that may be all I need to know....

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Earworms of the Week

I had an incredibly vivid dream last night. We had gone to see the Red Hot Chili Peppers performing at some outdoor venue somewhere. For some reason we were able to walk right up to the front just as the band were coming on and pop a blanket down to sit on. We plonked ourselves down and watched the show. Flea appeared to have been replaced by some completely unknown English guy, but it didn't seem to affect the quality of the music, and he still took all his clothes off for the last song and played completely naked, with only his bass guitar saving us from getting an eyeful. They seemed to be good, although for some reason I wandered off and returned to find that I had missed most of "Dosed". Somewhat oddly, there was a break in the middle of the set when the band stopped playing and started handing out bits of luggage to members of the audience. At one point they waved a red rucksack in the air, and I realised it was identical to the one I was resting my head on, so I waved mine in the air at them and someone came over and was about to give me a box ("for adults only") when the guy next to me showed them his red rucksacktoo. I thought we'd have to somehow share the box, but this guy just took it from the girl who had brought it over, packed up all his stuff and left with his family, taking the box with him and without so much as a backwards glance. I thought that was a bit rude, to be honest, but the band started playing again and I soon settled back to enjoy the rest of the set.

Why did I have this dream? I think it's because Zane Lowe played "Californication" on his show last night.

What does it mean? Answers on a postcard....

I haven't been earworming any Red Hot Chili Pepper songs this week, but I mention it for your amusement. The subconscious mind eh?

Anyway. This week's 'worms!

11. “Wake up Boo!” – The Boo Radleys

The fact that this has been on rotation in my head is simply down to the pissy weather we've been having and the song's opening line.

“Summer’s gone….”

10. “James Bond Theme” – Monty Norman

Ah, a veritable earworm classic.

9. “Let it Grow” – Eric Clapton

One of EC’s mellower offerings from “461 Ocean Boulevard”. I own this album thanks to a Clapton phase I went through when I was about 15. I don’t think I’ve actually listened to it since about 1990. Perhaps I should, “Willy and the Hand Jive” is a hidden classic. Actually, no it isn’t. It does have mildly amusing name though, which has to count for something, right?

8. “Jungle Boogie” – Kool & The Gang

This is possibly in my head as an inevitable result of seeing Samuel L. Jackson plugging “Snakes on a Plane”.

I wonder what that film’s about.

7. “Blueberry Hill” – Fats Domino

Whenever I hear this, I always picture Ewan McGregor singing it in “Lipstick on Your Collar”. I love the way Fats enunciates the lyrics and holds back until he almost misses the beat. It's a classic.

6. “Lovestain” – Jose Gonzalez

I like the idea of a “lovestain”

“You left a lovestain on my heart
And you left a bloodstain on the ground
But blood comes off easily”

Possibly the mellowest album I've bought in years.

5. “Time Of Our Lives” – Bill Medley & Jennifer Warne

How this crept through my filters I’ll never know, but here it is. I sang this out loud in the office at my desk. Easily-Infected-Gareth soon picked up on it, and has kindly offered to sing it in duet with me at my wedding. Alas, he’s not being invited.

4. “How Come” – Ray La Montagne

Beardy folk. Nice. He’s got a foghorn of a voice on him too. And a great beard. I think I first heard him performing when he was on “Later…” a couple of years ago. Why has it taken him 2 years to get this album into the charts? It’s a great record.

3. “Copacabana” – Barry Manilow

It’s a classic, innit? Mind you, it must be said that I do have a geekish tendency to flip into the Weird Al “star wars cantina” version when listening to this song (“music and blasters and old jedi masters…”).

Hm.

2. “Casimir Pulaski Day” / “John Wayne Gacy Jr” – Sufjan Stevens

Truth be told, these are the two songs I’ve been listening to the most this week, and “Illinoise” hasn’t been out of my car either. Both songs are about death, and both songs touch me, but in very different ways. As I mentioned on Monday, “Casimir Pulaski Day” is about someone dying of bone cancer, and I find the lyrics incredibly moving because they seem to ring so true. “John Wayne Gacy Jr” is a different kettle of fish altogether and is a song about the infamous serial killer. Stevens handles the subject matter beautifully, and you can really hear the horror in his voice as he sings:

“Twenty-seven people, even more
They were boys with their cars, summer jobs
Oh my God”

Followed by a gentle

”Are you one of them?”

Magnificent.

1. “Don’t Know Much” – Aaron Neville & Linda Ronstadt

Easily-Infected-Gareth got his revenge with this one. I’ve no idea why it was in his head, but now it’s very much in my head too.

Grrr.

Bloody earworms!