Maybe I’m inadvertently starting the Anti-Enjoyment Movement, but I’ve always rationed things that I consider to be the best of their kind. Like I’ll only really watch The Godfather once every five years. I don’t want to get to the point where I’m over-familiar with it. But it’s arguably my favourite film. I’ve got mental lists of other movies I actively ration. So, largely for my own amusement, I thought I’d make an actual list. But not a list of films. This one’s a roll call of the songs that sock me so hard in the gut that I can’t just listen to them off the cuff. The conditions have to be right.
Whether it’s during one of the stages of Post-Relationship Failure Syndrome; a certain time of year or just because it’s a Tuesday, these are some songs that, for me, deserve to be doted upon and hugged too hard.
The list isn’t in any way exhaustive or in order of merit, and it quite probably won’t interest anyone except me, but here goes anyway.
To be super-annoying, I’ve noted an LP from where the song emanates, and typed a line or two from each number. I’ve typed the lines in italics because I’m just so like that.
Maybe if someone’s reading this they might check one or two of the songs out, if they don't know them, and enjoy listening to them. But just don’t enjoy them every day. OK?
Thanks to Tilly and the Wall whose lyric from ‘The Freest Man’ I stole for this post’s title
Vol. 2 and onwards of this entry will appear at irregular intervals. The amount of material made it too much to consume in one sitting.
Side 1
1. Walking In The Rain – The Ronettes
From: Phil Spector’s Wall Of Sound Retrospective – compilation LP
“They would never, no they’d never
Never ever love
Walking in the rain
And wishing on the stars up above
And being so in love...”
I’m a total Phil Spector bluffer. I know all the big hits and I’m working on the rest. So despite feeling something of a fraud, I have to open Vol. 1 with a clap of thunder and The Ronettes’ Walking In The Rain. If there’s a fault in this song either lyrically or musically I’ve yet to detect it. I love the idea of finding a soulmate who’s as out of step as you are; so the notion of wilfully taking a walk in the rain and wishing on stars appeals. They could have written about couples that are into collecting jam labels or whatever, but that wouldn’t have beaten walking in rain and wishing on stars. I wonder how everyone in the studio felt when they had it in the can? I wonder if they took the rest of the day off. I would have. But then, any excuse will do...
2. My Favourite Wet Wednesday Afternoon – The Siddeleys
From: Slum Clearance compilation LP
"Love that moves the sun in heaven, and all the stars
This is just a fraction of what is rightfully ours...”
The Siddeleys were unlucky not to gain even a portion of the success that contemporaries like The Sundays (deservedly) did. Sometimes The Siddeleys sounded, to me at any rate, a little like Talulah Gosh (listen to Wherever You Go or Are You STILL Evil When You’re Sleeping?), but My Favourite Wet Wednesday Afternoon is more sedate than those wonderful clatters. Mature without being grown-up. It pines, but never grates. Southend provides a prosaic background for lyrics loaded with longing. And, Victor Kiam-style, I was so impressed I wrote a short screenplay based upon the words. I bet The Siddeleys formed just so that would one day happen.
3. Wasteland – The Jam
From: Setting Sons LP
“And there among the shit, the dirty linen, the holy Coca Cola tins, the punctured footballs, the ragged dolls, the rusting bicycles we’ll sit and probably hold hands...”
It’ll annoy a lot of people, but I always describe the lyrics to Wasteland as being “Worthy of Morrissey”. I really don’t mean that to sound disrespectful to Paul Weller. Perhaps I should describe Smiths lyrics as being on a par with Wasteland’s words. The notion of probably holding hands is fascinating. Amid the urban junk, just what is the nature of the relationship? Two exes? Hopeful partners? Same-sex lovers? A platonic friendship? Later in the song the protagonist sings “Meet me later – but we’ll have to hold hands.” I love that development in the relationship. Just a terrific song.
4. I Could Be In Love With Anyone – Butcher Boy
From: Profit In Your Poetry LP
“Listen, tell me what's gone wrong
And I will come in dreams and I'll bleed into songs,
So you can sing them back to me.
Sun suspends my days in dust,
If my love made you lonely I'm sorry but the feeling flowed so easily.
And I could be in love with anyone.
I've been breaking hearts for fun...”
I’d say of all the songs on this volume, this is the one whose lyrics deserve to be featured in full. But I resisted. It’s an easy shorthand to describe song lyrics as poetry. I’ve read that tons of times, and I used to accept the description with no further thought. I’ve recently been thinking that poetry probably is something different though. I’m not smart enough to know quite what. But these lines are as like a poem as any actual poems I’ve read. It’s a terrible thing to admit, but even reading the words on screen delivers an eye sting. The music is just as beautifully constructed too.
5. Trouble Loves Me - Morrissey
From: Maladjusted LP
“In the half-light, so English - frowning
Then at midnight I can’t get you out of my head...”
For me, the best song on The Chosen One’s predominantly derided Maladjusted LP. This is one of those emotionally-indulgent tunes Morrissey does so well. The great man has a number of songs with the words ‘Me’ ‘My’ or ‘I’ in their titles, and whenever I see a new one I always look forward to hearing it because it usually delivers. An elegant and dramatic number, Trouble Loves Me also has room for playful lines like “So, console me. Otherwise hold me.” and “Oh, please, fulfil me. Otherwise, kill me.” Love truly is a battlefield. Flirting with being an anthem, if you’re ever feeling sorry for yourself, Trouble Loves Me superbly complements a glass of red wine and a frown in the half-light.
Side 2
6. My Maudlin Career – Camera Obscura
From: My Maudlin Career LP
“In your eyes there’s a sadness enough
To kill the both of us
Are those eyes overrated?
They make me want to give up on love
I’ll brace myself for the loneliness
Say hello to feelings that I despise...”
From the off, My Maudlin Career beckons you, like the Sirens from Greek mythology beckoned spellbound sailors to their doom. It’s magnetic. Hypnotic. So, fascinated, you move towards it, then -gotcha- it wraps you up in a thick blanket of sound and you’re not sure if you’re being hugged for company or detained for questioning. Does the song need you more than you need the song? Another remarkable offering from this band.
7. A Winter’s Sky – The Pipettes
From: We Are The Pipettes LP
“Underneath a winter's sky
Her eyes were bright
Tonight he finds her
Underneath a winter's moon
The last we saw of her, it came too soon...”
Just a lovely song from the hardly-prolific Pipettes. I always think the last line (above) adds a subtle note of menace. Is this the friends of the girl in question simply commenting that they don’t see their mate now that she’s found a boyfriend? Or was she bumped off? I guess we’ll never know. Either way, there’s some great brass at the end of the tune.
8. Lost Girls – Tilly and the Wall
From: Bottoms Of Barrels LP
“No one will ever save you
If no one can ever find you
Lost girls...”
I want to win the lottery just so I can buy a big mansion and live with Tilly and the Wall. They’re often bursting with an infectious energy and fizz that knocks your socks off (Sing Songs Along; Pot Kettle Black; Bad Education), but Lost Girls is a slow burner with a high school gym show feel to it. You can almost see a teared-up music teacher watching in the wings. The song’s fragile, dark - and somewhat creepy. But in the very best way.
9. I Won’t Share You – The Smiths
From: Strangeways, Here We Come LP
“I’ll see you somewhere, I’ll see you some time, darling...”
It’s been said a zillion times, but it’s the perfect end, at least in an LP sequencer’s world, to The Smiths’ career. This last song on the last album closes with a diffused, fading farewell; the words and music, appropriately, given equal weight. Lyrically, I Won't Share You is arguably Morrissey’s final love letter/suicide note to Johnny Marr, but I’m sure I’m not the only Smiths fan who imagines it’s actually the band saying goodbye to their audience. Heartbreaking.
10. Will You Love Me Tomorrow – The Shirelles
From: The Best Of The Shirelles – compilation LP
“Tonight with words unspoken
You say that I'm the only one
But will my heart be broken
When the night meets the morning sun?”
Deceptively sweet, but the words seems to be about sex as opposed to love. In every verse the title theme is explored, with the principal query “Is all this just to get me into bed?” An utterly gorgeous song, it’s an 18 certificate effortlessly masquerading as a PG.
Still reading? Here's the tracks again:
Side 1
1. Walking In The Rain – The Ronettes
2. My Favourite Wet Wednesday Afternoon – The Siddeleys
3. Wasteland – The Jam
4. I Could Be In Love With Anyone – Butcher Boy
5. Trouble Loves Me - Morrissey
Side 2
6. My Maudlin Career – Camera Obscura
7. A Winter’s Sky – The Pipettes
8. Lost Girls – Tilly and the Wall
9. I Won’t Share You – The Smiths
10. Will You Love Me Tomorrow – The Shirelles
Listening to:
Manhattan - LP (music by George Gershwin)
Manhattan - LP (music by George Gershwin)
Glasvegas - LP by Glasvegas
Gold - compilation LP by The Carpenters
And Suddenly - single by The School
Bad Romance - single by Lady Gaga
Watching/recently watched: Play It Again, Sam; Pretty In Pink; Bananas; What's New Pussycat?; Morrissey - Hulmerist; Morrissey - Who Put The 'M' In Manchester?; Countdown; Limmy’s Show; Nurse Jackie series 1; Frasier (on TV)
Reading: Brighton Rock by Graham Greene; Puckoon by Spike Milligan
Playing: Nothing - but Fifa soon
Hacked off by: Being cold
Cheered up by: Great emails, texts and meet-ups; wine; chats; being able to play vinyl records again
Watching/recently watched: Play It Again, Sam; Pretty In Pink; Bananas; What's New Pussycat?; Morrissey - Hulmerist; Morrissey - Who Put The 'M' In Manchester?; Countdown; Limmy’s Show; Nurse Jackie series 1; Frasier (on TV)
Reading: Brighton Rock by Graham Greene; Puckoon by Spike Milligan
Playing: Nothing - but Fifa soon
Hacked off by: Being cold
Cheered up by: Great emails, texts and meet-ups; wine; chats; being able to play vinyl records again
