guilty feet ain't got no rhythm...

Earworms of the Week

"Leggy Blonde" - Flight of the Conchords

Another week, another Flight of the Conchords earworm.  I can't help it: they're just really, really good, aren't they?  I don't even think I've been listening to them or watching them on the tv or anything, and yet here we are.  Still, could be a lot worse than this, eh?

"Heart of Glass" - Blondie

The lady who sits opposite me at work is originally from Romania and has been working with us for a few weeks now, and she's just starting to come out of her shell and to get involved in conversations and things across the desk.  She's very nice, and she has a habit of sitting at her desk and working with her headphones on.  That's fine.  I do it myself from time to time ("MASTER!  MASTER!").  What I love about Maria, though, is that she can't seem to stop herself from singing out loud in the most beautiful, unguarded way.  She's a huge fan of U2, and the other day she was singing - quite loudly - along to the album "All That You Can't Leave Behind".  That's got nothing to do with this earworm at all.... but we have started talking about earworms across the desk, and we both agreed, when I mentioned it, that this was a pretty good one to have.

"It's Beginning to Get To Me" - Snow Patrol

For some reason, Snow Patrol have dropped into the category in my head marked "NOT COOL". That's a shame, really.  I haven't really been taken with much of their more recent stuff, and as I was clearing space on my phone the other day to make room for iOS7, I took a couple of their albums off.... but every time I listen to "Final Straw" or "Eyes Open", I'm reminded of what a good band they are capable of being.  The specific bit of this song that's caught in my head is that fade in/out intro that suddenly bursts into life.  Good record.

"This Ain't A Scene, It's an Arms Race" - Fallout Boy

Weapons grade earworm.  That's all you need to know.  Stay clear.  Save yourselves.

"Blue Moon" - The Marcels

I know this has been covered by a million different artists, from Elvis Presley to Cybill Shepherd, but you can't really argue with the "barm-ba-ba-barm, ga-dang-ga-dang" version by the Marcels, can you?  C. is a massive fan of 1950s/60s rock and roll, and I'm fairly sure that she'll approve of this one.... even if she does tend to skip over earworm posts on a Friday to see if I've written about her elsewhere during the week.

"No One Knows" / "Little Sister" - Queens of the Stone Age

For want of something easy to listen to, I popped my QOTSA playlist on in the car on the way back from a team dinner the other day.  Excellent choice.  I have to say that I'm not too gone on their most recent album, and for me they peaked with "Songs for the Deaf", but "Little Sister" in particular has really been growing on me over the last few months.  Well, you can never have enough cowbell, eh?  I should probably listen to those other albums again in more detail to give them a bit more of a chance.  Still one of the best gigs that I have ever been to.  I'm still quoted on the website to their appearance at Rock City for One Live in Nottingham on the BBC website, actually.
"My god, these guys rock like beasts. Just brilliant. Loud, relentless and deceptively tuneful - an excellent performance. If you get the chance, go and see them."
29th October 2002, would you believe?!

"Kemosabe" - Everything Everything

I'm seeing them at Rock City on Monday night, and I can't wait.  This has probably been my earworm of 2013 and I love it.  I've heard that they can be variable live, but I guess I'll find out soon enough, eh?

"All Along the Watchtower" - Jimi Hendrix

Lots of Hendrix documentaries on BBC4 last weekend, for some reason.  Perhaps it's an anniversary of "Are You Experienced?" or something.  Regardless, watching a bit of one reminded me - if a reminder was needed - of what an incredible, languid guitarist the man was.  No one has sounded like him since.  A total one off.  Noel Redding really could try harder not to sound bitter when he's interviewed though, eh?  I know that Hendrix played a lot of bass himself, and there were other session musicians involved on the instrument, but boy, he manages to sound really pissy about the very thing that made him famous.

"This Charming Man" - The Smiths

No doubt inspired by all the coverage of the release of Morrissey's autobiography this week, but damn, this is a fine record.  I nearly changed my ringtone from "London Calling" to the intro to this record earlier in the week.  I didn't, but it's a bloody brilliant record and still sounds fresh today.  Morrissey is increasingly an embittered and irrelevant bore, but you can't deny the musical legacy that he leaves.

"Life Becoming a Landslide" - Manic Street Preachers

Oh goodness, I know I've been on a bit of a Manic Street Preachers trip at the moment, but this is a fucking brilliant song.  Nobody else writes lyrics like this.  Nobody.

Everyday more numb to agony
This the howl this the sigh of the lonely
One day I realise oil on canvas
Can never paint a petal so so delicate

My idea of love comes from
A childhood glimpse of pornography
Though there is no true love
Just a finely tuned jealousy

Brilliant record, and not even their best.

"Careless Whisper" - George Michael

For some reason, Maria finds this earworm hysterical... or at least, she finds the fact that I've had this as an earworm all week hysterical, anyway.  What can I say, Yoko posted a link to the Careless Whisper Sax guy on her Facebook feed the other day, and I was hooked.  What's not to like about a guy topless, in leather trousers and with a preposterous mullet playing the sax solo to this song in a variety of unlikely places?  Seriously.  What's not to like?  Guilty feet ain't got no rhythm, indeed.

C'est tout.  Have a good weekend, y'all.  See you on the other side.