Thank Felicity it’s Friday.
That means it’s time for another music competition.
If music be the food of love…
This week I want to know what’s your favourite song whose lyrics mention a fruit.
Here’s mine.
Reply below for a chance to win a succulent €25 Golden Discs voucher.
The winner will be chosen by my food taster.
Lines close at Saturday 11am.
Please include video link if possible.
Nick says: Good luck!
Earlier: Misheard Immunity
A.S. Fanning – All Time
Love is in the air.
Berlin-based Dublin crooner AS Fanning (top) charms the pants off us with the new single from his second album You Should Go Mad, out later this month on Proper Octopus Records.
Filmmaker Mark Logan of Collective Films has also made a memorable video to complement the song, shot on Super 16.
Mark says:
“When we first heard A.S Fanning’s “All Time” it really struck a chord with us. It set us on a path to truly capture the rawness and beauty with which Fanning crafts each mesmerising note, melody and lyric…The video depicts three parallel stories that occur at different times and different stages of life, but all in magical West Cork, Ireland.
“This film is a response to the timeless nature of Love, which can be felt from this majestic tune.”
Nick says: Timeless.
The Idiots – Pinned
Continuing our series of underrated Irish music since 1960 (unearthed by our recent Golden Discs music competition ), reader Tarfton Clax points us in the direction of 1990s Dublin indie guitar acolytes The Idiots, led by Brian Mooney.
Tarfton writes:
“A lovely ditty about sharing a squat with a heroin-addicted rentboy who overdosed on a number of occasions.”
Brian Mooney’s most recent project is The Next New Low album ‘And As For Loss‘ – a masterpiece.
Nick says: A tale told by The Idiots.
Phil Lynott and George Best pic.twitter.com/1wD2KJSvQM
— RareIrishStuff (@RareIrishStuff) November 6, 2020
Them wild-eyed boys.
Lock up your daughters/drink cabinets/heroin, etc.
Year, anyone?
The votes are in.
After several lawsuits.
Last week, with a fancy €25 Golden Discs voucher offer, I asked for your most embarrassing incident of mishearing lyrics to popular songs in public.
You answered in your shameful dozens.
Alas, there could only one winner.
Third Place:
Cu Chulainn writes:
‘Has to be ‘Ireland’s industry’ an ad for the IDA I thought, and not Islands in the Stream…’
Runner-up:
Brother Barnabas writes:
‘Mine goes back a bit – while the rest of Sister Teresa’s Senior Infants were singing “he’s got the whole world in his hands” I heard – and sang with gusto – “he’s got the whole world in his pants”. Even a slap across the ear from the head nun (“forever the smart alec, aren’t we?”) didn’t clarify; it was years later that i uncovered my (genuine) error.’
Winner:
Mucho Gordo-Delgado
‘George Michael: “Cause I gotta have faith, I gotta’ have faith, Because I gotta have faith, faith, faith, I got to have faith, faith, faith.”
I heard: “Cause I gotta have Fanta, I gotta’ have Fanta, Because I gotta have Fanta, Fanta, Fanta, I got to have Fanta, Fanta, Fanta.”‘
Nick says: Thanks all (also this week’s competition coming up).
Last week Win Nick’s Voucher
Rebekah Fitch – Dust
Belfast’s answer to Adele?
Introducing 24-year-old Northern Irish alt.pop newcomer Rebekah Fitch (top) who can certainly hit those high notes with real emotional heft.
The affecting video was directed by KAM and stars Derek Halligan and Norma Hughes Ingram as Terry and Ellen.
Nick says: Dust never sleeps.
This day 107 years – 5 November 1913 – William Mulholland declared, “There it is. Take it,” as water emerged from the Los Angeles Aqueduct for the first time.
Born in Belfast and educated by the Christian Brothers in Dublin, Mulholland supervised the building of the aqueduct. pic.twitter.com/dMVPBe1SIZ
— This Day in Irish History (@ThisDayIrish) November 5, 2020
Controversial, brilliant self-taught civil engineer and loose inspiration for the Hollis Mulwray character in river-siphoning classic Chinatown (1972).
According to historian William L. Kahrl :
The harshest judgement of Mulholland’s actions lay in the damage he had done to the principle of public water development. More than any other individual, William Mulholland, through the building of the aqueduct and the formation of the Metropolitan Water District, established the principle of public ownership of water indelibly on California’s history.
Oh.
Cry Before Dawn – Gone Forever
Continuing our series of underrated Irish music since 1960, reader Ross Mac has a soft spot for 1980s Wexford rockers Cry Before Dawn.
The video for this single from 1987 was shot in Dun Mhuire, Wexford.
Ross Mac writes:
“A great emigrant’s lament. A fantastic recognisably Irish tune and certainly underrated.”
Nick says: Dawn chorus.
Saige – Mama
Saige advice.
The Wexford-born singer/songwriter delivers an emotionally charged reaction to living in lockdown on the fourth single she has released this year.
Saige says:
“I wrote Mama about my mental health and my ups and downs in the pandemic lockdown. The song notates a phone call I’d made to my folks, reaching out for help. It’s an introspective and raw track delving into a vulnerable and isolated mind.”
Nick says: Parental guidance.
The Fat Lady Sings – Arclight
Continuing our series on underrated Irish music since 1960, reader Brother Barnabas doffed his cap to this 1989 single from The Fat Lady Sings from their Twist album.
Fronted by Nick Kelly (top second right) – great name but a different guy to yours truly – they were based in London but generated a real buzz here in the 1980s on independent radio stations such as Capital who championed their early singles Fear & Favour and Be Still.
Nick went on to a fruitful solo career, garnering a Choice Prize nomination for his 2005 album Running Dog, and also records under the name Alien Envoy.
An acclaimed film director in his spare time, Nick also sometimes performs live with his friend Sean Millar in Dublin supergroup The Unelectables.
Nick says: Nick gets my vote.
