Salesman

I don't know about you but I've been watching The Outlaws on BBC1, the Stephen Merchant-powered comedy about an unlikely gang thrown together by community service. It's funny, sometimes silly, occasionally dark, but generally pretty good. I'm a bit behind though, and am only half-way through Series 2. Hooray for iPlayer, right?

Anyway, episode 3 began with a visual catch-up montage, set to a jaunty tune that sort of rang a bell but I couldn't place it. Acoustically (if not vocally) it sounded a little bit like a Lee Mavers knock-off, or maybe an obscure out-take by The Coral or Lilys. Certainly it felt a little like a 60s pastiche, but still contemporary. Bottom line: I liked it but couldn't place it.

Later, I tried all the usual websites - TuneFind is usually best for ID'ing TV and movie soundtracks, I think - but none had anything for Series 2. In the end I had to go back to iPlayer, watch the start of episode 3 again, make a note of some key lyrics, and then search for those. Which is how I found this...

Love it! Salesman was the opening track on The Monkees' fourth album, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd, by which time (1967) they were starting to play more of their own instruments, and even contribute some songwriting. Not this though - it was penned by one Craig Smith, who had previously written for Glen Campbell and Andy Williams, of all people. A 55-year old tune, wearing well, used on primetime Beeb and making its way into my head - not much, I know, but I have to take such little positives when I stumble across them.

Blue Friday: No Name No. 5

It's not Elliott Smith's first apperance on Blue Friday - indeed, he started the theme, nearly four years ago. Now here he is again. It's amazing, I think, how such a light, delicate song - mostly just voice and acoustic guitars and then, late on, some sparse persussion - can feel so heavy, like having a stack of hardbacks, or maybe paving slabs, laid on your chest.

New to NA: The Waeve

Following on from yesterday's Graham Coxon post, here's the first fruit of his new endeavour: The Waeve sees Graham team up with Rosie Elinor Dougall, in much the same way that other guitar hero Bernard Butler recently teamed up with Jessie Buckley. But that's where the similarity ends, if Something Pretty is anything to go by. It's lyrically and rhythmically interesting, and also quite catchy, I reckon...

Monster!

Heatwave

I was going to dip into sitcom catchphrase territory and open this post about the weather with "Don't panic!" But I can't, because panic we must. I might borrow from another Dad's Army character and go with, "We're doomed. Doomed!" instead. If wildfires raging across Europe aren't close enough to home for you, and thousands of deaths being attributed to heat in Spain and Portugal, we're about to see domestic temperature records not just broken but obliterated. It isn't enough to just call it a heatwave and blither on about how hot 1976 was. Everything has to change. Everything. Or we are all doomed.

Sorry. I don't mean to bring you down. It's just how I see it, but I don't want to preach, not now. So ... whenever I see "heatwave" in a headline, this is the song I hear. Not the Martha Reeves and the Vandellas original, not The Who's cover, but this, by The Jam. A bit of YouTubing dug up this curio from the band's tour of the US, promoting Setting Sons: an appearance on American Bandstand, miming first to Heatwave and then Strange Town, either side of a fairly uncomfortable interview with host Dick Clark in which Paul seems disinterested, bordering on contemptuous of the questions, and introduces Rick as Jim. And since American Bandstand was something of an institution in the US, running for 37 years, I suppose you could say this is great time-capsule TV... albeit an American time-capsule.

Until next time, let's all be like little Fonzies. "And what's Fonzie like? Come on Yolanda, what's Fonzie like?"

Norman. Monty Norman

Monty Norman has died, aged 94. And in case you're thinking, "Who?" or "That name rings a bell but I can't quite put my finger on where from," let me just say that, in a long and distinguished, if unheralded, songwriting career Monty gave us one of the most instantly recognisable pieces of music in the world.

Ever.

Sure, John Barry gets kudos for his arrangement, and his orchestra's original rendition, but Monty wrote this...

Cheeky bonus - David Arnold's retooling of the theme, for Casino Royale.

RIP.

Another political message...

...because one a day just isn't enough at the moment, is it?

I've been happily whistling Goodbye by Pete & Dud all day, so I made a thing. It's very much a rush job, but I didn't want to miss the moment. Anyway, what's the opposite of a greatest hits compilation? Worst hits? Greatest misses? Whatever, here it is.

A political message

And two sobering reminders. Saying "I'm going to go" isn't enough. As Dom says...

Evict TODAY or he'll cause CARNAGE, even now he's playing for time & will try to stay

No 'dignity', no 'interim while leadership contest'.

Raab shd be interim PM by evening

— Dominic Cummings (@Dominic2306) July 7, 2022

Secondly, there is such a dearth of decency and talent in the Tory party, whoever follows the entitled one is likely to be almost as bad.

Even so, I think I'll have a beer tonight.

Pro Bono

The cast of Reservoir Dogs 25 years later all look like Bono at different stages of his life. pic.twitter.com/xafgZERWUE

— Give Me Internet (@GiveMeInternet) March 28, 2019

I bit the bullet and listened to Bono's Desert Island Discs. Yes, Bono. I know he divides opinion like few others - U2 fans deify him, many other music aficionados (and much of the blogosphere) find him a sanctimonious berk. Me, I'm fairly neutral about him; when U2 started he just wasn't very good, then they had a period of making three or four really fine albums, after which, for me at least, he and they have been treading water. But I can see why Bono isn't to everyone's taste.

So I'm not going to change anyone's mind about listening to his Desert Island Discs, am I? If you're a fan, you'll have listened already, and if you're not then you probably won't, right? But I will just say that Bono seems to have grown some self-awareness - he knows some people find him a sanctimonious berk, he gets it and is at peace with it. That has to be progress for him, right?

But no, what I wanted to post about is the fact that Bono chose a record by his son's band as one of his discs.

Now my immediate reaction to this was, "Oh no, typical Bono, what a berk, plugging his son on national radio" and so on. But on reflection, I think that if I was alone on a desert island and New Amusements Minor was the singer in a band, I'd want one of his records too, just so that I could hear his voice. That's understandable, isn't it? And really, so is plugging your son on national radio - I'd probably do that too, in the unlikely event that I ever had the chance.

My other thought was, "Christ, Hewson Minor sounds like his dad." Listen for yourself - this is Inhaler, and the track Bono chose, Ice Cream Sundae.

And a final DID observation - Lauren Laverne is a brilliant host. I could listen to her all day.

Thirteen

Ye gods.