Been Caught Stealing Fast Cars

 Welcome to the latest instalment of the badly titled Everyone Has Got one Good Song blog thing. Days 86-87!

I was thinking of building the ultimate playlist with one simple rule. One artist. One song. Each day will feature a song by an artist whose birthday is that day and then nine other songs by nine different artists just because people like things to be in tens.

The playlist is here - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4exU9MUJMWaouOgnu7zmSl?si=I5fqk7VpQX6aDGec7xvqsQ&pi=e-IfIWXc5GT56R

So, the idea was that you might want to follow and share and either have the playlist yourself or do your own or chat about it with me, you could use the hashtag #EHGOGS.

I’m on Twitter X thing as @fourfoot

Today’s selection is 2 days long!

It is dedicated to birthday types Perry Farrell and Tracy Chapman. This blog is impressionistic and fucking vague. It’s all about the playlist.

Been Caught Stealing – Jane’s Addiction

I remember reading about Jane’s Addiction in 1989 in that bit at the front of NME where they would talk about emerging new bands. I didn’t think I would be into it tbh and I wasn’t really but I always liked this song. It’s like the Chili Peppers if they were any good. And there aren’t enough songs featuring barking dogs.

Willie and Laura Mae Jones – Nancy Wilson

I first heard this on a Blue Juice compilation picked up in Spillers one cold morning in 1997. I wish I had friends who made a good barbecue and played guitar when I popped round. Not too keen on the old cotton picking poverty the rest of the song depicts mind.

September is the Month of Death – Trembling Bells

I know nothing about this band but I heard this a while back and was instantly bewitched by it’s Beltane Wicker Midsommar terrors. Folk music should be either sad or unsettling or both.

Hotter, Colder – This is the Kit

My notes read PJ Harvey conducting a séance. Who the fuck knows what I meant by that? Still, we press on.

Cuddly Toy – Roachford

Forever ruined/enhanced by THAT Partridge clip depending on whether or not you own driving gloves, it’s still a belter 35 years on…

I Think of You – Little Annie

On-U Sound remains one of the truly remarkable British indie labels of the last 40 odd years. Their Pay It All Back compilations are essential listening for anyone interested in the dubby side of things. And this track is great.

Forever – HAIM

The best thing they ever did. It threatens to go reggae here and there and stays locked in some rock goes disco groove throughout.

UFO – ESG

Proper scratchy, sinister, funky post-punk from NYC circa 82? I once emptied a dance floor with this.

Surround Yourself With Sorrow – Cilla Black

Yeah she turned into a fucking stalwart of Tory British Light Entertainment, torturing the masses with Blind Surprise etc. But fucking hell WHAT A TUNE. St Etienne’s mum and dad.

Lenny Valentino – Auteurs

A sleazy post-Suede sort of thing. I keep meaning to investigate more of Luke Haines oeuvre. He strikes me as an innovator, a maverick. We have precious few of those.

Walk the Dinosaur – Was (Not Was)

Boom book shakalakalaka boom etc. You think Will Smith comes up with stuff on his own?

Frasier (The Sensuous Lion) – Sarah Vaughn

Strange song that I first heard in The Leftovers.

Lost in Music – Sister Sledge

Irresistible.

Love Missile F-11 – Sigue Sigue Sputnik

One of those songs that entered the charts ridiculously high and you had no idea about the band or what it was all about. Especially if, like me, all you had to go on was Top of the Pops because you lived in a radio reception blackspot in the 80s which also happened to be a cultural wasteland. Anyway, I’ve always had a soft spot for this record despite the band looking like fucking idiots and despite it featuring in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, a film that becomes more repulsive with age.

Theme to Cheers – Garry Portnoy

Cheers is the greatest American sitcom of all time and I’ll hear no argument to the contrary. And this song, ah man….

Don’t Think About Her When You’re Trying to Drive – Little Village

I do love a long song title. And, though it’s a little close to corny at times, it’s sweet enough.

Wait – Dr. Robert and Kym Mazelle

I remember my sister had this record and I was quite impressed and also pissed off that she’d bought it before me.

You Got to Believe – Delaney and Bonnie

If you’ve never seen the 1971 road movie Vanishing Point you really should. Primal Scream love it so much they dedicated an album to it. But don’t let that put you off, the original soundtrack album remains a favourite chez moi and this song is great. In the movie the band actually play it themselves in front of a bunch of strung out lunatics in the desert.

Fast Car – Tracy Chapman

Forget it’s recent horrific trance cover by some unthinking Eurotrash, recall the original and all it’s quietly devastating power.

Jah is One – Mosh Ben Ari

Fuck knows where I heard this. Anyway, a bit of Israeli reggae never hurt anyone I reckon.

As ever, your love is taken as read. Thanks for putting up with this shite. Tomorrow, normal service is resumed. Your disappointment is taken as read, also. It’s Angus Young birthday tomorrow….