In addition to its daily Obituaries page, the Guardian publishes a series called “Other Lives” two or three times a week. It is introduced online as follows: “Obituaries pages traditionally describe and celebrate the lives of the great and good, the famous and infamous. There is another type of life that deserves noticing: people less in the… Continue reading Colin Tully RIP and Cado Belle at the Music Machine
Two years ago I wrote regularly about Earworms, beginning with this piece, prompted by the Queen song “Keep yourself alive”. There were enough pieces to justify creating a Category for them, but it hasn’t been used since last May. Even in 2016 some of these posts recorded the fact that there were no Earworms stuck… Continue reading Three recent Earworms, and why there might not be many more
Warning: the YouTube link in this article contains the rudest words in the English language. If you are in any way sensitive to bad language do not follow the link. If you’re okay with curse words and appreciate punk poetry, you’re in for a treat. At some point I will write a piece dedicated to… Continue reading An earworm for May 2017: a poem with lots of rude words
In the early months of last year I wrote about Earworms regularly, often enough to create a Category for them. In the second of half of last year they rarely occupied my mind but I have had one going through my head for a week or two now: David Bowie’s “Lady Stardust”, from the album… Continue reading A New Year Earworm (“Lady Stardust”)
At the start of the year I wrote a few pieces about Earworms, and even created a Category for them because it looked they would be crop up at least once a month. Since the summer there have been fewer tunes occupying my mind, unprompted, and their place seems to have taken by jokes. Back… Continue reading A joke instead of an earworm: the Trappist monk
There are at least two approaches to any writing project. You can plan everything in advance so that you have a clear idea of your progress once you begin your writing, or you can just get started and see where you end up. I am taking the latter approach with this Blog, not planning too… Continue reading No Earworms for June
In every previous month so far this year there have been songs stuck in my head, Earworms, as noted in articles in January, February, March and April. There have been no involuntary snatches of tunes coming to mind with great force this month. The closest has been, of all things, “Super Trouper” by Abba. I… Continue reading No Earworms in May
This month’s earworms are just snatches of songs, a few lines here and there that I sing involuntarily. The first is Ne-Yo’s “So Sick”, a song I didn’t hear when it first came out. It was a UK #1 ten years ago this month, when my wife had her last Big Birthday, and when she… Continue reading April’s Earworms: Ne-Yo, Culture and Kitty Kallen
“Buffalo Soldier”: the song came to mind while reading Marlon James’s “A Brief History of Seven Killings” this month. As I progressed through the book, every time I put it down (or switched off my Kindle, or exited the Kindle App on a computer) it was “Buffalo Soldier” that went through my mind. I was… Continue reading March’s Earworm: “Buffalo Soldier”
January’s earworm (“Keep yourself Alive”) has been displaced. The song that’s on my mind constantly these days is “(What’s so funny ’bout) Peace, Love and Understanding?” The first version that I heard, well over 30 years ago, was this one by Elvis Costello, where he spits out the words in an appropriate post-punk manner. I… Continue reading February’s earworm: “Peace, love and understanding”
The Compartments 