"ask" - the smiths

"spending warm summer days indoors"


i hate the sun.

obviously i am grateful for its life- and light-giving properties and recognise we'd be pretty stuck without it so i should clarify that i hate the sun as a weather condition rather than as an astronomical entity. in fairness to it, there are many weather conditions i hate more, but on a hot summer day everything i do seems to be tempered by avoiding pain.
firstly, bright lights hurt my eyes, and in the sunshine everything vaguely reflective, or even just very white, becomes a potential bright light, thus leaving me incapable of looking at anything without pain [although mild discomfort might be a more accurate term, i prefer the drama of pain].
secondly, the hot rays hurt my skin. i hate the feeling of sunlight on my bare flesh - the prickly frying sensation that imperceptibly slowly develops into the redrawness of searing flesh. i spend all my time wearing long-sleeved clothes and ridiculous hats and clinging to the patches of shade i can fit myself in. plus i really hate the way tanned skin looks. that's not a racist comment, by the way - there are some stunningly beautiful people of ethnicities different to my own - but porcelain whiteness is much more aesthetic than the blotchy honey-smeared look of the person whose body has just experienced hot sun for the first time in months.



later i put this song on in the car. i told my daughter that she had to be able to sing along to every song on louder than bombs by the time she is 10. my wife didn't seem to think this was a good plan - but i don't think it's much to ask. when i was a kid i knew pretty much all the words to any album of my parents' that i liked - and even many i didn't much - by the end of the third or fourth listen. i wish things came that easily to me now - i cant even remember all the lyrics to most songs i've written at the moment

"flicker" - kathryn williams

"but you sit there for hours watching programmes you don't plan to watch they just come on"



i made a decision this evening that i wasn't going to turn the tv on. this was mostly because i worry about the detrimental effect it has on my daughter's brain development (and mine for that matter) and because i wanted to get on with my plan to play her as wide a range of albums as possible. i started off with the angelou album because of how much it had been in my head earlier and them we moved on to this album.

i bought this record purely on the basis of seeing her perform one track on the mercury awards show and for the most part was not disappointed. it's pretty and witty and thoughtful and immaculately scored (though i'd like to hear the bass do more than plonk) and, even though its a bit too folky for me to listen to often, i enjoy it when i'm in the mood.

so in the middle of spooning yoghurt in the vague direction of a baby's face these lines jumped out at me and knocked me back. maybe it was just a guily conscience on this matter - but it felt like she was levelling this accusation straight at me. oh but its true. there are so many things i want to do, things my wife wants me to do and things i really should do that i just never get around to doing. and theres noone to blame but me. theres not enough time, but theres a lot more than im using - even on nights like this when the tv stays off.

"st thomas" - sonny rollins

my baby girl loves st thomas. ive known it turn her from a screaming ball of grumpiness into a giggling tiny dancer. it might not be specific for this tune - it could just be a good example of an upbeat, accessable tune with interesting rhythms - but i like to think shes developing good taste at her very young age. im probably fooling myself - but to those of you who are doubting (not unlike st thomas himself) i would ask you to give her the benefit of your doubt until she is proved to just be responding to my enthusiasm or some other theory

"why can't you behave" - from the musical kiss me kate

"after all the things you told me and the promises you gave, oh why can't you behave"


i don't care how much credibility this loses me - i love kiss me kate. there is no doubt cole porter was a giant of songwriting. i love the campy 50s movie version with its ridiculous brightly coloured costumes. i have fond memories of pit-banding a school performance. i'm pretty certain its my favourite musical (though hedwig is great, and theres probably some others that come close).


in the context of the show this song is pleading and desperate - even in that painfully old-fashioned way that ann miller sings it. in the context of an earworm it appeared while i was desperately trying to make my baby daughter stop crying, which is stupid in a lot of ways. firstly because pretty much all the song's lyrics except the title were irrelevant or inappropriate to the situation. but mostly, i think, because she is far too small to know that she is misbehaving - she was just trying to express whatever was making her upset in the only way she knew how. sometimes i really feel like screaming about my hassles too. usually i just write about them