30-Day Song Challenge Week 1

As I'm sure everyone appreciates, we're all trying to distract ourselves during these crazy times. There are many polls, quizzes and the like on t'internet to help people think about happier days and to just generally help our brains keep ticking over. Just for fun I thought I'd post the results of a song challenge I'm currently doing on Twitter, one week at a time. And, of course, the beauty of doing it here at TGW-S is that I'm not hampered by Twitter's character limit so I can waffle on to my heart's content. Here we go:

Day 1  -  A  song you like with a colour in the title
Purple Haze by the Jimi Hendrix Experience


Well, it's Hendrix. What more can I say? THAT guitar riff, " 'Scuse me while I kiss the sky", the feeling that the sky was now not the limit, early psychedelia at its rawest, perfection.

Day 2  -  A song you like with a number in the title
Song 2 by Blur


Song 2. Second song on its parent album, 2:02 minutes long, got to number 2 in the charts
Woo-hoo!

Day 3  -  A song that reminds you of summertime
Walking Barefoot by Ash


Yet another noise-pop nugget from one of my all-time fave live bands. Tim Wheeler's lyrics are often elemental, concerned with the seasons, the weather, the sun and moon, the pains and pleasure of love as if it was an elemental force itself.

Day 4 - A song that reminds you of someone you'd rather forget
Vienna  by Ultravox


I'm not really a fan of the 'Vox but this is a fine, windswept example of overblown '80s pop. And, no, I won't be going into who it reminds me of.

Day 5  -  A song that needs to be played LOUD!
The Ace Of Spades by Motorhead


Okay, this may not be THE classic Motorhead line-up but it's still a cracking performance of a mighty tune and being part of The Young Ones makes it an important moment in pop culture. Obviously.

Day 6  -  A song that makes you want to dance
Liquidator by The Harry J All Stars


A seminal Trojan Records single. Brings back memories of school discos, Young Farmers discos and youth club discos and pestering every DJ to play this tune. ( I actually didn't go to that many discos but it's a word that doesn't see the light of day much any more so if I can use it 4 times in one paragraph I think it makes the world a better place. )

Day 7  -  A song to drive to
Cadillac Ranch by Bruce Springsteen


Bruce obviously has many "car" songs in his repertoire but this is one of my faves  -  an unpretentious, foot-to-the-floor rocker.
"1, 2, 3, 4...!"

So, that was Week 1. Tune in next week to see if I manage to keep up the manic pace of thinking of one song a day. It's going to be tricky.

And, finally Esther, a big shout out ( as DJs probably still say? ) to Pete and Dave who have been joining me on this trip into stereophonic sound on Twitter. They are, of course, two-thirds of the legendary Kids From Rec Road and you can read their highly unlikely comic strip adventures here.