I can’t believe I’ve not done one of those for previous years, but I thought I’d look back and highlight what I think has been the best songs of 2009.

And, there really aren’t that many. Maybe it’s due to me getting old. I don’t know. Either way.

1. Hockey – A Song Away

Embedding’s disabled, so you’ll need to click here to hear it.

“I wanna write a truthful song over an 80s groove”. And you do it very well too, whoever you are. The whole song reminds me of the Travelling Wilburys. First heard somewhere on the outskirts of Harrogate, on Radio 2.

2. Frankmusik – Confusion Girl

Wahey, I can embed this one…

A great song. Bonus points for the inclusion of…. erm, that ‘bewer’ whose name escapes me, the 80s style mobile phone, pink wheely bins (!) and infinitely shite “special effects”. The guy singing it looks like a pigeon.

Unfortunately, the first time I heard this song, I was in the less glamorous location of the Asda car park. This was obviously before the incident.

3. David Guetta / Kelly Rowland – When Love Takes Over

I like it, even though it has a very Coldplay-esque intro.

I’m now going to sit in a darkened room for the next three hours, and see if I can actually think of any others that entice my ageing eardrums like the afore mentioned trio. Probably not.

As I type, I’m “getting my shit together” and “about to bust all sorts of moves”, after under 2 hours sleep, as I head off to the CockDockfest. Be aware, however, that I shall also be twittering from there. Whatever that means. So feel free to follow me, and I might follow you in return. Maybe. Possibly.

In other news, I received a few records today, including Dog Kolsrud’s version of “Jingle Bells”. No, really. It appears to have been released (or at least given its catalogue number) during his stint with One 2 Many, as its catalogue number is AMY 489, whereas the three One 2 Many singles have catalogue numbers of AMY 476, AMY 490 and AMY 518.

More on that when I actually get round to playing it.

It’s “Too Darn Hot”. Also, Beastbits keeps overheating and shutting off because of the weather, so I’ll have to keep this short. The Hartlepool Dockfest begins tomorrow, and I’m going to be attending. Needless to say, camera, etc.

Following my disappointment with the flea market the other day, I went on ebay, and bought a great big load of records. Updates on these if and when I receive them.

We had a thunderstorm earlier today, so hopefully this will cool the air down a little.

Gahhhh. Gutted.

Following on from the earlier post today, I have returned back from the flea market, with plenty of records and CDs. Unfortunately, it is a bittersweet moment.

My first stop was to buy some singles from a stall I’d previously visited several weeks ago, and picked up a shit-load of really good singles (or, as most other people who know my music taste would put it, a good load of really shit singles). I was hoping that this time I’d be able to repeat this.

Indeed, he had a couple of boxes of singles on display. Some older ones, which appeared in good condition. Hurrah!

I’d picked up 8 for the measly sum of £2, and headed off in the general direction of Eric’s stall. Whilst flipping through the CDs, some stranger asks me a question, after noticing the wad of singles in my hand…

“Did you get those from that stall over there?”, he says, pointing in the direction of the stall over yonder…
I answered affirmatively.
“Oh, because when I looked at them, every single one had a great big gouge in them…”
My heart sank.
“Oh, well there ones ‘looked’ OK”, I replied, whilst contemplating the fact that I could very well have 8 pieces of completely worthless plastic in my grubby little mitts.

I purchased a couple of CDs from Eric’s stall. For those who care, they were “Set The Mood” by David Jordan, “Unplugged” by The Corrs, and “Purple Rain” by Prince.

At this point, I went to check my vinyl. Indeed, my vinyl was ruined. In fact, this one was so deeply sctarched that it actually cracked the record…

So, I’m a bit gutted at the minute. Every single one had some type of purposely made scratch. I’m more gutted at the fact that someone purposely destroyed a whole collection of records for no logical reason. I could have taken them back, but for £2, it wasn’t worth the hassle, and I probably should have looked a bit more clearly than what I did.

Every cloud has a silver lining, however, and I suppose I could use the sleeves (which, were all, except one, generic or company sleeves) to replace some of the more “crumbling” sleeves which house some of my records.

So, with that disappointment confirmed, I headed off to what looked like a new stall. Some guy who I hadn’t seen there before had several large boxes of CDs. Now, on initial inspection, the CDs were garbage. Hundreds of worthless CD-ROMs. My favourite had to be the “interactive guide to weeding”. However, underneath the crust were some actual music CDs, and some good ones at that.

Now, you may remember, that back in September last year, I mentioned that if I was ever listening to a song on my phone (which I do every time I’m at the flea market), and it appeared in the collection of records / CDs I was browsing at the time, then I’d buy it. In fact, that was an almost exact copy and paste from that posting).

This time, I just happened to be listening to “You Got It” by Roy Orbison. One of the first CDs I picked up just happened to have this track on it. The album was “Smash Hits Party ’89″. It suddenly occured to me that I actually have this album on cassette. It was given to me by Narbi Price when we were mere children. I still have those tapes, though no longer have any method of playing them, so it was nice to be able to upgrade them to a format I can still play.

Also “upgraded” was my copy of “Chorus” by Erasure. A song that will always remind me of our annual holidays to Sandy Bay, a little caravan site just south of Newbiggin-By-The-Sea. Chad used to call it “Sandroid Bay”. Overall I paid £3 for 9 CDs, and I even managed to sneak a Michael Bolton one in there, because I do, unfortunately like one of his songs. ONE of his songs. Just one. Uno. Ein. I hope I can’t make that any more clearer. Well, OK, I like two of them, but that’s as far as I’m going.

Moving on very swiftly, before I admit to liking three Michael Bolton songs, I’ll just recap on something I talked about the other day. Sunburn. Yes, after last Wednesday’s day out, I ended up with severe sunburn, which caused much amusement “in the office”. Unfortunatelt, it did leave me looking like some type of alien creature for a few days this week…

The satisfaction of being able to peel great big chunks of skin from my forehead has thankfully allowed me to look a little more human. Now, I have to get a few hours sleep before I return to hell…

Sigh.

No, not the site this time. This, amazingly is still working. What IS broken, however is everything else I’ve touched in the past 24 hours.

I finally plugged in my Xbox after approximately 18 months. I thought I’d give Tiger Woods a go again. It worked for a bit, then TWANG, the left thumbstick on the controller snapped.

Secondly, my mobile is goosed. Again.

At approximately 4PM, I go to text Dadykins who’s been away in Scotland for a few days, only to find that I currently have “No Access to Network”. Therefore, I can’t text out or receive. Yes, I’ve done the usual, switched off / on again, wobbled the SIM card, almost threw it against the wall, aaaaaaand it’s still goosed.

So, as you may recall, I mentioned a couple of days ago that I was going to Redcar. The trip to Redcar to pick up more records…

Let me just start off by saying that I forgot the camera. Yes, I’m shocked at myself too, especially as there was a lot of autumn foliage to photograph along the hilariously scenic Parkway.

Anyway, I arrived at the place where I was meant to pick the records up from. I’m delighted that Daddykins knew the area. I rang the bell…

Nothing.

I knocked on the door.

Nothing.

I rang the bell again.

Nothing.

I pressed the bell six times.

Nothing.

I looked up the road. I was stood at the top of a cul de sac. Daddykins was sat in the car, reading the paper. Was this trip for nothing? I immediately felt so. I’d had my usual pessimistic view that this transaction wouldn’t go ahead. I was, afterall, stood on the doorstep of an empty house.

Gutted, I began to lose hope. A silver car in the distance began to hurtle down the full length of the cul de sac. I was amazed to see it pull into the same driveway that my feet were occupying.I can’t remember if I stepped out of the path of this car or not. I think I was just slightly amazed at the good timing.

The driver stepped out of the car, apologised for bring out at the time. We both shook hands, and I introduced myself. He knew who I was instantly, after all, I’d arrived on time..

We entered his abode, and he showed me the collection of 7″s I’d purchased.

He must have smelled my interest in vinyl. It was hard to mask, if I’m honest.

I was here to buy 7″ singles, but he introduced me to a box full of albums and 12″s he was sellng. With no reserve. At all.

I browsed the collection, with a grin on my face. I know I love shit music, but this was a choice not to be sniffed at. Especially after I’d spotted T’Pau’s “Rage” in the collection.

“Hmmm, a fiver”, I say. Unexpectedly, the seller snaps my hand off, he explains that he’d got them as a “car boot” lot, and didn’t know what they’re worth. And, to be honest, neither did I. But I did know I had some classics in my arms. That T’Pau one summed it up as far as I was concerned.

There was also a collection of mailing envelopes and blank sleeves included, as well as this little fella…

If I hadn’t have broken my xbox controller, I’d have never found him… Now, I’m no good with ornaments, so I might just put him on ebay and put the money he makes towards a new controller. Or a new sodding phone.