Each time I hear, ra da da da da..........

'Michelle, ma belle.
Sont des mots qui vont très bien ensemble,
Très bien ensemble.'

These insightful words have recently earned Paul McCartney France's Legion of Honour Award.

I am not sure that when Napoleon Bonaparte first introduced this honour in 1802 that this was what he had in mind. Equally when Sir Paul penned this little ditty in 1965 I don't suppose that he expected that nearly 50 years later it would result in such an accolade.

Over the years it has not been uncommon for pop songs to throw in a little foreign language to spice things up and give them an air of sophistication. Who can forget the Swedish Britt Ekland singing seductively in French on Rod Stewart's 'Tonight's The Night'. I can only imagine with Britt that every night was in fact the night

In the 60s 'Je t'aime...moi non plus' became not only the first single in a foreign language to top the UK charts but also the first banned number one single due to it's supposed sexual content although to me if you read the Phone Book in French it would sound sexual

Anyway I present my Top 10 Songs including foreign lyrics (strangely most of them are French, so there may be more Legion of Honour Medals to follow)

1. Monsieur Dupont.....Sandie Shaw (1969)
    'I'm learning every day, a different word to say
    I know "je t'aime" and "je t'adore"
    But won't you tell me how, oh won't you tell me now
    The way to say en Francais: Give me more!'

....and she sang that without any shoes on. Why was that not banned?

2. Wooden Heart.........Elvis went all German and asked his 'schatz' to 'bleibst hier'

3. Denis, Denis....Blondie
     'Je suis si folle de toi'.....I wish Debbie Harry was 'si folle de moi'

4. Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick.....Ian Dury mixed his French and German and told us
    'Je t'adore, Ich liebe dich'....'Das ist gut, c'est fantastique'

5. Look What They Done To My Song, Ma......Melanie complained that 'ils ont change ma chanson et ce n'est pas bon, ma'

6. Que Sera Sera, Whatever Will Be, Will Be......we're going to Wembley with Doris Day

7. Games Without Frontiers....Peter Gabriel's excellent song includes the hook 'Jeux Sans Frontieres' and even quotes "It's A Knockout" which was the UK version of the game from the continent

8. Across The Universe.......The Beatles....John Lennon introduced a Sanskrit Mantra 'Jai Guru Deva, Om' which loosely translates as 'Ayr, Ayr Super Ayr'

9. Fade To Grey....Visage front man Steve Strange told us of an 'homme dans une gare desole...deux yeux fixes et froides' before he began to 'deperir a gris'

10. Hold On Tight....ELO....Jeff Lynne and the boys advised us 'accroches toi a ton reve'. Sound advice Jeff


Right I am off to sing that line in French from 'Lady Marmalade' to some poor unsuspecting female and hope that I don't get my usual slap in the face

Au Revoir, mes amis!

Live those dreams, scheme those schemes, got to hit me, hit me, hit me with those laser beams

Although it is still early days for me to impress on Young Ben the importance of listening to some proper music rather than the current stuff favoured by his mum and dad at least he has recently been sporting some T-shirts with band names from my era. This is thanks to an excellent kids' range from Next which features The Rolling Stones, The Beatles and The Jam amongst others.

Sartorial elegance has never really been my style but I have always loved a good T-shirt and when I used to pack my case for a holiday abroad I would always have a different T-shirt for each day I was there and would also try to purchase a T-shirt as a memento of place visited or event experienced

With this in mind I give you my Top 10 Favourite T-shirts. Given that I cannot carry off the look with the same panache as Young Ben and that some of them may be somewhat 'snug' these days, these T-shirts are on hangers rather than modelled by yours truly

Unfortunately some old favourites like 'Jaws' , 'Terminator' , '49ers' and 'Frankie Says...' have not survived the intervening years and are now used only as dusters. Well they would be used as dusters if I actually ever dusted. These 10 deserve a better fate than that. Maybe I could donate them to a T-shirt museum

1.

Back To The Future T-Shirt from Universal Studios Theme Park in Florida.

I remember we queued for hours for this ride back in the 90s and it didn't disappoint

2.

I bought this on my trip to San Francisco and it has outlasted the SF 49ers one                               

3.  

Bruce Springsteen The Rising Tour T-Shirt

Bought this when my son and I saw 'The Boss' at Old Trafford Cricket Ground in Manchester in 2003

4.

Homer Simpson Doesn't Wear Khakis

It was a choice between this one and my 'Homer Simpson/Scarface' T-Shirt but this one got the nod since it aptly portrays the similar lifestyle enjoyed by Homer and myself                                                          

5. 

                                                      FDNY T-Shirt from New York

If you visit New York I believe it is almost compulsory to buy either an FDNY T-Shirt or an NYPD one. I have one of each. 

6. 

I don't have a Rolling Rock T-Shirt and my Tequila ones have seen better days but drinking a Corona beer whilst wearing a Corona T-Shirt on a sunny day is fine by me

7.

                                                      France 98 World Cup T-Shirt

This was the last time Scotland were actually at the World Cup and given yesterday's disappointing performance it does not look like I will be adding a Brazil 2014 World Cup T-Shirt to my collection

8. 

                                           Predator Dive Co. Sausalito T-Shirt

Another purchase from my trip to San Francisco and it has a shark on it. What's not to like

9.

'Che' Guevara T-Shirt

Everyone of a certain vintage should have a 'Che' T-Shirt in their collection

10.

                                                                                                                                      

                                                  'Karhu' T-Shirt

A home made T-Shirt done by my mate to commemorate our trip to Finland. 'Karhu' is Finnish for bear and is also a type of beer which was frequently sampled on our trip although we called it 'Shardik' as it reminded us of the creature from the Richard Adams book of the same name. Oh how we laughed at our own private joke.

Right that's it from me for another week.

I am off to see if I can find a Springsteen T-Shirt in Ben's size anywhere.                                                      

 

One fine day you're gonna turn to me and see a silver lining

The untimely recent death of Michael Clarke Duncan who put in a towering performance as the prisoner John Coffey on Death Row in 'The Green Mile' led me to dwell on how we frequently seem to have a soft spot for 'bad guys' in the movies

I know John Coffey was innocent of the crime he was punished for but the as far as prison movies go most people incarcerated appear to be innocent and really nice chaps

Take the wonderful 'Shawshank Redemption' for instance. The inmates played by Morgan Freeman, Tim Robbins and Gil Bellows are all great guys whilst the warden and certain guards are obviously nasty pieces of work

Cowboy movies are not a lot different either, the prime example being 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'. Our two outlaws are played by Paul Newman and Robert Redford so it is impossible not to like them. So they rob a train or two and kill a few South Americans.....they do it with charm.

Clint Eastwood's Man With No Name never seems too sure which side of the law he is on either, which is no real surprise given that when Clint actually plays a Police Detective in the 'Dirty Harry' movies he prefers to shoot suspects rather than go through the stress of questioning them. That 'Due Process' can be a real pain at times

Matt Damon's Jason Bourne used to assassinate people for the Government but once he realises he is really a good guy he only kills the people who are trying to kill him, and does a really good job of it

And then we have the gangsters.....who wouldn't want a Corleone for a friend or to hang about with Tony Soprano at the 'Bada Bing' Club or save Carlito from Benny from the Bronx

Excluding the aforementioned I give you my Top 10 Good/Bad Guys from the movies

1. Tony Montana in 'Scarface'.....not a great conversationalist but excellent with the one-liners..."Say hello to my little friend"....definitely not a guy to upset and dating his sister is not a good idea

2. Ben Wade in '3.10 to Yuma'...whether it's Russell Crowe in the 2007 remake or Glenn Ford in the 1957 original here's a ruthless outlaw with a heart of gold

3. Dr Evil from the Austin Powers movies...I think the world may have been a better place if his 'Alan Parson's Project' had succeeded

4. Leon.....Jean Reno as the likable assassin who takes Natalie Portman under his wing and dishes out his own brand of justice to bent cops led by Gary Oldman

5. Vincent Vega and Jules in 'Pulp Fiction'...brilliant dialogue from Travolta and Jackson, just don't sit in the back of a car they are in.

6. Robert de Niro and Val Kilmer as bank robbers in the excellent 'Heat'. This time Al Pacino plays a cop which really confuses the issue

7. Alex DeLarge in Stanley Kubrick's 'A Clockwork Orange'...Malcolm McDowell as the nasty delinquent with a taste for Ludwig Van.....very powerful book and movie

8. Tommy DeVito in 'Goodfellas'.....Joe Pesci steals the show from De Niro and Ray Liotta...just don't tell him he's a funny guy or ask him to shine your shoes

9. Hannibal Lecter.....I watched 'Manhunter' again recently with Brian Cox as Lecter and thought he was first class. Five years after 'Manhunter' Anthony Hopkins first played everyone's favourite psychopath Lecter in 'Silence of the Lambs' ..."I do wish we could chat longer but I'm having an old friend for dinner"

10. Jaws......I really think he gets a raw deal. He is just doing what comes natural and they should have closed the beaches anyway. They really make him pay for it though. In 'Jaws 4: The Revenge' he even has to act with Michael Caine and doesn't even get to eat him. Now that's just harsh!

That's it for this week. I am off to check out when my personal favourite good/bad guy Dexter is back. The last series ended with him in a tricky situation witnessed by his sister. Even for Dexter that one is going to take some explaining