Snapshots #428: Ghost Train Songs

Welcome onboard the Snapshots Ghost Train. 

Beware, it's going to be a spooky ride!

15. Common to bumblebees and Greylag Geese. 

BumbleBEEs and Greylag GEESe. 

The Bee Gees - Ghost Train

14. Gervais feminized by Man In Black.

Ricky Gervais becomes Rickie when he counters Tommy Lee Jones.

Rickie Lee Jones - Ghost Train

13. Hold it - you're banned from professional wrestling!

Strangleholds are illegal in professional wrestling.

The Stranglers - Ghost Train

12. Causeless male offspring.

Sons without a cause...

Rebel Son - Ghost Train

11. Slice lost love into bits.

"Slice lost love" was an anagram.

Elvis Costello - Ghost Train

10. Norm's rabbity, isn't he? 

"Norm's rabbity" is an anagram.

Marty Robbins - Ghost Train

9. Visited Graceland. Met Cher.

He did both, while Walking In Memphis. Maybe he even went on the Ghost Train there...

Marc Cohn - Ghost Train

8. Toilet used by both Bob Dylan and The Charlatans.

Bob sang about a North Country Girl. The Charlatans sang about a North Country Boy. These guys provided the w.c...

North Country Gentlemen - Ghost Train

7. When he called out for another drink, the waiter brought a tray.

That's a lyric from Procul Harum's Whiter Shade of Pale, (co-)written and sung by this man...

Gary Brooker - Ghost Train

6. Fancy a zig roll?

"A zig roll" was an anagram...

Gorillaz - Ghost Train

5. No Seine, Sherlock.

The River Detectives - King of the Ghost Train Ride

4. Cutting edge Manga for teenage lads...

Shonen is teenage Manga.

Shonen Knife - Ghost Train

3. The Boss's jumpers...

Bruce Woolley - Ghost Train

2. Rooks 1, Ravens 2...

Counting Crows - Ghost Train

1. Iron Maiden challenge them to a game.

Iron Maiden sang Can I Play With Madness?

Madness - (Waiting For The Ghost Train)

More of this nonsense next Saturday.

Celebrity Jukebox #117

The Grim Reaper's been busy again.

John Hyatt

When Ben messaged me to say that John Hyatt had passed away last week, I mistakenly thought he meant John Hiatt. But it wasn't the American singer-songwriter who had left the stage, it was the singer from 80s post-punk politicos The Three Johns. This John balanced his "pop" career with a day job teaching fine arts at Leeds Poly. 

Benjamin Zephaniah

Ben was also the first to inform me of the death of writer, musician and poet Benjamin Zephaniah. Ben remarked...

I think anyone who knew the alternative 80s and 90s scenes, or was involved in English teaching, had a positive view of him.

Very true. Ben and I have both taught English, and Khayem commented in his own tribute that...

...it was an inspirational English teacher at secondary school who burst our predominantly white working- & middle-class suburban bubble by incorporating the poetry of Benjamin Zephaniah and Linton Kwesi Johnson into our studies, a life changing moment for me.

Coincidentally, I'd just featured a track by the poet in my Self-Help For Cynics post on Responsibility when I heard about his death. And here he is again...

Dean Sullivan

Khayem was also responsible for alerting me to the death of actor Dean Sullivan a couple of weeks back. I was a huge Brookside fan in the 90s, and despite his many flaws (drug addiction & dealing, manslaughter, digging up Trevor Jordache), Jimmy Corkhill was my hero. For a jukebox tribute, I did consider that his brother Billy gets name-checked here...

The Beloved - Hello

...but in the end, this seemed like a far better song to play.

Tony Allen

The moment I heard about the death of the "godfather of alternative comedy", one song... hell, a whole album... came immediately to mind. 

In 2011, Luke Haines, Cathal Coughlan and Andrew Mueller released an album called The North Sea Scrolls. It was purported to be an alternative history of the United Kingdom, as told to them by the "actor" Tony Allen. I'm a huge Luke Haines fan, and I think this may well be the best thing he's ever done. I've no idea what Tony Allen thought of it.

Finally, three more familiar faces to say goodbye to...

Brigit Forsyth 

Still most famous for her role in Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?, though she went on to appear in many other films and TV shows, including Boon and Still Open All Hours. Brigit was also a musician and singer. Here she is with her band The Fircones...

The Fircones - Girl In The Band

Ryan O'Neal

We used to have a teacher who, if he noticed a couple of students in his class making googly eyes at each other, would loudly whistle the theme tune to Love Story. It became a shorthand for youthful romance in my head. I'm not sure I've ever seen the film myself since someone gave away the ending. But my favourite Ryan O'Neal movie is What's Up Doc? with Babs...

Well, I looked in the mirror can you guess what I saw?

It wasn't Ryan O'Neal kissin' Ali MacGraw 

It was me

It was me

Shirley Anne Field

Another actress not just famous for treading the boards...

Shirley Anne Field - It's Legal

However, Shirley Anne's biggest influence on the world of music must surely come through her role in Karel Reisz's adaptation of Alan Sillitoe's novel Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, a film which may have inspired a live album by The Stranglers...

The Stranglers - No More Heroes

A studio album by Jake Bugg...

Jake Bugg - All I Need

The title of the Arctic Monkeys debut record, Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not (taken from a line in the film)...

The Arctic Monkeys - I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor

And, most important of all, the best thing Stephen and Johnny ever did together. Another line from the film, "Why don't you take me where it's lively and there's plenty of people?", spoken by Shirley Anne herself, led Morrissey to pen those famous opening lyrics...

Take me out tonight

Where there's music and there's people

And they're young and alive

Snapshots #227: A Top Ten Duke & Duchess Songs

The Duke introduces ten songs about Dukes and Duchesses...

10. Flowers! (Flowers! Flowers!)

Echo Bloom - The Duke

(Tough one, that. But worth a listen.)

9. Yes, a hefty Naazi!

Anagram!

Haysi Fantayzee - John Wayne Is Big Leggy

8. Move to New York.

Manhattan Transfer - The Duke Of Dubuque

7. Joelynn's awning gets broken up.

Joelynn's awning was an anagram.

Waylon Jennings - The Dukes of Hazzard

6. Often found in the French towns of Genech and Le Robert.

GENE CH AND LERobert.

Gene Chandler - Duke of Earl

5. A Cure man in socks with REM ladies.

Robert becomes Bobbie in his bobby sox... with REM dream girls.

Bobbie Smith & The Dream Girls - Duchess of Earl

(Yep.)

4. Charlene's beau misses the bus.

Neighbours fans from the 80s will know that Charlene's beau was Scott. If he missed the bus, he would be a walker.

Scott Walker - Duchess

3. Simians in a circle.

In an Arctic Circle.

Arctic Monkeys - Put Your Dukes Up, John

2. Pull the choke, then full throttle.

The Stranglers - Duchess

And the Rodneys are queuing up

God forbid

1. Weirdo's event.

Anagram!

And the Rodneys will be queuing up again next Saturday, for more Snapshots.

 

Snapshots #211: A Top Ten Bacharach & David Covers

Earlier this week I was leafing through Sam's notebook (largely full of made up football scores) when I saw he'd scribbled a name on the inside front cover...

Not because he's been watching Blue Velvet, Easy Rider or the Sicilian scene from True Romance recently. No, because he's become quite a fan of a song I've featured here previously, Dennis Hopper by The Waterboys. 

I continue in my mission to teach Sam as many out-of-date pop culture references as I possibly can.

All of which has nothing to do with this week's Snapshots, which featured ten songs written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. No, I couldn't find a photo of either of those gentlemen holding a camera... 

10. Jerry's neighbour, associated with Walrus home.

On Seinfeld, Jerry's neighbour was Kramer...

John Lennon lived in (and was sadly killed outside) The Dakota Building.

Billy J. Kramer & The Dakotas - Trains & Boats & Planes

9. Speaking clock gets spicy.

Remember when the only way to find out the exact time was to ring TIM, the speaking clock?

Tim Curry - Anyone Who Had A Heart

8. Roger Whittaker... or mother-painter?

Roger was famous for whistling. 

The painter Whistler is famous for this image of his mother...

Whistler - I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself

7. Steven or Johnny or Andy or Mike... but only one of them.

Together, those guys were the Smiths. So one of them would just be...

Smith - Baby, It's You

6. Could be a stranger, a battlefield or a wonderful colour.

Love Is A Stranger.

Love Is A Battlefield.

Love Is A Wonderful Colour.

All of which lead us to...

Love - My Little Red Book

5. Parchment secretaries.

Anagram!

Manic Street Preachers - Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head

4. Upmarket joiners.

Posh joiners call themselves carpenters. (I say this as the son of a joiner.)

The Carpenters - Close To You

3. The apples are falling, but there's still time to gather in the crops while the sun is shining.

The falling apple denotes Isaac Newton. The rest is about making hay while the sun shines.

Isaac Hayes - The Look Of Love

Or you could have had...

Isaac Hayes - Walk On By

Isaac Hayes - I'll Never Fall In Love Again

2. Lima found inside people you don't know.

Lima is the letter L in the phonetic alphabet.

Put an L into Strangers (people you don't know) and you get...

The Stranglers - Walk On By

1. Royal bassist down.

The bassist in Queen was John Deacon.

If he was down, he would be blue.

Snapshots will be back-arach new Saturday!

Snapshots #196: A Multicoloured Top Ten

Yesterday's link, to be specific, was not just songs with colours in the title... there are millions of those. No, the link was songs whose title is just a colour, nothing else. Far fewer of those to choose from, but here are the ten I found...

10. The Iceman Cometh, perhaps?

"The Iceman Cometh" is a play. A cold one, presumably.

Coldplay - Yellow

9. Makes trousers for fast birds.

A swift tailor?

Taylor Swift - Red

8. Graffiti found in Berlin nightclub.

Apparently that's where they got their name.

Spandau Ballet - Gold

7. Preserved in an ample jar.

A jam is a preserve, "ample jar" is an anagram.

Pearl Jam - Black

6. Boy from New York City goes without tea when he joins a Formula 1 team.

Darts sang about The Boy From New York City. Take the T from Dart and you get Dar.

Williams is an F1 team. (Thank you, Sam.)

Dar Williams - Emerald

5. Sgt. Snarler.

Anagram!

The Stranglers - Golden Brown

4. Body enhancement, hun?

Anagram!

Echo & The Bunnymen - Silver

3. The speed of your National Insurance Number is directly proportionate to a foolish Cat. 

That would be your NiNo tempo and April (fool) (Cat) Stevens.

Nino Tempo & April Stevens - Deep Purple

2. Flighty Elliott.

Aero relates to flight, Elliott was a Smith.

Aerosmith - Pink

1. Help! I'm trapped between a Yes man and a Webb collaborator.

The Yes Man would be Jon Anderson, the Webb collaborator was David Mitchell (so Robert Webb, not Jimmy). Put an I in between those and you get...

More next week? Colour me interested...