Tilted - Christine and The Queens

Also released under the titles "Christine" and "Cripple", the song is by Héloïse Letissier who records under the name Christine and the Queens. "Christine" is the French version from 2014. "Cripple" and "Tilted" are English versions from 2012 and 2015. It was named one of the 10 best songs of 2015 by Time magazine. "Christine" was a number one hit in Belgium and a number 3 in France, while "Tilted" became a top 20 hit in the UK and in Ireland.

Letissier first wrote the song in English with the title "Cripple" but the chorus "I actually do enjoy being a cripple" did not go down well at a concert in Brighton. She reworked the lyrics in French as "Christine" for her 2014 debut album, and from this made another English version, "Tilted". The English and French versions are not translations and have significant differences, eg the English begins "I will die before Methuselah / So I'll fight sleep with ammonia," while the French may be translated "I start books at the end / And I hold my chin high for nothing " (Je commence les livres par la fin / Et j'ai le menton haut pour un rien).

Letissier says the song is "an easy song with an uneasy subject. It's about feeling out of place, not finding your balance, or being depressed even, but with playful images, with a song you can dance on." It is about "embracing the fact that you can't really find your balance", which in her case is embracing her own awkwardness and the feeling of being imperfect. It is about "embracing who you are", and "being proud of who you are and where you stand". She explained the English title of the song: "The French song is talking about the same difficulty of turning on your feet. I was searching for lots of images or words that could fit, and I just stumbled upon this word, to tilt or be tilted, and I was exactly trying to find this image. It's literally talking about not finding your balance with a playful image."

Theologically, of course, it is incorrect to suppose that I am actually good and that it is the world that is tilted. The world is tilted but so am I. Hence the awkwardness and a whole lot more that is often quite unpleasant.

Viva Bobby Joe - The Equals

I recall one day in 1969 hearing a boy in school singing "Viva Bobby Moore, viva Bobby Moore". Bobby Moore I knew was England captain but quite where the song came from I was not sure. I now realise it must have been a chant on the terraces and is based on the song by the multi-racial group The Equals. The writer of the song was Eddy Grant, who went on to have solo success. It is not clear what the Equals are singing about and the words give little away. They are presumably referencing a musician in the funk style (Bobby Joe and his funk machine) and how everybody's gonna see a sensation. He has already been from Liverpool to Brighton ... in next to no time and now he is about to do a homecoming gig for the first time ... since he made the big time. "Bobby's gonna do an open-air show for free". Is it a veiled reference to Bob Marley? The football chant was eventually released in punk style in 1994 by The Business. "Bobby Moore viva Bobby Moore ... Bobby Moore's football machine. Everybody knew they'd seen a sensation, a sensation. Hear what I say now Bobby Moore's football machine ... West Ham to England's Wembley, They knew it just maybe he's the best they have ever seen. Taught people how to play, the football game including Pele who said he was the best he' d ever seen ... No. 6 was all he knew he was the best in red white and blue. Turned out to be the Captain of the crew. Beckenbauer would look in awe, Bobby was the score in a sensation." The song was also sung by other football crowds in celebration of others such as Billy Best of Southend United. There was a French version of the original song by Claude François - Vivre que c'est bon. It was adapted by François and Ann Grégory.

It's Five O'Clock - Aphrodite's Child

It's Five O'Clock is the title track on a 1969 album by the Greek band Aphrodite's Child that was also issued as a single. It subsequently appeared on a 1987 album by the lead singer Demis Roussos and in German and French by an Italian singer Milva in 1981. Vangelis wrote the music and Richard Harvey the lyrics. The striking thing about the song for me is that it is able to conjure up exactly what it claims to - "It's five o'clock And I walk through the empty streets Thoughts fill my head ... It's five o'clock And I walk through the empty streets The night is my friend." This is a quality it shares with Good morning, Good morning by the Beatles - "Heading for home you start to roam then you're in town Everybody knows there's nothing doing Everything is closed it's like a ruin ... And you're on your own you're in the street ... Then you decide to take a walk by the old school." It's Five O'Clock is a simple presentation of the pessimistic and nostalgic feeling that comes over all of us from time to time and that unchecked can lead to emptiness and suicidal thoughts. Thankfully, if treacherously, this song ends positively with the words - "The night is my friend And in him I find sympathy He gives me day, gives me hope and a little dream too." The Hammond organ is both evocative and very much of its time. Three and a half minutes of genius.

Pied Piper - Bob and Marcia/Crispian St Peters

Bob and Marcia were a Jamaican vocal duo, Bob Andy and Marcia Griffiths. They had a hit with Nina Simone's Young, Gifted and Black in 1970 and followed it up the next year with Pied Piper. In both cases there are original Jamaican versions and then popular versions with added orchestration. Pied Piper was actually written by the duo The changin' times ie Steve Duboff and Artie Kornfeld. They had reached the lower end of the charts with it in 1965. British pop singer Crispian St Peters (Robin Peter Smith) had then recorded it and scored a major hit in the summer of 1966. It had also been recorded by Cher and then Rita Marley.

The song's title is, of course, from the German folklore fairy tale that was written up in poetic form by Robert Browning in the nineteenth century. Hence the flutes and whistles on the versions under review here. In the original story the town of Hamelin is over-run by rats but the city officials hire a rat-catcher to rid the place of vermin. He wears a costume that looks somewhat like a court jester and plays a magic flute, which leads all the rats away. The town then refuses to pay him, so in anger he does the same thing with the flute, this time leading away the children.

The lyrical problem here is that the Pied Piper character is trying to persuade a reluctant and nervous character that all will be well if they will follow him. And yet if they know anything about the Pied Piper story, they will continue to be cynical. The tune is so joyful, however, especially in the reggae-fied Bob and Marcia version, it is hard not to be convinced that this man is worth following.

Rhythm of the rain - The Cascades

Rain songs are a sort of subgenre in pop music all on their own. This one typically begins and ends with the sound of rain and thunder. It also tells the familiar tale of a man whose lover has left him. The rain falling reminds him 'what a fool' he has been. He rhetorically asks the rain for answers, but ultimately wishes it would 'go away' and let him cry alone. The song is employing then what Ruskin called the pathetic fallacy - a literary term for the attribution of human emotion and conduct to inanimate things found in nature. The rain is simply falling but it seems as though it is falling in sympathy. It also tries some onomatopoeia near the end (pitter patter, pitter patter) and so is a relatively sophisticated piece for a throwaway pop song.

It was first released in late 1962 but I was only aware of it in more recent years thanks to radio play. In fact, in 1999 BMI listed the song as the ninth most performed song on radio/TV in the 20th century. It had featured in the Pete Townshend film Quadrophenia in 1979.

Part of the charm of the song is its use of an unusual chiming instrument, the celesta, and the way the lyrics are clearly enunciated by the vocal group. I especially like the pronunciation of start in the line looking for a brand new start. 

Once again we are faced with a description of teenage angst that is probably describing mere obsession rather than anything deeper. One can imagine this young man's friends calling in an hour or two and he quite happily joining them for a few hoops of basketball and feeling the better for it. It is the beautiful tune and the vocal skills that keep us coming back for more.

Run run run - Jo Jo Gunne/Jeans on - David Dundas

Listening to the radio recently, I heard these two seventies hits (1972 and 1976). They came together in my mind as I like both pieces but have never bought either and have rarely heard them on radio. Both are more or less one hit wonders.

American rock band Jo Jo Gunne was formed in Los Angeles in 1971 by Jay Ferguson (keyboards, vocals, guitar) and Mark Andes (bass guitar, vocals) after they had left the band Spirit. The name is from "Joe Joe Gunne" a Chuck Berry single from November 1958.

Ferguson and Andes, with Mark's brother Matt (guitar, vocals) and William "Curly" Smith (drums, vocals, harp), were signed to Asylum Records. Written by Ferguson "Run Run Run" reached Number 6 in the UK and was from Jo Jo Gunne's first self-titled album. More albums and various personnel changes followed. The song has completely inconsequential lyrics, a very poppy tune, nice use of the slide guitar and features competent guitar band musicianship.

*

Oxford born David Dundas is a genuine Lord, the son of Lawrence Dundas, 3rd Marquess of Zetland. Educated at Harrow and the Central School of Speech and Drama, twice married, he has three grown up children.
The single Jeans On was from his 1977 self-titled debut album. It reached No. 3 in the UK. It was No. 1 in the German Singles Charts and remained 19 weeks in the Top Ten. It originally appeared as a TV advertising jingle for Brutus Jeans. The popularity of the commercial eventually led to the recording of Jeans On as a full-length song, with some lyrical changes. Dundas also recorded a French language version entitled Blue Jeans. He performed the song live on Top of the Pops in 1977. Other singles followed but none was as successful as the first.
The opening piano riff was looped and sampled for British electronic musician Fatboy Slim's 1998 track "Sho Nuff" which was also used in an advertisement in 2006 for the SEAT Ibiza car. As a result, Dundas is credited as a co-writer on the track.
The song is covered by Keith Urban on the 2002 album Golden Road.
The song, written by Dundas, with assistance from the prolific Roger Greenaway, is again wonderful pop, well executed, this time electric piano driven rather than guitar led. The lyrics are slightly less inconsequential but appear to be thought up on the spot. They include these words "You and me, we'll go motorbike riding in the sun and the wind and the rain, I got money in my pocket, got a tiger in my tank And I'm king of the road again."

"Put a tiger in your tank" was a slogan created in 1959 by Emery Smith, a young Chicago copywriter who had been briefed to produce a newspaper ad to boost sales of Esso Extra. The tiger wasn't his invention. It first appeared as a mascot for Esso in Norway early in the 20th century. It was at the end of the Second World War - and the resumption of petrol advertising - that the tiger made its US debut.  King of the road was a single by country singer Roger Miller that came out in 1965.

Glory glory - The Byrds

Also known as When I Lay My Burden Down, Since I Laid My Burden Down, Glory, Glory, Hallelujah and other titles, this American spiritual goes back at least to 1928 and has been recorded by many artists down the years in a variety of genres, including folk, country, blues, rock and gospel. It is a very simple song lyrically and musically and appears to reflect the joy of a Christian who knows that by trusting in Jesus Christ he has laid his burden down. In 1971, The Byrds included it as the opening track on their tenth studio album Byrdmaniax. It was suggested by drummer Gene Parsons who knew it from the repertoire of The Art Reynolds Singers, as was the case with the earlier Jesus Is Just Alright (on Ballad of Easy Rider). Art Reynolds is often credited as the composer of the song but it appears to be older than his heyday in the sixties. The Byrds version features a striking piano part and strong gospel backing vocals but was felt to lack the immediacy of the previous Jesus track. Producer Terry Melcher said in a 1977 interview: "We were aiming to cut another Jesus Is Just Alright but we didn't make it. Larry Knechtel [Session musician, part of the wrecking crew] played piano on this cut but it was too fast. The whole thing was a mess." This is a little harsh.