and her lips are like the galaxy's edge....

Earworms of the Week

"Sewn" - The Feeling

Still earworming this after the gig the other week, and I'm still not getting bored of it.  As far as songs go, that's pretty much the definition of success, isn't it.  That said, I was very taken with the video of the forty-year old woman who has just had her cochlear implants switched on and is hearing for the very first time in her life.  The first record she chose to hear?  Imagine.  Now that's something.  I wonder if it sounded anything like she had expected.

"Video Games" - Lana del Ray

Apparently she's announced that she's playing Glastonbury.  I'm not sure I'd go miles out of my way to watch her, but if I happened to be in the area, I don't reckon I'd run away.  Praise doesn't come much higher than that, eh?

"Old Friends" - Simon & Garfunkel

Possibly related to the fact that I've got a bus-load of people coming up to birthday dinner party that we're having in a hotel in town tomorrow afternoon to celebrate the fortieth birthdays of me and two of my closest friends.... both of whom I have known since 1987.  It should be a cracking weekend and I'm very much looking forward to it.  After a week spent with all these women, it will be good to get some proper drinking time with men in a pub.

"Say What You Want" - Texas

I got up early this morning and went to work in our shop that is just around the corner from here.  As it happens, I'm friends with the manager there and Mother's Day weekend is our second busiest event after Christmas, so we're being encouraged to leave the shelter of our desks and to do something useful for once.  I was there at 7am and helped put the deliveries away, and it was pretty good fun.  We were soundtracked by Smooth FM, which was actually pretty good.  My colleagues, of course, see this record as being retro good.  I was working at HMV when it came out..... thanks for making me feel old, kids.  Again.

"I Won't Back Down" - Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers

On a whim, I put on some Tom Petty when I was sat at my desk, and spent 20 minutes or so shutting out the world and listening to classics like "Free Fallin'", "Running Down a Dream", "Into the Great Wide Open" and this.  I have to be in the right mood... but damn, they're good songs.  Cash did a pretty good version of this one, featuring Petty on backing vocals, if memory serves....

"Strangers in the Night" - Frank Sinatra

Mostly because I keep finding myself at my desk going "doobie doobie-doo", and this song is the sole reason.  It's not like I've listened to it in forever, it's just that it always seems to be there..... a bit like background radiation or something.  Could be worse, I suppose.

"Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" - Christopher Cross

Another Smooth FM classic.  I had to explain to my colleague about the film, and of course she was familiar with the Russell Brand remake, which I assume is terrible.  This might be about the cheesiest song Burt Bacharach every wrote - and that's saying something - but it sounded pretty good first thing this morning, so he must have been doing something right.

"Africa" - Toto

Obviously.  Best song ever written, even if Toto probably couldn't point out Africa on a map.  Once again, allow me to direct you to Mike Masse's astonishingly good live cover.

"Folsom Prison Blues" / "Delia's Gone" - Johnny Cash

Whilst skiing last week, I took to singing Johnny Cash songs on the piste.  I had a lot of fun with Delia, mostly because of those splendid lyrics:

First time I shot her I shot her in the side
Hard to watch her suffer
But with the second shot she died
Delia's gone, one more round Delia's gone

But I think my finest moment was when I made some poor French chap jump half out of his skin when I shot past him at full tilt singing "Folsom Prison" at the top of my voice.  I think I'd just got to the bit about shooting a man in Reno just to watch him die..... Well, Cash is in my register, so, what can you do? (Great video to Delia, btw.  Well worth a couple of minutes of your time)

"Arabella" - The Arctic Monkeys

I'm absolutely loving the last Arctic Monkeys album at the moment, and was tickled reading a live review to see that they write the Sheffield dialling code in gaffer tape on their drum riser ("0114").  This song is standing out at the moment basically because it features the most fantastic drum fills..... yes, they are copied entirely from "War Pigs" by Black Sabbath, but frankly there's nothing wrong with that.

That's your lot kids.  Stay classy and see you on the other side.......