The great Elmyra, and Sancho Panza....

Earworms of the Week

“Hourglass” – Squeeze

This one's entirely down to GJ, who mentioned that he'd had this song stuck in his head overnight.  Squeeze are one of those bands though, aren't they?  I know a couple of their songs very well ("Up The Junction" being one of my very favourite songs by anyone), but there are loads of other songs that I know but don't readily associate them as being by Squeeze.  This is very much one of those: as GJ was singing it at his desk, I knew it but we had to check to see whether it was in fact by Squeeze.  In a microcosm of the band's career, I actually went out and picked up a Greatest Hits for a couple of quid in Fopp on the basis that it was both very cheap and I liked loads of their stuff.  I've barely listened to it, only to discover this afternoon that: a) Squeeze did this song and b) I have it on my iPod.  I really should listen to it more often.  Or at all.

“Career Opportunities” – The Clash

This is a bit of a hardy perennial of an earworm for me, so when it popped up on shuffle as I drove into work, I was doomed to be singing it for the rest of the week.  Mind you, that's no hardship.  Quite the tonic to an impending day in the office, that's for sure.

“Suspicious Minds” – Elvis Presley

Again, how can you not be helpless before the majesty of this record?  I think I just started singing this one spontaneously at my desk one afternoon.  As you do.

“Romeo & Juliet” – Dire Straits

This is on my running playlist, so it's been popping up with some regularity over the last few weeks as I ramp up the mileage for the half marathon.  I love it and it makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up every single time I hear it. 

“Pretty Fly For A White Guy” – Offspring

Now, I don't think I actually own this record, and I mainly listen to talk radio, but it still seems to have spontaneously manifested itself inside my head.... Probably inspired by some of the clowns I see wandering through our office in their saggy-arsed trousers and their over-sized baseball caps.  No.  Just no.

“So Long, Farewell” – Sound of Music OST

...well, I used this in my weekly email to say adieu (to yieu and yieu and yieu, obviously....) to one of my colleagues on their last day in the office.  I can't say that I've actually seen this film all the way through, but somehow it seems to have crept into my head regardless.  Cultural seepage, I suppose.

"Bell Bottoms" - John Spencer Blues Explosion

I think it was either my friend Mark or my friend William from university who first introduced me to the delights of the John Spencer Blues Explosion.  But, you know, what's not to like about a shouty 3-piece with a singer who likes to shout "YAY-AH!" at every possible opportunity?

“You Know My Name” – Chris Cornell

Cornell is probably the finest rock vocalist of his generation.  Soundgarden were good, but they were never a band that I would say that I loved.  Much the same was true of Audioslave, even though I loved that the backing band made up of the former members of Rage Against the Machine.  What's great about this record is that Cornell delivers a fantastic, soulful vocal but that the David Arnold orchestration here makes it unmistakeably a Bond theme, even though it doesn't bang on about "Casino Royale" anywhere in the lyrics.  Really good record this.  Sounds at least as good now as it did in the run up to the release of the film.

"Poison Arrow" - ABC

I accidentally turned my iPod on in my bag the other day, as a result, my weekly last FM report on twitter showed that my 3 most listened to artists last week were A-ha, AC/DC and Aerosmith.  Perhaps luckily, it didn't also show that I had listened to an unusual amount of Airbourne Toxic Event.  The lovely Girl On A Train commented that it seemed a bit alphabetical, and remarked that if I was going to be playing all the A's, how come there wasn't any ABC on there?  I replied that just because there isn't any ABC on my iTunes does not mean that there isn't any ABC in my heart, and this is for her.

“No More Heroes” – The Stranglers

As identified by me from the intro bit as rendered on the bontempi organ at the Leftlion pub quiz.  WIN.  Great record this, I used to put this onto the jukebox in the bar when I was a student, you know.

Right.  C'est tout.  Have a great weekend, y'all.