Lay down the boogie and play that funky music 'til you die

[venta]

It's Friday! But it's not three o'clock, and it's not time to boogie at your desk.

However, by the time 3pm hoves into view, I confidently expect to be involved in a highly complex Pintwatch mission involving trains. You seem like a trustworthy bunch of people, so I'm sure that if I post this now you'll all be good and won't read it til the correct time. You know I'll be very disappointed in you if I hear any reports of premature boogying.

So off you go. Come back later.

---

Right. Is it 3pm ? Are you sure ? Ok, off we go:

It's Friday! It's about three o'clock! It's time to Boogie At Your Desk!

Friday afternoons need a little something. I think they need a Top Tune. Something to make you shuffle in your seat and, if possible, Boogie At Your Desk. I'll be endeavouring to fill this gap some Fridays this year.

I'm not claiming that any track provided to enable At-Desk Boogying is one of the world's best or most profound pieces of music. It will, however, be one of the tunes which make me smile, and which have at some stage made me surreptitiously Boogie At My Desk.

Desks are not compulsory, of course. Feel free to boogie through your office, in your bedroom, round your lab, across your classroom, on the train - wherever you find yourself on a Friday afternoon.

If you like the track, go out and buy the album it belongs to - I'll try and recommend a suitable CD to purchase for any BAYD track.

This link will expire at some point in the future.

Today you were invited to Boogie At Your Desk to:

The Housemartins - We're Not Deep

Yes, yes, I know there's absolutely nothing cool about liking The Housemartins. There's a bit of kitsch value in Happy Hour[*], but beyond that they're just a faint marker point in the howling credibility gap between The Beautiful South and Fatboy Slim.

I bought a tape copy of London Nil Hull 4 , second hand, for coppers last year. I was after cheap car-stereo fodder, and figured it was worth a try. It's gentle-sounding, very deceptive and terribly, terribly English, like an older, poppier forerunner of Belle & Sebastian[**]. You get the feeling that they could write a song about the biggest heartbreak in the world, hide it behind a pretty melody and a glossy guitar riff and all the people who sang along would never notice.

Besides, the album has silly comments in the sleevenotes, which is always a winner with me.

[*] Footnote for onebyone, wimble, ChrisC, and anyone else involved in that conversation so far: The Housemartins, Happy Hour ?

[**] Yes, yes, I know what the smartarses are going to say. Shh. Last year I was developing a wonderful theory of English suburban pop until I realised that Belle & Sebastian are bloody Scottish.

Comments

[zotz]

I've always had a soft spot for the Housemartins. There wasn't, and isn't, enough Marxism in popular music, in my opinion.

[triskellian]

I have a confession to make. I've just had a boogie and it's barely ten o'clock!

I do have an excuse, though - I'm going to be in a meeting at 3, so I wouldn't be able to boogie then. Or if I did, I'd get some funny looks ;-)

But now I'm confused: the effect of listening to the Housemartins is to stick a Beautiful South song in my head. How does that make any sense? (It's "We are each other", if that makes any different.)

[pookee.livejournal.com]

How does that make any sense? (It's "We are each other", if that makes any different.)

Because they're quite similar in terms of tune and rhythm and the vocals are being sung by the same bloke, albeit a bit older on the 2nd one.

(This is based purely on me singing both songs in my head at the moment, and they are blending rather nicely together. I shall have to get the CD's out and try it properly in a minute).

[cardinalsin.livejournal.com]

Cute cat.

[pookee.livejournal.com]

Cute cat.

Cheers. Not mine, though mine is also cute.

[triskellian]

I guess the thing that's confusing me is that I now have no recollection of the Housemartins song at all!

(Did you already have "We are each other" in your head, or did you acquire it after reading my comment?)

[pookee.livejournal.com]

(Did you already have "We are each other" in your head, or did you acquire it after reading my comment?)

I acquired it afterwards. Which is fine, as it's quite a nice earworm to have. Of course now it's segueing with 'We're Not Deep' in my head. But it's still quite a nice earworm to have. But I would think that, I've been a longtime Housemartins/Beautiful South fan. :-)

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

This is harsh. Not only am I having to Not Eat Cake (yet), I have to Not Boogie at the same time !

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

Update: Successfully boogied !

I like that one.

I have also now eaten lots of cake. I liked that too.

[liriselei.livejournal.com]

the howling credibility gap between The Beautiful South and Fatboy Slim.

am i the only one who actually quite likes Beats International ( and even owns one of their albums ) ?

[broadmeadow.livejournal.com]

No. I rather like Just Be Good To Me (a superior cover version of the SOS Band hit).

This also prompts me to clarify [if memory serves me correctly]: when The Housemartins split, Paul Heaton and others formed The Beautiful South, and Quentin[*] Cook set up Beats International; later he become known as Fatboy Slim. So there is no direct link that I know of between The Beautiful South and Fatboy Slim; they both have The Housemartins as a common ancestor. I can't decide if the phrase "the howling credibility gap between The Beautiful South and Fatboy Slim" suggests there is! And I could be completely wrong about this anyhow ...

[*] Yes, really! Even Norman Cook was not his real name, aparrently.

[venta.livejournal.com]

The other day I heard Just Be Good To Me, and (if I heard the DJ correctly over the engine roar) learned that the sample in the background is Guns of Brixton. It certainly sounded like it.

Yes, the only link between TBS and FS is their common ancestry. I was just amused a few years ago in an interview with Paul Heaton, when Funk Soul Brother was storming up the charts, by the interviewer asking how it felt to be making music for the parents of Fatboy Slim's fans :)

[onebyone.livejournal.com]

The Rockafeller Skank

[stompyboots.livejournal.com]

I'm a little bit pissed, so may regret this in the morning, but who cares? I went to Berlin last week, and took some photos I'm quite proud of. They're my first photos in several years, and I think they show potential. You're the best photographer I know, and I was hoping you'd cast your eye over those I like, and give me your considered opinion as to whether or not this is something I should pursue.

The link is: http://www.livejournal.com/users/stompyboots/97887.html?view=771935#t771935

The photos I'm proud of are:
Bundestag Mirrors
Bundestag Spiral
Checkpoint Charlie Crosses
Close-up Chess Pieces

I also like Little Green Man and Spandau, but they're for personal reasons.

Anyway, thanks! And I blame the cocktails.

[venta.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure I constitute a great photographer, but I'll happily have a look. I'm in dialup-land at my parents' right now, though, so probably won't have the chance of a proper look til I'm back in broadbandland next week.

[stompyboots.livejournal.com]

Thanks! And I know you have a rough idea of what makes a good photo, otherwise you couldn't in good conscience judge the occasional competition you arrange. You doing another of those this year?

[phlebas.livejournal.com]

Ba ba babababaaaaa
Ba ba babababaaaaa

[venta.livejournal.com]

Ba ba babababaaaaa

Ba ba ba ba!