Unless you've been lying under a rock for the last few months you will know today is D-day here in the UK. And even though I have very little with royalty or the institution of marriage, I couldn't resist the whole royal wedding fever while making a new Spotify mixtape for TwentyTrackTape...
BY ROYAL (DIS)APPOINTMENT contains 20 songs that cover all aspects of marriage: courtship, persuasion, parents' disapproval, objection, going to the chapel, the punch up at the wedding, solidarity, regrets and divorce.
Of course The Dixie Cups are on it with their Chapel Of Love, as well is Morrissey's Will Never Marry. There's Hot Chip's ode to monogamy and some good advice on marriage from Jimmy Soul and Smokey Robinson's mother. As I'm not the romantic type there a quite a few songs about divorce on it, including a song by Marvin Gaye, who recorded an entire album about his split from Anna Gordy (as part of their divorce settlement Marvin had to pay an extensive percentages of royalties of his next album to his ex. Consequently he made Here, My Dear, 14 songs about the deterioration of their marriage).
Especially for those of you who don't have Spotify, I'm treating you to a couple of the 'high lights' of my mix:
The Shangri-La's - Give Us Your Blessing. Get it here (YSI). The Shangri-La's are one of my favorite girl groups. The girls sing like their chatting to each other, and lots of their songs are a bit sinister with sound effects dramatizing the mood. Wedding bells, a thunder storm and car crash can be heard on this song about two teenagers who run away because their parents don't approve of them tying the knot and crash themselves to death.
The Five Du-Tones- Divorce Court. Get it here (YSI). A hilarious song that reenacts a court session. Especially one of The Five Du-Tones singing the wife's lines in a high pitched voice, and the husband breaking out in tears at the end!
Barrington Levy - Quick Divorce. Get it here (YSI). Another song set inside the court. The reggae singer begs and pleas the judge to dissolve his marriage as fast as he can.
The hardest part of making this compilation was to limit it to 20 songs. I would have loved to included a Latin version of Frank Sinatra's Love And Marriage as sung by Peggy Lee, or I Cried All The Way To The Alter by country singer Patsy Cline or any song by The Wedding Present. But alas for them! Also my beloved Mirah didn't make the cut with Til Death Do Us Part, but I will share it with you here.
Mirah and Golden Bears - Til Death Do Us Part. Get it here (YSI).
And if this song was on Spotify it would have definitely made the list. More sound effects!
Back in the days when I was young and started going out I didn’t have a clue what to do with myself on the dance floor. So together with some friends I ‘invented’ a dance that gave us something to do to those idiotic eurodance tunes, and that prevented us from looking like total hay sticks. Our dance moves were based on domestic chores… Do the dishes! Iron! Vacuumclean! Clean the windows! Do some painting! With a little imagination you can picture it, right?! Och, it's a great dance. I still do the domestic-chores-dance every now and when I go dancing, and I’d like to think I can pull it off.
So I dig songs that are all about a dance instructions. I started to collect them. The Twist, The Locomotion, The Boomerang,The Zonk, The Kangeroo, The Mashed Potato, The Monster Mash, The Wah Watushi, The Shing A Ling, The Roach, The Bug, The 81, The Camel Walk, The Funky Chicken, The Duck, The Bird, Walking the Dog, The Harlem Shuffle, The Clapping Song, Footstompin’, Barefootin’, The Monkey Walk, the list goes on and on… Yeah, it was a real craze in the 60’s!
And it’s a real craze right now in the dancehall/UK funky/grime scene as well!! Migraine Skank, Heads Shoulders Knees and Toes, Stanky Legg, Stupid Skank… Watch the Fresh Az Ice Dancers do all these dances to this track by Doctor. Pretty brilliant!
So I’m leaving you with one oldie and one contemporary dance-song. Now go practice in front of the mirror.
Dee Dee Sharp – Mashed Potato Time. Get it here (YSI).
Gracious “Napa Man” K – Migraine Skank. Get it here (YSI). Instructions on how to do the Migraine Skank here ;-)
It's time we put some more music up here! Thing is, I’ve got a soft spot for female vocalists. No matter what genre, indie, hard rock, soul, hip hop, I dig it. Now don't get me wrong here, I'm not into EVERY female singer (Celine D., Lady Gaga, Within Temptation... God forbid!). But two women who do combine a great sound with a great voice are Zarif and VV Brown. They’re both based in London, they're both in their early 20's (23 and 24) and they both draw on 60's soul, funk, girl groups and doo-wop. They mix it with 80's pop and indie respectively to create tunes that are going to be MASSIVE in 2009. I'm telling you!!
Should you ever be in London and feel like BOWLING, go to the basement of Tavistock Hotel for some good clean fun! A friend of mine celebrated her birthday here last Saturday and WE HAD A BALL (sorry, that was too cheesy). DJs were spinning rock 'n roll, soul, garage rock, girl groups and boogaloo while I was guttering every single throw.The place got packed; cardigans, petticoats and polkadots galore!There was some serious hipshaking going on at the dancefloor, while the bowling continued and burgers were being served in the diner. Ace!!
Dutch Dolls is a Design + DJ duo. This is our blog. Here we write about our designs, upcoming gigs, events and exhibitions, our latest musical findings, inspirations and whatever goes on in our daily lives...
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