we've come too far to leave it all behind....

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Earworms of the Week

I'm just back in from seeing Billy Joel (full review here) and it's getting late, so I'll keep this relatively brief this week. Besides, as this list appears to have come from about 1982, it's probably best not to dwell on it too long anyway.

10. 'Magic Moments" - Perry Como

I've been being more disciplined about my earworms this week. I was determined to try to catch some of the ones that flit across my head briefly then disappear forever. I was so determined to remember that I actually wrote some of them down. Looking at this list, I'm fairly sure I shouldn't have bothered.

I loathe this song.

9. "The Chain" - Fleetwood Mac

For many years, this was the theme tune to the BBC's coverage of Formula One. It's a pretty cool tune, or at least it's a great tune for about 30 seconds.... but I pretty much hate watching cars driving round and round a track and avoid it wherever possible, so this song doesn't have the best of associations for me. Now when I hear it, I think about Jim Rosenthal, and that's not a thought to keep you warm at night.

8. "The James Bond Theme" - Monty Norman

Now this I do like. I'm not sure it's the best tune to be caught humming at your desk, but I'm pretty sure it's not the worst either. I saw a trailer for Casino Royale the other day, and Daniel Craig looks like he's going to be fine. I'm not sure what all the fuss was about over his casting, to be honest. Haven't the geeks heard of hair dye?

7. "She Moves In Her Own Way" - Kooks

A guy in the office asked me what I thought about the Kooks the other day, and this song was immediately planted in my brain. Bad hats. Bad hair. Great song.

6. "Drive" - The Cars

uh-oh. Here comes the MOR.

This song almost always conjures up images of the starving in 1980s Ethiopia, but it's still a great record.

5. "When the Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going" - Billy Ocean

Good grief. It's bad enough that I had this in my head without me having to tell you lot about it. It would have been a different story if it had been "Get Outta My Dreams Get Into My Car" obviously....

4. "All Sparks" - Editors

In an increasingly desperate attempt to escape the power ballads in my head, I stuck this album on in the car. It's a corker, and every time I listen to it I'm more and more struck by how good this song is. It's very simple, but it's ace.

3. "More Than A Feeling" - Boston

Where did all this soft rock come from? Why on earth is it flooding into my head this week? By this point I'm starting to resign myself to the inevitable appearance of REO Speedwagon or Toto on my internal jukebox.

This song features one of the best guitar solos ever.

Seriously.

A real guilty pleasure, I'm afraid.

2. "The Downeaster Alexa" - Billy Joel

Legend. Legend. Legend.

1. "If You Leave Me Now" - Chicago

I downloaded Del's first podcast earlier this week. It's brilliant, as you might expect, but early on there's an inspired blending of Beyonce's "Crazy in Love" with this song. It starts with a couple of the "wooo-ooo-ooo"s added into the background as Beyonce shakes her tush, but it soon develops into a full blown version of the song itself.

It's a cracking song, obviously..... but if you want to know where how all this ropey 1970s soft rock got into my head this week, it started here.

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Shuffleathon Update

Almost all the CDs are out in the post now, and the reviews are starting to come in.... and in case you missed it here, I appear to have committed to producing a list of all the tracks included on all of the CDs. I'm still not quite sure how that happened, but it might be interesting, right? That way we can see what the most popular songs are and stuff like that.

Keep the reviews coming in... and be sure to list all the tracks!

[silly table moved]

More on Billy Joel tomorrow.......