Playing Favorites #3

I said to my gorgeous brother Stu last night, whom with his lovely partner Fritha hosted me for dinner and quality beverage, that I want to totally revise my Top 5 "imaginary Kim Hill playing favorites", incidently it's become a game...

We couldn't agree about whether you ought to include a novelty track, and the definition of a novelty track couldn't be adequately agreed upon either, it could be a reference, or dedication type track, one that you remember whilst growing up, or that your parents played, or it could simply be pure novelty, excluding the chicken dance song, the following selection might help the confused - I'm Too Sexy For My Shirt, Hands Up Baby Hands Up, Baby Got Back - Sir Mixalot. Hammond Organs featured as instruments appropriate for novelty tracks, but by the time we'd agreed to our inability to form a consensus, we'd discussed again all the tracks we know that have dogs barking in them, and I had played the Pixies and Stu was scanning a Joy Division CD cover, and we were onto the single malt.

Anyway - Chris Bourke (what happened to Mark?), I am now officially a D-list celeb, I got mentioned in the first paragraph of Dave Hansford's Listener article last week. So - come on mate. I'd so get on with Kim, and I'd tell her all about (re: the infamous John Campbell letter) how I had to shared a jersey with my younger brother, growing up in Waitangirua. The poor immigrant Scottish family and how I'm doing a PhD in Philosophy - and one of my supervisors is in residence at Oxford University, the other at Australian National University. As Ian Dury correctly points out, "There ain't half been some clever bastards, lucky bleeders"

So, in anycase, and as the case may be, in fact as the case is, at least in this case. My top 5 has a distinctively British rock theme - and so, I may as well continue where I left off.

Here it is number 3. Ready for the weekend. Mark, I am in Holland, Oxford and the UK in a couple of weeks on academic business so will be unavailable until mid july. But, well mate, I'll await the call up.

Nothing Precious At All. Stereophonics, from the "You Gotta Go There to Come Back" album.

I'm a nostalgia freak, like I said earlier, I'm not sure if it is an affliction bought about by listening to music after having a few wines, or if it is indeed a mental condition in it's own right. Whatever, this song does it for me. It burns nostalgia. It reminds me of glory days, maybe it's the old school piano riff at the beginning, but then it slots beautifully into a punchy bass line, and then there is Kelly Jone's inimitable voice. Sublime! "She's got red hair and a motorbike and lime green shoes" - it's hard not to sympathise with the character in Jone's lyrics. The song could have come straight out of the 70s, but it has a distinctive 21st century feel.

If you are going to buy one Stereophonics album - get this one.

Nothing Precious At All

I been people watching again

I think they watch me too

There's a new girl at the coffee house

She's got first day blues

She's got red hair and a motorbike

And lime green shoes

A mohair hat and a summers dress

And black tattoos

And then she fly away

In her high heel feet

And her fire dress

And she's throwing things

That took her time to save it up

And buy what's special

Then she look around

And sees what's left

And it's nothing much

Nothing precious at all

Nothing precious at all

Gonna drink herself to sleep tonight

And that's nothing new

She goes out almost nine every night

And gets high as the moon

She takes photographs of American cars

Where she went to school

She likes fireworks and candlelight

And fake bad news

And then she fly away

In her high heel feet

And her fire dress

And she's throwing things

That took her time to save it up

And buy what's special

Then she look around

And sees what's left

And it's nothing much

Nothing precious at all

Nothing precious at all

Nothing precious at all

Is she a loner or a mother's girl

That's up to you

She got fine lines round her tired eyes

And they're painted blue

She could sleep around with anyone

If she wanted to

Gotta go my time is up right now

Got stuff to do