Daily Archives: April 28, 2009

I’m All Lost in the Supermarket

Supermarket

Yesterday, I was doing a bit of shopping at my local supermarket. I’m afraid that it’s not an Irish one, but it’s the one that’s nearest to where I live and, as I don’t have a car, beggars can’t be choosers. To be frank, I only come in for the special offers. I sure don’t come in for the friendly greeting and pleasant conversation from the checkout girls. That’s why I prefer to use the automatic checkouts that they installed a few years ago. The place is open 24 hours a day and I prefer to shop there later in the night as it’s not as busy

When I popped in yesterday evening it was very busy and the place was full of clashing baskets and people running all over the place. To make matters worse, all the shelfstackers picked this moment to fill up the shelves. A phenomenon that I’ve noticed recently is that these guys must be involved in some kind of a race with each other to see who can stack up the shelves in the fastest time. These guys are quite dedicated to their work and are completely oblivious to all around them. As a result, I need to be quite vigilant as they are so focused on their task in hand that they don’t seem to be aware that there are also customers milling about. So, as I ambled around yesterday evening, one of the stackers must have seen me as an obstacle to his quest. I wasn’t for too long as he decided to go right through me. I think I’ll be doing my shopping a little later the next time

Lost in the Supermarket – The Clash

I’m in love with a girl on a certain Manchester megastore check-out desk – The Freshies

Let’s Loot the Supermarket Again – Mick Farren & the Deviants

Fairytale in the Supermarket – The Raincoats

Shoplifting – The Slits

Shoplifters of the World Unite – The Smiths

Queen of the Supermarket – Bruce Springsteen

Enjoy the Silence

The current season of Later…With Jools Holland is a month old and it continues this week with its eclectic mix of new and established acts. Sonic Youth, Depeche Mode and Lily Allen shouldn’t have too much stagefright, even though only Sonic Youth have appeared on the show before. Blues legend Taj Mahal has been going longer than anyone on the show while Priscilla Ahn and Raphael Saadiq are the newcomers on the show. Later goes out for half an hour on BBC Two at 10.00pm tonight and for an hour on Friday at 11.35pm

Sonic Youth from New York City have been around since the early eighties and are about to release their latest album, The Eternal. I’m Not There is their version of a Bob Dylan song that appears on the soundtrack to the film of the same name

I’m Not There (Bob Dylan cover) – Sonic Youth

Depeche Mode has been around since 1980 and were one of the few English new wave bands to find continued success based on a keyboard sound as opposed to a guitar one. Part of their success and reputation was due to Anton Corbijn’s promotional videos for their singles. Sounds of the Universe (2009) is their twelfth studio release. This is an acoustic version of a song that was also recorded by Johnny Cash

Personal Jesus (acoustic) – Depeche Mode

Taj Mahal formed The Rising Sons with Ry Cooder in the sixties after choosing rock ‘n’ roll over farming. Statesboro Blues was written by Blind Willie McTell and first recorded by him in 1928. Taj Mahal’s version is from their self-titled debut album from 1968

Statesboro Blues (Blind Willie McTell cover) – Taj Mahal

Lily Allen was only born in 1985 and her second album was released earlier this year. She also contributed a track to War Child Heroes (2009), her version of Straight to Hell by The Clash, with a little help from Mick Jones

Straight to Hell (Clash cover) – Lily Allen

Priscilla Ahn is an American singer, guitarist and harmonica palyer who is a year older than Lily Allen, but has only released half as many albums as the English singer. Rain is from an ep from 2006

Rain – Priscilla Ahn

Raphael Saadiq is an American singer, songwriter and producer who used to be the lead singer and bassist for a band with the rather preposterous name of Tony! Toni! Toné! Let’s Take a Walk is a bluesy, soulful number from The Way I See It

Let’s Take a Walk – Raphael Saadiq