Current Earworm

Robyn Hitchcock, Devil's Radio

I saw something go whizzing by on social media about Ross Douthat, the village idiot at the New York Times, claiming that liberals were to blame for the groypers, the online storm troopers of the neo neo Nazi movement that has taken over America. Um, yeah, no. I think decades of a constant onslaught of hatred on media might have more to do with that. Which made me think of this song by Robyn Hitchcock, which has the immortal couplet "Kate said, the flowers of intolerance and hatred are blooming kind of early this year. Someone's been watering them...." And that someone is the Devil's Radio. Rush Limbaugh gets a callout in the song because it was written like 20 years ago and he wasn't dead yet, but there's a lot more than him out there filling the public airwaves with the message to hate your fellow man.

This is the version from Jonathan Demme's lesser-known concert film, Storefront Hitchcock.

Sleaford Mods, Tweet Tweet Tweet

Spent the evening reading Mark Bray's history of Antifa. I kept thinking of the line from Tweet Tweet Tweet "UKIP and your disgrace", so my earworm tonight is just that, Sleaford Mods with Tweet Tweet Tweet. I think these guys are amazing.

Talking Heads, Heaven

This morning’s earworm is Heaven, by Talking Heads. Specifically the version from Stop Making Sense, the best concert film ever. This song just seems to get better as I get older for some reason. And the stripped down version from the film is the best version.

Krista L. L. Muir, Drugging the Drain

This song by the woman behind the legendary Lederhosen Lucil is catchy as hell. Laura and I will often sing this to each other in the car, which we did yesterday, which is why it's stuck in my brain this morning. Who would have thought that a song about pouring prescription meds down the drain could be so inspiring?

3 Mustaphas 3, Perfidia

I was talking to my wife Laura tonight, and she mentioned that in my absence, she's been leaving the TV on for her father when she goes to work set to a music channel. When she was home at lunch today, as he was eating in the kitchen, he recognized the song "Perfidia" playing on the music channel. There are about a thousand versions of Perfidia out there, and I occasionally trawl Apple Music to listen to as many in a row as I can, but the first version I heard and the one that I couldn't get out of my head after talking to my wife tonight was this version by Szegerely's finest export, 3 Mustaphas 3, sung in inimitable style by Uncle Patrel Mustapha.