I’ve always liked the idea of becoming a photographer, but must now accept I have a poor visual eye. It’s good to know your failings. Doesn’t matter how much I try to art direct a presentation, it always ends up looking horrible. Other things I’m terrible at include, but are not limited to, cooking, not allowing my eldest son to wind me up and remembering where I’ve put the visa documents on arriving at customs. And golf.
Considering how closely aligned the world of the visual aesthetic and music are, it’s perhaps surprising there aren’t more songs about photography. But what there is provides plenty for a neat little episode.
There are a number of long-overdue debuts on this programme. (One of the biggest linguistic differences between Australian-English and its mother tongue is the difference in pronunciation of ‘debut’. Aussies opt for ‘d’boo’.)
Spoon. Big favourite of podcast listener Adam Buxton.
Ultravox. We all know ‘Vienna’. But how many of us know ‘Mr X’, which is possibly about erstwhile member John Foxx, the man behind ‘No one driving’? The answer, according to Spotify, is 660,039, so more than I thought.
The Tragically Hip. Rather like Australia’s Cold Chisel, say, this is a band whom Canadians completely revere – there was a motion in parliament to give the lead singer a state funeral – and about whom the rest of the world are in almost complete ignorance. I shall investigate them further, as this is a corking tune, possibly about the Anglo-French divide in Quebec, and possibly not.
Loudon Wainwright III. Father of Martha – and Rufus and Lucy. Lovely observation concerning a Proustian throwback he gets from an old photo of him and his sister.
I Am Kloot. “Oddball pop trio based in Manchester”, according to them.
Weezer. A song from their more commercial post-Pinkerton era. A band I’ve partly neglected over the years on account of their irritating name.
Alex Cameron. Big favourite of my son, Scott. Great lyrics. Comedy song, done well.
Tracklist:
I turn my camera on, Spoon
Poster of a girl, Metric
Mr X, Ultravox
Picture on the wall, The Naturalites and The Realistics
Pigeon camera, the Tragically Hip
Superstar, Beach House
The photograph, Loudon Wainwright III
Stop taking photographs, I Am Kloot
Photograph, Weezer
Camera-shy, The Lucksmiths
Photo Jenny, Belle and Sebastian
Blackmail, 10cc
True lies, Alex Cameron
Picture this, Blondie