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LET IT LOOSE (1972)

I’ve been trying to find this song on YouTube for ages. The fact that I’ve just found it, and it was uploaded only two days ago, suggests to me that it’ll be taken down again very soon. Therefore I suggest listening to it many, many times in quick succession. Who knows what tomorrow will bring.

THIS IS NO GAME

This is no game. You might think this is a game, but, trust me, this is no game. Read the rest of this entry »

OBAMA = HITLER… OBVIOUSLY

There’s a line you’ll be familiar with from Yeats that has been repeated so many times, in so many contexts, as to have become rather hackneyed. You know, the one about the best lacking all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity. Its a cliche. But it’s hard to think of any recent debate to which that line might more appropriately have been applied than the push for healthcare reform currently underway in the U.S.

The eventual outcome there will be of borderline relevance on this side of the Atlantic. But there are a couple of observations that can already be made: Read the rest of this entry »

I’M SO LONESOME I COULD CRY (1949)

My favourite ever artist. My favourite ever song.

THIS IS FUNNY

A polar bear walks into a bar and orders “A rum… and coke.” “What’s with the big pause?” asks the barman. Read the rest of this entry »

WANT TO KNOW WHAT I HATE MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE IN THE WORLD?*

A few years ago, my friend Neil and I spent three months backpacking across South America. We hiked to the famous Inca ruins at Machu Picchu, played football on the beach at Copacabana and even danced the tango in Buenos Aires. (Okay, that last bit is a lie. In Buenos Aires we took a guided tour of Boca Juniors’ football stadium, during which the only two words I understood were “Diego” and “Maradona”.)

The point is that, on our travels, we ate out quite a bit. Read the rest of this entry »

“BEFORE I BEGIN, I’D LIKE TO ADDRESS A FEW WORDS TO THE GARDA ROAD TRAFFIC BUREAU…”

Officers, lads… I know we’ve had our differences over the years. We’ve both said things that, in the light of day, we probably regret. But look what you’ve reduced me to. I’m using public transport. Dear God, hasn’t this madness gone far enough? Read the rest of this article here.

NORM’S OPENING LINES…

“How’s a beer sound, Norm?”
“I dunno. I usually finish them before they get a word in.”

“Whatcha up to Norm?”
“My ideal weight if I were eleven feet tall.”

“What’s shaking, Norm?”
“All four cheeks and a couple of chins.” Read the rest of this entry »

WARSAW (1978)

Wanted to post Failures, the closing track from the An Ideal for Living EP, but embedding is blocked on YouTube for some reason…

DECENT PROPOSAL

Received an intriguing email a couple of hours ago, which I’m currently mulling over. Anyone got any advice for me here? I haven’t been faced with a moral and ethical dilemma of this magnitude this since I attended teenage discos in Gorthaganny… Read the rest of this entry »