Sunday Morning Coming Down

This morning, a song which needs no real introduction, because it’s great, a real Country-by-numbers “I done wrong and now I lost my lady” tune, which you all know already (don’t you???):

Charlie Rich – The Most Beautiful Girl

More soon.

Same Title, Different Song

May I start this post by taking the unprecedented step of asking that you go away and visit fellow bloggers and much valued Chain Gangers SWC and Badger’s place, When You Can’t Remember Anything

The boys have just finished their mammoth 2016 postings, a song (and often more) a day listing of their top 200 songs, compulsory reading in my book. Two things I learned from their blog last year: firstly, that there are many, many tunes which had never crossed my radar which are bloody ace, and secondly that both SWC and Badger are bloody good writers: every post is entertaining, usually funny, occasionally incredibly moving, so y’know, don’t go just to download the tunes, read what they’ve written too. You won’t regret it.

The boys have just started a new project, the does-what-it-says-on-tin “Three Songs With The Same Title”, where each week they will post three songs with the same title, then reveal which song will feature the following week, and invite readers to contribute their suggestions, just on the off-chance that they’ve missed one.

As they say “This is another series in which we are sort of ripping off someone else (read blatantly), basically all the good ideas for music blogs have gone…so we are taking existing ideas and erm, twisting them.”

S’ok, they mention the similarities between this and my weekly Chain post, so I’m not saying anything they haven’t mentioned themselves; I’m not stealing their thunder or trying to take credit for their idea. Besides, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?

But what that does mean is that I’m going to retire this thread to give the boys a clear run. What can I say? It’s tough being a trail-blazing pioneer…. (my tongue is placed firmly in my cheek as I type that, by the way).

But let’s be honest: I rarely post anything on this thread and they’ll do a way better job, more regularly, on their blog than I have done here anyway .

So I’ll sign off with one last post on this thread, and chaps: my apologies if this was a song title you planned on using later on.

The other night – bizarrely, the night before the WYCRA boys announced their new theme –  I dreamt of three songs with the same name title (or as I thought, two with the same name and one slightly different one) but on closer examination, I find that all three are ever so slightly different.

So let’s start with this one and build from there:

Charlie Rich – The Most Beautiful Girl

I genuinely have always thought that was called “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World,” which means you can probably guess where I’m going next:

Prince – The Most Beautiful Girl in the World

Incredibly, that remains Prince’s only UK Number One to date. I mean, what does a guy have to do to get his second? He died last year and still we didn’t manage to make anything from his back catalogue top the charts. Shame on us, it’s the very least he deserved.

That said, for me “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World” is not one of his better records, it’s certainly not one of my favourites; actually, and I appreciate this may be sacrilige to many of you, I’d rather listen to this duo than that tune:

Flight of the Conchords – The Most Beautiful Girl (In the Room)

“You’re so beautiful…like a high class prostitute

You’re so beautiful, you could be a part-time model

(But you’d probably have to still keep your normal job)”

Genius.

And that’s Same Title, Different Song done for the time being, idiosyncraticly signing off with three songs with different titles. I’m a maverick, and no mistake.

Over to you chaps.

More soon.

Sunday Morning Coming Down

Regular readers will know that the main idea of this blog, which has fallen by the wayside somewhat recently (but will be resurrected soon), is to go through every record I’ve ever bought in the order that I bought them, an idea I blatantly lifted from Nick Hornby’s “High Fidelity”.

The book was made into a movie starring John Cusack, and here’s the bit in question:

There’s another section of the film which references a song which, when I watched it once with a former flat-mate of mine, they said they didn’t know:

Well, let me put that right.

Here’s Charlie Rich:

Charlie Rich – Behind Closed Doors

So now you know.

More soon.