Saturday, August 15, 2009

Don't You Find The Weeks Are Getting Shorter?

Hi there. It's good to be back and it's good to have the football back. Good luck to all your teams and look out for Carlton Cole this season. The big man is either going to be immense or he's going to snap his cruciate ligament today against The Wolves and leave us with no centre forward.

This week I have been reading Rog's recommendation, Billy Liar. I like the book a lot but once again it's let down by the blurb on the cover. "Dictator, soldier, cripple, successful novelist, convict; this is Billy, a hero for our times." Um, no, not really. Just a selfish young man trapped in a shitty life.

Last week Tim tweeted about how good The Korgis were. So, with just their most famous song on Spotify, I took a chance and bought their Very Best. And very good it is, too.

Here's a truncated version of their first hit which you won't find on Spotify. Apparently it's "un tema que popularizo Rod Stewart". So it wasn't a hit in Spain, then?

16 comments:

  1. this is Billy, a hero for our times

    "Billy, don't be a hero, don't be a fool with your life"
    "Billy, don't be a hero, come back and make me your wife"
    And as he started to go she said "Billy, keep your head lo-o-ow"
    "Billy, don't be a hero, come back to me"

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  2. Wikipedia: "Paper Lace's version of "Billy Don't Be a Hero" hit number one on the UK singles chart and was released in the United States at the same time as Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods' interpretation. Although Paper Lace had the chart-topper in the UK, its version stalled at #96 on the Billboard Hot 100. The Bo Donaldson version went to #1, though it failed to chart at all in the UK."

    But which version does MJ know?

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  3. Betty's just pointed out that in the Paper Lace version the woman sings the line "keep your pretty head low." In the Bo Donaldson version it's "Billy, keep your head low" sung by Bo himself. No pretty men in the good ol' US of A. They're real men. Bo can put himself in the woman's shoes but he can't call another man's head pretty.

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  4. Oh crap. I only mentioned the lyrics to get the song out of my head and now I've had to listen to BOTH versions on YouTube for the sake of research!

    Frankly, they both sound annoyingly cloying to me but I'll say it was the Bo Donaldson version I heard ... only so that I need not explore the matter any further.

    I got myself into this, didn't I?

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  5. I'm sorry but you started it. No other fucker is interested in Paper Lace, it seems. Maybe they'd be more interested in Black Lace. Aga fucking do.

    Went to the library today and they had the Wife In The North book in the "recommended" section. "Aga Fucking Do" would be a better title for that pile of shite.

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  6. 2-0? 2bloody0!

    Useless, useless bastards.

    Still, 37 more goes to get it right, I suppose.

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  7. Too weird for words. I sang 'Billy Don't be a Hero' going up the elevator in the Rockefeller Center recently. The Husband, being a babby, had no idea what I was going on about. I told him it was a smash hit by White Plains.

    That Korgis thing is bostin.

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  8. Take it out of that section and misfile it in the waste management section.

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  9. Noble took his goal well at Wolves, didn't he Geoffster? Has he been in the England squad yet? Or will he join the long list of talented, flair midfielders who get overlooked by the national team coach?

    Mind you, some of them don't help themselves, do they? Great piece on Stanley Bowles in the Observer. He recounts the story of Charlie George's response to Brian Clough when told to stick to his job as centre forward: "Fuck off, you northern tosser..."

    Alf Ramsay got similarly short shrift from Rodney Marsh when Sir Alf told the Man City maestro he'd be pulling him off at half-time "Ooh", replied Rod the Wag, "we only get an orange and a cup of tea at Maine Road..."

    I've shared a car with Marsh, had my picture taken with Bowles in the playres' lounge at Brentford and been in the same room as Charlie George at the Emirates. Just need to track down Tony Currie and Frank Worthington now...

    xxx
    Mort

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  10. Good luck eh?
    Too late.

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  11. Malc - Not a bad game, though. I was impressed by your new player with the left foot whose name I can't look up as this internet connection is crap today.

    Arabella - These youngsters don't know they're born. Korgis rule.

    MJ - I almost took it out. And made a new book using the cut up method.

    Morton - I don't think Noble belongs in the same category as those mercurial long hairs. He's a very tidy player, though. He has an eye for a pass and it looks like he's found his shooting boots, too. Every team should have a Frank Worthington. Or is that Nigel?

    Kaz - You may not have scored one of the first six but at least you scored the last. If the game had started in the 90th minute you would have won.

    Scarlet - Indeed.

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  12. Billy Don't Be A Hero..
    sweet jayzuz me wife luvs that blawdy song! The Bo version of course.

    Your word on music is solid gold in my books..I haven't taken Empire Of The Sun out of the CD player in the van for months!
    Okay I did listen to XTC and Platinum Blonde but I drove 3,125 kilometres last week.

    I won't pretend to know anyfing about football.

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  13. I am the morning DJ. On W.O.L.DDDDDDDDDDDDDDD.

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  14. Finally managed to watch the Korgis clip (Klip?) with the sound up...

    Lovely stuff - 'shoulders' on that with Timster. Reminds me of painting my room and most of its contents white in pale imitation of the poster that came with the Imagine LP in the late 70s. You have to admire any group who can base their entire career on #9 Dream, haven't you?

    The singer went on to be in Talk Talk, n'est pas?

    ;?

    I don't think you'll get many players with the natural flair of the old 70s mavericks - it gets knocked out of most of them by the age of 6. Even someone like Rooney is showing worrying signs of maturity...it's that wife of his, no doubt. He should be out, playing the field....grab a granny night down the Ferret and Whipsnade...that'd sort him out...

    xxx
    Mort

    wv: aertio - wherefore art thou?

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  15. Tony Cascarino reckons Noble's the new Paul Scholes.

    Like Tony Cascarino was the new Paul Mariner, I suppose.

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