This week’s Song Lyric Sunday invitation is to play a song about grass, cows, beef, condiments, fries or fast food, as Jim tells us in his post Celebrating International Burger Day. 28 May was the day for this, also known (less ostentatiously) as National Hamburger Day in the US – perhaps recognising that not everywhere in the world celebrates this, like here in the UK, for example. We enjoy our beef and our burgers, but don’t have the same prediliction for naming days. I did hear that it may have a name change in the US, though, to National Hamberder Day in honour of the dumbest of the dumb. Just wait for his Executive Order!

I gave this a lot of thought – yes, really – and have chosen three songs to play today. I’m not sure that any of them are really in keeping with the spirit behind the day, as they are all very English, but hey, these are universal themes aren’t they: we have grass and cows just about everywhere.

I’m starting with a bit of typically idiosyncratic English pop rock:

That was The Wonder Stuff and their second biggest hit, The Size of A Cow. Lyrics courtesy of genius.com can be found here.

The band was formed in 1986 in Stourbridge, in the West Midlands of England. The original line-up was Miles Hunt (whose uncle Bill Hunt was keyboard player with ELO and Wizzard) on vocals and guitar; Malcolm Treece on guitar and vocals; bassist Rob “The Bass Thing” Jones (died July 1993); and Martin Gilks (died April 2006) on drums. They released four albums and nearly 20 singles and EPs, enjoying considerable chart and live success in the UK, until they broke up in 1994, but they reformed in 2000 and have continued to tour and record since then. As the video shows there was a strong sense of humour running through their songs, even though this one is actually a rather sad piece about how a guy can’t cope with all his problems which are looming large in from of him: they seem to him to be as big as a cow, metaphorically speaking.

Like most of their songs this was written by Miles Hunt, and it was released as a single in April 1991 ahead of its inclusion on their third album, Never Loved Elvis, which came out the following month. The single reached #5 in the UK, and the album made #3. They were one of those bands I always enjoyed hearing, but I only ever owned one of their albums: the compilation of their singles, If The Beatles Had Read Hunter, which was released in September 1994 after they first broke up, and reached #8 in the UK. It was a wonderful collection and accompanied me often on the long drive to work around London’s North Circular Road, and it contained their biggest hit – a #1 with a cover of Tommy Roe’s Dizzy, with a guest appearance by the comedian Vic Reeves. The video for that was also fun!

My second song for today is also very English: a traditional folk song, in fact. How about this for a change of pace:

That was Steeleye Span with Spotted Cow, the opening track on their fourth album, Below The Salt, which was released in September 1972 and reached #43 in the UK. This was just in time for me to buy it before I went to uni at the end of that month, and the band were very much a part of my time there: I had already seen them in concert in Folkestone, where I lived, and then managed twice more during my uni years (and several more times since then!). As this is a traditional song which has been handed down through the centuries I didn’t expect to find the lyrics for it, but genius.com didn’t let me down. It is a typical English folk song, in which a young couple find enjoyment as a result of a cow that has gone AWOL, though not very far away, and it becomes a source of ongoing pleasure for them. Probably not what the originators of that National Day in the US had in mind, but it’s no use their beefing about it – outdoor jollies are very much a tradition here!

I promised you a third song for today, and for this I’m using one of the other prompt words:

The Move, with I Can Hear The Grass Grow, for which you can see the lyrics at the ever-reliable genius.com.

The song was written by Roy Wood, and was released in March 1967 as the band’s second single, peaking at #5 in the UK and making the top thirty in several other countries, though not in the US. As with many of Roy’s early songs, the basis of I Can Hear the Grass Grow was a book of fairy tales he wrote while at art college. The title came from photographer Robert Davidson, who had received a letter (from someone who remains unknown) that read “I listen to pop music on the radio because where I live it’s so bloody quiet that I can hear the grass grow.” He told this to Roy, who was inspired enough to write this song. According to Roy it is about a mentally ill person, and he has strenuously denied accusations by the music press that it was about the influence of drugs. Decide for yourself!

That’s all for today. As ever, I hope you enjoyed the music and give my gratitude to Jim for running the show and coming up with a seemingly endless supply of themes. Those lists of US National Days are becoming quite fruitful, aren’t they!

Enjoy your day, and see you again for Tuesday Tunes, I trust 🎶