We move like cagey tigers; we couldn't get closer than this

Timeslip moment again...

We've been jettisoned by The Black Fortress into an other-wordly era - 1983: the year of Cabbage Patch Dolls, Madonna, the shooting down of Korean Air Lines Flight 007 by a Soviet missile, AIDS, the assassination of Benigno Aquino in the Philippines (that hastened the downfall of President Marcos), civil wars in Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka, Breakfast Time, fake Hitler Diaries, the murder of gay actor Peter Arne, Flashdance, Greenham Common, Peter Tatchell, Billie Jean and Thriller, Klaus Barbie, Educating Rita, Reagan's plans for a "Star Wars" defence system, Bob Holness and Blockbusters, the "Challenger" space shuttle, the IRA car-bomb attack on Harrods at Xmas, Return of the Jedi, landslide victory for the Tories that gave Margaret Thatcher her second term, the Maze Prison escape, Reverend Jesse Jackson, Tootsie and the Brinks Mat warehouse robbery; the births of Chris Hemsworth, Aidan Turner, Mo Farah, Blackadder, Mika, Amy Winehouse, Henry Cavill, Emily Blunt, the Internet, mobile phones, Swatch watches, the pound coin, Moschino and Microsoft Word; and the year that Gloria Swanson, David Niven, Ira Gershwin, John Le Mesurier, Norma Shearer, Sir William Walton, Harry James, Dick Emery, Dolores del Río, Billy Fury, Tennessee Williams and Violet Carson all died.

In the news headlines in October thirty-six years ago: the grisly story of the multiple murders of young men committed by Dennis Nilson gripped the nation as his trial began, Cecil Parkinson resigned as Trade and Industry Secretary after it was revealed he was having an affair with his secretary, to the fury of the UK government US troops invaded the British Commonwealth island state of Grenada, Neil Kinnock was elected leader of the Labour Party following the retirement of Michael Foot, a million people joined a Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) march in London, and the plan to abolish the Greater London Council was announced; in the ascendant was Richard Noble (who broke the land speed record at 633 mph), but we bade a fond farewell to Sir Ralph Richardson. In our cinemas: Zelig, Class and Staying Alive. On telly: Terrahawks, Family Fortunes with Max Bygraves, and Doris Speed's last appearance as "Annie Walker" in Coronation Street.

And in our Top Ten in October '83? Culture Club and Karma Chameleon still ruled the roost, in their fifth week of six at #1. Contenders Tracey Ullman, Lionel Ritchie, Duran Duran and Howard Jones had all been thwarted in their attempt to topple the behemoth, but Billy Joel Uptown Girl had arrived and was about to do the job. Also present and correct were Rocksteady Crew, Men Without Hats, George Benson and - ahem - Black Lace. However, there was also a choon lurking around outside the Top Twenty that was about to take off, and become one of my eternal favourites in the process...

The Cure - The Lovecats

We move like cagey tigers
We couldn't get closer than this
The way we walk
The way we talk
The way we stalk
The way we kiss

We slip through the streets
While everyone sleeps
Getting bigger and sleeker
And wider and brighter
We bite and scratch and scream all night

Let's go
And throw
All the songs we know

Into the sea
You and me
All these years and no one heard
I'll show you in spring
It's a treacherous thing
We missed you hissed the lovecats
We missed you hissed the lovecats

We're so wonderfully wonderfully wonderfully wonderfully pretty
Oh you know that I'd do anything for you
We should have each other to tea, huh?
We should have each other with cream
Then curl up in the fire
And sleep for awhile
It's the grooviest thing
It's the perfect dream

Into the sea
You and me
All these years and no one heard
I'll show you in spring
It's a treacherous thing
We missed you hissed the lovecats

We missed you hissed the lovecats
We missed you hissed the lovecats
We missed you hissed the lovecats
We missed you hissed the lovecats

We're so wonderfully wonderfully wonderfully wonderfully pretty
Oh you know that I'd do anything for you
We should have each other to dinner?
We should have each other with cream
Then curl up in the fire
Get up for awhile
It's the grooviest thing
It's the perfect dream

Hand in hand
Is the only way to land
Always the right way round
Not broken in pieces
Like hated little meeces
How could we miss
Someone as dumb as this

Missed you hissed the lovecats

I love you let's go
Oh solid gone
How could we miss someone as dumb as this?

Fantabulosa!

It's the grooviest thing, it's the perfect dream

Timeslip moment again...

Terrifyingly, it is thirty years since my sister and I and all the "cool kids" of the "Bowie/Roxy Nights" in Lazers nightclub in Newport (one-time haunt of Steve Strange, Spandau Ballet, Adam Ant, The Slits, Siouxsie and Simple Minds in its heyday when it held its "Speakeasy" nights) used to bop our tits off to this song...

In the Top Ten this week in 1983, it's The Cure and The Love Cats:

The Cure - The Love Cats

We move like cagey tigers
We couldn't get closer than this
The way we walk
The way we talk
The way we stalk
The way we kiss
We slip through the streets
While everyone sleeps
Getting bigger and sleeker
And wider and brighter
We bite and scratch and scream all night
Let's go and throw
All the songs we know

Into the sea
You and me
All these years and no one heard
I'll show you in spring
It's a treacherous thing
We missed you hissed the lovecats

We're so wonderfully wonderfully wonderfully
Wonderfully pretty!
Oh you know that I'd do anything for you
We should have each other to tea
We should have each other with cream
Then curl up by the fire
And sleep for a while
It's the grooviest thing
It's the perfect dream

Hand in hand
Is the only way to land
And always the right way round
Not broken in pieces
Like hated little meeces
How could we miss
Someone as dumb as this?

I love you, let's go
Oh, solid gone
How could we miss
Someone as dumb as this?

[Last featured here way back in 2009 as a part of my blog about Time Capsules]

The Cure

Memories, like the corners of my mind

My MySpace friend DJDaddums set an interesting challenge this morning. Apparently there is a new Radio 2 show, presented by the gorgeous Dermot O'Leary, called Time Capsules coming to the airwaves, and it sounds like a trendier version of Desert Island Discs. Guests are invited to submit ten songs, in the following strict categories: “Family Favourite”, “Teenage Kicks”, “Tearjerker (aka “our song")”, “Ultimate Time Capsule Song”, “Funeral Song”, and FIVE free choices.

So, rising to the challenge, here's mine...

Family Favourite - Given that my closest family member is my sister, I would have to feature this classic number we used to dance to at the "Bowie/Roxy" nights at "Lasers" club in Newport way back in the early 1980s. The Cure still make a regular re-appearance at every house party, and Hils and I still dance to it - albeit a bit more wheezily these days...

The Cure - The Lovecats

Teenage Kicks - Ah, this one is a given. My obsession with Blondie as a young closet queen is well-documented, and this song above all others was a personal obsession of mine when I was a teenager...

Blondie - Picture This

Tearjerker - A much more difficult one, this - for many of the songs I would class as "tearjerkers" (Wild is the Wind, Somewhere (A Place For Us)) stem from times way before I met Madam Acarti. However, this song (on the sand) is indeed one of "ours":

Davis Gaines - Song in the Sand (La Cage Aux Folles)

Free choice #1 - Now we're really into indulgence... First up, one of the best Disco songs ever recorded. RIP, Sylvester:

Sylvester - You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)

Free choice #2 - From one of the most influential gay pop stars of the late 20th century Mr Tom Robinson, here's a most beautifully crafted song that has had a lasting influence on my life...

Tom Robinson - War Baby

Free choice #3 - Speaking of huge influences, here's my theme tune Queen Bitch by the greatest of all artists, ever, Mr David Bowie:

David Bowie - Queen Bitch

Free choice #4 - I really don't need any excuse at all to include this work of genius by Neneh Cherry and Youssou N'Dour on the list!

Youssou N'Dor and Neneh Cherry - Seven Seconds

Free choice #5 - Now here's a close-run contender for the "Family Favourite" entry, from one of my all-time favourite artists - an absolute classic. Just thinking of the first time I saw Marc singing Tainted Love on Top Of The Pops sends shivers down my spine...

Soft Cell - Tainted Love

Ultimate Time Capsule Song - Difficult, very difficult - there are so many of them! However, since You Spin Me Round was one of the very earliest records that sums up my coming out, and the "Tunnel" club in Cardiff in 1984,here's the top memory-jerker in my collection. I can actually smell the poppers as we speak...

Dead or Alive - You Spin Me Round

And, finally, the Funeral Song - Now I was toying with the idea of Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead!, or more seriously Pet Shop Boys' Being Boring. But in the end, there is only one winner in this category - it is, after all, a cabaret, old chum!

Liza Minnelli - Cabaret

Now it's over to you...