By Severin
When I was very young my brother had a toy car, Corgi or Dinky I think, of James Bond's Aston Martin. The one from Goldfinger with the working ejector seat. Which we could use to fling a little plastic man out of the car until we lost him behind a radiator. I, on the other hand, had a larger toy car which was a replica of Lady Penelope's pink Rolls Royce. It didn't have an ejector seat, so Parker and Lady P were safe, but I loved it anyway. I have no idea whether there is any moral or, indeed, point to this story except that a) even back in the 60s boys' toys could sometimes be pink and b) I wish to god I had kept that particular one.
It's all too easy to wish you had “kept that particular one”. As ever I kept switching songs back and forth between lists and still ended up thinking that the B-List would have made a perfectly good A-List. As you can see, in one case I couldn't even pick between two versions of the same song. And there are another two titles that appear twice (Hot Pink and Pink Moon) but in each case they are very different songs.
The opener, by 1960s psychedelic pop, or “freakbeat” band The Sorrows mentions four different colours in the title and they seem to refer to flowers. Possibly funeral bouquets? But he begins with the colour pink and the band sound great and that's good enough for me so they're starting the list.
Changing the mood, musically but perhaps not lyrically, one of Nick Drake's many classic songs is next. This one uses the beautiful pink moon phenomenon as a symbol or portent. Perhaps of global changes or even disaster. Or more simply of a dark time for the singer himself. I've seen both cited as the “meaning of the song”. Sad and beautiful.
But, since most of us think of pink as bright, frivolous and spectacular (I haven't in fact checked this) here's “one of the best pop songs of the last few years”. That's what suggester barbryn called it and I'm inclined to agree. Let's Eat Grandma have only one song in the Marconium and it had the same nominator and was also listed by me. It was the first time I had heard of them. Some time after that I went to see the band at Heaven in London where they opened with Hot Pink and were utterly marvellous. I was, by the way, one of the oldest people in the venue.
La Vie en Rose is a beautiful tune and there are any number of versions. I decided to cheat and list both of the ones nominated this week. Louis Armstrong and Edith Piaf take a well-deserved bow, your time has come.
And another Hot Pink. This one from the Meat Puppets, whose work I hardly know at all. Wiki tells me that they started out as punk but then added country and psychedelic influences to their mix. Add this one to the list of songs where I love the sound and fail utterly to understand the lyric.
Tash Sultana wasn't even a name that I knew before this week. Another duplicated title and another song where the music does the talking. She's an Australian songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer and clearly a talent that I should have discovered long ago. “Listen to the end,” said ajostu. And so you should. Amazing stuff.
Lena represented Germany in Eurovision in 2010 I gather. And the song here comes from an album which was considered a departure for her, musically. Normally a pink elephant would be a symbol of drunkenness (see B-List for confirmation) but in Lena's song of that name she also mentions the elephant in the room; a completely different idiom. The only analysis I can find online says that it's about a clumsy girl. Do comment if I've got this hopelessly wrong.
The Japanese folk song Sakura Sakura was nominated by Nicko and the version he linked to was by an unknown singer. Sadly YouTube insist that it is “content for kids” and thus cannot be added to a playlist. Go figure. I've included a different – equally anonymous and, I think, equally gorgeous – version here but the actual nominated version is also linked to below. Sakura as we know in these parts means cherry blossom which is usually pink.
Malia's song about the colour a certain man goes when faced with his first kiss with the girl of his dreams. Friends say he can't wait another day but I get the impression that he might.
Can pink champagne steal your girl away? Joe Liggins insists it did. GNOD somehow manage to associate it with skateboarding. Not sure I agree with either take but two contrasting songs and two contrasting sounds that are both intoxicating in their own ways.
More cherry blossom! And the duo singing about it are from our own Sakura's Ryukyu Islands. Six minutes of pure, blissful Japanese pop by Yanawaraba end the list on an optimistic uplifting note. Most of the comments under the YT video are in Japanese but there are two in English. One says “Aaaaahhhhh Sakura!!!” and the other just says “I like Yanawaba”. So do I.
The A-List Playlist:
The Sorrows – Pink Purple Yellow and Red (Nicko)
Nick Drake – Pink Moon (Tatanka Yotanka)
Let's Eat Grandma – Hot Pink (barbryn)
Louis Armstrong – La Vie en Rose (amylee)
Edith Piaf – La Vie en Rose (Suzi)
Meat Puppets – Hot Pink (vanwolf2)
Tash Sultana – Pink Moon (ajostu)
Lena – Pink Elephant (Marconius7)
(Japanese Folk Song, Unknown Singer) さくらさくら/Sakura Sakura/Cherry Blossom (Nicko)
Malia – Salmon Coloured Man (Fred Erickson)
Joe Liggins and the Honeydrippers – Pink Champagne (Nicko)
GNOD – Pink Champagne Blues (vanwolf2)
Yanawaraba – Sakura (Tarquin Spodd)
Version of Sakura Sakura nominated by Nicko:
The B-List Playlist:
The Ditty Bops – Pink City (Uncleben)
Red Nichols with the Wabash Dance Orchestra – I'm Tickled Pink With a Blue-Eyed Baby (Nicko)
Madder Rose – Madder Rose (Shiv Sidecar)
Reba McEntire – Pink Guitar (Marconius7)
Lệ Thanh - Bài Thơ Hoa Đào / Poem Peach Blossom (Nicko)
Nicki Parrott – Sakura Sakura (Nicko)
Prince – Pink Cashmere (Tatanka Yotanka)
XTC – Pink Thing (Nicko)
Jerry Lee Lewis and Bruce Springsteen – Pink Cadillac (Tatanka Yotanka)
The National – Pink Rabbits (barbryn)
Tori Amos – Pink and Glitter (Fred Erickson)
Rickie Lee Jones – Pink Flamingos (Fred Erickson)
Zedded Z-List:
Instrumental Playlist:
I could easily have made an A-list from these, to be honest. Apologies if your brilliant instrumental suggestion should have made the A. I just couldn't decide between them.
Wildcard Picks:
None of which I would have listed if they had been nominated as they're all slightly off topic but let it pass. And enjoy guessing which song now in the A-list was my original choice for this section.
Procol Harum – Juicy John Pink
Good Shoes – Our Loving Mother In a Pink Diamond
Earl Bostic – Flamingo
These playlists were inspired by readers' song nominations from last week's topic: Tickled? Songs about the colour pink. The next topic will launch on Thursday at 1pm UK time.
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