No-one will believe when I say that it wasn't that recent low-key event in London that put this theme in my mind, but rather that I heard a couple of the songs that feature in here close together - and I thought, I really need to get them into a playlist!
So, here are ten interesting and fairly diverse tunes, that cover a range of noble titles, for you to enjoy.
1. Johnny Cash: The Baron
I was originally going to go with To Sir With Love, but realised that a knighthood isn't really nobility, then I realised that Johnny Cash did this tune. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that this 1981 tune is not his finest work by any stretch - but it meets the criteria, and so it's in! And the video is dated and pretty bad, providing some perhaps unintentional amusement (and I believe that the other man in the video is Marty Stuart, a singer-songwriter, who was playing in Cash's band at the time).
2. Stevie Wonder: Sir Duke
This Stevie Wonder single, from his legendary Songs In The Key Of Life album, also gave him a US number one in 1977. It is considered to be not one of his better songs, but I think it's a bit of a banger! It was Wonder's tribute to one of his biggest influences, Duke Ellington, who had died in 1974, but also references some other key names, like Count Basie, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald.
3. Gene Chandler: Duke Of Earl
A nice segue from Duke's to Earl's, and another US number one, this time in 1962 for Gene Chandler. Apparently it originated from some warm-up exercises Chandler did when he was a part of The Dukays. It was co-written by Chandler with Earl Edwards (also of the Dukays) and Bernice Williams. There were a number of cover versions and variations, perhaps most notably, the 1976 UK top ten hit for a cappella band, Darts.
4. George Harrison: My Sweet Lord
This song from George's debut album, All Things Must Pass, was the first song by an ex-Beatle to hit number one in the UK and the US. In fact, in the UK, it was the biggest selling single of 1971. It is a song in praise of the Hindu god Krishna, and a call to end religious sectarianism. The song features a pretty stellar line-up of musical talent, including Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Gary Brooker (Procul Harum) and Bobby Whitlock (Sam & Dave, Booker T, Derek & The Dominoes).
5. The Stranglers: Duchess
This was one of the tunes that prompted this list. The Stranglers never quite fitted the punk labels they were given. They were rarely punk in anything more than attitude (and maybe dress) - although they had plenty of that. This tune particularly, epitomises that. Duchess is a catchy bit of a rock and roll, full of Dave Greenfield's typically swirly keyboard hooks, The song was apparently reminiscing about Hugh Cornwall's time as the boyfriend of a wealthy aristocratic lady (with links to Henry VIII) who chose a shabby rock star over an ex-public schoolboy banker.
6. The Beatles: Lady Madonna
After the psychedelic path the band had taken over the previous few years, this song, recorded in February 1968 before a trip to India, was a bit of a return to something a bit more classic rock and roll. It was credited, as ever, as a Lennon-McCartney tune, but was definitely a Paul song. He based the piano riff on a Humphrey Lyttelton song from 1956 called Bad Penny Blues. The song evoked McCartney's Catholic upbringing, being about an overworked Liverpool mother, facing a string of problems. Lennon was somewhat dismissive of the tune, later saying that it "never really went anywhere." The song is also notable as the last Beatle's single released on Parlaphone in the UK - starting with Hey Jude in August 1968, all subsequent singles came out on the Apple label.
7. The Kinks: She's Bought A Hat Like Princess Marina
Starting off like a bit of a novelty tune - with Ray Davies talking in plummy tones over a tinkling piano. Then more instruments come in, along with some harmony vocals, and it becomes a bit more of the sort of witty pastiche on British life that we might expect from one of our greatest songwriters. Then it explodes into life, with the song finally ending at full throttle. It comes from the Kinks seventh album, Arthur (Or The Decline And Fall Of The British Empire) - a concept album about carpet layer Arthur (loosely based on Ray and Dave's brother-in-law, who had emigrated to Australia). It was supposed to be the soundtrack to a Granada TV show about 'Arthur' which ultimately never materialised, due to lack of funding. This song was particularly about the era of post-war austerity.
8. Adam & The Ants: Prince Charming
The title track of the first album I ever bought an Adam & The Ants second consecutive UK number one. This classic of the new romantic era opens with the staccato open tuned guitar strum (mimicked in the video by Marco Pirroni on a harp), before reaching its crescendo's of "ridicule is nothing to be scared of." The video is a classic of the era, a fully over-produced version of the Cinderella story, with an array of dance moves - and was one of the last screen appearances by British legend, Diana Dors.
9. David Bowie: Queen Bitch
Possibly one of my favourite Bowie tracks, it features on his 1971 masterpiece Hunky Dory, and was also the B-Side to Rebel Rebel. The song is a great mix of glam rock and proto-punk, and is a guitar driven tribute to the Velvet Underground (seemingly Lou Reed is the actual Queen Bitch) and drag queens. Some, like author Peter Doggett, say the riff is influenced by the Velvet's Sweet Jane, Bowie biographer Nicholas Pegg says it is borrowed from Eddie Cochran's Three Steps To Heaven. The song is the one track on the album that indicates his next direction, and features Mick Ronson, Trevor Bolder and Mick Woodmansey, who would all soon become the Spiders From Mars.
10. Minutemen: King Of The Hill
I finally 'discovered' this band a few years ago, and thank goodness I did. For forty years I was missing out on one of the best post-punk bands there was. They mixed the art-punk of Wire and Gang Of Four, with funk and jazz (like Captain Beefheart), and were every bit as important, if not as well known, as contemporaries like Sonic Youth and Black Flag. This song is included on early 1985 EP, Project Mersh, their penultimate release - the album 3-Way Tie For Last would come out later that year, before lead singer / guitarist D. Boon's sad and untimely death in an automobile accident that December. For a band that tended to record on the cheap (or Econo, as they say in their part of California), they were incredibly skilled and tight musicians. I especially love the trumpet in the chorus, over the rolling drums...
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