Thursday, November 03, 2005

Top 10 Very English Songs

I was thinking about the Kaiser Cheifs and what it is that makes them so English. There are some bands and some particular songs that are very English. I don't mean incredibly naff english - but something almost indefinable. It might be cultural references, humour, accent or just plain English quirkiness but some bands just have it and others don't. Anyway I was so inspired that I decided to compile a
TOP 10 of Very English Songs

1) Morrisey - Every Day is Like Sunday
2) Pulp - Common People
3) Blur - Parklife
4) Kaiser Chiefs - I Predict a Riot
5) Pulp - Lipgloss
6) The Specials - Too Much Too Young
7) Suede - Filmstar
8) UB40 - One in Ten
9) Madness - House of Fun
10) The Smiths - Suffer Little Children/ Sex Pistols - God Save the Queen

These were just some of the tracks that I came up with whilst sitting in the cafe the other day but I am absolutely sure that there are tons more, probably some even better examples.

The Reasons.....

Morrisey - well "share some greased tea with me..." english seaside cafes come in one of two varieties, the type that serve greasy everything (and probably still allow smoking) or the kind full of doillies and old ladies. Everyone knows about what english seaside towns are like out of season, I wonder if it is the same elsewhere in the world...

Pulp - well you can't really get more English than Pulp can you? Geeky glasses, wooly jumpers, St Martins College, supermarkets, lipgloss and a sardonic sense of humour.... Jarvis we salute you!

Blur, another quintessentially English band, this track references such cultural icons as adverts, brewers droop, pigeons, joggers, dustmen and features another iconic figure, the actor Phil Daniels (Quadrophenia).

Suede - Filmstar, an elegant sir, A terylene shirt, it looks so easy, Filmstar, an elegant sir, In a terylene shirt tonight......

The Specials - what is more English than teenage pregnancy - it was a toss up between this track and Ghost Town.

Madness - now anyone British will get what this song is about, but not sure anyone else would get it.

The Smiths - anyone over the age of 25 in Britain will know about the Moors Murders in the 1960s....

Sex Pistols - an oh so English Band, born out of repression and bordom and a healthy disrespect for the monarchy - this was released in the year of Queen Elizabeth's silver jubilee 1976!

UB40 - this song is not just about britain, but those early UB40 tracks sum up the bleakness of the Thatcher years for Britain's youth. Funny seems that things are starting to feel alittle like that again under this Labour government - now I never thought that I would hear myself say that!


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Specials - Ghost town

Julia said...

thanks Wombling (love the name by the way!) yes Wham rap I hadn't thought of that one - it really sums up all the things that were naff about Thatcher's Britain! and like you say a million miles away from their later stuff.

Ghost town yes I nearly put that in!

Might be interesting to do a Thatcher's Britain top 10

Julia said...

yes good one!