OK, OK, so it was a tough one last week. Hoist by the petard of topicality, I set eco-songs too soon after rural songs, with too much overlap between the two. Rest assured there won't be any more remotely green themes for a long time to come.
Still, we got a decent crop. I wanted to include my favourite Sparks song, Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth, but the lyrics don't really support the title, and Time Zone's mad-eyed World Destruction, but that's more about war than ecology. Yet again, (Nothing But) Flowers missed the cut. Sure, the lyrics are genius, but I can't get along with the sound of the last Talking Heads' album, a stiff, plasticised version of their early 80s work. Where's Eno when you need him? I suspect the Gil Scott-Heron and Tom Lehrer suggestions would have been strong contenders if I could have found them online, but they eluded me.
All of which leaves the B-list looking like this: the Philip Glass Ensemble (Koyaanisqatsi), the Dead Kennedys (Moon Over Marin), Marvin Gaye (Mercy Mercy Me), Phil Ochs (The World Began in Eden and Ended in Los Angeles), Jackson Browne (Before the Deluge), the Beach Boys (Don't Go Near the Water), Dr Octagon (Trees), Kraftwerk (Radioactivity), Hawkwind (We Took the Wrong Step Years Ago) and Massive Attack (Hymn of the Big Wheel).
Now for a change of pace: sweary songs. I'm not sure that sweary is a proper word but I like it, and it gets the point across. Quite simply, I want examples of excellent swearing in pop, from the hailstorm of abuse to the perfectly chosen single expletive. In deciding whether, say, "bloody" or "damn" are being used as swear words, context matters, as does tone. Examples can be witty, shocking, provocative or juvenile. But spare a thought for the poor old community moderators and show some restraint in quoting lyrics. There's a limit to how many fucks anyone wants to see on a single blog.
Now fuck off (sorry, it's catching) to the A-Z and the Readers Recommend archive. Deadline is midday Monday.
