BELLE & SEBASTIAN PARKER

On a languorous late-summer Friday, these were the best lines to pass my ears:

Stars of Track and Field, Belle & Sebastian

"You liberated
A boy I never rated
And now he's throwing discus
For Liverpool and Widnes"

Why I prefer B&S to The Smiths, reason #36.

Get Me Away From Here, I'm Dying, Belle & Sebastian

"Think of it this way
You could either be successful or be us"

Reason #109.

Discovering Japan, Graham Parker and the Rumour

"As the tears dropped sideways down her face..."

Narrative songwriting needs more of this kind of thing. Tell me two things in one compact image. The tears didn't just drop down her face, they dropped sideways. So she was crying and laying down. It seems so simple, but you'd be surprised how rare it is...

Protection, Graham Parker and the Rumour

"So all of you be damned
We can't have heaven crammed
So Winston Churchill said
I could have smacked his head"

Um, I think it was actually Swift, but when someone sounds this self-righteously pissed and, uh, Swiftian, you don't niggle the details...