I'm going where the cold wind blows...

Earworms of the Week

“Mary Did You Know?” – Pentatonix

It’s reached the point – 4 weeks into the season – where we can’t avoid the Christmas songs at choir any longer. We’re not quite onto Shakin’ Stevens yet (yes, we are going there...), but we have started work on this annoyingly insistent number. Our musical director has a growing love affair with Pentatonix and their acappella style arrangements of songs – last Christmas we did their version of “White Winter Hymnal”. I can take them or leave them really. This song is a bit God-dy for my tastes. OK, it’s a lot God-dy.

Mary did you know that your baby boy would one day walk on water?
Mary did you know that your baby boy would save our sons and daughters?
Did you know that your baby boy has come to make you new?
This child that you delivered, will soon deliver you

I mean, stop grovelling already! Also notable for describing the Son of God as “The big I Am”, which makes me chuckle.

“Dog House Boogie” – Seasick Steve

So, it turns out that Seasick Steve was never really a hobo, that he’s 10 years younger than he said he was and that he was a session musician all along. Does that make a difference to his music? Probably not, but I bet that story made a difference to his bank balance. I imagine he doesn’t get seasick either, the big old fraud.

“Murder on the Dancefloor” – Sophie Ellis Bextor

This has been a colleagues earworm of choice all week, so naturally it’s now my problem too. Best sung in a very mannered style.

“The Man Machine” – Kraftwerk

Sarah bagged us tickets to see Kraftwerk in June next year! Yes, it's a lot of money to see for some middle-aged guys do a powerpoint demonstration, but this is perhaps some compensation for the end of my Glastonbury streak, which has seen me attend every festival since 2002. All good things come to an end, and there’s just no way that I’m going to miss one of my New York friends getting married in Connecticut. You watch, this will be the year that The Smiths reform for a one-off gig. Oh well. I’m sure I’ll cope. How will they manage without me? It’s the first time I haven’t been there since they put up the fence. They should maybe be a little worried.

“Tired of Sex” – Weezer

So, Pinkerton has just turned platinum in time for its 20th anniversary. I guess that’s what you’d call a slow-burner.  Apparently, Rivers Cuomo hates it. Amongst other things, it reminds him of a time when he was an actual rock star trying to study classical composition at Harvard and got rejected by the choral society. Poor lamb. Them scars cut deep.

“Kiss from a Rose” - Seal

We’re doing this one at choir too, and not only is it actually quite difficult to sing, but the lyrics are almost certainly not what you think they are either. Walking back from the session this week, Sarah remarked that she listened to this album so much the year this came out (1994, would you believe?)

“What? You bought the Batman Forever soundtrack!”
parp!

No… she didn’t. Anyone care to name any other songs from that soundtrack? How about Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me by U2? Also songs by PJ Harvey, Nick Cave, Flaming Lips, Mazzy Star, Massive Attack, the Offspring… yeah. Who knew, right?

Most people think about the batsuit with nipples. Unless that’s just me?


“Breakfast at Tiffany's” – Deep Blue Something
“Justapozed with U” – Super Furry Animals

On hold to IT, I have to say that these are two of the songs that I would least have expected to hear (the super furries was some kind of sensitive acoustic cover version). I was secretly quite impressed and then began to wonder who chose their hold music. That Deep Blue Something song will forever remind me of an old housemate of mine from my time in York. He wasn’t a short man, but if I had to pick a race from Middle Earth who he represented, he would definitely – without a shadow of a doubt – be a dwarf. I think he’d wholeheartedly agree, too.

“In The Pines” – Billy Bragg & Joe Henry
“Where Did You Sleep Last Night” - Nirvana

Two versions of the same song – made famous originally by Leadbelly. The Billy Bragg and Joe Henry version is pretty good – from their recent album of great railroad songs – but the Nirvana version is show-stopping. Cobain sounds like a werewolf howling on that last verse, with raw pain dripping from every word. Infidelity and decapitation under a train’s wheel. Cheerful stuff, huh?

Ah, that’s your lot. Have a great weekend, y’all.