Tag Archives: Madness

Welcome To The House Of Fun!

Last Friday, I attended my third gig in nine days when I went to see Madness play The Marquee in Cork. Regular readers shouldn’t be too surprised to learn that my friend John also attended and he was kind enough to drive up and down from Limerick. Of course, I repaid his kindness by playing music from my iPod on the way down and back, with a fair bit of ska and reggae numbers soundtracking our return from what was yet another great gig. John’s a bigger fan of the band than I am but, like me, this was his first time seeing The Nutty Boys in concert. The band formed in the latter half of the 70s and released their first singles in 1979. They had their biggest success in the 80s and many of these wonderful singles formed the basis of their show in Cork. They began the show with their first top ten UK hit, One Step Beyond, and went on to deliver familiar versions of Embarrassment, Our House and House of Fun as well as some songs from their most recent album, The Liberty of Norton Folgate. My own particular favourite on the night, however, was their version of My Girl, which Suggs introduced by singing a slowed down version of the first verse before the whole band and the crowd launched into the song

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Electric Boogie

Kinky Boots

The sixth instalment of Electric Picnic takes place this weekend in Stradbally, County Laois. It began as a one-day fest in 2004 and I attended it in 2005 when it turned into a two-day festival. I saw some great acts that year such as Kraftwerk, the Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev, Nick Cave and Toots & the Maytals. The atmosphere was very relaxed and the crowd was nice and chilled out. It’s been a three-day event since 2006 and is still a big draw. I would have loved to have gone this year, but I’m a bit light of pocket after all my gallivanting this summer. Besides, each person who attends is only allowed 48 x 500ml cans of beer. Sure, they’d be gone by Saturday. I’ve checked out this year’s line-up and I’ve put together a selection of songs from 21 acts that would be worth a few minutes of your time. Here’s hoping that the weather will remain fine for the weekend and that those attending will enjoy it as much as I did a few years ago

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Going Back To Glasters

74398227MC009_Glastonbury_F

This weekend I’m going to be checking out loads of acts taking part at one of the largest music festivals in the world: Glastonbury. The good news is that I won’t have to worry about getting caught in the rain, paying for over-priced food and beverages, and lugging a tent and sleeping bag around for the weekend. Thanks to the BBC, I’ll be able to watch highlights and full performances from the comfort of my own living room. Thank you very much, the BBC! The only downside is that I’m going to have to listen to BBC DJs and “personalities” engaging in witty banter with each other in between the songs. But that’s a small price to pay, I suppose

I popped onto the Glastonbury 2009 website to have a look at the line-ups for the weekend and I couldn’t get over the number of acts taking part and all the different types of music on offer. I’ve gone through the list with a fine-tooth comb and I’ve picked just over 20 acts that I’d love to see perform. I’ve seen some of these already and I hope that the Beeb will see fit to show clips from their sets this weekend. Obviously, Michael Jackson’s death will be a major talking point and it’ll be interesting to see if any of these acts will pay a tribute to him in song over the weekend. I’d love to hear Bruce Springsteen singing a medley of his own Bobby Jean with Jackson’s Billie Jean. I’m sure that Neil Young would do a blistering version of Beat It. And maybe Jarvis Cocker could give us his take on Man in the Mirror. Here are songs by 20 of the bands that I’d like to see at this year’s festival. Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker and The Kinks’ Ray Davies will both be doing separate solo gigs and Ian McCulloch will be playing with Echo & the Bunnymen. The mix is bookended by a couple of songs about Glastonbury performed by a guy who played a few gigs there in the past, Mike Scott of The Waterboys. Take it away, Mike


Going Back to Glastonbury 2009

“There is a green hill far away/I’m going back there one fine day”

01 Glastonbury Song – The Waterboys

“Oh, is this the way they say the future’s meant to feel?/Or just twenty thousand people standing in a field”

02 Sorted for E’s & Wizz – Pulp

“At this moment, you mean everything/With you in that dress/My thoughts, I confess, verge on dirty”

03 Come On Eileen (Dexy’s cover) – BDB

“Come/As you are/As you were/As I want you to be”

04 Come As You Are (Nirvana cover) – Glasvegas

“Long as I remember, the rain been coming down/Clouds of myst’ry pouring, confusion on the ground”

05 Who’ll Stop The Rain (CCR cover) – Bruce Springsteen

“I see your box is open and you flag is up/My message is ready, if there’s time enough”

06 Motorcycle Mama – Neil Young

“And I love to live so pleasantly/Live this life of luxury/Lazing on a sunny afternoon”

07 Sunny Afternoon – The Kinks

“I’ve got to admit it’s getting better/A little better all the time”

08 Getting Better (Beatles cover) – Easy Star All-Stars

“I go out on Friday night and I come home on Saturday morning”

09 Friday Night, Saturday Morning – The Specials

“I’m sorry son/But we don’t stock/Party gimmicks/In this shop”

10 House Of Fun – Madness

“You hit me once/I hit you back/You gave a kick/I gave a slap”

11 Kiss With A Fist – Florence & the Machine

“With your head on the ground/And your feet in the air/Catch this trick/You spin it, yeah”

12 Where is My Mind (Pixies cover) – Emmy the Great

“You were one inch from the edge of this bed/I dragged you back a sleepyhead”

13 Sleepyhead (Passion Pit cover) – The Mummers

“Put me back in the bottle/Where the sea meets the sun/Where the bones and their rattle/They don’t mean anything to no one”

14 Teeth (Daytrotter session) – Lisa Hannigan

“I’ve known mornings white as diamonds silent from a night so cold”

15 White As Diamonds (Daytrotter session) – Alela Diane

“I remember how they took you down/As the winter turned the meadow brown”

16 Mykonos – Fleet Foxes

“There’s a crack in the roof where the rain pours through/That’s the place you always decide to sit”

17 Travelling Light – Tindersticks

“And the stars in the sky, they never caught my eye/’Cause I ain’t never had nobody like you”

18 Never Had Nobody Like You – M Ward

“Around the house and mind the dresser“

19 Mind the Dresser – Kilfenora Céili Band

“Ooh, and it makes me wonder”

20 Stairway to Heaven (Led Zep cover) – Rolf Harris

“Fate/Up against your will/Through the thick and thin”

21 The Killing Moon (Acoustic) – Ian McCulloch

“I stayed up all night wide awake/Wearing a mile-wide grin/Diggin’ the transient city/And all that grooved within”

22 Going Back to Glasters – Mike Scott

Two Wheels Good

bicycle

This week is National Bike Week in Ireland (June 14-21). According to its website, it is a week devoted to “a series of nationwide events organised by cycling groups, communities and local authorities supported by the Department of Transport.” These events have included initiatives aimed at getting Irish workers to cycle to work instead of taking their cars, free bike check ups, and sponsored cycles and races. In tandem with National Bike Week, the Department of Transport hope to implement the first National Cycle Policy Framework in this country. One of its main goals is to encourage more people to cycle to work on a regular basic. I would hope that another one of its goals would be to make it easier and safer for bikers to cycle in urban areas

I’m certainly in favour of any measures that get more people on their bikes. I cycle to and from work every week and I also use my bike to go into town. As a cyclist, I have to be extremely vigilant as I ride around the streets of Limerick as it’s not a very bike-friendly place. I’ve had a few accidents due to crazy drivers and slippery road conditions over the years. Still, it does a person good to fall off a bike once in a while. Some of my friends have had bikes stolen a few times, but it’s only happened to me on one occasion and that was my own fault for not securing it properly. I’m not too sure if there are any events taking place in Limerick for Bike Week. In any event, I won’t be taking part in them. I wouldn’t like my bike to be exploited just so the government could pedal their policies

Here are twenty songs about the highs and lows of cycling, broken and stolen bikes, brand new bicycles, tricycles and tandem bikes. You can find over twenty more cycling tunes here, and a French mix of songs about bicyclettes ici. There’s also a whole blog here called Rock’n'Bike that’s completely devoted to songs about bicycles ;-) Happy cycling!

01 Riding On My Bike – Madness

02 Rockin’ Bicycle – Fats Domino

03 Tour De France – Kraftwerk

04 Wheely Wheely – Early B

05 The Pushbike Song – Mungo Jerry

06 Stolen Bike – Ox

07 Apology Song – The Decemberists

08 Bicycle – Mark Olson & Gary Louris

09 The Acoustic Motorbike – Luka Bloom

10 Black Hole – She & Him

11 On A Bicycle – Marcel Dadi

12 Les Bicyclettes De Belsize – Englebert Humperdinck

13 On yer bike – Frankie & the Flames

14 See That My Bike is Kept Clean – Half Man Half Biscuit

15 Broken Bicycles – Junk – Anne Sofie Von Otter

16 I’m In Love With My Little Red Tricycle – Napoleon XIV

17 My White Bicycle – Tomorrow

18 Bike (Pink Floyd cover) – Harvette

19 Bicycle Race (Queen cover) – Ratajon

20 Tour De France (Kraftwerk cover) – Senor Coconut

Can I Play With Madness?

Madness

The third episode of Later…with Jools Holland continues some themes from the previous two. For the second week running it features a singer from Mali as well as another ska band from the Two-Tone label. The established singer-songwriter is Cat Stevens and three up-and-coming acts also appear

Growing up in the eighties, one of the bands that I heard most often on the radio was the English ska band Madness. The majority of their hits appeared in this decade and they were invariably accompanied by humorous promotional videos. The combination of these videos, the type of music, and the band’s comic image led to them being labelled The Nutty Boys. Despite this, their lyrics stood out from normal pop fare and the subject matter of their songs ranged from contraception (House of Fun) to the health service (Mrs Hutchinson) to apartheid ((Waiting For) the Ghost Train). Embarrassment was written by band member Lee Thompson and concerns pregnancy outside marriage and inter-racial relationships

Embarrassment – Madness

Yusuf Islam is the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens who was born Steven Georgiou in 1948. He was very successful throughout the sixties and seventies, but converted to Islam and changed his name to Yusuf in 1978. He left the music business at this time and only returned in recent years. In 1989, he appeared to support the fatwa against Salman Rushdie, but later denied this. If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out is one of a number of his songs that were used to great effect in Hal Ashby’s film, Harold & Maude (1971)

If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out – Cat Stevens

Bat for Lashes is Natasha Khan, an English singer-songwriter and musician who has just released her second album, Two Suns. It is the follow-up to her 2007 Mercury Prize-nominated Fur and Gold (2006). This is her rendition of one of Bruce Springsteen’s most frequently covered songs, I’m On Fire

I’m on Fire (Springsteen cover) – Bat For Lashes

Oumou Sangaré is a singer and businesswoman from Mali. She began singing at the age of five in order to support her family following the departure of her father. Eventually, she signed to the English label, World Circuit. Her business concerns include the hotel, car and agriculture industries. Seya is the title track of her new album

Seya – Oumou Sangaré

William Elliott Whitmore is a singer from Iowa who also plays guitar and banjo. Animals in the Dark (2009) is the sixth and latest album that he has released in his ten-year career. Hell or High Water features him on guitar accompanying his bluesy voice

Hell or High Water – William Elliott Whitmore

Hockey is the name of a Portland, Oregon four-piece who have just only just released their debut single in Britain. It is entitled Too Fake and will appear on their forthcoming first album, Mind Chaos. Song Away is another track that will feature on the album

Song Away – Hockey