Mixed Music Bag 2024 – Week 5 – The Au Pairs

The last Tuesday in January means it’s the final part of MMB regarding bands or solo singers that start with A or B. Next week will be C or D (throughout February).

The Band that I’ve chosen this week are The Au Pairs. They were a British post-punk band that formed in Birmingham in 1978 and continued until 1983. They produced two studio albums and three singles. The band was led by Lesley Woods, who was once described as “one of the most striking women in British rock”. Their first album, Playing With A Different Sex (1981), is considered a post-punk classic, with strong, sarcastic songs such as “It’s Obvious” and “We’re So Cool”. The band’s second album, Sense and Sensuality (1982), showed a greater influence of jazz, soul, funk and disco on the band’s sound, but was less well received.

The original line-up of the band were; Lesley Woods – guitar/vocals. Paul Foad – guitar/vocals. Jane Munro – bass. Pete Hammond – drums.

Spending time nowadays
Nowadays, it’s nice
It’s paradise
Equal time
Equal spending
Yes it’s nice
It’s paradise

Nowadays, you cook eggs
Equal breakfast
And again
In bed, it’s nice
(It’s paradise)

You’re equal but different
You’re equal but different
You’re equal but different
You’re equal but different

You’re equal but different
You’re equal but different
You’re equal but different
You’re equal but different

It’s obvious (it’s obvious)
It’s obvious (it’s obvious)
It’s obvious (it’s obvious)
It’s obvious (it’s obvious)

Spending time nowadays
By myself
That’s oh so nice
And again with you
It’s equal nice
Is it paradise?

Nowadays, I wash sheets
Send a buck
Scrub my back for me
That’s paradise
(It’s paradise)

You’re equal but different
You’re equal but different
You’re equal but different
You’re equal but different

You’re equal but different
You’re equal but different
You’re equal but different
You’re equal but different

It’s obvious (it’s obvious)
It’s obvious (it’s obvious)
It’s obvious (it’s obvious)
It’s obvious (it’s obvious)

Spending time nowadays
By myself
That’s oh so nice
And again with you
It’s equal nice
It’s paradise

Nowadays, you wash sheets (you’re equal, but different, you’re different, but equal)
Send a buck (you’re equal, but different)
To scrub my back for me (you’re different, but equal)
That’s paradise (you’re equal, but different, you’re different, but equal)
(You’re equal, but different, you’re different, but equal)

You’re equal
But different
You’re equal
But different

You’re equal but different
You’re equal but different
You’re equal but different
You’re equal but different

You’re equal but different
You’re equal but different
You’re equal but different
You’re equal but different

It’s obvious (it’s obvious)
It’s obvious (it’s obvious)
It’s obvious (it’s obvious)
So obvious (so obvious)

It’s obvious (it’s obvious)
So obvious (so obvious)
It’s obvious (it’s obvious)
So obvious (so obvious)
It’s

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Paul Foad, Pete Hammond, Jane Munro & Lesley Woods.

Song Lyric Sunday – On the job

The theme of SLS this week is songs that mention an occupation. Thanks to Jim and Di.

This rather obscure Black Sabbath track is what I’ve chosen for no particular reason except that It’s on my favourite album of theirs. An architect is as good a job as any.

Sorcerers of madness
Selling me their time
Child of God sitting in the sun
Keeping peace of mind
Fictional seduction
On a black snow sky
Sadness kills the superman
Even fathers cry

Of all the things I value most of all
I look inside myself
And see my world
And know that it is good

You know that I should

Superstitious centuries
Didn’t time go slow
Separating sanity
Watching children grow
Synchronated undertaker
Spiral skies
Silver ships on plasmic oceans
In disguise

Of all the things I value most in life
I see my memories
And feel their warmth
And know that they are good

You know that I should

Watching eyes of celluloid
Tell you how to live
Metaphoric motories
Say give, give, give
Laughter giving, love is showing
Me the way
Spiral building architect
I build, you pay

Of all the things I value most of all
I look upon my Earth
And feel the warmth
And know that it is good

You know that I should
You know that I should
You know that I should
You know that I should
You know that I should

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: William Ward / Tony Iommi / Ozzy Osbourne / Michael Butler

Mixed Music Bag 2024 – week 4 – Babe Ruth

Week four of the MMB. Once again the theme is to find a band or solo artist whose name begins with the letter A or B.

Babe Ruth are an English rock band from Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England. They were initially active in the 1970s and reformed in 2002. The band was originally called Shacklock after founder member Alan Shacklock (guitars, backing vocals, organ, percussion, string arrangements). In 1972 Shacklock was renamed Babe Ruth after the baseball player, Babe Ruth. Also In 1972, Rupert Perry signed the band for the United States, and their first album, First Base, was released.

The four other band members, along with Alan Shacklock, that recorded First Base were Jenny Haan (lead vocals), David Hewitt (bass, backing vocals), Dave Punshon (keyboards), Dick Powell (drums).

I like this live (speeded up!) performance of The Mexican from the First Base album segued with the well known theme (as it is on the album).

https://youtu.be/Y_UZxgMI0tM?si=zgS1vLt6U5lE4vBD

Chico Fernandez, livin’ on a gun
Dreams of Santa Anna, fighting in the sun
Drums so loud from outside, makes it hard to dream
A rain is fallin’ hard and fast, makes it all seem real
Mornin’, come mornin’
A Chico’s gotta have his share
Mornin’, sad mornin’
Said “He must bebe!”

Mornin’, sad mornin’
What a laugh, and I cried
And I cry, cry, cry, cry, cried

Mornin’, sad mornin’
Mexican

Señorita pining
Chico come, on home
Santa Anna’s losing, you’ll be first to go
Sam Houston’s laughing, Davy Crockett too
When Anna takes the Alamo, the first to go, is you

Mornin’, come mornin’
A Chico’s gotta have his share
Mornin’, sad mornin’
Heaven will be there!
Mornin’, sad mornin’
What a laugh, and out loud
Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Ennio Morricone / Alan Shacklock

The Mexican (2007 Remaster) lyrics © Emi Music Publishing Italia Srl, Carlin Music Corp, Tone Music Ltd

Song Lyric Sunday – Not in good health

This week the SLS theme is songs about mental health. Thanks once again to Jim for the prompt.

Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong was never afraid to address his own difficulties head-on. He doesn’t sugarcoat over just how messed up his head is. The anxiety of Basket Case is real.

Do you have the time to listen to me whine
About nothing and everything all at once?
I am one of those
Melodramatic fools
Neurotic to the bone
No doubt about it

Sometimes I give myself the creeps
Sometimes my mind plays tricks on me
It all keeps adding up
I think I’m cracking up
Am I just paranoid?
Or am I just stoned?

I went to a shrink
To analyze my dreams
She says it’s lack of sex that’s bringing me down
I went to a whore
He said my life’s a bore
So quit my whining ’cause it’s bringing her down

Sometimes I give myself the creeps
Sometimes my mind plays tricks on me
It all keeps adding up
I think I’m cracking up
Am I just paranoid?
Huh yeah, yeah, yeah
(Ooh, ooh)

Grasping to control
So I better hold on

Sometimes I give myself the creeps
Sometimes my mind plays tricks on me
It all keeps adding up
I think I’m cracking up
Am I just paranoid?
Or am I just stoned?

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Billie Joe Armstrong / Frank E III Wright / Michael Ryan Pritchard

Basket Case lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc

Mixed Music Bag 2024 – week 3 – The Adverts

Week three of the MMB theme is once again a solo artist or band beginning with the letter A or B

The Adverts were an English punk rock band formed in 1976 that existed until late 1979. They were one of the first punk bands to achieve mainstream success in the UK. On 29th April 1977, their debut single “One Chord Wonders” was released on the Stiff Record label. Their second 1977 single “Gary Gilmore’s Eyes” released on the Anchor label was a controversial song based on the wishes of Gary Gilmore, an American murderer, that his eyes be donated to medical science after his execution. It reached No. 18 on the UK Singles Chart. The Virgin Encyclopedia of 70s Music described bassist and founding member Gaye Advert as the “first female punk star”. They were a prolific live band and I had the privilege of seeing them supporting the Damned in 1977.

On 19th August 1977, the band released “Safety In Numbers” (28th October 1977) again on Anchor Records and followed by “No Time To Be 21” (20th January 1978) on the Bright label. The band’s debut album, Crossing The Red Sea was released on the Bright label on 17th February 1978. It has since become one of the most highly regarded albums of the punk era. They then switched to RCA and released three more singles; “Television’s Over” on 10th November 1978, “My Place” on 1st June 1979 and “Cast of Thousands” on 19th October 1979. They released their second and final studio album Cast Of Thousands on 12th October 1979.

I’m lying in a hospital,
I’m pinned against the bed.
A stethoscope upon my heart,
A hand against my head.
They’re peeling off the bandages.
I’m wincing in the light.
The nurse is looking anxious,
And she’s quivering in fright…

I’m looking through Gary Gilmore’s eyes.

The doctors are avoiding me.
My vision is confused.
I listen to my earphones,
And I catch the evening news.
A murderer’s been killed,
And he donates his sight to science.
I’m locked into a private ward.
I realize that I must be…

Looking through Gary Gilmore’s eyes.

Looking through Gary Gilmore’s eyes.

I smash the light in anger.
Push my bed against the door.
I close my lids across my eyes,
And wish to see no more.
The eye receives the messages,
And sends them to the brain.
No guarantee the stimuli must be perceived the same…

When looking through Gary Gilmore’s eyes.

Gary don’t need his eyes to see.
Gary and his eyes have parted company.

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Timothy Smith

Gary Gilmore’s Eyes lyrics © BMG Rights Management

Song Lyric Sunday – Going Scandinavian

This week the SLS theme is to find a Scandinavian song/band from Denmark, Norway, Finland or Sweden. Thanks to Jim Adams for the prompt.

Lucifer is a heavy metal band formed in Berlin in 2014 by frontwoman Johanna Sadonis. Following several member changes, vocalist Sadonis remains the only constant member, with the current line-up featuring drummer Nicke Andersson, guitarists Martin Nordin and Linus Björklund, and bassist Harald Göthblad. Currently based out of Stockholm, the members are Swedish with the exception of the German Johanna Sadonis. In July 2022, Lucifer announced that they had signed to Nuclear Blast and were working on their fifth studio album. That album, Lucifer V, is scheduled for release on 26 January 2024. I really like the ‘retro’ style of the band.

The current line-up is: Johanna Sadonis – vocals, keyboards. Nicke Andersson – drums, guitar, bass. Martin Nordin – guitar. Linus Björklund – guitar. Harald Göthblad – bass.

In the dawn comes the sun
Open your eyes
Morning comes unbegun
Like the first sunrise

Dreamer
Oh, dreamer
What have you done with your life?
Dreamer
Oh, dreamer
Have you come to realize?
You gave it all with no return
It’s just another lesson learned
Go walk on, all yesterdays are gone

Dreamer, have you seen her?
On a white horse tall with pride
Eyes turned to the sky

In the dawn comes the sun
Open up your eyes
Morning comes unbegun
Like the first sunrise

Dreamer
Oh, dreamer
What have you done with your life?
Dreamer
Oh, dreamer
Have you come to realize?
You gave it all with no return
It’s just another lesson learned
Hold on to your dreams, it’s a new dawn, oh yeah

Dreamer, have you seen her?
On a white horse tall with pride
Eyes turned to the sky
Dreamer, have you seen her? Yeah
On a white horse tall with pride
Eyes turned to the sky

In the dawn comes the sun
Open your eyes
Morning comes unbegun
Like the first sunrise
Morning sun comes along
Shining a new light
Night is gone for too long
Leave it all behind

Dreamer
Oh, dreamer
What have you done with your life?
You gave it all with no return
It’s just another lesson learned
Come on, gone, all yesterdays are gone
Oh yeah

Dreamer, have you seen her?
On a white horse tall with pride
Eyes turned to the sky
Dreamer, have you seen her? Yeah
On a white horse tall with pride
Eyes turned to the sky

Dreamer, oh

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Pamela Sheyne / Ian Geoffrey Levine

Dreamer lyrics © Kastlekat Music Ltd

Mixed music bag 2024 – Week 2 – Big Country

In the month of January the MMB theme is to find a group or solo singer beginning with the letter A or B

This week I’ve chosen a track from the band Big Country

Big Country are a Scottish rock band formed in Dunfermline, Fife, in 1981. The height of the band’s popularity was in the early to mid 1980s, although they have retained a cult following for many years since. The band engineered their guitar-driven sound to evoke the sound of bagpipe, fiddles, and other traditional folk instruments.

The band’s “classic” lineup between 1982 and 2000, consisted of Stuart Adamson (vocals, guitar) Bruce Watson (guitar) Tony Butler (bass guitar) and Mark Brzezicki (drums). Following Adamson’s death in 2001, the band reformed in 2007, with the surviving members. Between 2010 and 2013, the band reformed with Mike Peters of The Alarm on lead vocals. Since then the band has continued with only two of the original members (Watson and Brzezicki) and Simon Hough on vocals. Big Country have released nine studio albums from 1983 to 2013.

In A Big Country was the third single lifted from the band’s debut album The Crossing in 1983. The single reached number 17 in both the UK and USA. The album reached number 3 in the UK and number 18 in the USA. This live track is from one of my favourite TV series of the 80s called ‘The Tube’.

I’ve never seen you look like this without a reason
Another promise fallen through
Another season passes by you
I never took the smile away from anybody’s face
And that’s a desperate way to look
For someone who is still a child

In a big country dreams stay with you
Like a lover’s voice fires the mountainside
Stay alive, here we go

I thought that pain and truth were things that really mattered
But you can’t stay here with every single hope you had shattered
I’m not expecting to grow flowers in a desert
But I can live and breathe
And see the sun in wintertime

In a big country dreams stay with you
Like a lover’s voice fires the mountainside
Stay alive

In a big country dreams stay with you
Like a lover’s voice fires the mountainside
Stay alive

So take that look out of here it doesn’t fit you
Because it’s happened doesn’t mean you’ve been discarded
Pull up your head off the floor, come up screaming
Cry out for everything you ever might have wanted
I thought that pain and truth were things that really mattered
But you can’t stay here with every single hope you had shattered, see ya
I’m not expecting to grow flowers in a desert
But I can live and breathe
And see the sun in wintertime

In a big country dreams stay with you
Like a lover’s voice fires the mountainside
Stay alive
Ha, ha

In a big country dreams stay with you
Like a lover’s voice fires the mountainside
Stay alive

In a big country dreams stay with you
Like a lover’s voice fires the mountainside
Stay alive

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Bruce Watson / Mark Brzezicki / Stuart Adamson / Tony Butler

In a Big Country lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Warner Chappell Music, Inc

Song Lyric Sunday – Accessorising

 The theme of SLS this week is to find a song that mentions clothing accessories.

Handbags and Gladrags is a song that’s been covered by several groups and solo singers, including; Rod Stewart, Chris Farlowe, Manfred Mann, Jackie Trent and Stereophonics. Chris Farlowe was the first to have a hit with it in 1967. It was written by Mike d’Abo, the original lead singer of Manfred Mann.

Stereophonics had a #3 UK hit with it in 2001 and was used as the theme to the UK version of the TV show; ‘The Office’.

• A handbag is called a purse in America I believe?

Ever see a blind man cross the road
Trying to make the other side?
Ever seen a young girl growing old
Trying to make herself a bride?

So what becomes of you, my love?
When they have finally stripped you of
The handbags and the gladrags
That your poor old granddad
Had to sweat to buy you, baby

Once I was a young man
And all I thought I had to do was smile
Well, you are still a young girl
And you’ve borne everything in style

So once you think you’re in, you’re out
‘Cause you don’t mean a single thing without
The handbags and the gladrags
That your poor old granddad
Had to sweat to buy you

Sing a song of six-pence for your sake
And drink a bottle full of rye
Four and twenty blackbirds in a cake
And bake ’em all in a pie

They told me you missed school today
So what I suggest you just throw them all away
The handbags and the gladrags
That your poor old granddad
Had to sweat to buy, oh-woah

They told me you missed school today
So what I suggest you just throw them all away
The handbags and the gladrags
That your poor old granddad
Had to sweat to buy you

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Mike D’abo

Handbags and Gladrags lyrics © Emi United Partnership Ltd

Mixed music bag 2024 – week 1 – Arcade Fire

A change to the mixed music bag posts this year. In January the theme is to find any group or solo artist that starts with an A or B (February will be C or D and so on until November, which will be U, V or W. Finally, December will be X, Y or Z).

A for Arcade Fire is my first choice this year. It’s a multi-instrumental indie-rock band that took me a while to get into. They are originally from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. All the band’s six studio albums have received nominations for Best Alternative Music Album at the Grammy’s. Funeral is widely considered by music critics to be one of the greatest albums of the 2000s.

The single Cold Wind isn’t on an Arcade Fire album but it is on the Six Feet Under Vol. 2 soundtrack which was released in 2005.

In the middle of the summer
im not sleeping
cold wind blowing
in the middle of the night
they try to find me but im still driving
if your going to San Francisco
lay some flowers on the grave stone
theres music on the station and im just listening to cold wind whistling
and if they ever find me tell the papers cold wind cold wind
cold cold wind blowing
cold wind blowing
Hey hey hey
something aint right
something aint right
and if they ever find me tell the papers cold wind cold wind
cold cold wind blowing cold wind blowing cold wind blowing
cold wind blowing cold wind blowing

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Regine Chassagne / Richard R Parry / Tim Kingsbury / William Butler / Win Butler

Cold Wind lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC