a Jazz-type trumpet solo. It was released in 1985 and was one of the group's most popular hits. The song tells the gritty realistic story of a runaway youth, and alternates from the first-person narrative, explaining how his arrival in the big city has not turned out as he expected, to the view of the parents in the chorus, expressing their wish that he would come home.

Nobody knows the trouble you feel
Nobody cares the feelin' is real
Johnny, we're sorry, won't you come on home
We worry, won't you come on
What is wrong in my life
That I must get drunk every night
Johnny, we're sorry won't you come on...
Use the phone, call your mom
She's missing you badly, missing her son
Who do you know, where will you stay
Big city life is not what they say
Johnny, we're sorry, won't you come on home
We worry, won't you come on
What is wrong in my life
That I must get drunk every night
Johnny, we're sorry won't you come on...
You'd better go, everything's closed
Can't find a room, money's all blown
Nowhere to sleep, out in the cold
Nothing to eat, nowhere to go
Johnny, we're sorry, won't you come on home
We worry, won't you come on
What is wrong in my life
That I must get drunk every night
Johnny, we're sorry won't you come on. home
We worry, won't you come on home...

[Marius]

Great entry there!

[NothingFails]

Very underrated track by them. It's a shame that America only embraced their second album (She Drives Me Crazy and Good Thing both hit #1) when their first album had some great moments too.

[android]

Great to see the Cannibals and a wonderful surprise to see Lee Hazlewood in your list and very glad this will not be the last we hear of of him.

[Tiger]

Song #: 484
Title: Johnny Come Home
Artist: Fine Young Cannibals

His voice tends to annoy me but that's good

[ShayLaB]

Song #: 483
Title: Strictly Business
Artist: EPMD
Year: 1988
Available on: Strictly Business
UK Chart peak: 90

Clip: Strictly Business

Notes:
From a distance it's abundantly clear that the years from the emergence of Run DMC to Dr Dre's The Chronic were the best years for rap music. There will be the odd rap record sprinkled through-out this list and (without double checking) I think just about every one of the will fall between those bookends.

First up is this track from EPMD that I found on a mix tape made by a school friend that I still have. The delivery is dead-pan but it's a funky little tune that's stayed with me for many years.


From wikipedia:

"Strictly Business" is the debut single by EPMD from their album, Strictly Business. Written and produced by the duo, "Strictly Business" became EPMD's first charting single, becoming a minor hit on the R&B charts. Although not a huge success when it was released, "Strictly Business" has since become a hip hop classic.

The song's main sample is Eric Clapton's cover of Bob Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff". Other sample's include "Jungle Boogie" by Kool & the Gang and "Long Red" by Mountain.

Try to answer to the master on the mc rap artists
No joke on the lyric -it's hard to be modest
I knew I was the man with the master plan
To make you wiggle and jiggle like gelatin
Just think while I sing and to the brain structure
Don't sleep on the e -- 'ya see, something might rupture
I don't take time for me to blow your mind
It takes a second to wreck it because you're dumb and blind
So just lounge . . . 'cause you're a mc clown
Or join the circus . . . epmd's in town

Total chaos -- no mass confusion
Rhymes so hypnotizing known to cause an illusion
Like a magician who draws a rabbit out a hat, son
I'm drawin' more, like a 44-magnum
Mc's please stop, look, and listen and try to imagine
It's travellin' the speed of lighjt, but everything' motion it's frightening
Plus the thought of you alone
You now enter the dimension called the twilight zone
You're terrified . . . plus you can't bear the thought
You and I one-on-one in the land of the lost
You start to shiver . . . then you scream, my friend
You wake up, muttley, because you're dreamin' again
Next time I'm on the scene . . . do not try to diss us
Keep your mouth suckered up, because I'm strictly business

This is the rap season . . . when the e starts pleasin'
Girls around the world no need to be skeezin'
When I roll I stroll, cool always pack a 2
Just in case . . . a brother acts a fool
I've got the energy to put the girlz in a frenzy
Put a shock when I rock even though I'm not stingy
Make sure I don't bore when I'm on the dance floor . . .
Get busy, boy . . . like you never saw before
Rhyme flow . . . good to go . . .
After the show . . . I'll pull your hoe, boy
"do you sniff blow? ? " -- hell no
Got my whole life ahead of me, no time to be sniffin'
And if my parents find out, then they start riffin'
So I stay, a-ok
'cause I'm the e . . . the r-i-c-k

Mc's look me in the face and their eyes get weak
Pulse rate descends . . . heart rate increases
It's like beam me up, scotty, I control your body
I'm as deadly as aids when it's time to rock a party
With all due respect, when I say mike check
I let a sucker slide once . . . then I break his neck
So when I say jump, you'll reply "how high? "
Because I'm takin' no prisoners, so don't play hero and die
You're just a soldier . . . and I'm a green beret
I do not think twice about the mcs I slay
So if you want to battle, I highly recommend this:
Bring your dog, mom, and dad . . . because I'm strictly business

Yo, yo, you're still pickin' on that four-leaf clover?
Bring in the sandman, sucker . . . because it's over
My name is eric sermon and I'm back again
I see the head's still turnin' of my so-called friends
They smile in my face -- behind my back they talk trash,
Mad and stuff - because they don't have cash
Like the e-double . . . or the pee-md
He drives a corvette, I drive a semi-iroc suzuki
I'm the locksmith . . . with the key to fame
Never high on myself, always stay the same
Play a lot because I'm hot and like a horse I trot
Around the track and back, fatigued? ? no, I'm not

I'm the mellow, the fellow, the one that likes to say hello
To a fly girl that is good to go
With the slow tempo and the off-beat rhyme flow
'cause when I am in action, there is no time for maxin' or relaxin
Just reactin' and subtractin'
On a sucker mc who's mouth keeps on yappin' and flappin'
I lose my cool, then I'll be start slappin' and smackin'
You on a roll, then I'll be start jackin' and cappin'
No time to lounge, I'm packin' and strappin'
At my point attack I soar at you like an eagle,
I'm the sheriff, and bitin' is illegal
So next time in town, I highly recommend this,
You gots to chill, because I'm strictly business

[ShayLaB]

Song #: 482
Title: The Certainty of Chance
Artist: The Divine Comedy
Year: 1998
Available on: Fin de Siecle
UK Chart peak: #49

Clip:
The Certainty of Chance - White
The Certainty of Chance - Live

Notes:

Neil Hannon is a one of the best pop stars he UK has produced in the last 20 years and it's a shame that he hasn't enjoyed more commercial success. Highly articulate lyrics and a great ear for a tune make him the closest composer to Ray Davis that I can think of off-hand. Feel like giving your girl the heave-ho...the universe is to blame.

A butterfly flies through the forest rain
And turns the wind into a hurricane
I know that it will happen
’cause I believe in the certainty of chance

A schoolboy yawns, sits back and hits return
While round the world computers crash and burn
I know that it will happen
’cause I believe in the certainty of chance

And I believe
I can see it all so clearly now
You must go and I must set you free
’cause only that will bring you back to me
I know that it will happen
Because I believe in the certainty of chance

Sometimes at night the darkness and silence weighs on me. peace frightens me. perhaps I fear it most of all. I feel it’s only a facade, hiding the face of hell. I think of what’s in store for my children tomorrow; the world will be wonderful, they say; but from whose viewpoint? we need to live in a state of suspended animation, like a work of art; in a state of enchantment... de
D. detached.

[matthew_dixon]

Well I do like those FYC, Sarah Brightman and Kinks ones - particularly Kinks... but fantastic to see "The Certainty Of Chance" in here!