Songs occupying my mind like the Nazis occupied Poland

The Bermudas - Chu Sen Ling

This is an obscure girl-group gem I copped from the always interesting Crud Crud over at blogspot. On first spin, I thought this song was okay, a little annoying maybe, not to mention the fake-Asian cadences and Engrish grammar and the ahh-so, Number-One-Son-ness of it all (though I am inclined to wink indulgently at that sort of thing in pop music).

But the more I hear it, the sweeter it gets. Elemental stuff: girl loves boy, girl loses boy, girl cries. And it's catchy as fuck. Even if you don't dig it that much at first, I think it's the textbook definition of a song that will grow on you. As Crud Crud points out, the credit is mostly due the writer, Rickie Page, one of the secret movers and shakers of the 1960s music scene in Los Angeles. Download and enjoy.


Lucky Millinder & His Orchestra - Silent George (vocal by Myra Johnson)

No real story behind this one. I've just got Lucius Venable (aka "Lucky") Millinder on the brain since posted a song (not this one) this morning. This one's from a comp of 'raunchy' R&B, and I guess this is reasonably raunchy, okay. I assign this song a raunch level of...six!


Wanda Jackson - Funnel of Love

You want raunch? Listen to this motherfucking song. It's not the words; there's nothing raunchy about the lyrics at all. It's in Jackson's delivery, a raw rockabilly snarl of undiluted sex and, as she pulls back, romantic sweetness and confusion. I've been obsessing over this one for near two weeks now, and I still can't stop listening to it.


Dizzee Rascal - Give U More

Now that Americans have gotten the heads-up about Lady Sovereign in a big way, I am no longer cool for knowing about her before 99% of the universe did. So I need to get my grime fix from somewhere else, and this is it. Dizzee Rascal singles started hitting the U.S. a couple years ago, but they were ignored by, well, everyone (too bad you weren't tiny and cute and white, Diz!)

For a minute, people thought he would be big over here. And then he wasn't. And then people gave up and kinda forgot about him. So I guess that means he's ripe for hip re-discovery, right? Geez, electronic media really accelerates the life cycle of pop music by a factor of 100, doesn't it? From hype to has-been to superhip post-failure discovery in like 24 months? That's crazy.