This was on our University bar jukebox and was a favourite with the rugby boys. They probably liked that massive bellowing erupting chorus: certainly “On The Street’ muscles in hard on your ears. It’s ridiculous but effective &#8211[…]

At first I thought it ran out of steam early – 90 seconds in, she’d made her point, why did she have to reprise it in high-kicking swing-vamp style? I was completely wrong of course – the last 45 seconds of “Who’s Sorry […]

Lusty rockabilly stomper with super-basic big-dick lyrics – though not so basic that the tune doesn’t keep breaking off, so the beat can restate the pelvic point. Solid, dumb, foot-tapping stuff – deadly effective in ’58 (why […]

Hard to imagine a kindlier record than this – Perry’s cosy armchair voice, the clip-clop rhythm, the profoundly tender lyrics, and that instant, innocent melody. The first time I heard it, a few years ago now, I loathed it at once: it see[…]

Hiding in here somewhere is a gentle love ballad that Holliday decides to ignore. Instead the song goes uptempo and the singer is joined by a rogues’ gallery of backing singers who trill, hum, b-dum and doodle-doo whenever he so much as draws b[…]

Presley’s first No.1 was all about the voice and the rhythm just did the job it had to. “Jailhouse Rock”, his second, is nothing without its beat. The lyrics are funny, of course, and Elvis as skilful as before (his specific trick h[…]