Only Connect

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Not all messages are displayed: show all messages (172 of them)

View Previous Page...

Hmmm...a jacket is a garment, another is a sweater...so..."undone-the sweater song" by Weezer, sorry couldn't resist!

― jel, Friday, 23 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

another word for sweater is jumper, as in "Where's Me Jumper?" by Irish scamps Sultans of Ping FC.

― carsmilesteve, Friday, 23 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Who dressed up in a rubbishy imitation of U2 in the early to mid 90s. U2 playing 'The Fly', tho be imprecise.

― the pinefox, Friday, 23 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

R. Kelly believes he can fly.

― Josh, Friday, 23 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Has anybody here seen Kelly?, Leopold Bloom mumbles to himself in the 6th episode of Ulysses (1922). Has anybody here seen Hank?, sings Mike Scott on the Waterboys' Fisherman's Blues LP (1988).

― the pinefox, Friday, 23 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

...while Hank (Williams) himself asks "Why Don't You Love Me Like You Used To Do ?"

― Patrick, Friday, 23 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Australian besotted instrumentalists the Dirty Three mused, in song, how "I Remember a TIme When You Used to Love Me".

― Josh, Friday, 23 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Then of course, there is "Three Times A Lady" by the Commodores, a love song that, if I remember correctly, contains no dirty lyrics whatsoever....unlike, say, the Sissy Penis Factory's "Everybody Fuck Now" or the "5" Royales' "Laundromat Blues." Kodwo Eshun might be ecstatic to know that the latter, where a woman's vagina is compared to a washing machine, is one of but many examples of man-machine symbolism in pre-rock black music. Also see: the Dixie Hummingbirds' "Christian's Automobile", Jackie Brenston's "Rocket 88", many songs about trains, and both Robert Johnson's "Phonograph Blues" and his "Terraplane Blues." And really, what is having your soul sold to the devil but a nifty pre-space-age analogue to becoming a cyborg? So you see, that Kraftwerk ad that Simon Reynolds bangs on about in the beginning of *Generation Ecstasy* -- the one where there's a robot body attached to RJ's head -- wasn't ironic at all. It was quite appropriate, in fact. SO. THERE.

― Michael Daddino, Friday, 23 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

I don't recall if there was any kind of man-machine synthesis going on Smokey Robinson's "Let Me Be The Clock", but it sure sounds like it. In any case, we can say with a great degree of certainty that when Smokey sings "let me be the clock" he is not asking to be a song called "The Clock", though if he was, he could be referring to either the Johnny Ace song or the Go-Betweens'. And the Go-Betweens? Well, the Go-Betweens has this guy, his name is Grant Forster...who, incidentally, has the same last name as E.M. Forster, a man who wrote a book called *Howard's End* -- which, while not a pop record, surely must be a book tape somewhere -- that the line "only connect!" in it or some such tommyrot.

― Michael Daddino, Friday, 23 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

In Howard's End, there's an incident with exchanged umbrellas at a concert. Umbrellas are celebrated in "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg", starring Catherine Deneuve. Deneuve recently appeared in "Dancer in the Dark", another film musical, for which Bjork wrote "Selmasongs". "107 Steps" is one of the prominent tracks on the album.

― youn, Saturday, 24 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Steps are a highly successful !P!O!P! band who were beaten to the 1999 Best Newcomer Brit award by Belle & Sebastian, thanks to an infinately corruptible web-based voting system.

― carsmilesteve, Saturday, 24 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Belle and Sebastian sang "The State I Am In". The state I am in is Iowa. Slipknot are from Iowa. They call their fans "maggots". "Maggot Brain" features one of the great guitar solos of all time.

― Josh, Saturday, 24 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Unlike "Funky Jam", the Scream-Clinton collaboration, which is pleasantly silly but eminently forgettable.

― simon, Saturday, 24 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

"Jam" being a possible filling the Detroit Grand Pubahs have in mind when they sing "we can make sandwiches." Detroit is the place where the Underground Resistance presumably resisted while being underground. "Resistance" is usually the name of some amateurish socialist group in any city in the world you care to name. Stereolab were also amateurish socialists, only they always seemed to make more sense to me. Sense can be calibrated in terms of how little of it Nicky Wire has. Wire claimed to have sand in their joints. It is likely that Bob Marley occasionally found a bit of sand inside his spliffs from time to time.Sinead O'Conner once launched into a verse of Bob Marley's "War" at a Bob Dylan concert for no apparent reason.

― Tim, Saturday, 24 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Sinead O'Connor also did this crazy thing where she, inexplicably, tore up a picture of the Pope on Saturday Night Live. The Pope lives in the Vatican, which like the Taj Mahal, is one of mankind's great architectural treasures. Jorge Ben wrote a song called "Taj Mahal"; Taj Mahal wrote a song called "Jorge Ben".

― Michael Daddino, Saturday, 24 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

mike, as you pointed out to me, that was pure coincidence. van dyke parks is what one might call clever so when he turned a similar trick -- on song cycle, he had a song called "public domain" written by himself, van dyke parks, and changed the title of the hymn "nearer my God to thee" to "van dyke parks" so that he could have a song with his named credited to public domain -- you can bet that it was intentional.

― fred solinger, Saturday, 24 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Frank Kogan slips all over the intentional fallacy when he says "...no matter how the rock fan saw it, the disco-goer most likely did not see disco as synthetic in relation to rock. I wouldn't say that disco never saw itself in some sort of relation to rock, but I don't think it particularly saw itself through the eyes of rock. So to overemphasize 'artificiality' is to not see disco on its own terms." One strikingly "artificial" disco song is El Coco's "Cocomotion", which features an breathy-cute chanteuse of the kind that Momus no doubt wanks over on a regular basis; another would be Munich Machine's "Funk Train" with its absurd lisping pseudo-Mae West talking intro; yet another would be the gross, gross, gross intimations of orgy in Cerrone's "Love In C Minor". And, sadly, Minor Threat never sang about L-U-V the way that the Shangri-Las did.

(Well, Fred, the fact that a Brazilian singer wrote a song with the same name as a blues singer is coincidental, but the fact that the blues singer sang a song with the same name as the Brazilian singer is not. "Jorge Ben" is essentially a cover of "Taj Mahal". It has the same chorus, indeed, it sounds more like "D'ya Think I'm Sexy?" than Jorge's song does -- "D'ya Think I'm Sexy" being the song Jorge Ben claimed was a plagiarization of "Taj Mahal".)

― Michael Daddino, Sunday, 25 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

The Shangri-Las are famous for "Leader Of The Pack". Possibly they were referring to James Spader, who may have been the leader of the bratpack after his performance in "Pretty In Pink", the best film that takes its name from a Psychedelic Furs song ever!

― Tim, Tuesday, 27 March 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Were The Legendary Pink Dots psychedelic? Possibly not, but they did have a record called "Chemical Playschool 10" around '81...

― Michael Jones, Tuesday, 27 March 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

"Chemical Playschool" sounds a bit like "Sunshine Playroom" which is a song by Julian Cope. Therefore, "Julian Cope Is Dead" by Bill Drummond.

― Tim, Tuesday, 27 March 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

The reason Julian Cope is dead is that Bill Drummond "shot him in the head". "Dome" is another word for "head" (cf. the Creation compilation, "It's Different for Domeheads"). Hence LL Cool J, 14 Shots To The Dome. Whether Bill Drummond needed 14 shots to do away with Copey isn't recorded.

― Tom, Tuesday, 27 March 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

From West Hampstead on the Jubilee Line, it's 14 Stops To The Dome. Which can't help but put one in mind of Neil Halstead and his glowing contributions to:

Slowdive: "Souvlaki" (1993)

― Michael Jones, Tuesday, 27 March 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

I used to buy delightful souvlaki from Theo's kebab shop, Leeds. The O's used to be printed on the reverse of Leyton Orient's shirts. Therefore: "Saturday Night Beneath The Plastic Palm Trees" by the Leyton Buzzards.

― Tim, Tuesday, 27 March 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Leighton Buzzard is in Bedfordshire. As is the village of Ampthill, where my old college chum Nick lives. For a long time, Nick's favourite record was Voice Of The Beehive's "Let It Bee" (1988).

Sorry, Nick. It had to come out eventually.

― Michael Jones, Tuesday, 27 March 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

The legendary for-kids duo Ant and Bee emerged from the same primordial alphabet soup as the legendary for-kids duo Ant and Dec, one-time child stars on Bykers Grove, legendary home of 80s rock, er, legends Gaye Bykers on Acid, whose single memorable contribution to human culture is the title of the LP 'Drill Your Own Hole', which I bet they "borrowed"...

― mark sinker, Tuesday, 27 March 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Bees make honey, so "Just Like Honey" by the Jesus and Mary Chain.

― youn, Tuesday, 27 March 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Divergence!

Jesus was a carpenter by trade, or at least that's what I'm told. So he probably had to drill a few holes himself. Were drills invented in the early 1st century? I don't know, but seed drills were. And the lyric I just quoted comes from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' "The Mercy Seat"

― Tom, Tuesday, 27 March 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Seed drills, of course, were not invented until the emergence of eighteenth-century agriculturalist Jethro Tull. One member of Jethro Tull went on to be in Sniff 'n' the Tears, whose 'Drivers Seat', though terrible must have been a merciful relief after watching that beardy bloke on one leg. For clarity's sake then, "Driver's Seat" by Sniff 'n' the Tears.

― Tim, Tuesday, 27 March 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

In the driver's seat that fateful night in Paris when the world lost its beloved Princess of Hearts, was M. Henri Paul. Adrian Henri (also dead) was the Birkenhead-born poet who formed Scaffold in the late 60s. Hence:

Miles Davis: "Lift to the Scaffold/Ascenseur pour l'Echafaud".

― Michael Jones, Tuesday, 27 March 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Roger Daltrey could see for miles, or so he said. It was handy, cos Davis was losing his sight by that time. Daltrey also sang 'Baba O'Reilly'. Opinions differ on whether the track should have remained an instrumental.

― the pinefox, Tuesday, 27 March 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Said track was named after minimalist composer Terry Riley, who did "Church of Anthrax" with John Cale who also worked with Brian Eno on "Wrong Way Up" and Eno of course best known for his Bowie collaboration and Bowie was The Man Who Fell To Earth, while Arnold Schwartzenegger played The Man Able To Give Birth, and Arnold of course was in True Lies which had a cover of "Sunshine of Your Love" on it, the original done by Cream who broke up and Clapton went on to form Derek and the Dominos. A domino is black with white spots. The "Out Of Our Idiot" comp featuring Elvis Costello is green with orange spots.

― Sterling Clover, Tuesday, 27 March 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

I once saw a picture of Green Gartside in Star Hits with his hair looking orange. He sang for Scritti Politti, who had a song covered by Miles Davis once, and whose "Skank Bloc Bologna" is on Rough Trade records' Wanna Buy A Bridge compilation, which has a green cover, Rough Trade also being the name of a Canadian band whose singer Carole Pope was once romantically involved with Dusty Springfield (fact!) long after she recorded "Son Of A Preacher Man".

― Patrick, Tuesday, 27 March 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

"Son of a Preacher Man" was on the Pulp Fiction soundtrack along with "Girl, You'll be a Woman Soon," which was originally done my Niel Diamond, who also sang "Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show" and "Red, Red Wine" which was covered by UB40. The Replacements have a song called "Red Red Wine," which is not related to the Neil Diamond vers. in any way except the title.

― JM, Wednesday, 28 March 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

The 'Mats also covered "Another Girl, Another Planet," by the Only Ones.

― JM, Wednesday, 28 March 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

"There can be only one" was the tag-line of the 'Highlander' film. Queen produced a lot of hogwash for the soundtrack, but, more importantly, Christopher Lambert's sister* Moira sang in Faith Over Reason and on an early Saint Etienne single. A version of which can be found on:

"Foxbase Alpha"

(* - unconfirmed at time of going to press)

― Michael Jones, Wednesday, 28 March 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

There can be only one song with "Fox" in the title, and that's "Foxy Lady" by Hendrix. Garth (Dana Carvey) danced to that for Donna Dixon in Wayne's World. The Donnas make music that sounds like The Ramones, who wanted to be sedated in a song whose title declared such a fact.

― JM, Wednesday, 28 March 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

I can't think of "I Wanna Be Sedated" without it being to the tune of "I Wanna Be Elected" - an Alice Cooper number taken into the UK top 20 for some charity or other by Bruce Dickinson and Rowan Atkinson (in his Mr Bean persona) in the early 90s.

Hence: Coco and the Bean's "Killing Time".

[I'm only keeping this thread alive so I can chase Dastoor up the stats board].

― Michael Jones, Thursday, 29 March 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Gabrielle 'Coco' Chanel was a famous dress designer who had a sideline in perfume. 'Perfume' is an 'indie dance classic' by the Paris Angels.

― Nick, Thursday, 29 March 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

"Angels" was a popular BBC drama serial in the early 80s, concerning the lives of plucky student nurses. Nurse With Wound aren't really nurses, or wounded (as far as I can tell), but did make a record with Stereolab called:

"Simple Headphone Mind".

[Curse you, Dastoor].

― Michael Jones, Thursday, 29 March 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Few people know that when captain of games at school, the future saviour of pop notched up an enviable strike rate in front of goal, earning him the soubriquet Steven 'Hatrick' Morrissey. [This is the same initials as Simple Headphone Mind, do you see?].

Anyway, he got bored of all this sportiness and decided to become a weed instead. The song 'Break Up The Family' details this era in his life, probably.

― Nick, Thursday, 29 March 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Nick Drake was another fellow who packed in high-hurdles and manly grappling on the rugger field for a life of gazing wistfully through grubby skylights and sighing deeply. 'Break Up The Family' begins with "The strange logic in your clumsiest line..."; ND had a song called "Strange Meeting" (and this is my clumsiest entry so far) - the same title as a poem by Wilfred Owen, written three years into the First World War.

Hence: David Bowie's "1917".

― Michael Jones, Thursday, 29 March 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

My grandfather was born in 1917, and without him the story of my life would never have even begun. My Life Story are a band I know nothing about, other than that people who aren't to be trusted rate them highly, and that they had an album called

Mornington Crescent

― Nick, Thursday, 29 March 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

WE HAVE A WINNER!

Nick Dastoor, your prize is a pint of any draught alcoholic substance, at a date and time of mutual agreement. And the right to start the next Only Connect thread (and think up the winning conditions).

I thought someone would get it eventually.

― Tom, Thursday, 29 March 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Well done, Nick.

Bit unfair to our overseas correspondents, Tom?

― Michael Jones, Thursday, 29 March 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Well, it's like when the Beano or something would give away a free gift - they couldn't have claimed the prize too easily anyway. Except for Ned, when he comes over. And Ned's Anglophile enough to have got it, heh.

― Tom, Thursday, 29 March 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

Yes, stop moaning Jonesy. I win. Damn you for your 'draught' stipulation, Ewing. Otherwise I would have held you to a pint of gin.

― Nick, Thursday, 29 March 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

eleven months pass...

Wha' Happen

― b.c., Friday, 15 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.