the sky seems a little lower, but for that a normal day....

Earworms of the Week

“That’s Amore” – Dean Martin

Best faux-Italian accent ever by an Italian-American male? Awesome.

“Magic Moments” – Perry Como

I hate this record. It is overly-saccharine shite… but once it gets its horrible, be-cardiganed claws into your head, it hangs on with a ferocity that you wouldn’t believe. Awful song. Awful. As I recall, it wasn’t that good a chocolate either.

KashKam Presents Gino – Gino UK Rap MC

I’m blaming GJ for this: he can’t spend a couple of quiet hours at home in front of YouTube, exploring the Nottingham grime scene without coming into the office the next day and forcing me to watch a load of it on YouTube on his phone. From what I can gather, Kashkam is (I think) a UK Rap MC, and he seems to have spent loads of time with the kids of Nottingham recording videos of them performing in various unlikely places…. Mostly along the Embankment or around the Meadows, by the looks of it. It’s weird enough listening to young kids from Nottingham rapping about the Feds without watching them do it whilst old ladies run past them and families cycling by as they walk along the river down near Trent Bridge. Of the ones that I have seen, this one is my favourite, partly because Gino has an awesome set of gold teeth, but mainly because of the absurdly catchy “Gee-nah-nah-no” thing that he does all the time with some wicked hand movements and his Blue Cheese hat. Love his line about getting his vex on too. I’m so using that. Big shout out to Mixsy too…. He looks like a bit of a legend in the making to me. Westlife [strikes pose].

“Wake Me Up Before You Go Go” – Wham

Good grief, this is a bleak week inside my head, isn’t it?

“Dem Bones” - Delta Rhythm Boys

No idea where this one came from, but did you know that the lyrics are based on Ezekiel 37:1-14, where the prophet visits the Valley of Dry Bones and prophesies that they will become alive by God's command.

No? Me neither (although kind of obvious when you listen to the Delta Rhythm Boys version of the song, as they mention it in the first line of the song....)

Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones.
Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones.
Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones.
Now hear the word of the Lord.

Toe bone connected to the foot bone
Foot bone connected to the leg bone
Leg bone connected to the knee bone...
….the red thing's connected to my wristwatch

Oh no wait, that last bit is Dr Nick from the Simpsons in surgery.

“So, Central Rain” – REM

They broke up! After 31 years, they finally done broke up. Shame, but you can’t really blame them. Around the time of the release of their last record – which I didn’t buy – I was reading one critic saying that they should just give up and call their next album “return to form”, as that’s how every review of every album they have done since “Monster” has started. I’ve read some reaction to the news of the break-up which is essentially “so what?”… but when you’ve had a career filled with as many absolute corkers as this lot, then they must have been doing something right. Love the bit in this article in the Guardian about how Peter Buck, a real student of music, made some rules they should follow when they first started up: you share all your publishing and you don't fight about petty things and it's democratic. Everybody gets a veto vote, not just the singer. Well, it worked for a good while, eh? Apparently Stipe wrote “Man on the Moon” with the express intention of producing a record with more “yeahs” on it than Kurt Cobain managed. If that’s true, that’s a great reason to write such a good song, no?

“Hard Knock Life” – Jay-Z

I’ve never seen Annie, so this can only be the Jay-Z song stuck in my head, right? What a sample.

“Mountains” – Biffy Clyro

Second week running that I can’t shift this one. It seems to make the hair on the back of my neck stand up every single time I hear it. I love a record where the singer’s accent comes through as clear as a bell. I’ve very little idea what he’s singing about, but aren’t all the great records like that?

“City of Blinding Lights” – U2

This popped up on my iPod in the week, and it’s unmistakeably U2 the second that guitar starts. Couldn’t be anyone else in the world, I reckon. Probably not their best work, but this song has really grown on me over the years. They’re not a band whose records I play in their entirety all that often, I must say – I’m not even sure I own all that many, to be honest – but when they get it right, they really get it right. Bless Bono’s pompous, self-righteous little arse.

“Where Are They Now” – Gene

I can remember sitting in the library at University getting angry about the NME review of Gene’s first album, where it gave them (I think) three stars and slagged them off as being nothing more than Smiths copyists. To be fair, that was probably the reason I bought the record in the first place, but the comparison wasn’t fair then, and it became less and less true with every record the band released. By the time they got to “Libertine”, they were a completely differerent, soulful proposition, and Martin Rossiter sounded nothing at all like Morrissey, even if he ever did.

Anyway, “Drawn to the Deep End” is maybe their best, and certainly their most successful record, climbing the charts on the back of the massive “Fighting Fit”. It’s packed full of beautiful songs though, and this one stands tall amongst them. I love the way the pace of this song grows to that crescendo. Love this band.

Songs are ageing well too.  1997!  Man, where does it go?  Interesting fact: it was whilst I was waiting for Gene to play in the Melody Maker tent at the Reading Festival in 1994 that I watched a young Jeff Buckley performing live.  None of my mates fancied Gene, so they missed out on what turned out to be their only chance to watch Buckley perform.  Gene were amazing that afternoon, too.  Apparently Martin Rossiter is doing some solo stuff, which is great news, I think.

Right. That’s your lot. I’m off to patrol the streets of Arkham City. Have a good weekend, y’all.

Gee-nah-nah-no to you all.