Journeying in a taxi is like being in a time machine, taking you back to a time when all music was well-crafted and inoffensive. And smelled a bit like old fag-ends and B.O. One track which is a favourite of the cabbie is the syrupy pop of Paul Simon circa Gracelands. The biggest hit from that LP was ‘You Can Call Me Al‘, which starred Ladysmith Black Mambazo (or, those ones from that baked bean ad ages ago). And for the video? Enter Chevy Chase. What’s not to love? All of it? There’s no pleasing some people.
[video: curedude77]
Posted by
mofgimmers on
Monday March 10th, 2008 at
1:36 pm
Time for a bona fide taxi classic. Toto’s ‘Africa‘ is one of the biggest fist-in-the-air anthems for our cabbies. Sadly for Toto the band name, in various parts of Africa, is slang for “vagina”. However, that didn’t stop them from selling a bucketload of records. If you want to hear the song watch the video below. Quite why a band would decide to play on a stack of gigantic books while singing about Africa is beyond me. Perhaps it was part of some Blue Peter appeal?
There are certain songs by Barry Manilow that I’m loath to say that I love. Of course, every one of ‘em is a Taxicab Classic. “Copacabana”, “Mandy”, the orchestral pomp of “Could It Be Magic?” and, of course, the sublime “Can’t Smile Without You”. Yep. Amongst my records by The Stooges and Velvet Underground proudly sits Manilow Magic (available at every single charity shop I’ve ever been to). Watch this video, give in to it and sing along… Hell, join in with the screaming if you want. Big nose is back in town.
[video: SarAlexRipper506070]
Posted by
mofgimmers on
Monday February 25th, 2008 at
2:59 pm
OK, I never made a resolution to write regular music-related posts about the US elections, but if those darn American politicians keep messing up so deliciously, what am I supposed to do?
First there was Will.i.am’s campaign song for Obama, then there was the frankly horrific “Hillary4U&Me”. And now comes the news that Republican Mike Huckabee tried to plunder classic rock history by using Boston’s “More Than A Feeling” for his campaign… only, he didn’t ask permission. And the guy who wrote and performed it - Boston’s main man Tom Scholz - is not very happy about it. And nor am I! Hands off our Taxicab Classics, Creationist!
Indeed so not happy was he that he sent Huckers a letter, and quite possibly leaked it to, um, the internet. Thephoenix.com reproduces the whole thing, and it’s a cracking read.
Taxis are the place to be if you wanna feel like a trucker for a brief moment of your life. Taxis house the voice of Sarah Kennedy, the smell of B.O. and most importantly, stations that pour out MOR and AOR like sonic treacle. Taxis are the place that musical time forgot. So where else you gonna dig the hirsute, dad-friendly sounds of The Doobie Brothers?
The Doobie Brothers are the aural equivalent of yer daddio telling you that, in his youth, there was nothing he liked better than “having half a spliff and ‘rocking out’ with the headphones on. Oh man, they were heady days. You should have seen my clothes and hair! You know what a doobie is, right?” While all the real hippies were full of acid, naked and wigging out to Gong, your dad was in his student digs fretting a little. So with that, let’s listen to the soundtrack of future middle management with The Doobie Brothers’ “Long Train Running”. Read over…
“I remember getting the best bj ever to this song in 1984.”
So says YouTube commenter kb7787 of REO Speedwagon’s exemplary perm-ballad. You don’t need to have fellatio-related memories attached to this beauty for it to make you feel all sorts of special, however. Nope, all you need to guiltily enjoy this mullety delight is a pair of ears and a functioning heart. Don’t even try to deny it. I sang this at karaoke once, you know. Weeping at the song’s close was probably a step too far, but I had some stuff on my mind.
“Can’t Fight This Feeling” is here reproduced with subtitles, for our Spanish viewers. Vaya con Dios.
There’s something charming about a song that mentions Darth Vader and then says “are you like a droid, devoid of emotion?” Of course, this could only come from the ludicrous disco of Hot Gossip’s “I Lost My Heart To A Starship Trooper”. Featuring a pre-famous Sarah Brightman hopping around in horrible lycra with a buncha bozos doing robotics, “…Trooper” was a big hit in 1978 which summoned you to “Take me, make me feel the force”. Bloody ‘ell. Who knew the future would be so saucy!
[video: Snoogadooch]
Posted by
Stuart Waterman on
Monday February 4th, 2008 at
3:21 pm
Last night, blind drunk in a taxi coming back from a burlesque night (yes it was fun… yes I’m still quite drunk) I had the most wonderful experience (not like that you mucky sods) as, tootling along, the radio blurted “…and here’s Driver 67 with their ‘78 hit, Car 67!” There I was… sat in a taxi listening to a song about a taxi driver! Brilliant! So, in tribute to Nabeel, my chariot for the evening, here’s the track. Watch out for the oddball Brum accent which punctuates the song. “You’ve put me in a bad position…”
[video: mrdee11091]
Posted by
Stuart Waterman on
Monday January 28th, 2008 at
3:03 pm
This weekend has seen me spending a lot of time in taxis. For your info, I’ve been on the pop for three days straight which is something of a novelty for me. Apart from a twinge in my liver, one thing has been a constant… and that is Little Lies by Fleetwood Mac. As dreadful as this track is, it’s somehow crept under my skin and I now love it. I’ve been whistling it around my ‘cool’ friends. Was I chastised? Of course not. They love it too. We all love this song. Even the rubbish wonky synths and booming ’80s drums. Now dig the vid. [video: assej8]
Posted by
Stuart Waterman on
Monday January 21st, 2008 at
1:21 pm
Sometimes - like when it’s raining outside, and you’ve got boring chores that need doing, and all you can think about is why nobody loves you, and you can’t work out why you’re so ugly, and you’re pondering why that film star never replies to your handwritten declarations of love - you just need to sit down with a load of ballads and weep your stupid bloody heart out.
Ideally, these ballads will have some kind of visual stimulus to prevent you from staring into space as you have a good old blub. So it’s fortunate that a site called Best Ballads Videos exists for that very purpose.
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OK, I never made a resolution to write regular music-related posts about the US elections, but if those darn American politicians keep messing up so deliciously, what am I supposed to do?
Taxis are the place to be if you wanna feel like a trucker for a brief moment of your life. Taxis house the voice of Sarah Kennedy, the smell of B.O. and most importantly, stations that pour out MOR and AOR like sonic treacle. Taxis are the place that musical time forgot. So where else you gonna dig the hirsute, dad-friendly sounds of The Doobie Brothers?
