I'm hooked and I can't stop staring....

--
Earworms of the Week

Short and sweet this week, I reckon... assuming I can remember how to do short and sweet.

> "Ain't Got No / I Got Life" - Nina Simone

Something of a hardy perennial of an earworm this one. I don't know if Muller are still using this to advertise their products, but if they are, it would certainly go some way towards explaining why it's always buzzing around in the background. Whatever. It's a pretty decent song, and the lyrics just get more and more ridiculous.

"I got my arms, got my hands, got my fingers,
got my legs, got my feet, got my toes,
got my liver, got my blood..."

Joyful.

> "Don't Fuck With Me" - Love/Hate

This one's for Des and for the Pollstar. I've no idea if anyone else but the three of us remember this lot of hopeless early-90s hair metallers, but we used to find this song hysterical.

"Do unto others as you'd have others do unto you
Don't fuck with me and I won't fuck with you
....Yeah!"

They don't make'em like this any more. Their first album was actually quite good, as I recall.

> "Bye Bye Badman" - Stone Roses

It's the 20th anniversary of their debut album, and as you might imagine, there's been a fair amount of coverage in the press about them. I haven't gone out of my way to read much of it, but obviously saw enough of it to make me want to dig the album out and to give it a spin. It's good, innit? I love the way it starts with an almost pastoral refrain and then really kicks into a groove. Please don't reform.

> Theme to "Sex and the City"

Yeah, so I sat and watched an episode of this the other day for the first time in years. It was the one with the rabbit. Not the fluffy kind. Anyway. It looked a bit dated with all that big hair and the sisters-doing-it-for-themselves kind of vibe (with the rabbit? quite literally....), but it was passably entertaining, although I did manage to find the off-button before the second episode in the double-bill got much past the credits. Don't judge me.

> "Man Ray" - Futureheads

A good band that went right off the boil. I haven't listened to them for a while, but for some reason the chorus to this song found its way into my head.

"Touch yourself, touch yourself, touch each other, black and white
Touch yourself, touch yourself, touch each other, black and white
Touch yourself, touch yourself, touch each other, black and white
Touch yourself, touch yourself, touch each other, black and white"

Always good live, this one.

> "Chicken Payback" - The Bees

One for Statue John. Catchy, and now apparently being used to trail programmes. What happened to the Bees? Are they still around?

> "Fight For Your Right To Party" - Beastie Boys

To be honest, I prefer the original of this, with the thumping guitar by that bloke from Slayer and produced by Rick Rubin.... but it actually sounds okay when played on the bontempi organ in the Nana round at the Left Lion quiz too. This is a great song, isn't it?

"Your pops caught you smokin' and he said "NO WAY!"
That hypocrite smokes two packs a day!
Man living at home is such a drag
Now your mom threw away your best porno mag (Busted)"

We won the quiz, naturally. Mainly down to Keith recognising the theme tune to "The Flashing Blade". Played backwards. Having crap like that in our heads is the reason why we men don't remember anniversaries....

(bizarrely covered by Coldplay here....)

> "There Are More Questions Than Answers" - Johnny Nash

Instantly recognisable when Nish played it at his "bit of a disco" at the quiz the other night, but I had to think long and hard why it seemed so familiar in a different version. The answer? It was used as backing music for one of the rounds for A Question Of Sport. Ah. That's it.

> "Baby Got Back" - Sir Mix-A-Lot

Um.... do I need a reason?

"I like big butts and I can not lie
You other brothers can't deny
That when a girl walks in with an itty bitty waist
And a round thing in your face
You get sprung, wanna pull out your tough
'Cause you notice that butt was stuffed"

Shakespeare himself surely never wrote a more efficient and expressive rhyme.

Stupid but irresistible and absurdly catchy.

And that's it (how would you follow that anyway?). Have a good weekend y'all and stay classy.