For your love, nature has hemorrhaged....

Earworms of the Week

Unfortunately, some 4 weeks after I returned to the office, work is starting to catch up with me. Luckily I still seem to have enough time at my desk to stick my headphones on and to try and shut out the nonsense around me. Here’s this week’s wormers, anyway.

“Sorted for Es and Whizz” – Pulp

I was reading something the other day that suggested that Pulp reforming was one of those things that we should hope never happens. I’m not sure I’d go that far. I imagine that if they ever did decide to go ahead with it, they’d be as good as they ever were. It’s not as though Jarvis was the youngest frontman in the world, is it? I saw them a few times back in the day, and they were always pretty good. This is from their Imperial Phase, of course. It’s an unconventional little ditty, and obviously got all of the tabloids worked up into a froth of indignation. I’m sure it still would if it was released today, actually. If anything, I imagine that the Express and the Mail would be MORE upset. Actually, this is the kind of record that we need. The X-Factor winner should release a cover of THIS.

“All Shook Up” – Elvis Presley

Included purely because, when this song came up on shuffle, the lyrics made me laugh out loud:

“Her lips are like a volcano that’s hot”

Yeah Elvis, they’re exactly like that. You’ve totally nailed the simile there. THAT’S why they call you the King.

“Take on Me” – A-Ha

I saw an article on the BBC website talking about the video as the band approach the UK leg of their farewell tour.  As well as being a brilliant, evergreen song, it’s a pretty memorable video too. How many other videos this old can you remember this well? It’s got to have a pretty strong case for being one of the most memorable videos ever made, hasn’t it? I’m seeing them on the Nottingham leg of the farewell tour, and I’m very much looking forward to it. Brilliant band who will be playing a greatest hits set. What’s not to like about that?

“The Beautiful Ones” – Suede

I haven’t been listening to Suede, but for the second week running, they’re stuck in my head. I might have to unfollow that bloke on Twitter. He’s funny, and I quite like Suede, but we can’t have this every week, can we?

“Feed the Tree” – Belly

Ah. I had “Star” as side 2 of a cassette that I had in my car in about 1993. I think “Modern Life is Rubbish” by Blur was on the other side, and I played it to death everywhere I went that summer. I really liked Belly, and I would very much have liked to see them live, although I never got around to it. My favourite song of theirs was always “Dusted” and I think it was probably “Gepetto” that got me interested in them in the first place. This is another fine record though. I have no idea why, but suddenly I’m thinking about how I used to listen to The Juliana Hatfield Three at about the same time. Must be a train of thought about female fronted rock bands. I used to love “My Sister”. Wow, there’s a record I haven’t listened to in a long time. She was gorgeous too. Wasn’t she supposed to be a virgin? Wasn’t that her “thing”? (even though she apparently dated Evan Dando of the Lemonheads). I seem to remember that I bought “Become What You Are” in a Virgin Megastore in Plymouth.... Why on earth am I wasting brainspace remembering stuff like that?
 

“Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key” – Billy Bragg & Wilco

Finally ripped and included on my iPod, along with all the Soundgarden and Tindersticks albums that I own... six or seven albums in total. I haven’t got every CD that I own ripped onto iTunes, and I periodically find out what I’ve missed off when I have a sudden urge to listen to it when I’m sat at my desk or something. The Mermaid Avenue albums (from 1998!) were made by the Braggster (with the help of Wilco) when he was asked by the daughter of Woody Guthrie to have a go at putting some of her father’s lyrics from his archive to lyrics. Bob Dylan may have been a touch bitter about not being asked himself, but I think the results are pretty good. This is by far my favourite of the resulting songs, but the others a pretty good, and Billy still occasionally plays them live too, with this song sounding particularly good as he mucks about with his band as they play it, drawing it right out. “Ingrid Bergman” almost made the list this week too. Good albums, these, and I’m pleased that I’ll finally have them to hand all of the time and won’t have to rummage around for the CDs (more difficult now that my careful alphabetisation has been completely turned upside-down).

“La Donna e Mobile” – Giuseppe Verdi

No idea how this got in, but I would like to at least credit myself with knowing the name to the tune. I tend to make up my own lyrics to it as I’m wandering around the house, serenading the cat as we both potter about. If woman is fickle (which is what the title means), then cat definitely is.

“Newborn” – Elbow

Arresting opening lyric here. “I’ll be the corpse in your bathtub...” I listened to Elbow’s debut album again this week. It’s good enough, but it also reminded me how good a band they have become over the years. The release of their new album next year is worth putting in your calendar. They’re touring in March too....

“The Cave” – Mumford & Sons

I listened to “Sigh No More” before seeing the Mumfords earlier this week, and I thought it was alright. Good but not amazing. After seeing them, I listened to the album again, and actually I thought it sounded a bit better, as if seeing the band live had somehow made songs I hadn’t previously paid all that much attention to make a bit more sense. This song is a good example: it’s never jumped out at me before, but it was a real highlight live, and I was able to approach it on record with a new found appreciation. I’m still not sure I understand why the crowd was quite so enthusiastic though....

Theme tune to Godzilla

As featured in the “Backwards TV Theme Tune” round in the pub quiz this week. I didn’t get it, but as soon as it was played forwards, I was able to sing the lyrics without even thinking about it:

“Up from the depths,
30 storys high!
Breathing fire,
his head in the sky
Godzilla!
....and Godzuki!”

Brilliant. I don’t remember if it was much good, and I never really liked Godzuki, but it had an AWESOME theme tune.

“Mausoleum” – Manic Street Preachers

Classic Manics from “The Holy Bible”. As you might expect from that album, it’s not cheery:

Wherever you go I will be carcass
Whatever you see will be rotting flesh
Humanity recovered glittering etiquette
Answers her crimes with Mausoleum rent

Regained your self-control
And regained your self-esteem
And blind your success inspires
And analyse, despise and scrutinise
Never knowing what you hoped for
And safe and warm but life is so silent
For the victims who have no speech
In their shapeless guilty remorse
Obliterates your meaning
Obliterates your meaning
Obliterates your meaning
Your meaning, your meaning

No birds - no birds
The sky is swollen black
No birds - no birds
Holy mass of dead insect

Come and walk down memory lane
No one sees a thing but they can pretend
Life eternal scorched grass and trees
For your love nature has hemorrhaged

Regained your self-control
And regained your self-esteem
And blind your success inspires
And analyse, despise and scrutinise
Never knowing what you hoped for
And safe and warm but life is so silent
For the victims who have no speech
In their shapeless guilty remorse
Obliterates your meaning
Obliterates your meaning
Obliterates your meaning
Your meaning, your meaning

No birds - no birds
The sky is swollen black
No birds - no birds
Holy mass of dead insect

"I wanted to rub the human face in its own vomit...
and force it to look in the mirror"

And life can be as important as death
But so mediocre when there's no air, no light and no hope
Prejudice burns brighter when it's all we have to burn
The world lances youth's lamb-like winter, winter

The lyrics are strangely beautiful, in spite of being so bleak, and the buzzsaw tune is absolutely brilliant – highlighting again, if it needed highlighting, quite how much Sean Moore and James Dean Bradfield contributed to the band that always seemed to be more celebrated for the fierce intelligence of their lyrics.

And on that cheery note, I’m off. Have a good weekend y’all.