Free Christmas Download: You can download my version of ‘Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want’ by The Smiths, here:

http://soundcloud.com/neil-cousin

Why?

Strange choice for a Christmas song. The comedian Stewart Lee did a bit in one of his recent shows where he played a version of ‘Galway Girl’ by Steve Earle at the end. Which was a strange thing to do, in a comedy routine. The song, he said, had been a favourite of his, and had held special meanings for him personally. However the song had appeared in an advertisment for some cider, and this had removed some of that meaning for him. Or perhaps, it had acquired new associations which had spoiled it for him. By playing it at his shows, as far as I understand, he was trying to counteract that by giving the song an even newer connotation for himself and the audience. ‘Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want’ holds some similar significance for me, and following it’s recent use on a Christmas advert, I wanted to record a version of it for similar reasons. It is a perfect Christmas song, apart from being very sad, and not including any sleigh bells, and not having any relevance to Christmas at all. Happy Christmas, one and all.

You can find out more about Stewart Lee here: http://www.stewartlee.co.uk

You can find ‘Please,Please,Please, Let Me Get What I Want’ by The Smiths on their album ‘Hatful of Hollow’ which is widely available.

‘Bonfire’ is now available in these music shops:

The Record Shop

10 St James Street,

Kings Lynn,

PE30 5DA

Lewks Music & Movies

3 Wales Court,

Downham Market,

Norfolk,

PE38 9JZ

The Music Box

94 Norfolk Street,

Wisbech,

Cambridgeshire

Support your local independent music shop!

Earlier in the year, abolishconfusion magazine printed this list I wrote. It was a tricky write but a great excuse to write about my favourite albums. If you don’t own them I suggest you rectify the situation immediately.

1. Leonard Cohen - Death of a Ladies’ Man

This is one of Cohen’s less well known albums, and these tracks don’t generally appear on any of his ‘greatest hits’ volumes. It’s produced by Phil Spector, and whilst it’s got the trademark Spector sound overall, it also sounds a bit rickety and almost untidy in places (the sleeve notes include a credit to ‘John & Pete’s liquor store’.). The overall result is of some brilliant songs being churned out by some boozy orchestra whilst Cohen provides the poetry. The mixture of opulence and naivety on this album really appealed to me. It’s like being shown a magic trick and being able to see how it’s being done, but still finding it captivating even so.

2. Johnny Cash - Live at Folsom Prison

Johnny Cash recorded this album live in a prison, as the title suggests. Strange then that this is one of the first records I remember hearing at home as a toddler. My mum used to have it on the radiogram all the time. By 5 or 6 I could sing along to all the words, although I had no idea really what it all meant. Now I listen to that album and it’s got amazing atmosphere: you can hear cell doors slamming and the appreciation of the inmates for the performance. That type of feeling is hard to define and hard to capture on record, but every great record should have that sort of magical extra element.

3. The Velvet Underground and Nico - The Velvet Underground and Nico

If people ask me, ‘what’s your favourite album ever?’ I always say this one, without hesitation. If this didn’t exist, then I don’t know what I’d say. I first heard this when I was about 15, and probably not very cool. I played it on a cassette tape over and over again n headphones at high volume, sometimes 2 or 3 times in a row. It still scares me how good it is now.

4. Walt Disney - The Aristocats Original Soundtrack

Thomas O’Malley from this film was a big influence on me as a youngster (although I only ever had the record and can’t recall ever having seen the film itself). He is a jazz rebel, an outsider who is ineffably cool. I looked up to him, and never really lived up to his standard. If you met him, it would be like meeting Lou Reed and Miles Davis and Frank Sinatra rolled into one. He is the best fictional cat there has ever been.

5. The Cure – Standing on a Beach (Singles and B-Sides 1978-1985)

I was never a goth myself, but when I was younger I used to help them out now and then when they got busy. I don’t normally like compilations but the fact that this is a singles compilation is actually perfect for the Cure, because they were always a pop band above everything else. It shows that you can make catchy pop records and still be as weird as you like, and a reminder that the simplest approach is often the most effective. It’s imaginative and occasionally silly, but there are always great hooks in the songs combined with a depth that most other pop groups can’t touch.

Bonfire by Neil Cousin

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