c-o-l-a cola

Having not done an Earworms of the Week post for ages, I've done it a couple of times in the last few weeks, and I'm going to do it again this week. Partly this is because I like doing it, but to be perfectly honest with you, it's mainly down to the fact that I left it far too late to get a Guest Editor sorted.

Never mind, eh? Hopefully you'll manage to put up with me.

Come on then; let's make the best of it.

10. The Arctic Monkeys - When The Sun Goes Down

Presumably the whole world is now familiar with the fact that The Arctic Monkeys are going to take over the whole world in 2006, yes? This is the follow-up single to the fantastically good fun "I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor", and it surely features one of the best uses of Yorkshire pronunciation ever committed to record.

"And oh he must be up to something
Want half a chance to show he's more than likely"

Except the word "something" is pronounced "summit". Absurdly catchy record. Again.

This one's dedicated to Yoko.

9. The Sugarhill Gang - Rapper's Delight

I have absolutely no idea how this has got into my head, but it's stuck. It's so stuck I've had to download it, and now I'm doomed. It's that bloody bassline. Great lyrics though:

"I said a hip hop the hippie the hippie
to the hip hip hop, a you don't stop
the rock it to the bang bang boogie say up jumped the boogie
to the rhythm of the boogie, the beat"

Pick the bones out of that!

8. Gene - Truth, Rest Your Head

This is probably my favourite Gene song. It reminds me of going out for a run one day whilst listening to "Olympian" and glancing casually at a couple waiting at a bus-stop, only to see that the guy was the absolute dead spitting image of me. I stared at him as I ran by, and he and his girlfriend both stared at me. About five minutes later I turned around and ran past them again, and we all stared at each other again. At least it explained why people used to tap me on the shoulder and start speaking to me as though I knew them. I think maybe I have one of those faces though. When I lived in York, I once had a meal in a resaurant there, only to look up and see that all the kitchen staff were lined up at the hatch looking at me. I tracked down the line of them until my eyes came to rest on a guy who looked just like me. He waved.

Anyway. This song was planted in my head by writing my piece for the letter "G" over on The Art Of Noise this week.

7. James Blunt - Goodbye My Lover (drum n' bass version)

I know he's not everyone's cup of tea, but I actually don't mind James Blunt (although if the Kaiser Chiefs and James Blunt are really the best things in the British music industry at the moment, then I'm a gerbil). This is my favourite song on the album, but it's not the album version that's stuck in my head - it's a glorious mash up with some banging drum and bass that I heard on the radio the other day, and that I seriously doubt is official. It's ace. It even has a guy going "Jungle is massif" on it and everything.

6. The Editors - Munich

Good song from a good album by a good band. In my head because it's being used by the BBC and Channel 4 for almost every trailer they show. I nearly picked "The Immigrant Song" by Led Zeppelin as well, for the simple reason that the BBC are playing it every 2 minutes in the trailers for that John Simm thing where he's a cop from 2006 trapped in 1973.

5. Blur - Blue Jeans

Proper old Blur this one. "Modern Life is Rubbish" was where Blur started to take their first tentative steps into the Mockney world that gave us "Parklife", but for every "For Tomorrow" or "Sunday, Sunday" on the album, there's a little melodic gem like this one.

"Air cushioned soles
I bought them on the Portbello Road on a Saturday"

I've just finished reading John Harris' book on Britpop ("The Last Party: Britpop, Blair & the Demise of English Rock") and I can only think this is in my head because of that. I had this on a tape with the first Suede album on the other side. I played it to death. The Suede album is better all the way through though - this one rather dies by the time it gets to "Villa Rosie", but it was a real taste of things to come. Alex James wanted punching even then....

4. Black - Wonderful Life

As you know, my iPod has been nicked, so I've been listening to the little shuffle-thingy I use when I go running. I don't change the tracks on it very often, and this song popped up from nowhere. It's a corker. I've no idea what else this guy did, but he's got a voice like honeyed velvet.

3. Richard Ashcroft - Break The Night With Colour

I quite liked some of his earlier solo singles, but I've never been tempted by any of the albums as they're supposed to be quite disappointing. Dare I say that I thought much the same thing about The Verve too? Mad Richard Ashcroft does have a good voice, and if he can avoid being pretentious, he can sound fantastic. This song just reached out through the radio and grabbed me. Lots of good "oooooh-oooooh oooohs" too, which always helps. I saw The Verve (in the days when they were just Verve) at Glastonbury on a sunny sunday afternoon in 1993. I didn't know anything about them at the time, and I remember mainly that Ashcroft took to the stage with no shoes on, and that they were pretty good. Mind you, Dodgy were on next that day, and I thought they were brilliant!

2. Johnny Cash - One Piece At A Time

It's about a bloke who, over the course of about 20 years, steals a car from the car assembly plant where he works. As the title implies, he does this one piece at a time (so it won't cost him a dime), and ends up with a "Psycho-Billy Cadillac".

Genius. Probably makes more sense when you listen to it though.

1. The Kinks - Lola

Ah, such sweet gender confusion. Further testament to the song writing genius of Ray Davies. I saw the Kinks performing at Glastonbury in 1993, with Ray Davies wearing a union jack jacket (a year after Morrissey was bottled off the stage at Finsbury Park for waving the flag, and a full year before Britpop reclaimed it via Noel Gallagher's guitar). They were great and this is the song that stuck in my mind. Dedicated to Alecya with thanks for the CD that is currently sitting in my car....

---

You'll be pleased to hear that I have sorted out a Guest Editor for next week. If he can tear himself away from his painting and decorating, Graham from Lonely-Town will be filling us in on what's been rocking his world. He's long overdue in this slot, so I'm looking forward to that.

Right. Dinner with the vicar - must dash.