As is my habit I was watching a video of a song I really like on YouTube the other evening, and it prompted the thought for this week’s theme. I did one of these on fashion nearly three years ago, but have never concentrated on clothes per se. I thought about it for a while and have come up with a set of tunes about various items of clothing, and in keeping with my usual backwards-looking style only one of these is from the 21st century!

And that is where I’m beginning. This is the song I was listening to which prompted this theme:

I love this song, with its tale of unrequited love and the wonderful image of mittens not being as tight a fit for a relationship as gloves. Frank Turner released Mittens on his sixth album, Positive Songs for Negative People, in August 2015. It peaked at #2 in the UK Albums chart and at #69 in the US. Wikipedia says that only one single was taken from it, The Next Storm, but then lists four, including this one, on their discography page. The existence of a bespoke video suggests to me that this was a single, though none of the four made the charts. The song is autobiographical, as Frank has said:

“Mittens is a song about taking a risk for someone, letting your guard down. It’s based on a real experience – I was bothered about not getting a reply from someone so I got obsessed with used postcards on a visit to a thrift store in New York. In the end she never did write back, but I like to think the risk was worth it, and I learned from the experience. With all that in mind, I thought it would be cool to set up a website where people can send (virtual) postcards to each other, and use the opportunity to say something meaningful, to take a risk, and see what comes back. The video ties in with all of this – and my Elvis obsession – sometimes it’s still worth it, even if you lose.”

Today’s second tune is one from the vaults. You’ve heard of Rod Stewart, right? But do you know the title track of his first solo album? This is it, though it has to be an audio-only clip, I’m afraid:

An Old Raincoat Won’t Ever Let You Down was first released in the US in November 1969 as The Rod Stewart Album, and got to #139 on the US Billboard 200 album chart. It was then released in the UK with the modified title in February 1970, but didn’t make the charts, despite my buying it! It did reach #31 in Australia though. Rod wrote four of the eight tracks, including this one, and his bandmates from The Faces played on it – this track has a real Faces feel to it. [This one might not work for you in the States, but Pete kindly found one that does, here]

This next one might be more familiar. A great video too – just look at those…cars:

The Hollies released Long Cool Woman (in a Black Dress) as a single in April 1972, and it peaked at #32 in the UK though it reached #2 in the US. It sold more than 2m copies worldwide, 1.5m of those in the US where it went Platinum. It also got to #2 in Australia, and made #1 in Canada and South Africa. The song was co-written by lead vocalist Allan Clarke, who had actually left the band by the time it became a hit, though he rejoined them the following year. He admits to having been influenced by Creedence Clearwater Revival in writing this, particularly their song Green River, and you can hear that, can’t you? The song had originally been a track on The Hollies’ album Distant Light, released in October 1971, which made #21 in the US but wasn’t a UK hit.

One of the tracks on that debut Rod Stewart album was written by Mike d’Abo, by then the lead singer of Manfred Mann. Mike played on Rod’s record, but the version I’m sharing is the one I knew first and still prefer:

Much though I liked Rod Stewart’s early albums I think Chris Farlowe knocked spots off his version of Handbags And Gladrags, and don’t even get me started on The Stereophonics! Chris had enjoyed a UK #1 in 1966 with his version of the Rolling Stones’ song Out Of Time, which was superb, and this was a single for him in November 1967 – the first recording of the song. It only made #33 here but I think we really short-changed him. His vocals really bring out the emotion of a song which is telling a girl not to be swayed by the trappings of fame, as he is afraid of losing her. Wikipedia lists around twenty recordings of this, including three by Rod Stewart (original album, acoustic and live) and even one by Engelbert Humperdinck. I’m not going there!

To close this set, how about this from one of those who was taken far too young:

I played Raspberry Beret by Prince as a lead for a Song Lyric Sunday post early this year, but I think it deserves another airing. It is a great song, which I’ve always loved, and the video is great too – so much fun and energy and some clever animations. This is actually an extended version of the track – that intro wasn’t part of the version which was released as a single in May 1985, reaching #2 in the US and #25 in the UK. It was the lead single from Prince and the Revolution’s album Around The World In A Day, which had been released the previous month and made #1 in the US and #5 in the UK. I found a nice little story about the video, which was filmed in early June 1985 and was directed by Prince. Guitarist Pat Smear of the Foo Fighters appeared as one of the background dancers, not that I could pick him out! According to Dave Grohl, he was nearly fired. In the 2010 book I Want My MTV, Grohl said: “everyone had to do a synchronised dance. Pat couldn’t dance so they sent him home. Then Prince whispered in the bodyguard’s ear, and the bodyguard said to Pat, “You can stay. He likes your hair.” I imagine he still would.

That’s all for today, and I hope you’ve enjoyed these. I have several more that I could have played, and will be doing a second set next week, with a bit of a twist. If you want to know what that will be there is only one way for you to find out, isn’t there …

Have a great week 😊