Spike Spike Bo Bike Banana Bana Fo Fike Fee Fi Mo Mike...Spike!

Three classics from female singers today. First we have a song which gives us hours of fun! Well, at least five minutes of fun as we learn that there isn't any name that we can't rhyme, according to Shirley Ellis. Given the trouble I have spelling in song, you can imagine how many days it took me to learn how to play The Name Game...

Shirley Ellis - The Name Game mp3 (available for 7 days)

I love Carole King, I do. So does my mum. So does my brother. So does kippers. In fact I'm not sure I know anyone who hasn't openly declared their love for her. I even forgive her for being half responsible for the distinctly dubious He Hit Me And It Felt Like A Kiss since the following song was a hit in the same year.

Carole King - It Might As Well Rain Until September mp3 (available for 7 days)

I believe my words upon hearing I Can't Stay Mad At You for the first time were, "Why don't all songs sound like this?" Still a perfectly valid question, I feel. (And it was written by Carole King - huzzah!)
If you get a spare moment, have a read up about Skeeter - her story is pretty amazing. Particularly the part where her best friend's mother pumped her full of drugs and told her she was responsible for the death of said friend in a car crash.

Skeeter Davis - I Can't Stay Mad At You mp3 (available for 7 days)

All of these songs can be bought on the great compilation Early Girls volume 1: Popsicles and Icicles.

"Coughing like you might not make the afternoon"

July 1st 2007 and a new law comes into effect in England which prevents smoking in the workplace. This effectively means that all the country's smokers are banished into the soggy wastelands outside their cosy office blocks, restaurants and pubs. Lovely as this is for us non-smokers, it's a bit of a bugger for all the poor, nicotine-addicted people who are often now treated as pariahs. We sympathise and, therefore, have put together an entry devoted to smoking and this momentous day.

(We did consider using songs such as The Smiths' There Is A Lighter That Never Goes Out and artists like Weezer and Pariah Carey, but that would just be silly! So here are our final choices...)

Salty Pirates - Smoking Indoors mp3

Ballpark - Cigarettes Save the World mp3 (available for 7 days)

The Lucksmiths - Smokers In Love mp3 (available for 7 days)

Kansas City Playboys - Quittin' Time mp3 (available for 7 days)

Skeeter Davis - Gonna Get Along Without You Now mp3 (available for 7 days)

Kirsty MacColl - A New England mp3 (available for 7 days)