Stop playing with my heart, finish what you start...

Well I pleaded with Swiss Toni to let me do this so I'd better put a bit of effort into it!

1) Borderline - Madonna
No introduction needed here. I'm not Mrs Ritchie's greatest fan but I adore this track, which came on during the shuffle mode on my beloved MP3 player this afternoon. Mike Randle (pictured) did an acoustic version of this track when he did a solo show at Fibbers in York and it sounded good that way as well.



2) 9 to 5 - Dolly Parton
Tumble outta bed and I stumble to the kitchen
Pour myself a cup of ambition
And yawn and stretch and try to come to life
Jump in the shower and the blood starts pumpin'
Out on the street the traffic starts jumpin'
The folks like me on the job from 9 to 5

Dolly, dontcha just love her! She's become almost a pastiche of herself, but my bet would be thats she's one of the smartest artistes on the planet.

P.S. Just spotted that Lord Bargain had this in his list or earworms last week - that must be where it inveigled its way into my head - just goes to show how very earwormy the track is!!

3) Rudebox - Robbie Williams

According to Victoria Newton of the Sun "The worst record ever made..."

Personally I love it. Good show Robbie old chap! If you look at the website via the link, check the video clip with Lego men - sheer brilliance!

P.S. Interesting fact - Victoria Newton lived for a while in West Bridgford as a teenager, she is the daughter of Don Newton who was deputy head at Rushcliffe School.

4) One night in Bangkok - Murray Head

A song about chess... you don't get many of those. In fact I can't think of any others.. "From a jack to a king" - oh no thats cards - "Only a pawn in the game" perhaps??

I get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine!

I heard this on the radio the other day and can't get it out of my head since - its from an obscure musical written by the Abba boys and Tim Rice. Great lyrics.

5) Superfreak - Rick James

We saw the great film "Little Miss Sunshine" this week and this track features in its amazingly funny denouement - see it if you possibly can!!

Where MC Hammer got his riff (Can't touch this)...

6) Annie I'm not your daddy - King Creole and the Coconuts

Covers similar ground to "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson - the tricky question of paternity. Both great songs. We went to see King Creole and the Coconuts at the Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham many a long year ago and they were brilliant live, a wonderful stage show, more of a musical extravaganza than a bog standard gig. The Coconuts did brilliant dance routines, Kid Creole and side kick Coati Mundi bounded about the stage and they had a really tight backing band. Loved it.

Wikipedia article says the Kid now lives in Dinnington, South Yorkshire! Not many coconuts there I would guess.

7) The One and Only - Chesney Hawkes

This came into my head and stayed there during the week when the cleaner at work, Shirley, told me her new grandson was called Chesney. I would hazard a guess that there are a number of 15 year old Chesneys in schools around the UK but not too many new babies with the same moniker.

Shirley has now got three grandchildren and she's younger than me. That fact makes me feel both middle class and old, neither of which are conditions I aspire to. Hey ho..

8) Get Back - The Beatles

Now I'm not the world's greatest Beatles fan - is it heretical to utilise the word "overrated" here?? But I love this song.

Get back Loretta
Your mother's waiting for you
Wearing her high-heel shoes
And her low-neck sweater
Get on home Loretta

Hadn't heard about the "Pakistani" stuff until I read the Wikipedia piece - old P McC always acted like butter wouldn't melt in his mouth. Satire allegedly.

9) Michelle Shocked - Anchorage

Leroy says hey keep on rockin' girl!

Part of the small sub-genre of popular music that I guess you could call letter songs - like road songs, story songs etc- just basically a letter to Michelle from an old friend who now finds herself living in Alaska with husband and two kids - you know you're in the biggest state of the union when you're anchored down in Anchorage.

A bit like Scunthope but with added ice.

10) It's like that - Run DMC v Jason Nevins

This was on the TV at the gym the other day - unfortunately I'd forgotten my earphones so I had to sing along - love the video. Just the job for pounding the cross trainer - thats a very loose use of the word "pounding" there.

Anyway, off the see The Blockheads tonight at the Rescue Rooms - will report back re that later. Saw them in 1979 with the late great Ian Dury, then again in July 200 with Phill Jupitus doing vocals, brilliant tight band on both occasions.

So how is it all going Tina??

Anybody who looks at this blog will probably spot fairly quickly that I'm not normally one for hanging out my emotions / feelings for all to share - always been that way, well before blogging was invented, always will be I guess. Partly with the blogging stuff it's to do with who might be watching - although my site meter tells me its hardly tens of thousands of people a day!

I have found blogging cathartic in a way however that some people have benefitted from therapy - i.e. telling some total stranger whats going on in your head. The story of the Love stuff as something I needed to get out, to document, to make sense of in a way. I found it hard to talk to Keith or my friends other than Liz about it, on the whole they thought I was bonkers. Keith understands it a lot better now, partly from having read my blog.

Anyway the answer to my opening question is "Its going OK". Some terrible things have happened in the last couple of years to people around us - Liz's cancer, the murder in Steve and Wendy's family - my god I can't think of anything worse in the world than that - also other friends have been seriously ill, and there have been divorces and deaths. Not many births or marriages but then thats a product of our age.Chronological rather than epochal. But it all helps to make sense of what life is all about. Relationships with other people. Being happy with yourself and knowing who you are and what you stand for. Being kind to yourself and others.

I still don't get on very well with my mum however and that taxes my brain sometimes. I guess its getting late to do something about it now, unfortunately her mind is starting to go and its very hard to have a conversation with her. I should just let all of the perceived slights over the years go - perhaps I already have if the "perceived" I just typed is anything to go by. Or perhaps its because we are too alike and I see my faults in her. The worst thing Keith could ever say to me in an argument was "You're getting just like your mum".

Hey Ho

On a more materialistic note, I've treated myself recently as I won £100 two months in a row in my employer's charity lottery!! So I've bought a digital radio and an MP3 player, which I am filling up with music as I type. The little player is fantastic, it got 10 out of 10 in the Guardian this week and my brother recommended it, and he knows about that sort of stuff. I'll report back later when I've got it all figured out.