My Crucial Tracks this week - London You're A Lady, London Pride, I Dreamed a Dream, Mulder and Scully, Blackbird, Fester Skank, Skank in Bed, Street Tuff and Dusty
If I automated this a bit better then I wouldn’t need to worry about mis-spelling ‘Crucial’ every week.
Anyway, these are my Crucail Tracks for the last few days.
A song that reminds you of somewhere you lived.
"London You're a Lady" by The Pogues
Having lived in London there are lots of songs, both generic London ones and more local ones.
I’ve already posted Hilly Fields. There are a bunch of songs about Camberwell (Basement Jaxx, Dub Pistols). The Barron Knights were ‘from Catford, ain’t we eh?.’ The Kinks had a song about a road we once lived in - Lavender Hill - and Squeeze’s Up The Junction was about the local railway station.
I’ve picked one of the generic London songs though, by ‘the dear old towns favourite bard '
It’s got a lyric I really like -
“Your eyes are full of sadness
Red buses skirt your hem
Your head-dress is a ring of lights
But I would not follow them
Your architects were madmen
And your builders sane but drunk
But amidst your fading jewels
Shine acid house and punk”
What is the oldest song you like?
"London Pride" by Noël Coward
Some of the folk songs I like go back hundreds of years, but I'm interpreting this as the oldest recording I like
There are a few candidates from Hank Williams, from Louis Armstrong and from Louis Jordan, but I’ve picked this song as I know I listen to it most frequently
I lived in London for just short of twenty years…and the song provokes nostalgia both for London and for the wartime generation that I grew up with - grannies and grandad, aunts and uncles, and blokes in pubs….I miss them all.
A song off the last album you paid money for.
"Blackbird (Esher Demo)" by The Beatles
I've only started listening to this up-and-coming band fairly recently, and I bought the Esher Sessions version of the White Album from a stall on Salisbury Market
A song from the 2010s that you like or means something to you.
"Fester Skank (feat. Diztortion)" by Lethal Bizzle
I found it relatively difficult to place songs as being from the 2010s
I’m not sure why.
It could be old age. Or it could be because it’s when I stopped buying so much physical product. Or it might be that there hasn’t been enough time for a 2010s nostalgia wave to get going, so the 2010’s hasn’t got a fixed musical identity.
I think old age is the most likely, really.
Anyway, this was one of the last CD’s I bought before switching to streaming
"Fester Skank (feat. Diztortion)" by Lethal Bizzle on Apple music
A song from the 2000s that you like or means something to you.
"I Dreamed a Dream" by Susan Boyle
At the end of the 2000s we went to see the Britain's Got Talent live show
I was and am dubious about most ot the output from those shows, but that year was a high point. There were two street dance acts, Flawless and Diversity, a couple of funny novelty acts, and there was Susan
She had health issues at the time, and missed some of the shows. No-one was sure whether she was going to be there the night we went, but in the end she was brilliant, the crowd was brilliant and it was one of the most memorable shows I’ve seen.
A song from the 1990s that you like or means something to you.
"Mulder and Scully" by Catatonia
Catatonia were on a re-run of an old Top of the Pops last week.
There was some good indie music in the 1990s beyond the Britpop heavyweights.
It was a shame Catatonia didn’t go on a bit longer
A song from the 1980s that you like or means something to you.
"Street Tuff (feat. Rebel MC)" by Double Trouble
According to a reviewer quoted on Wikipedia this "mixes the rhythms of Jamaican reggae with a house music beat."...which seems about right.
At the start, it quotes the "You can’t play bass" bit from my Crucial Track from yesterday.
"Street Tuff (feat. Rebel MC)" by Double Trouble on Apple music
A song from the 1970s that you like or means something to you.
"Bed Skank" by Scotty
This is Scotty toasting (rapping) over Lorna Bennett's reggae version of my Crucial Track yesterday.
A song from the 1960s that you like or means something to you.
"Breakfast In Bed" by Dusty Springfield
This song has a couple of reggae versions. The first was Lorna Bennett, which links to my 1970s choice. The second was
a UK number one for UB40 and Chrissie Hynde. I saw the Pretenders support UB40 a few years later and was miffed that they didn’t do the song