5 songs that evoke celebrity crushes, favorite movies and TV shows (with videos)

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If we are honest we all have had crushes on famous people. As I mentioned in a previous column, one of mine was Claire Danes, but another is Shirley Manson from Garbage. Not a conventional beauty but she has someat sassy about her, and I have a soft spot for female singers anyway.

My first song that has a personal and filmic/TV connection coincidentally happens to be “Crush” by Garbage.

Whenever I hear this song, and to a lesser extent “A little piece of flesh” by One Inch Punch, I cannot help thinking about the film Romeo and Juliet (where Claire Danes played the lead). One (or two) songs and two crushes, sure there is a metaphor there somewhere.

Number two: “Paint it Black” is not only a classic song from the the best era of one of my fav bands, but is connected with the first really adult themed series I watched addictively.

Tour of Duty was my Friday night fix when I had a TV, and despite now thinking it is a bit cheesy, whenever I hear “Paint it Black” I cannot help recalling in my head the opening sequence of the series. Although the TV series intro was actually a version by The Avengers, somehow my messed up Köpfkino vividly associates it with the Rolling Stones’ rockier version.

Another kind of rock band I like, in a different vein, is Fun Lovin Criminals, and along with a lot of Brits who grew up with TFI Friday, we can easily picture Huey (the lead singer) in our heads.

“Scooby Snacks” (song Number Three here) is one of their great numbers, but also has samples of two of my favourite Tarantino films, namely Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs.

Not only do I luv the song but I staged a performance in my uni years with water pistols that mimicked the Ringo and Yolanda diner-stick-up scene in Pulp Fiction. Pumpkin (Tim Roth) and Honey Bunny’s (Amanda Plummer) dialogue.

“Everybody be cool, this is a robbery. Any of you fucking pricks move and I’ll execute every motherfucking last one of you” – opens the song, so really it is hard for me not to associate the song with the film. It also happens to be a really funky, groovy song, and for me a feel-good tune.

Actually, there is a particular film and a song for me that both are feel-good in their vibe. I do not know many guys of my generation that do not like the movie Stand by Me (based on a novel by Stephen King). Who wouldn’t? What with a young Wheaton, Phoenix, Feldman and Sutherland in the cast.

And it just so happens that a version of a song on the soundtrack, “Let the Good Times Roll,” by another King (B.B.) just gets my head swaying and lightens up my mood when it is troubled. And there you have Number Four.

But, let me draw these five songs to a close with another cool funky tune, Nick Cave’s “Red Right Hand.”

It is one of my fav Cave songs, and I cannot help thinking about the amazing Cillian Murphy and Peaky Blinders when I hear that song. This TV series has so many great associations, including being set in the general area where I last lived in the UK. The series happens to also star one of my performance poetry peers from my uni days, Benjamin Zephaniah, in a cameo as a priest. It is a series that has gone a bit under the radar – just like Cave has. Both are under-acclaimed in my opinion and worth a look if you do not know them. (Editor’s note: Cave is featured in the 2014 music documentary 20,000 Days on Earth, recently shown in English at Leipzig’s Feinkost Sommerkino.)

As an added bonus tune for your perusal, I also dare you not to fall in love with Grace (Annabelle Wallis) singing “Black Velvet Band” for Tommy (Cillian Murphy) to shatter his already broken heart.

Coming from a theatre and performance background, and being a celluloid aficionado, it only seemed right that Stewart aka theLingoGuy pursued this through his other passion of writing. He is also very excited by the theatre and documentary scene developing locally, particularly English Theatre Leipzig, DOK and GlobalLE. However, he keeps an eye on the ground breaking stuff in the Fringe, Slam poetry, Battle Rap and the many fusion genre TV series and films. As you can see, you can expect a diverse palette of stage and screen choices, as well as other passions that he will paint from with his words.

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