Showing posts with label Kirsty MacColl. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kirsty MacColl. Show all posts

Saturday, 7 October 2023

So I’m sitting at a bar in Guadalajara...

I just heard this on the radio, and was reminded of the genius of the lovely Miss Kirsty McColl - whose birthday it would have been next week - so just had to feature it again...

I once met a man with a sense of adventure
He was dressed to thrill wherever he went
He said “Let’s make love on a mountain top
Under the stars on a big hard rock”

I said “In these shoes?
I don’t think so”
I said “Honey, let’s do it here.

“So I’m sitting at a bar in Guadalajara
In walks a guy with a faraway look in his eyes
He said “I’ve got a powerful horse outside
Climb on the back, I’ll take you for a ride
I know a little place, we can get there for the break of day.”

I said “In these shoes?
No way, Jose”
I said “Honey, let’s stay right here.”

No le gusta caminar. No puede montar a caballo
(She doesn’t like to walk, she can’t ride a horse)
Como se puede bailar? Es un escandolo
(But the way she dances, it’s a scandal)

Then I met an Englishman
“Oh” he said
“Won’t you walk up and down my spine,
It makes me feel strangely alive.”

I said “In these shoes?
I doubt you’d survive.”
I said “Honey, let’s do it.
Let’s stay right here.”

Love. It!

Tuesday, 8 October 2019

Como se puede bailar? Es un escandolo



You know you're getting old when...

...you find out that not only was Gwen Stefani 50 years old last week, but today Sigourney Weaver blows out 70 candles on her cake, and sharing the party with her is the 80-year old "Crocodile Dundee" Paul Hogan...

... and this Thursday would have been the 60th birthday of the sadly-missed Miss Kirsty MacColl!

Any excuse, really, to play this classic:


I once met a man with a sense of adventure
He was dressed to thrill wherever he went
He said “Let’s make love on a mountain top
Under the stars on a big hard rock”

I said “In these shoes?
I don’t think so”
I said “Honey, let’s do it here.

“So I’m sitting at a bar in Guadalajara
In walks a guy with a faraway look in his eyes
He said “I’ve got as powerful horse outside
Climb on the back, I’ll take you for a ride
I know a little place, we can get there for the break of day.”

I said “In these shoes?
No way, Jose”
I said “Honey, let’s stay right here.”

No le gusta caminar. No puede montar a caballo
(She doesn’t like to walk, she can’t ride a horse)
Como se puede bailar? Es un escandolo
(But the way she dances, it’s a scandal)

Then I met an Englishman
“Oh” he said
“Won’t you walk up and down my spine,
It makes me feel strangely alive.”

I said “In these shoes?
I doubt you’d survive.”
I said “Honey, let’s do it.
Let’s stay right here.”

Sunday, 17 March 2013

Sláinte!



It's Paddy's Day today - and typically it has pissed down non-stop. That never stops the party, of course, which no doubt has been taking place all weekend!

To celebrate, here's a double - Ireland's finest ballsy jazz vocalist Miss Camille O'Sullivan (Jacques Brel acolyte and favourite of Marc Almond, no less) with her tribute to another (very sadly missed) Celtic heroine, Miss Kirsty MacColl.

In These Shoes? I don't think so...


Camille O'Sullivan official website

St Patrick's Day on Wikipedia

Thursday, 9 June 2011

Just one of those fabulous flights



Over at the Dolores Delargo Towers Museum of Camp, we are celebrating the genius that was Cole Porter - on the occasion of his 120th anniversary today.

To mark this auspicious day, we should also celebrate here (if perhaps in a more earthy way), with this fabulous cover of Mr Porter's Miss Otis Regrets and Just One Of Those Things...


I have, of course, blogged previously about that fabulous film of Cole Porter's life De-Lovely...

Saturday, 10 October 2009

I don't want to change the world



Today Kirsty MacColl, one of the most refreshing female artists of the 80s and 90s would have been 50 years old. Lauded by critics and the buying public alike as a "national treasure" in post-punk Britain, she successfully managed a commercial crossover between her family tradition of folk music and the energetic irreverent pop of the type her label Stiff Records specialised in.

Her own songs such as There's a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis, Don't Come The Cowboy With Me Sonny Jim, Days, Terry and You Broke My Heart In 17 Places combine complicated and quirky lyrics with a sardonic nod to older, more familiar styles of music such as country and 60s girlie pop (with a twist).

Her fame was assured when Tracy Ullman (who had managed a successful transfer from typically British alternative comedy to become the darling of US telly) covered Kirsty's They Don't Know, which was a hit on both sides of the Atlantic.

Miss MacColl could quite easily have ridden this wave of songwriting success and followed contemporaries like Cathy Dennis across the water to international mega-stardom. However, Kirsty preferred to stay true to her roots and her preferred collaborations were with the likes of The Smiths, The Wonder Stuff, Shane McGowan and Billy Bragg.

Her version of Bragg's A New England is quite rightly adored as a classic, and A Fairytale Of New York (with the Pogues) remains the best (and only bearable) Christmas song ever recorded. And of course her regular appearances on French & Saunders' shows confirmed her beloved status with the public.

Ironically Kirsty MacColl was probably on the brink of renewed success, having just released her brilliant album Tropical Brainstorm (featuring one of my favourite of her tracks In These Shoes), when she was tragically killed in that notorious boating "accident" while on holiday in Mexico in 2000, a tragedy that really touched the hearts of many people (and still has reverberations today, with the "Justice for Kirsty Campaign").

A brilliant star, who will always be remembered (indeed, there will be a celebration of her life at her memorial bench in Soho Square tomorrow at 1pm onwards). I love her!




Kirsty MacColl official website

Justice for Kirsty Campaign

Thursday, 18 December 2008

Como se puede bailar? es un escandolo



It hardly seems possible that it is eight years since Kirsty MacColl was killed in that boat "accident". Such a magnificent talent, from her early days with New England and There's A Guy Works Down the Chipshop Swears He's Elvis through Days and the best Xmas record ever Fairytale of New York with the Pogues (back in the charts again this year, I see), to this classic.

I love it! RIP...


I once met a man with a sense of adventure
He was dressed to thrill wherever he went
He said lets make love on a mountain top
Under the stars on a big hard rock
I said in these shoes?
I dont think so
I said honey, lets do it here.

So Im sitting at a bar in Guadalajara
In walks a guy with a faraway look in his eyes
He said Ive got as powerful horse outside
Climb on the back, Ill take you for a ride
I know a little place, we can get there for the break of day.
I said in these shoes?
No way, Jose
I said honey, lets stay right here.

No le gusta caminar. no puede montar a caballo
(I dont like to dance, I cant ride a horse)
Como se puede bailar? es un escandolo
(how can I dance? its a scandal)

Then I met an Englishman
Oh he said
Wont you walk up and down my spine,
It makes me feel strangely alive.
I said in these shoes?
I doubt you'd survive.
I said honey, lets do it.
Lets stay right here.

No le gusta caminar. no puede montar a caballo
(I dont like to dance, I cant ride a horse)
Como se puede bailar? es un escandolo
(how can I dance? its a scandal)

Friday, 21 December 2007

Merry Christmas your arse, I pray God it’s our last...

All this bullshit in the news about the lyrics of the finest Christmas song ever made is beginning to get on my tits. It just makes me want to sing along even more...


You're a bum
You're a punk
You're an old slut on junk
Lying there almost dead on a drip in that bed
You scumbag, you maggot
You cheap lousy faggot
Happy Christmas your arse
I pray God it's our last

The boys of the NYPD choir
Still singing "Galway Bay"
And the bells were ringing out
For Christmas Day


Indeed.

More about Fairytale of New York on the BBC

Sunday, 9 December 2007

Shakin’ bloody Stevens!



The UK Charts have (officially) become a laughing stock this week. As we oldies remember, you used to have to sell a couple of million seven-inchers in Woolies every week to stay at the top, and many thousands to even enter the top 40... Nowadays it takes fifty chavs and a dog to buy it.

This week, due to the effects of the relaxation of the law which means that every download - no matter how weird - counts towards the so-called Top 40, we have a host of rubbish from yesteryear hitting the chart just because people are downloading them (at 50p a pop) for their parties! Just take a look at it and weep...

CHRISTMAS "CLASSICS" IN TOP 40
8 Mariah Carey - All I Want For Christmas Is You
12 Pogues & Kirsty MacColl - Fairytale of New York
23 Wham! - Last Christmas
25 Andy Williams - It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year
27 Wizzard - I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day
33 Shakin' Stevens - Merry Christmas Everyone
37 Slade - Merry Xmas Everybody
38 Band Aid - Do They Know It's Christmas?

Does anyone really think that Leona Lewis deserves to be in the chart, let alone Mariah (warbling t**t) Carey, Andy Williams, and bloody Shakin' bloody Stevens??

No wonder EMI and HMV are going down the pan...