The Whole Of The Moon

My final W song of 1985 is "The Whole Of The Moon" by
the Waterboys. "Too high, too far, too soon!"



Back with a new year with the new moon on Monday.

Walking On Sunshine

The first of my W songs from 1985 is "Walking On Sunshine" by Katrina & the Waves. Which has always been a great song, but the original version is a little played out for me after 25+ years of ubiquity in commercials, movies, and TV shows. Here's a more understated duet version with "WOS" songwriter Kimberley Rew and Deni Bonet.



When I discovered Robyn Hitchcock's music in 1985, and learned that a few years prior, Robyn played in a band called the Soft Boys with the guitarist of Katrina & the Waves, it took me a little while to reconcile that reality, but I was helped by "Walking On Sunshine" being a fabulous song that deserved to be a worldwide hit.

Voices Carry

Skipping U, my V song from 1985 is "Voices Carry" by 'Til Tuesday.



"Ces cheveux, il brûle!"

Wrapping up 1985 tomorrow with a double dose of W songs.

There's not a line that goes here that rhymes with anything

My T song from 1985 is "Take The Skinheads Bowling" by CVB.



This is a recent live version, demonstrating that these guys sound even better now than they did back then.

She Sells Sanctuary

My S song from 1985 is "She Sells Sanctuary" by the Cult.



Before grunge hit, these were the only guys on college radio who weren't afraid to non-ironically Rock. And even if Ian Astbury is kind of a humorless dolt, it doesn't matter because this song has one of my favorite riffs ever.

The kind you find in a second hand store

My R song from 1985 is "Raspberry Beret" by Prince.



Prince is a notorious stickler for keeping his songs off youtube, so there aren't any actual videos with the original music. This is the original music, but not the original video.

Perfect Kiss

My P song from 1985 is "Perfect Kiss" by New Order.



I just remembered that February only has 28 days, so I'll either need to start moving to get in all the songs before the end of the month or find more nine minute songs to fill in the remaining days!

Out Of Control

My O song from 1985 is "Out Of Control" by The Lime Spiders.

A New England

My N song from 1985 is "A New England" by Kirsty MacColl.



This song was written by Billy Bragg, but Kirsty's version adds an extra verse that Billy added at Kirsty's request, because she thought the song was too short. Billy now includes the extra verse ("last night beside the telephone") in live performances as a tribute to Kirsty.

Makes No Sense At All

My M song from 1985 is "Makes No Sense At All" by Hüsker Dü



This video has MNSAA's B-side "Love Is All Around" (the MTM theme, not the Troggs song) added at the end. We're gonna make it after all!

Looking For Lewis and Clark

My L song from 1985 is "Looking For Lewis and Clark" by
The Long Ryders.



This song was a bona fide top twenty hit in the UK, and its album State Of Our Union hit #1 on the British country charts, over Alabama and the Judds and every other pre-Garth countrypolitan act.

When I heard this, the most surprising part was that Britain had "country charts"!

Kiss Me On The Bus

My K song from 1985 is "Kiss Me On The Bus" by The Replacements.

Just Like Honey

My J song from 1985 is "Just Like Honey" by The Jesus & Mary Chain.

Inbetween without you

My I song from 1985 is "Inbetween Days" by The Cure.



This was the first song by The Cure that I ever liked, and probably still my all time favorite throughout my lifelong love/hate relationship with The Cure.

Her Head's Revolving

My H song from 1985 is "Her Head's Revolving" by the Three O'Clock
(who recorded a version of "Girl With The Guitar" on the same album, Arrive Without Traveling, adding a parenthetical "(says oh yeah)")

Girl with the guitar says oh yeah

My G song from 1985 (making up for the missing "Frontierland") is "Girl With The Guitar"(*) by Game Theory. Here's a fanmade video, complete with a slide show of girls with guitars.



(*) This song is listed as "Girl With A Guitar" on the BSC cd reissue, which is apparently WRONG!

Faron Young

My F song from 1985 is "Faron Young" by Prefab Sprout.

Welcome to your life

My E song for 1985 is "Egyptian Cream" by Robyn Hitchcock & the Egyptians, which doesn't have a video on youtube, so I'm falling back to the far more popular "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" by Tears For Fears.

And the train conductor says

My D song from 1985 is "Driver 8" by R.E.M.

Come With Me

My C song from 1985 was "Curse of the Frontier Land" by Game Theory, which doesn't have any videos on youtube, so I'm substituting another '85 fave by Translator.



 

Bittersweet

Song #2 from 1985, representing the letter B,
is "Bittersweet" by the Hoodoo Gurus.



Stoneage Romeos or Mars Needs Guitars? I'm just happy to live in a world where I don't need to choose between those two albums!

Anything, Anystring

A new month and a new year. I'm moving my wayback machine twenty years ahead for February. To 1985, the year of Live Aid, Farm Aid, and other Aids. I'm going through all the songs on my "best of 1985" mix, and posting one song per day.

First song, representing the letter A. "Anything, Anything" by Dramarama. The original doesn't have any decent videos on youtube, but here's a nice chamber version by the Vitamin String Quartet.