It’s Mothering Sunday, so a few vids I thought were appropriate…
The Beatles -‘All My Loving.’
Abba -‘The Winner Takes It All.’
Tom Lehrer -‘Poisoning Pigeons In The Park.’
Eartha Kitt -‘Just An Old Fashioned Girl.’
and finally…
This post is born out of a few things I suppose.
Firstly, last week Mrs. 17 Seconds and I and our good friend ‘Diamond’ Dave went to see Mamma Mia! at the cinema. Resistance, as even Philip French of the Observer had warned, was indeed futile. It was fun. Sure it wasn’t Citizen Kane or Withnail and I, they’d crowbarred songs in at every opportunity and I can sing far better than Pierce Brosnan, but it was a laugh. Diamond and I were the only blokes in a very packed cinema. Say what you like about stereotypes, pigeonholes and generalisations, but remember that they may well be born out of demographics.
I mentioned this to two friends I met up with in Edinburgh yesterday, one of whom is a massive fan. I asked what he thought of Mamma Mia!, to which he replied that he didn’t think there’d been many good cover versions of Abba songs over the years and couldn’t face it. I know they have been massacred at way too many karaoke bars over the years, but there have been a few. I’ve selected two, one by Ash and Scotland’s very own Camera Obscura, and two great Abba songs: one which is in the film ‘The Winner Takes It All’ my favourite Abba song, and ‘The Visitors.’ ‘The Visitors’ was the title track of what would be their final studio LP, and deals with the treatment of dissidents in the then Soviet Union.
If there are any people sad enough to worry about liking Abba, I would make these points:
1. John Peel narrated a documentary and was a fan.
2. So was Kurt Cobain, who agreed to play Reading in 1992 because Bjorn Again were, and recorded Nevermind in a studios because it was a seventies sort of studio that Abba would have used.
3. ‘The Winner Takes It All’ and quite a few other songs are just as sad as Joy Division.
4. they were brilliant. period. Sod the claims about camp, kitsch blah blah sodding blah, they made great music. Like Sonic Youth, the Clash, Public Enemy etc..
Abba -‘The Winner Takes It All.’ mp3
Abba -‘The Visitors.’ mp3
And those covers…
Camera Obscura -‘Super Trouper.’ mp3
Ash -‘Does your Mother Know? (session).’ mp3
In April it was my Mum, in May my darling Mrs. 17 Seconds and today it’s my dad’s Birthday. So happy birthday dad, here’s some for you.
My Da’s a legend, he’s encouraged music-making and writing and has alsways been very encouraging of this blog.
For car trips -Abba ‘The Winner Takes It All.’
…and Pet Shop Boys ‘It’s a sin’
For your university days Procul Harum ‘A Whiter Shade Of Pale’
…and Animals ‘House Of the Rising Sun’
And finally the track that got me into music originally: The Beatles’ ‘Hard Day’s Night’
Have a good ‘un, Da.
X
You never know quite whose reading a blog.
Sure, you know from the people that leave comments and there are various things you can do to track readers, but sometimes you don’t know who’s reading, until some follow-up happens.
This morning Mrs 17 Seconds and I came in from doing our weekly food shop, to find a phone message from Mother Seconds, asking if I was ok, as she had just been reading 17 Seconds, and I had said I was stressed, and was I OK?
Well, I was touched she had rung to ask. I’d managed to unwind slightly over the weekend.
And then embarassed that I had forgotten her and Father seconds’ wedding anniversary a few days ago.
So folks, these are few you. lots of love, a lot of apologies and hopefully we will have spoken by the time you read this. Hell, I’ve dedicated several posts to Mrs 17 Seconds and Brother Seconds, it’s time you had one too.
The Beatles -‘A Hard day’s Night.’ mp3
Abba -‘The Winner Takes It All.’ mp3
Bob Dylan -‘Like A Rolling Stone.’ mp3
And our family favourite…Tom Lehrer:
Tom Lehrer -‘Poisoning Pigeons In The Park.’ mp3
We have Visitors coming in a few days. I’m looking forward to it, but the place needs tidying.
We have therefore been trying to tidy the flat up.
All this has succeeded in doing is making us very tired and stressed.
This sums it up, I think…
Abba -‘The Visitors.’ mp3
Many years ago, whilst driving alone at night I was listening to John Peel. And there was one of those moments, where you hear something that touches you.
And on the night in question, in 1996, April I think, it was this song by Trembling Blue Stars.
Trembling Blue Stars-‘Abba On The Jukebox.’ mp3
This is simply one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard. I’m not an expert on twee-pop by any means (but try And Before The First Kiss or The Roaring Machine for people who undoubtedly are), but I know what I like and I love this.
A couple of years later I managed to pick up the album Her Handwriting
and there were a lots of brilliant songs just waiting for me there, including these two:
Trembling Blue Stars-‘A Single Kiss.’ mp3
Trembling Blue Stars-‘Do People Ever?’ mp3
Buy Her Handwriting here
And of course, how could I forget the masters of the Sad Song themselves? Sod post-modernism, camp and all the justifications, critiques and other rubbish that’s lobbed in their direction, Abba really understood POP.
Abba-‘The Visitors.’ mp3
Buy The Visitors here