During the middle ages, Keele was a major route from the North-West to London for laden packhorses and caravans alike. Keele Preceptory was granted to the Knights Templar sometime between 1168-69 by King Henry II. The Knights Templars, a military order and later rivals Knights Hospitallers, would charge incoming traffic to pass through their lands. This would supplement rental income from farming tenants.
Keele lies about four miles away from where I was born and has a Motorway service station, built in 1963, which was a veritable metropolis compared to anything we had seen before.
Jim Adams’ Song Lyric Sunday gives us the chance to share familiar, and sometimes not so familiar, songs.
If you fancy sharing one of your favourite songs you can find out how to participate, and also listen to all the great entries, here.
This week I have to issue a health warning before you proceed any further. Some of you may have no after effects whatsoever, but with others there is a severe danger of becoming addicted to this song. Just in case, I am offering you six versions to choose from and there are plenty more if you look. You will see that everyone enjoys singing this song. I enjoyed finding it and listening to it far too many times. I hope you enjoy it too!
It’s difficult to classify either the group or the music.
The group Tune-Yards (stylized as tUnE-yArDs) is from Oakland, California and is described as the music project of musician Merrill Garbus, with long-time collaborator, bassist Nate Brenner.
Their music draws from an eclectic variety of sources and utilises elements such as loop pedals, ukulele, vocals, and lo-fi percussion. You’ll soon see what I mean!
First is the official music video
Next a live performance on KEXP from May 2014
Now at the Pitchfork Music Festival 2014
and at Glastonbury 2014
The song seems popular with youth choirs and you will find lots if you look. One of the best to my mind is Coastal Sound Youth Choir: Indiekör 2016.
No water in the water fountain No side on the sidewalk If you say Old Molly Hare, whatcha doin’ there? Nothing much to do when you’re going nowhere
Woohaw! Woohaw! Gotcha We’re gonna get the water from your house (your house)
No water in the water fountain No wood in the woodstock And you say old Molly Hare Whatcha doin’ there? Nothing much to do when you’re going nowhere
Woohaw! Woohaw! Gotcha We’re gonna get the water from your house (your house)
Nothing feels like dying like the drying of my skin and lawn Why do we just sit here while they watch us wither til we’re gone? I can’t seem to feel it I can’t seem to feel it I can’t seem to feel I’ll kneel I’ll kneel I’ll kneel the cold steel
You will ride the whip You’ll ride the crack No use in fighting back You’ll sledge the hammer if there’s no one else to take the flak I can’t seem to feel it I can’t seem to find it Your fist clenched my neck We’re neck and neck and neck…
No water in the water fountain No phone in the phone booth And you say old Molly Hare Whatcha doin’ there Jump back, jump back Daddy shot a bear
Woohaw! Woohaw! Gotcha We’re gonna get the water from your house (your house)
I saved up all my pennies and I gave them to this special guy When he had enough of them he bought himself a cherry pie He gave me a dollar A blood-soaked dollar I cannot get the spot out but It’s okay it still works in the store
Greasy man come and dig my well Life without your water is a burning hell Serve me up with your home-grown rice Anything make me shit nice
Se pou zanmi zwen, se pou zanmi zwen And the two-pound chicken tastes better with friends A two-pound chicken tastes better with two And I know where to find YOU so Listen to the words I said Let it sink into your head A vertigo round-and-round-and-round Now I’m in your bed How did I get ahead? Whoop! Thread your fingers through my hair Fingers through my hair Give me a dress Give me a press I give a thing a caress Would-ja, would-ja, would-ja
Listen to the words I say! Sound like a floral bouquet A lyrical round-and-roundandroundandround Okay Take a picture it’ll last all day, hey Your fingers through my hair Do it ’til you disappear Gimme your head Gimme your head Off with his head! HEY HEY HEY HEY
No water in the water fountain Floral bouquet A lyrical round-and-roundandroundandround No side on the sidewalk Take a picture it’ll last all day, hey And you say old Molly Hare, Hare Nothing much to do when you’re going nowhere
Woohaw! Woohaw! Gotcha, gotcha
We’re gonna get the water from your house, your house
Leicester features prominently in the news at the moment, being one of the areas in the UK that has had a significant increase in cases of Covid-19 cases and, as a result, has not had any easing of lockdown regulations.
At the end of the War of the Roses, King Richard III was buried in Leicester’s Greyfriars Church a Franciscan Friary and Church which was demolished after its dissolution in 1538. The site of that church is now covered by more modern buildings and a car park. There was a legend his corpse had been cast into the river, while some historians argued his tomb and remains were destroyed during the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII. However, in September 2012, an archaeological investigation of the car park revealed a skeleton which DNA testing helped verify to be related to two descendants of Richard III’s sister. It was concluded that the skeleton was that of Richard III because of the DNA evidence and the shape of the spine. In 2015 Richard III was reburied in pride of place near the high altar in Leicester Cathedral. Perhaps Richard is the subject of my limerick?
Jim Adams’ Song Lyric Sunday gives everyone the chance to share familiar, and sometimes not so familiar, songs.
To find out how to participate, and also listen to all the great entries, click here.
This week I’m featuring Frank Turner, an English punk and folk singer-songwriter from Hampshire. Incidentally, he was born in Bahrain where I served two tours in 1967/68 and 1971. Wow, that was a good while ago!
Frank can be quite political in his performances and this song is no exception. I hope you enjoy at least one of the choices I’m offering. The song is “Make America Great Again“, released in May 2018. It has been described as a “riposte to the invective of Trump” and sees Turner offer some tips on how the President could improve the US: by “making racists ashamed again” and making “compassion in fashion again”.
The first is the Official video of the release
Next is a performance at Paper Tiger, San Antonio, Tx
and in Mexico City
and, finally an explanation of his thinking behind the writing of the song, complete with a political statement.
Make America Great Again
Well I know I’m just an ignorant Englishman But I’d like to make America great again So if you’ll forgive my accent and the cheek of it Here’s some suggestions from the special relationship
Let’s make America great again By making racists ashamed again Let’s make compassion in fashion again Let’s make America great again
Well I’ve been fortunate to go ’round the continent From California through the midwest and Providence And I’ve mostly only encountered common sense Hospitality and warmth from Americans But I wish it was a bit less significant The program and the name of the President Because it seems to me the truth is self-evident You fought our king to be independent
Make America great again By making racists ashamed again Let’s make compassion in fashion again Let’s make America great again
Ellis Island take me in Everyone can start again In the shining city on the hill Where nobody can be illegal
Let’s make America great again By making racists ashamed again Let’s make compassion in fashion again Let’s make America great again
Let’s be a friend to our oldest friends And call them out when they’re faltering Remind them of their best selves and then We’ll make America great again
Although not all Quakers (also known as Friends) are teetotal, many do practice abstinence. It is a fascinating religion and, indeed, some choose to lead a Quaker way of life but are non-theist.
Members of the various Quaker movements are all generally united by their belief in the ability of each human being to experientially access the light within, or “that of God in every one”.
I know that at least one of my readers is a Friend.
Jim Adams’ Song Lyric Sunday gives us the chance to share familiar, and sometimes not so familiar, songs.
If you fancy sharing one of your favourite songs you can find out how to participate, and also listen to all the great entries, here.
Jim’s prompts this week are all about temperature, in that we get to choose from Cool, Freeze, Heat, and Melt. Now, I think that most people are aware that we British don’t do heat very well and this year, so far, we’ve had some pretty high temperatures (for us anyway!) so I thought I would cool off with a Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress. That’s my story anyway!
This Hollies song originally appeared on the album Distant Light, it was released as a single on 17 April 1972, selling 1.5 million copies in the United States and two million worldwide. It reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in September 1972. Billboard ranked it as the No. 24 song for 1972.
The song is different from most other Hollies songs in that there are no three-part vocal harmonies, instead it was written in the swamp rock style of Creedence Clearwater Revival, in terms of the vocal, rhythm, and melodic style. According to Alan Clarke, the song was written “in about five minutes”. That’s as maybe, but it sure does get people up on the dance floor!
I hope you enjoy this live performance recorded from the television series Midnight Special.
and here, a version with lyrics and exquisite pictures of Charlotte Rampling who, incidentally, was 2.5 inches short of the required 5’9″!
Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress
Saturday night I was downtown Working for the FBI Sitting in a nest of bad men Whiskey bottles piling high
Bootlegging boozer on the west side Full of people who are doing wrong Just about to call up the D.A. man When I heard this woman singing a song
A pair of forty fives made me open my eyes My temperature started to rise
She was a long cool woman in a black dress Just a 5’9″ beautiful ‘n’ tall Just one look I was a bad mess ‘Cause that long cool woman had it all
I saw her heading to the table Well, a tall walking big black cat Charlie said, I hope that you’re able, boy ‘Cause I’m telling you she knows where it’s at
Well, suddenly we hear the sirens And everybody started to run Jumping under doors and tables Well, I heard somebody shooting a gun
Well, the D.A. was pumping my left hand She was holding my right Well, I told her, don’t get scared ‘Cause you’re gonna be spared I’ve gotta be forgiven if I wanna spend my living
With a long cool woman in a black dress Just a 5’9″ beautiful ‘n’ tall Well with just one look I was a bad mess ‘Cause that long cool woman had it all Had it all, had it all, had it all Had it all, had it all, had it all (she had it all)
Over recent weeks I have given a brief description of where the town is, what it’s famous for, and other trivia associated with the place. This week you’re not getting that. Tough! You’ll have to look up wikipedia on this link!
Instead, a brief explanation of the verse above:
During the Second World War servicemen were allowed to send Forces Mail home free of charge but they were restricted in what they could write. They could not say where they were (most did not know anyway!), what they were doing, and they were mostly only allowed to send a pre formatted and part pre printed military postal form. This meant they had to be brief in what they wrote.
This led to a much used shorthand to impart what they wanted to say. Many will know of the acronym SWALK which meant “sealed with a loving kiss”. Other acronyms can be found here.
NORWICH was (K)nickers off ready when I come home!
Jim Adams’ Song Lyric Sunday gives us the chance to share familiar, and sometimes not so familiar, songs.
If you fancy sharing one of your favourite songs you can find out how to participate, and also listen to all the great entries, here.
I’ve chosen another great song by Florian Cloud de Bounevialle Armstrong and, by now, regular visitors will know that this is the real name of Dido.
From the album Life for Rent, produced in September 2003, I’m offering you a fun song called Mary’s in India. Dido obviously enjoys singing this one and, in the last couple of lines, you can discern a distinct note of fun. Or maybe it is smugness!
The first video is a live performance at Brixton Academy which gives the background to the song.
and the second video is the original recording embellished with not only Spanish and English subtitles but with several still photographs.
Danny is lonely ’cause Mary’s in India now She said she’d call but that was three weeks ago She left all her things well, her books and her letters from him And as the sun rises on Mary it sets on him
Just dance, just drink and just see the things I’ll probably never get a chance to see
Danny’s not eating, he’s drinking and sleeping in I saw him last night at a party, he’s definitely thin He says he’s happy, he looked pretty good but I think That as the sun rises on Mary, it sets on him
And just dance, and just drink and just see the things I’ll probably never get a chance to see
Danny came over last night and I cooked for him We talked about you Mary and how much we loved you still He told me he’s packed up your books and your letters and things And as the sun sets on Mary, it’s rising on him
And we danced and we drank and I’ve seen some things You probably never got a chance to see Don’t worry Mary, ’cause I’m taking care of Danny And he’s taking care of me
Over, is a large village in Cambridgeshire, that is destined to become bigger and bigger as it becomes more of a satellite of Cambridge and Huntingdon. It has a population approaching 3,000.
Its roots are in the 17th century when the Great Fen in Cambridgeshire and Norfolk was drained in the 1630s.
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey (lead vocals, guitar, harmonica), Pete Townshend (vocals, guitar, keyboards), John Entwistle (vocals, bass) and Keith Moon, (drums, vocals). They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction. The Who have sold about 100 million records, and have charted 27 top forty singles in the United Kingdom and United States, as well as 17 top ten albums, with 18 Gold, 12 Platinum and 5 Multi-Platinum album awards in the United States alone.
Written by Pete Townshend and recorded at IBC Studios in November 1966 the electric version of ‘Happy Jack’ reached #3 in the UK charts in December 1966. It was also the first record by the Who to make the US singles charts. I don’t think that the group liked to play this song. They rarely performed it live and, in later years, would play a shortened version of only about two minutes. In the acoustic version, which I think is better, Pete plays cello.
Happy Jack
Happy Jack wasn’t old, but he was a man He lived in the sand at the Isle of Man The kids would all sing, he would take the wrong key So they rode on his head on their furry donkey
The kids couldn’t hurt Jack They tried and tried and tried
They dropped things on his back And lied and lied and lied and lied and lied
But they couldn’t stop Jack, or the waters lapping And they couldn’t prevent Jack from feeling happy
But they couldn’t stop Jack, or the waters lapping And they couldn’t prevent Jack from feeling happy
The kids couldn’t hurt Jack They tried and tried and tried They dropped things on his back And lied and lied and lied and lied and lied
But they couldn’t stop Jack, or the waters lapping And they couldn’t prevent Jack from feeling happy
I saw ya! (said in response to Keith Moon trying to sneak in to the recording booth to join in the singing!)
Writer PETER TOWNSHEND
Publisher: T.R.O. INC.
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind
