Having used up all of my song-related anecdotes with my 31 Songs misadventure last December, it was natural to turn to the music I’ve collected this year for inspiration. Not that that limits me to newly released CDs; the steady trickle of £3 Fopp specials sees to that.

It was one of these Fopp bargains that I initially thought would hold my choice. Edits by Mr. K is a superb collection of soulful, stomping, Seventies disco classics remixed by DJ maestro Danny Krivit. An album chosen entirely for the old-skool picture of a DJ (Danny Krivit actually, I hadn’t heard of him at the time) on the cover and it turned out to be one of the best impulse purchases I’ve ever made. I thought that No One Gets The Prize or Give Me Your Love would add an uplifting dance segment to the Uborka Mix CD. Then I noticed that they’re each approaching ten minutes long.

Not sure that I can get away with such an indulgence, I had a rethink, and decided to give you all freedom. Freedom from Wham! and George Michael, and you’ll be even more relieved to hear, freedom from Robbie Williams. In fact, freedom from record labels completely.

Freedom by Nizlopi. Nizlopi are my new favourite band and they don’t answer to anyone except maybe themselves. Freedom is taken from their collection of beautiful songs Half These Songs Are About You… and gets the nod over any of the others for these words…

I thought playing the loving game
Would never be simple again
But you’re staying overnight
So maybe I’m doin’ something right

…and for this line which always makes me chuckle…

After a winter
Getting dull and blue like a Tory

Visit their website. Buy the CD. See them live! Oh, and enjoy the mix CD of course!

And did those feet in ancient times,
Walk upon mountains green?
And was the holy Lamb of God,
On England’s pleasant pastures seen?
And did the Countenance Divine,
Shine forth on clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem
In the dark Satanic Mills?
Jerusalem

This is where the Blake kicks in, so there’s an obvious decline in the quality of verse. But he does well enough. Personally, if it’s to be the words of another, I’m happier when Mark E Smith is singing from that other musical genius (who very nearly made my selection) Lee “Scratch” Perry, whose Why Are People Grudgeful was covered by The Fall on The Infotainment Scan. Or, another cover from the same album, his extraordinary version of Lost in Music:

L’argent est sur la table, (the money is on the table)
Pris au piege, (trapped)
Inutile de regarder en arriere, (It’s useless to look behind you)
Perdu dans la musique, (lost in music)
Cretin, va te faire foutre! (A*shole, fu*k you!)
I’m lost in music
Feel so alive
I quit my ten-to-five
I’m lost in music

Blake couldn’t have written that, now, could he? For one thing, his French wasn’t nearly good enough, which is why he was always harping on about England’s pleasant pastures. Before we go any further I ought to point out that these words form part of Blake’s dedicatory quatrains from Milton, published in 1804 by an early incarnation of the Polecat Press. The words were later renamed Jerusalem, when they became part of a famous church hymn – the 19th century equivalent of being an enormous disco hit. Like so many popstars, Blake shone for a brief while before the drugs started to take their toll, and his hymn sales started flagging. He was latterly spotted buying meals for one at the legendary Worcester Cabbage Market.
Still, I like the bit about Dark Satanic Mills. It rather reminds me of Grace Nichols’ Dark Ancestral Spectres.

“When I was young
I was taught a little song
I only ever sing it
When things are going horribly wrong …”

Listen to the song here, for a Limited! Period! Only!
On every mix CD, I have a theory that there should be a little space set aside for a brief appearance by a Great Lost Band. I’m talking about those acts who stayed around for a few years, releasing albums that were raved about by the critics but completely ignored by the music-buying public. The reason for this sad state of affairs usually comes down to the fact that nobody knew what the hell they were trying to do; their music couldn’t be successfully categorised. Such bands usually end up going their separate ways after a few years, weary of trying to fight against massive indifference.
In their wake, they invariably leave a small but foolishly dedicated group of fans, most of whom eventually find each other via mailing lists on the internet. And there they stay, telling each other that nobody ever really understood their idols, and occasionally sharing gossip on what the lead singer is doing now (selling life insurance, working as a TV researcher, recording his long-awaited but never-to-be-released solo album, or being spotted buying meals for one in various branches of Safeway). They bond over their shared love of music that everyone else has long since forgotten (if they were even aware of it in the first place). It’s classic anorak behaviour, and it’s very, very tragic indeed.
For some reason, I seem to have a habit of liking such bands. Yes, I’m the person to speak to if you want CDs by The Bathers, the one and only album by Unsophisticates, obscure releases by the ex-members of Japan, or the complete back catalogue of Furniture (currently appearing on every ’80s compilation near you with their one and only hit, Brilliant Mind). And then there’s my next candidate for the Uborka Mix CD …

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Well, for me there’s still really only one perfect song for the UborCD.

You always were the one to show me how
Back then I couldn’t do the things that I can do now
This thing is slowly taking me apart
Grey would be the colour, if I had a heart

Happy, and filled with the joys of summer</sarcasm>
Nine Inch Nails’ “Something I Can Never Have“. Dragon will be a happy bunny.
As for reasons? Well, even in the midst of one of the best summer rainy seasons I’ve had, there’s always the awareness that things can go wrong. That’s the secret at the core of my happy-go-lucky soul.

You called me last night on the telephone

And I was glad to hear from you ’cause I was all alone

You said, “It’s snowing, it’s snowing!

God, I hate this weather.”

Now I walk through blizzards just to get us back together.

We met in the springtime at a rock-and-roll show

It was on the Bowery when it was time to go

We kissed on the subway in the middle of the night

I held your hand, you held mine,

it was the best night of my life.

‘Cause everyone’s your friend in New York City

And everything looks beautiful

when you’re young and pretty

The streets are paved with diamonds

and there’s just so much to see

But the best thing about New York City is you and me.

– They Might be Giants, New York City
Reasons That This is Obviously My Song:
1. Um, it’s about New York City and being young and pretty.
2. Falling in love is sort of my new thing.
3. I do sort of hate the snow sometimes.
4. The best thing about New York City is you and me, baby.

Hey hey!
This all looks cracking.
My nomination or, as some would have it, choix du semaine for the Uborka Mix CD is Athlete’s ‘We Got The Style’.
I would quote some lyrics, but sizing up the songsheet I would say that the lyrics don’t do the song justice. It’s not about the lyrics. Well, it is.
Obviously.
But it isn’t just the lyrics.
Example:

Oh, oh, oh, oh
Yeah, you got the style
And we got the style
And they got the style
And everybody’s got it
And you got the style
And we got the style
And they got the style
And everybody’s got it
And you got the style
And we got the style

So you see.
It’s about both the lyrics and the music, and I am particularly fond of the synergetic confluence of the two in this particular ditty.
It’s about having the style.
Which you got.