I was using the loo in my local Shopping Centre the other day when Hungry Like the Wolf by Duran Duran was the piped music
This got me thinking of songs and/or artist with Wolf or Wolves in their titles. It's strange where you get the inspiration from!
Here are five for starters - three songs and two acts - with more to follow next week
Sinead O'Connor - The Wolf is Getting Married
We are back to Africa, and in particular Botswana, for the Nelson post which will only be of relevance to those of you who follow cricket
Botswana is a landlocked country in Southern Africa bordered by South Africa, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. As such it is right in Ernie territory and he has posted music from it on numerous occasions including his epic Ernie's African Odyssey series.
I recently bought a CD in a charity shop called Music of the Tswana People incorporating Botswana and surrounding areas. It has 21 tracks shares between Serankure Music Arts and Lotlamoreng Lowe Cultural Group. In truth it is not very good but I thought I would included one of the songs - Serangapane by LLCG which translates as a traditional healing song,sung whenever anyone is ill, to make them well - here prior to returning it to charity.
I've come up with three others. The Kgwanyape Band made an appearance at Ernie's place. They have a Scottish connection as this Bandcamp blurb highlights. Here is Kgwanyape from their Mephato Ya Maboba album
Odirile Ishmael Sento, popularly known as Vee or Vee Mampeezy , is a tswana singer, songwriter and the CEO of Lamalanga and Black Money Makers records. Here he sings Dipoo.
We conclude with Maxy Khoisan which translates as Queen of the Sands who combines traditional Setsana music with Dance on Re Batswana
We are back to South America for our next port of call
Lotlamoreng Lowe Cultural Group - Serangapane
The Kgwanyape Band - Kgwanyape
It was only a couple of weeks ago that our good friend The Swede shared the sad news that David Johansen was battling stage 4 cancer.
Sadly it was a battle that the last of the New York Dolls didn't win and he passed away on 28th February at the age of 75.
The influence of the Dolls can't be understated. Without them there may have been no Glam Rock, no Roxy Music, no Punk. no Kiss (no bad thing!) and god forbid no David Bowie. A band who broke conventions and pushed down the barriers.
The Dolls were relatively short lived although they burnt brightly. He would subsequently perform Blues as Buster Poindexter and from 2000 as David Johansen and the Harry Smiths.
It is unlikely that we will see his like again.
Rest easy David
As Martin recently wrote Enough with the RIPs and we have just dipped our toes into March
New York Dolls - Peronality Crisis
David Johansen &n the Harry Smiths - Somebody Buy Me a Drink
Eighty nine weeks into the Shuffle and unless I am very much mistaken we have three acts making their debuts this week
We start with the Nutty Boys and the brilliant One Step Beyond. I remember dancing to this with my pals at my 40th in a similar pose to the one above . I very much doubt that I could do that now.
I probably could shake my funky stuff to It Says Here by Billy Bragg but is not really the kind of thing to dance to. It is now over 40 years old and probably still as relevant as ever given today's dystopian times.
The Yardbirds were responsible for the introduction of three great British guitarists - Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page. Well two out of three ain't bad. Heart Full of Soul is yet another track from the Jon Savage compilations this one being from 1965: The Year the Sixties Ignited as opposed to 2025: The Year the World Ignited.
More hearts full of soul next Saturday.
George writes:
My interest in football was firmly re-established by the late 1980s. And by this time I had my first ever job, in Edinburgh, and took advantage of cheap train fares and cheap match-day prices to do some groundhopping. For less than £10 I could get the train to Larbert, have a pint, buy a programme, watch the game and get a train back to Edinburgh. (That’s £27.32 in today’s prices). It’s a 10 minute walk from the station in Larbert to Ochilview Park in Stenhousemuir. I don’t know if I saw the Ochil Hills from the stand but I did fall asleep in the second half for a while, not because of the football but because I had been drinking at 9 in the morning in Edinburgh with some friends (some of whom I think were going to the egg-chucking). I might have had a pint in the clubhouse at the ground, a lot of clubhouses at the smaller grounds were open to anyone in those days.
Even more exciting than the prospect of notching up Ochilview Park was that it was literally next to the Mccowan’s toffee factory! Yes, where penny dainties used to be made.
Of course, it’s no’ there anymore. Here are the teams that could very well have played their part in what might have been a thrilling 1-1 draw:
So that you don’t have to, I have looked at the AITT of that week and JINGS what a terrible sight that was. I have no memory of 6 of the songs, thankfully, and looking at numbers 11 to 20 I also genuinely don’t think I’ve ever heard any of those songs. Of the 4 in the top 10 I do know, all 4 are at best Total Bobbins. And the no. 1 single in the USA that day is worse still. Respite can be found in the number 1 album of that week (the other nine are worse than Total Bobbins) which has this utterly fabulous pop song, with that spine-tingling moment at 20 seconds:
A song of such magnificence it brings tears to my eyes. And of course it can not be confused with this nonsense
Thanks for reading, and thanks to Mr CC.
CC writes:
Thanks George. I'm sure that Friday Night Commentator and Stennie fan Spence will find this to be of interest
East Fife did remarkably well to earn a draw considering they had a blind Goalie!
Oh, and happy birthday yesterday!
I meant to post this yesterday but real life got in the way.
It was sad to hear of the death of yet another Soul legend this time the great Roberta Flack at the age of 88.
She is probably best known for her version of The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, which was written by folk singer and Kirsty's dad Ewan MacColl. There are many great versions out there but none come close to Roberta's
In addition to her solo work she performed a number of duets most notably with Peabo Bryson and the late great Donny Hathaway. The stuff with Peabo is a bit to Soul lite and ballady for me but it is reassuring to imagine her sitting on a cloud somewhere with Donny and belting out some tunes.
Rest easy Roberta.
Roberta Flack -The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
This time round we are off to the world's most sparsely populated state and one with a terrific flag.
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia with an area of 1,564 ,116 square kilometers and a population of 3.5 million. It is probably most famous for Genghis Khan and horses.
From a music point of view The HU a band who fuse traditional folk instruments and throat singing with heavy metal have gained international recognition including an appearance at Glastonbury. Here they make an appearance with This is Mongul.
Khusugtun are an ensemble who play music inspired by traditional Mongolian music. The group has released two albums and performed at the 2011 BBC Proms In 2015, the group came in second place in the first season of Asia's Got Talent The band is named after a type of cart, named a "khusug," that nomadic Mongolians would use to transport their yurts and other belongings.
Here they sing about Chinggis Khan which is another name for the aforementioned Genghis
We conclude with Tserendavaa and his son Tsogtgerel. Tserendavaa is an honour kaichi (khoomechi) and artist of Mongolia. He lives a simple nomad's life as many Mongolians in the Western Mongolia. Here they are with Mongol Gerin Magtaal.
We are off back to Africa next time round
