soul, I hear you calling....

-- 

Earworms of the Week

Shall we?  It's been a long time, hasn't it?

> Theme to "Thomas the Tank Engine" 

I haven't listened to Chris Moyles in months. As you'd imagine, I haven't missed him at all. This morning, however, I didn't fancy listening to the new Interpol album in the car before I'd at least had a cup of coffee, so I stuck the radio on. He doesn't actively offend me, but I seem to have fallen quite out of tune with the matey banter than he has with his team in the studio. This morning it seemed to be about asking listeners to request their favourite sound-effect, and then playing fart noises. I fairly quickly put Interpol back on, but not before I'd heard a clip of Ferne Cotton making a train noise soundtracked by this. It took me a moment to place it, but since I have it's been stuck in my head.

> The Beta Band - "Dry the Rain"

Rob: I will now sell five copies of The Three E.P.'s by The Beta Band.
Dick: Go for it. [Rob plays the record]
Customer: Who is this?
Rob: The Beta Band.
Customer: It's good. 
Rob: I know.

> Elbow - "Audience with the Pope" 

In my head for fairly obvious reasons, but damn Elbow are a good band, aren't they? I love the idea of cancelling an appointment with the Pope (not to mention then going on to save the world) because your missus wants you to do something. I know that feeling.

In some ways it's very nice to be back at work.

(only joking of course!)

> Joe Dassin - "Les Champs-Elysees" 

As featured at the very end of "The Darjeeling Limited". This film is entertaining enough, but it's lasting gift has been the soundtrack. Between this and "Where Do You Go To My Lovely" by Peter Sarstedt, it's a wonder that there's been any room in my head for any other songs at all over the last six months. Growing up in France, C. of course knows every word to this song and can't get enough of it. Cheesy as hell, but also somehow perfect.

> Muse - "Undislosed Desires" 

I heard this song an awful lot when I was in Australia and New Zealand, and although I still think that a little Muse goes a long way, and I struggle to get all the way through an album, this is a damn fine record. They were also AWESOME at Glastonbury in June. Matt Bellamy is a funny little guy though, isn't he? Is he turning into Thom Yorke as he gets older, or what? As long as he doesn't put the guitar away, we can still be friends.

> Manic Street Preachers - "Virginia State Epileptic Colony" 

I had a listen to the new Manic Street Preachers album on the Guardian website the other day. It's okay, I guess, but they've very much gone back to the sound they had on "Send Away the Tigers". I've liked them for a long time, and I'm not about to stop now, but I come from the school of thought that sees "The Holy Bible" as being their best album (I tried to buy it on the way home from seeing them performing it live at the Reading Festival in 1994). As such, I thought that "Journal for Plague Lovers" - which saw the band revisiting lyrics left behind by Richey - was their best and most interesting work in a long while. It's not that I don't like their other stuff, it's just that I much prefer this sparser, edgier and harder stuff. It's still pretty tuneful though. I'm not sure that James Dean Bradfield and Sean Moore get quite enough credit for the job they've done with Wire and Edward's lyrics over the years. That's a tough gig they've got there, and on the whole they pull it off with aplomb.

> Interpol - "Pioneer to the Falls"

Another favourite band of mine with a new album out. I've only listened to the new one a couple of times so far, so I'm not going to rush into judgement, but one thing it has done is to send me scurrying back to their last album. I remember being a little underwhelmed when "Our Love to Admire" came out, but it's really grown on me since. This track, the album opener, has a stately majesty to it that just seems to get better and better as they years go by. The band are in Nottingham before Christmas, and I think I'm going to have to get myself a ticket: they were superb when I saw them at Rock City in 2004, and I really don't want to miss them, even if I end up going by myself.

> Johnny Cash - "Tennessee Stud" 

You can't go wrong with a bit of Cash, for sure, but this one reminds me particularly of drinking Jim Beam and playing cards on a night train from Hue to Hanoi. That was a fun night. We borrowed Sam's little iPod speaker and got it plugged into Marissa's laptop, and much to my delight I found out that she had a little cache of Cash on there. Bliss. We soon ran out of Jim Beam and moved onto "Wall Street", a blend of whisky and "Vietnamese Spirit", and after that we moved onto the Smirnoff. Steve, our guide, went from being apparently sober to being a total shambles inside about 5 minutes, and then Marissa wouldn't let me sleep until I turned the light back on and helped her finish off the vodka. Even though they turned the air-conditioning off as soon as we were all asleep, and we all woke up in a hideous sweaty mess for a 5am arrival into Hanoi, that was an excellent night.

> Billy Bragg - "St Swithin's Day" 

For some reason, this was the song that came to mind when Christine O'Donnell won the Delaware Senate Primary. As well as being a creationist who also believes that condoms are "anti-human", this is also the woman who said:

"It is not enough to be abstinent with other people, you also have to be absinent alone. The Bible says that lust in your heart is committing adultery, so you can't masturbate without lust"

[Insert your own "only politician who's not a wanker" joke here]

Well, as the bard of Barking says in this song:

"With my own hands, when I make love to your memory...."

For the record, O'Donnell also said this:

"Creationism, in essence, is believing that the world began as the Bible in Genesis says, that God created the Earth in six days, six 24-hour periods. And there is just as much, if not more, evidence supporting that"

And that, apparently, is a FACT.

I'd laugh, if it wasn't so terrifying. You thought George W. Bush was bad. Now look what's following Sarah Palin into the mainstream.

> Erasure - "A Little Respect"

I watched an episode of "Scrubs" the other day. I've not watched it for a while, but it's a good show. In this episode, the whole hospital is infected by a virulent earworm after the surgeons take to playing this song in the operating theatre. Soon everyone is walking along singing it to themselves. Dammit if they haven't transferred the thing to me.   Great record.

Have a good weekend, y'all.

It's good to be back.