I said last week that I had more animals songs to play you, and as you seemed to enjoy the first set I’m playing some more today. Another five good ones, I think, including some you might not know.

I almost played this first one last week but as I already had a song about a horse in the set I held it to this week. A couple of you mentioned it in comments, so it feels a good idea to play it this time:

America released A Horse With No Name in the UK in November 1971, and it peaked at #3. The US release followed in January 1972 and there it made #1. It sold over a million copies in the US and 600k in the UK – pretty impressive numbers, especially for a debut record by a hitherto unknown band. Their eponymous debut album was also released in January 1972: in the US they got this song on it, but we didn’t. I had already bought the single anyway, before buying the album too. Imagine my delight when, after the single’s success, they re-released the album here with this track on it. Record companies know how to take our money, don’t they! The album made #1 in the US and Canada, and got to #14 here – combined UK sales across the two versions topped 100k, and it was another million seller in the US.

Like that first one, this is also making a return appearance, but as that was in early 2022 I’m banking on you not recalling that. Here’s a bit of US Indie rock for you, with an imaginative video:

For the uninitiated that was Rilo Kiley with Portions For Foxes. Their lead singer was Jenny Lewis, who was already well known as a child actress in various tv shows, and has continued her acting throughout both the lifetime of the band and her subsequent solo music career. Rilo Kiley released four albums, and Portions For Foxes was a track on the third of those, More Adventurous, which was released in August 2004, getting to #161 in the US and #116 in the UK. This track was co-written by Jenny and the band’s other guitarist, Blake Sennett: it was released as a single but as far as I can tell it didn’t make the charts anywhere. The song’s title is a reference to Psalm 63, verse 10, which reads “They shall fall by the sword: they shall be a portion for foxes.” I could claim to have already known that, but you’d never believe me, would you? Wikipedia at its best! From the same source I learned that the song was featured in the video game Rock Band 3, and was used as part of the soundtrack to the very first episode of Grey’s Anatomy. I’ll have to take their word for both of those, as I’ve never played the game or watched the show. But I’ve always loved this song, though.

For a band I’ve always liked it came as a surprise to me that this is only the second time I’ve played one of their songs, the other was back in January:

Little Lion Man was the debut single by Mumford And Sons, released in August 2009. It wasn’t a huge success in chart terms, reaching only #24 in the UK and #45 in the US, though it did much better in Australia and New Zealand, making the top ten in both. Despite that its sales figures are phenomenal: 2.3m in the US (2x Platinum) and 1.8m in the UK (3x Platinum). The track was included on their first album, Sigh No More, which came out in October 2009 and peaked at #2 in the UK, US and Canada, and at #1 in Australia, New Zealand and Ireland, selling more than 3.2m copies in the US (3x Platinum), 1.8m in the UK (6x Platinum) and 400k in Canada (2x Platinum). To date the band have released four albums, the most recent of which was in 2018, though Marcus Mumford did have a solo album in 2022 and they have since released a couple of singles, amid comments that they are hoping to make a new album. Fingers crossed that they do: it has been far too long!

Let’s go right back to the Sixties for this next one, a true rock classic:

Jefferson Airplane released White Rabbit on their album Surrealistic Pillow in February 1967. This was their second album, but the first to feature Grace Slick as vocalist. It made #3 in the US, and the single of this track, which came out in June 1967, peaked at #8 there. Neither was a hit in the UK, though White Rabbit did make a rather belated entrance in our Singles chart at #94 in 1987! Despite that it has been a steady seller, going Gold in the UK for 400k sales, though that figure is dwarfed by the US, where it is 2x Platinum for 2m sales. I’ve always loved the steady menace of the way the song gradually builds to a crescendo, and it is undeniable that Grace was an amazing  and mesmerising singer.

I’m guessing that was a pretty well known song, but that this next one won’t be. It’s a bit of a cheat, in that the animal is mentioned in the subtitle, though it does feature in the lyrics. But as this was by the local East Kent band when I was growing up they are still dear to me, and it’s a great little tune:

Sorry that had to be an audio-only clip, but the live performances I could find were from some fifty years after the record came out and I wanted the original version. Caravan were formed in Canterbury, and were a major part of what became known as the ‘Canterbury scene’ which was noted for the development of prog rock bands, notably Soft Machine. As the clip shows, Love To Love You (And Tonight Pigs Will Fly) was a track on their third album, In the Land of Grey and Pink, which was released in April 1971. It wasn’t a chart hit but sold steadily throughout the Seventies – I had a copy – and it got them a lot of radio airplay, especially when this song was released as a single. I only ever saw them play live once, at around that time, and they were great, a real mixture of catchy little tunes and longer prog pieces, which in themselves were collections of tunes built into musical suites: the second side of the album is listed as one track of over 22 minutes, though it comprises eight shorter sections. If you want to hear more, I suggest the title song from their previous album, If I Could Do It Again I’d Do It All Over You. Who said prog bands take themselves too seriously!

That would be it for today, as that is my fifth tune, but I had been thinking about playing a joke track last week as a bonus, and when it came up in the comments I felt I really should do it this time. It is from one of the best tv sitcoms we have ever had here:

A perfect parody, as that is exactly the type of mindless crap that makes up the real song contest, and the video is priceless! Father Ted only ran for four series, cut short by the untimely passing of its lead actor, Dermot Morgan, but it has left us with a rich vein of comedy to enjoy. I know, don’t tell me, this is another horse song, but so what!

That’s it for today. Stay safe, warm and dry and I’ll see you again soon 🎶