The Deplorables' Hit List: ten recordings that go down well with American patriots (and I like some of them too)

Canadian commentator Gordon Sinclair's 1973 single started out as a radio broadcast - they just added...

The secret of Chic's success, revealed by Nile Rogers on BBC4 - start your song with the chorus!

Strictly speaking, most of Chic's hits start with the instruments establishing a groove for anything up to 30 seconds - but what follows is the chorus (i.e. the  rousing, chanty bit where everyone usually sings the song's title - the part listeners tend to remember), rather than the verse (usually a single voice setting the scene, telling a story etc.): it's normally the other way round. Chic's first hit, "Le Freak", goes straight into the chorus ("Ahhhhh...FREAK OUT! - Le Freak, c'est chic"):

This is to grab the listener's attention...

Take the "My Favourite Song Openings" quiz - a blast from the past

First warning: I first posted this four years ago. Second warning: If you want to test your knowledge of popular music (1953-1983), you should look away while the video is playing, because it includes a host of visual clues. The titles of the 31 songs can be found below:

Why am I repeating myself, I hear you ask? Because...

Happy 66th Birthday, Jonathan Richman, you splendidly goofy musical misfit!

Very Velvet Underground - but minus the heroin and the gloom. "Roadrunner" is from 1974, and it's still his finest recording, but I have huge affection for this instrumental chart hit from 1977 (even if you can't abide the song, you'll enjoy the video):

If reincarnation exists, next time round, I'd like to be able to play the guitar like Phil Baugh...or Vince Gill, or Danny Gatton, or...

If reincarnation exists, next time round, I'd like to be able to play the guitar like Phil Baugh...or Vince Gill, or Danny Gatton, or...

That's Phil Baugh in 1965, performing his hit from that year, "Country Guitar". Here he is with Glen Campbell, who, before he became a superstar ballad singer, earned his crust as a top session guitarist:

Diminutive Welsh guitarist, singer and producer Dave Edmunds is a giant of British rock music - I salute him

Yes, I've heard all the criticisms - he's derivative, predictable, stuck in a time-warp, hasn't written any classic songs, and, au fond, he's a heads-down-no-nonsense-mindless twelve-bar pub-rocker whose terrible twin, lanky Nick Lowe, was the truly creative force in their erstwhile partnership. Some of that's partly true, I think - but if it is, it's because Edmunds has always been a hugely obsessive music fan, in awe of the wonderful noise produced by his heroes and determined to discover how they managed it - and to recreate it using any means at hand, including his own considerable talents as a guitar-picker and a vastly under-rated singer.

My favourite story songs, Part 2: from Creedence and Kassenetz-Katz to Sufjan Stevens and Fairport Convention

Gertcha! A dozen of this Londoner's favourite London songs - from "Play with Fire" to "We're the Sweeney"

Jimmy Rodgers to Stevie Ray Vaughan - twelve terrific tunes toasting Texas

Thomas Sowell once mocked alarmist claims about the threat of overpopulation by pointing out that every single person on earth would fit into the state of Texas - in fact, given the Obama administration's love affair with illegals and its unwillingness to protect America's borders, I'm not sure the experiment hasn't already begun. Having once travelled across Texas in a Greyhound bus, I can quite believe Sowell's claim: damn thing seemed to go on forever. The only city I spent any time in was San Antonio, which was pretty, and I seem to remember stopping off in Dallas - but if I did, I can remember nothing about it. The problem is, I love greenery and hills and sea and geographical diversity - and all I remember about Texas (at least, what I saw of it) was endless, monotonous flatness unleavened apart from the occasional cow, oil derrick or truck-stop.

I’ve finally faced the fact that I’m never going to be invited on Desert Island Discs – so here’s my selection

I’ve gone through life sort of assuming I’d end up discussing my fabulously successful life on the famous BBC radio show, interspersed with snippets of my favourite musical platters. I’ve been honing my anecdotes for years, and have regularly rejigged my choice of music to best reflect what a compassionate, sensitive, tasteful person I am. (To be honest, I’d also assumed that I’d be on at least twice, and had been planning to choose eight pop records for the first edition and eight classical compositions for the second.) But it’s dawned on me that this is probably never going to happen. Ah well, sod ‘em. Their loss. In order not to waste those years of preparation entirely, I’ve decided to share my selections with you, dear reader, starting with the pop version.

Those who live in glass houses - another selection of my embarrassing pop favourites

Obviously there's nothing here remotely as shameful as, say (just plucking examples out the air) Pickettywich or Prefab Sprout, but I will admit that - despite having superb musical taste - there are certain tracks which, in order to avoid people openly laughing at me in the street, or being dragged in to explain myself to the style police, I can only play in the privacy of my study through headphones. I'll start with a 1958 Andy Williams B-side to which, for reasons I can't explain, I often sing absolutely filthy alternative lyrics:

A dozen of my favourite car songs which mention brand names and are mostly about cars

The first time I heard "Jaguar and Thunderbird" was on the Chuck Berry On Stage LP in a friend's bedroom in Thornton Road, Wimbledon, circa 1964 (the album was released in '63). The long-player consisted of 13 already released tracks with a fake announcement at the start and audience noise throughout (my friend actually figured out the subterfuge - not bad for a 13-year old). Presumably Berry's record company decided to recycle his old stuff in this way because he was in prison for transporting a 14-year old girl across a state line. "Maybelline" was on the same album, but I've always preferred "Jaguar and Thunderbird":

Those crazy cats The Fulminators are back with the rockabilly classic, "Long Black Shiny Car"

So farewell then, J.J. Cale – thank you for being so absolutely ridiculously brilliant

So farewell, country star George Jones - you may have hated rockabilly, but you were bloody good at it!

The Fender Telecaster is THE electric guitar – no ifs, ands or buts: here’s the proof...

Sixty-three years old, devoid of airs and graces, solid as a rock, plain as a pikestaff, sporting two picks-ups, two “pots” (volume and treble), a three-way selector switch – and nothing else (unless you’re Country picker and get one with a B-bender, so you can use your elbow to raise the B-string a tone to C-sharp, resulting in twangtastic mayhem). The Telecaster is the manly, no frills Ur-guitar. Obviously there are many other makes which do certain things better – crunchier, sweeter, fatter, janglier, jazzier etc – but the Tele’s versatility is without parallel: it features on everything from “Suzie Q” to Tubular Bells to the “Stairway to Heaven” solo.

Hulk! Choke! Sob! – my favourite rock and roll, country and soul tribute songs

Popcorn, marmalade and balloons: my guilty pop pleasures

Have you ever been with people you know when a record comes on which you love, but which you can’t admit to loving because it would result in everyone rolling around, pointing at you and hooting with laughter? Have guests ever flicked through your CD or record collection and said “Good God, you don’t actually like this, do you?”