you better learn to crawl....

Blessed, merciful relief this morning as I popped along to a clinic at QMC this morning and had the stitches removed from both eyes. Ahhhhhhh. That's better. Mind you, I'm sure there must be a few people who would have preferred to put up with the pain of the hanging stitch than let anyone near their eyes with a pair of scissors and some tweezers.... you certainly get a grandstand view of how steady your surgeon's hand is, that's for sure. He told me before we started that it wouldn't hurt, but that I should try to avoid making any sudden movements. Frankly, if you need to be told that when someone is poking around in your eye with something sharp.....

Anyway. Earworms.
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Earworms of the Week

> "Bittersweet Symphony" - The Verve

The Verve have soundtracked a couple of notable milestones in my life: they were the best band that I saw at my first Glastonbury back in 1993, and they went to number one in the singles charts with "The Drugs Don't Work" on the day that I first moved to Nottingham (also the day Princess Diana died, but I don't really count that as a milestone in my life, and neither should anyone else except her immediate family). I think this song came out when I was still working for HMV in York, and although I was aware of the band, this was the first time that they really made me sit up and take notice. In spite of the strong singles on "Urban Hymns" though, it's not an album that I would say that I loved, and they're not really a band I have a whole lot of affection for. They've always struck me as having a sense of their own importance that far outweighs the quality of any of the music that they've ever produced. I'm not a big fan of the new single, I gave them a wide berth at Glastonbury this year and I won't be rushing out to buy the new album. The question is though, is this song a genuine cracker, or is it made by that strings sample they stole from that Rolling Stone orchestral album? I'm inclined to be charitable, which is a whole lot more than the Rolling Stones, who took 100% royalties.

> "Remember Tomorrow" - Iron Maiden

Technically the version I'm earworming is the one by Metallica that graces the "Maiden Heaven" covers CD that was given away by Kerrang to celebrate the recent Twickenham gig. Until I bought this, I probably hadn't bought a copy of Kerrang for about 15 years. I can't say as I found that much to read in the magazine, but the covers are interesting... mostly because of the way that they highlight the quality of the original songs. Metallica cover this slower number pretty faithfully, on the whole, and as a result you get a chance to think about how the changes of pace and so on are really pretty good. It's not as full on as something like "The Prowler" or "The Phantom of the Opera" from the band's early stuff, but it's a really good song... and i hadn't heard it in years either.

> "(Is This the Way to) Amarillo" - Tony Christie

Weapons grade earworm that was hummed in my kitchen this afternoon and promptly infected everyone within a three mile exclusion zone. Thanks for that Hen.

> "Hurricane" - Athlete

Not my favourite Athlete song by a long shot, and quite some distance off being the most informed song about climate change, but it's a nice enough little number, and they played a bit of it on "Never Mind The Buzzcocks" last night as they introduced Joel Pott. The programme also featured Rod Stewart's daughter, a friend of Paris Hilton and absolutely everything that might imply. She didn't quite understand the programme she was on, and Simon Amstell ripped her apart so subtly that I'm not sure she even really noticed. Cruel, but funny anyway.

> "Police on my Back" - Lethal Bizzle

Also on Buzzcocks last night, and worth this place in this lineup just for the splendid lyrics to this song.

"So I'm in ma Punto, yeah, and I see the Boydem in my rear view
I thought shit what am I gunna do
This car's slow, its only a 1.2"

Woow. Hanging out in my Fiat Punto 1.2. Rave on!

Actually quite a good song, and I think perhaps we should salute the fact that he isn't banging on about diamonds and Krug.

> "Chim Chim Cher-ee" - Dick van Dyke

Would you believe that this song actually won an Oscar for Best Song in 1964? Dick van Dyke is much mocked for his mockernee accent, but the song itself is a killer. We've got someone coming around in a minute to have a look at our chimmeys with a view to getting the fireplaces sorted, so it's kind of inevitable that this should crawl out of the deeper recesses of my brain. Get this one out of your head if you can. I know I can't. It's oddly wistful though, isn't it? It's got a haunting refrain too. Mary Poppins step in time....

> "Dance Wiv Me" - Calvin Harris & Dizzee Rascal

I know it's been number one in the charts for a few weeks, but this is a bit of a slow-burner for me and has taken a little while to really get stuck on my internal jukebox. I know he's not everyone's cup of tea, but I actually quite like Dizzee Rascal's delivery. I haven't got any of his stuff, but I like the fact that he's such an individual voice and that he still remembers and gives thanks to the decidedly square looking teacher at school who encouraged him to experiment. Apparently Calvin Harris did some brilliant 'dad dancing' to this onstage at Glastonbury this year... he hadn't performed the song live before and hadn't quite realised how little he is involved except at the choruses, and so for want of anything else to do, did some ill-advised dancing. Far be it from me to laugh at him though, as I very much have the same affliction on the dancefloor.

> "Toxic" - Britney Spears

Although the radio alarm is always tuned to Five Live and I slowly come around in the morning to lively chat about the news and in-depth sports reports at half past the hour, the bathroom radio is usually tuned into Radio One as I like to listen to music in the shower, and I'm far too lazy to rig up anything more than a small transitor balanced on the radiator. Moyles was mucking about with Singstar the other day and they all had a go at this song. It was actually quite entertaining radio, but it did manage to plant this extremely efficient pop song into my head. Apparently the video is well worth watching too... from a time when Britney was neither jailbait age nor completely mental - it's the air hostess one. She's not really my cup of tea though, to be honest. What was it Sarah Silverman said about her kids? "...the most adorable mistakes you will ever see! They're as cute as the hairless vagina they came out of....". Poor Britney. We gawk at what's happened to her life, but is it any wonder that she's turned out like this, given that she's been dubiously paraded around for our benefit since she was a child? Remember that video? She was what? 16 years old? That's pretty ruthless marketing. Makes those lapsarian Miley Cyrus shots in Vanity Fair look angelic, really......

> "Crawl" - Kings of Leon

This is the new single from KoL and it is available for free download on their website now. What are you waiting for? go get..... I heard this on the radio the other day and pretty quickly realised that this was in fact the song that the band opened up their headlining slot at Glastonbury with. Man, that takes some cojones to play a brand new song that barely anyone has heard at the biggest gig of your careers to date. I'd've gone with something much more obvious than that just to get the crowd on side. Still, it's a cracking song, even if they clearly haven't shaken that dirty, skuzzy sound from their last album out of their system yet. It's all good though, eh? It's the right kind of weather for this kind of dirty rock n'roll music, I reckon.

Have a good weekend y'all