I'm taking a brief rest from our journey into musical space to celebrate ten songs about cashing in at the casino. Let the chips fall where they may...
Thea has gambling on her mind, and lyrics that can’t ever lose. Take a listen to this song from the Rules For Jokers album - it's guaranteed to hit the jackpot.
Everclear should know better than to play blackjack with “Scary John”. “Be careful what you ask for,” Art Alexakis sings on this track, but considering this is the man who also offers to “…Buy You A New Life” and dreams of living “Like A California King”, the stakes are obviously high. The first new Everclear album in six years is released next month… will it be another winner?
Legend has it Mick couldn't come up with any decent lyrics to this song. So he scribbled some random casino-related phrases on a few scraps of paper and the band took turns drawing them out of a bag, making the words up as they went along. Despite all that, Keith's boogie-woogie riffs brought it home.
It may be time to reassess Human Touch and Lucky Town. Releasing two albums on the same day is never a good bet for any artist, especially after a five year break. Expectations were impossibly high after Tunnel Of Love... the odds were stacked against Bruce. Still, he rolled the dice... and listening to this record 20 years later, it still sounds fresh. I call that a win.
Mr. G and Mr. Dogg lay out the consequences of street corner hip hop gambling after a game of Cee-Lo goes against them. Pity I couldn't find a Cee Lo Green track on this same subject, but at least I now know where the big guy got his name from.
There are loads of songs about gamblers (in fact, there's a whole other Top Ten in them... one day), but none give quite so much useful advice to the budding casino goer. You never count your money when you're sitting at the table...
1. Elvis Presley - Viva Las Vegas
The ultimate gambling song for the ultimate casino town where all you need is a strong heart and nerves of steel. Of course, The King wins the pot... but ZZ Top, Bruce and The Dead Kennedys play to win too.
Those were mine… but which casino song is a guaranteed winner for you?
Lee Mavers and co. recorded one album in 1990, promptly disowned it, then spent the following 21 years "on hiatus". Talk about "difficult second album syndrome".
All my life goes by in Doledrum I'll see ninety-five in Doledrum
Treasure this moment, it's probably the first, last and only time you'll ever see a Simply Red song in one of my mixtapes.
Here, Mick Hucknall has been laid off from work, his kids all need shoes, and the bank don't want to know. I might sympathise... if he wasn't Mick Hucknall.
Billy and co. update this traditional folk song, dedicating it to unemployed farmers across the country...
Time was, I could sell what I grew in the shop. Then Tesco's turned up all of that had to stop. Now I can't make a living out of my crop. Singing, oh, the hard times of old England, In old England very hard times.
And things were even harder for the unemployed before the days of the welfare state...
I mined in your mines and I gathered in your corn I been working, mister, since the day I was born Now I worry all the time like I never did before 'Cause I ain't got no home in this world anymore
Not the Morrissey classic about winning yourself a cheap tray... but an ode to unemployment from a bunch of slackers... who you'd probably expect to enjoy unemployment a little more than they do.
Everyday is Sunday When you're unemployed Sounds pretty good man I should be overjoyed
Every day is Sunday Every day is Sunday Every day is Sunday Friday never comes
Do you think I should write a novel? Maybe write some songs? I'll show you I'm the genius You thought I was all along
More farmers forced to sell their farms when the bank forecloses, from another artist who owes his entire career to Woody Guthrie. And, as so often in these stories, it all ends with rain on the scarecrow... and blood on the plough.
The irony being that by the time the second Kenickie album hit the shops, most of the band were on the dole. At least Lauren Laverne went on to find alternative employment.
I got hired but I got tired of draining the pool for you. I got tired but not so blue, To see the cracks in you. I got hired against my wish, With better prospects, after this.
I can think of worse resignation letters you could write... this should probably have made last week's list though.
If ever there was a rock star who epitomised what we might call "dole scum chic", it's Pete Doherty. This song was named after the Walter Greenwood novel, adapted into a film in 1941 starring Deborah Kerr as Waynetta Slob.
Adrian reminded me of this one after last week's Top Ten 'I Quit!' Songs. Do you want to make tea at the BBC? (Hint: it'll probably be more fulfilling than making the tea at ILR.)
Was there ever a more accurate description of what it feels like to be laid off...?
Watch out world, I’m a man at ease Free to do whatever when I want Lonely heathland here I come Deathless, useless bracken underfoot
There’s people who can’t spell ‘weird’ right Driving round with thousands in the bank But I get by, got a lot on my mind I get by, got allotments on my mind
Unlike a lot of the people on this list, Fred Jones is actually sad to be losing his job...
Fred sits alone at his desk in the dark There's an awkward young shadow that waits in the hall He's cleared all his things and he's put them in boxes Things that remind him: 'Life has been good' Twenty-five years He's worked at the paper A man's here to take him downstairs And I'm sorry, Mr. Jones It's time
The perils of living with an unemployed girlfriend or girlfriend, along with typically blunt advice on how to deal with them. At least the video gave temporary employment to an entire small town.
Nina ain't got no home, no shoes, no money, no skirts and no sweater. She does have her tongue, her chin, her neck and her boobies though. I'm not entirely sure what alternate career path she's advising here...
Yes, the most misunderstood song in the history of rock is actually the story of a disgruntled GI returning from Vietnam to find nobody will give him a job.
Come back home to the refinery Hiring man says, "son, if it were up to me..." Went down to see my VA man, He says, "son, don't you understand?"
Probably not the song you expected to top this chart (if you've ever even heard of it), but this is one of my favourites from Everclear. It never fails to make me smile.
Ever been chatted up down the Job Centre?
Blimey - 25 songs about unemployment. But which omissions made me fail the interview?
And so I conclude the 2010 review with my customary countdown of my favourite albums of the year. The usual provisos apply... including the one about me no longer caring about being seen as remotely cool, so nyah nyah if you don't like Meat Loaf, get over it, you fake hipsters... and the one about me not having heard every single record that was released in 2010 - not even every single one I might actually want to hear, and there being loads of stuff I'm either just getting round to or haven't even bought yet that may well blow some of the albums listed below completely out of the water...
But really, if you need all that spelling out to you... what are you, an idiot?
These were the records that kept me from ploughing into the back of countless Audis throughout the course of 2010...
20. Everybody Was In The French Resistance... Now! - Fixing The Charts Volume 1
With no new Art Brut record to big up, Eddie Argos teamed with his girlFREN, Dyan Valdes (of The Blood Arm) for an album of amusing answer songs. It filled the gap till the Brut get back.
19. The Courteeners - Falcon
Difficult second album syndrome plagues the Courteeners - yet that debut really took some beating...
18. Superman Revenge Squad - Dead Crow Blues
A songwriter I seriously learned to love in 2010, though his latest release wasn't quite as marvellous as the previous three. Newbies should start with 'This is my own personal way of dealing with it all' and work their way up. The older records are available for an insanely cheap £3 (inc. P&P) from Ben's website.
17. James - The Night Before / The Morning After
Tim Booth and the gang came back with a bang with two themed mini albums, the first an upbeat Saturday night record, the second a thoughtful and touching comedown. Stand out track of the latter is told from the perspective of Booth's elderly mother, now living out her twilight years in a retirement home. It's a choker.
16. Meat Loaf - Hang Cool, Teddy Bear
Meat Loaf without Jim Steinman is like toast without butter, but as it's unlikely those two will ever kiss and make up, Marvin's latest stab at OTT immortality manages better than most. As you'd expect, he throws in everything it can get its hands on - from Justin Hawkins to Jack Black to the kitchen sink - turning it all up to 11 and praying. One track even features Hugh Laurie on piano. If we can't have Jim Steinman... this is about as good as it gets.
15. The Divine Comedy - Bang Goes The Knighthood
Now officially a national treasure. So treasure him!
This video features Neil and his blow-up doll. A love story for the ages...
14. Thea Gilmore - Murphy's Heart
Still the greatest contemporary British female singer songwriter... still criminally unappreciated.
13. Lloyd Cole - Broken Record
Another national treasure, though he long since deserted us for the States. Growing old gracefully, he even brought a proper band along with him for his latest album... but stopped just short of causing a commotion.
12. The Hold Steady - Heaven Is Whenever
The best and worst that can be said of this is that it's just another Hold Steady record. Hardly groundbreaking, but it does exactly what it says on the tin.
She said I just can't sympathise with your rock 'n' roll problems...
11. Evelyn Evelyn - Evelyn Evelyn
My second best new musical discovery of 2010 (the first will be revealed tomorrow), Amanda Palmer's debut solo record was one of my top five most listened to discs this year. Unfortunately, it was released in 2008. This is the record she did release this year, a cabaret concept album that tells the story of two Siamese twins, Evelyn and Evelyn, their circus life and tragic romantic demise. It's unlike anything else I heard this year, which is always a good thing.
If I ever became a singer-songwriter (don't worry, being unable to sing and rubbish at rhymes it seems highly unlikely), I wouldn't want to get too famous. I wouldn't want to play cold, hollow stadiums or large capacity venues that smell of flat beer, vomit and piss (to uninterested, 'entertain me!' audiences who largely smell the same). I'd much prefer it if I developed a strong, loyal fanbase that was just big enough to allow me to pick and choose high quality muso-friendly venues where respectful, seated audiences hung on my every note without a glass in their hand.
For the next three weeks, I'll be visiting Manchester's Royal Northern College of Music, which is just that sort of venue, to see three just-successful-enough singer songwriters ply their trade to people who actually want to listen. The first of these was last Friday night, the UK's best contemporary female lyricist and performer, Thea Gilmore.
With a set largely made up from her current album, Murphy's Heart, plus selected treats from her back catalogue, Thea and band gave this show all they had - and the RNCM rewarded them with some of the best acoustics I've ever heard. No wonder Thea chose to end the show with a solo acapella song rather than a barnstorming rocker, there's not many venues where such a decision would be prudent, but here it sent us home with tears in our eyes. After another soul-destroying week at the pit-face (with no Chilean rescue parties in sight), it was just what I needed.
UPDATE... I just realised this is my 1000th post on Sunset Over Slawit.
My favourite British female singer songwriter is, and has been for a good many years now, Thea Gilmore. She writes smart, incisive lyrics and sings like an angel. She's something of a critical darling, the music press all seem aware of her greatness, yet sadly this has yet to be communicated to the great unwashed. Largely this is because Thea isn't on a major label - and doesn't want to be on a major label. She prefers the creative freedom of being an independent, even though this means she often struggles to get her music played on the radio. Every now and then though the radio takes notice - as it has of her new single, cunningly titled You're The Radio. (A hint to all songwriters - radio is an entirely onanistic industry. It loves to play records about itself.)
So You're The Radio has been A-listed by the UK's biggest national radio station, Radio 2. Having cracked that, Thea's set her sights firmly on the Top 40. But she needs our help. The single is out now and can be downloaded from Amazon for a very modest 79p. So take a listen to the video below, and if you like what you hear... give Thea your support. It's about time we had something worth listening to in the charts again... god, I sound old.
Stuart Murdoch's stalker anthem (one of many!) based around Dylan's famous promo film for Subterranean Homesick Blues. I'm not sure how the two connect, but when the end product sounds this good - who cares?
Murder By Death are great with the titles. This comes from the album Like The Exorcist, But More Breakdancing which also features tracks called: I'm Afraid Of Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf, Intergalactic Menopause and Flamenco's Fuckin' Easy. All inspired titles which the songs in question rarely live up to... how could they?
Here it is The not-so-happy-ending We've done our picket fence defending We did Bogart and Bacall and now the spotlight's gone, and anyway All those movie kisses just last too long
I know you think you're in the movies. You're in the movies and you don't wanna know me. Well I know all about fear and desire, and I know all about lust, etc.
Edie Sedgwick, Anna Karina, Arlene Dahl. Edie Sedgwick, Anna Karina, Arlene Dahl. I just want to be a sweetheart.
I always thought Kate was singing about Tolstoy's tragic heroine Anna Karenina along with cult actresses Edie Sedgwick and Arlene Dahl. I never quite understood why.
Turns out it's actually Danish actress Anna Karina. Well, I never.
One of those things you dream about doing when you're young and single... then when the opportunity does finally arrive: "Get off me, woman - I want to watch the film!"
1. Okkervil River - Our Life Is Not A Movie Or Maybe
Their best song, it's a lyrical blizzard and no mistaking, with some of the more interesting rhymes you'll hear this week.
Do you have a favourite movie song? Do tell.
Anyone who suggests My Heart Will Go On, Everything I Do (I Do It For You) or Take My Breath Away... don't let the door hit your arse on your way out.
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