Jukebox
Death Is a Laff Riot is full of songs that serve as background music to the various scenes. Most of the music lives on the jukebox in the Moan pub, some of it emanates from behind the bead curtains of Margo’s lair in the Acropolis, and others are Yank’s earworms. Some songs are aural pokes by the author. All of the contemporary songs were on the radio when I lived in Scotland back in the day.
Click here to listen to a playlist of all the songs that are mentioned by name (or hinted at strongly), plus one or two others that seem right for the scenes in which they’re heard.
Speaking of living in Scotland back in the day, the Sinatra songs on the Moan jukebox are from my youth, too. They are the soundtrack of the lounge in the upscale restaurant where my family would sit and wait before formal dinner was served. We were billeted in a hotel in Kirkcaldy, Fife for three months before we could move into our house off the high street and ate in the hotel restaurant every night. Sinatra was the only music played — an endless loop of songs, meant to be classy (it was a classy joint) and, for all intents and purposes, I suppose it was classy. But if you have to listen to those same songs night after night after night, they can wear pretty thin.
Eventually my sister and I were reprieved and permitted to skip out of the formal dining room setting in favor eating dinner in the TV lounge far, far from Ol’ Blue Eyes’ dark, dulcet, repetitive baritone.
I might add more titles; there were mentions of unnamed music that suited the mood in several scenes. For example, “songs about dames and booze” and “songs of failure and remorse,” though by definition that just means more Sinatra. There are also the medleys on Saturday nights at the Moan, which means more Top of the Pops tunes from the 1970s. And then there’s Margo’s boombox and the more eclectic punk rock sounds of the era. Lots of songs!
👉 Listen to the playlist.
👉 Purchase your copy of Death Is a Laff Riot here
Click here to listen to a playlist of all the songs that are mentioned by name (or hinted at strongly), plus one or two others that seem right for the scenes in which they’re heard.
Speaking of living in Scotland back in the day, the Sinatra songs on the Moan jukebox are from my youth, too. They are the soundtrack of the lounge in the upscale restaurant where my family would sit and wait before formal dinner was served. We were billeted in a hotel in Kirkcaldy, Fife for three months before we could move into our house off the high street and ate in the hotel restaurant every night. Sinatra was the only music played — an endless loop of songs, meant to be classy (it was a classy joint) and, for all intents and purposes, I suppose it was classy. But if you have to listen to those same songs night after night after night, they can wear pretty thin.
Eventually my sister and I were reprieved and permitted to skip out of the formal dining room setting in favor eating dinner in the TV lounge far, far from Ol’ Blue Eyes’ dark, dulcet, repetitive baritone.
Song List
Here is the full list of songs mentioned in the story.
1 Life on Mars? (David Bowie)
2 Oh, Bondage, Up Yours! (X-Ray Spex)
1 Life on Mars? (David Bowie)
2 Oh, Bondage, Up Yours! (X-Ray Spex)
3 It Was a Very Good Year (Frank Sinatra)
4 I Get a Kick out of You (Frank Sinatra)
5 Strangers in the Night (Frank Sinatra)
6 Just One of Those Things (Frank Sinatra)
7 Rockin' All Over the World (Status Quo)
8 Love Is the Drug (Roxy Music)
9 Police & Thieves (The Clash)
10 With a Little Luck (Wings)
11 Watching the Detectives (Elvis Costello)
12 Ever Fallen Love (with Someone) (The Buzzcocks)
13 Moondance (Van Morrison)
14 A Whiter Shade of Pale (Procol Harum)
15 Your Cheatin' Heart (Patsy Cline)
16 My Way (The Sex Pistols)
17 You're the Top (Frank Sinatra & Ethel Merman)
18 Jilted John (Jilted John)
19 White Christmas (Frank Sinatra)
20 Can't Help Falling in Love (Shirley Bassey)
21 My Way (Frank Sinatra)
22 You Can't Always Get What You Want (Rolling Stones)
23 Rock and Roll Suicide (David Bowie)
24 We Are the Champions (Queen)
25 New York, New York (Frank Sinatra)
I might add more titles; there were mentions of unnamed music that suited the mood in several scenes. For example, “songs about dames and booze” and “songs of failure and remorse,” though by definition that just means more Sinatra. There are also the medleys on Saturday nights at the Moan, which means more Top of the Pops tunes from the 1970s. And then there’s Margo’s boombox and the more eclectic punk rock sounds of the era. Lots of songs!
👉 Listen to the playlist.
👉 Purchase your copy of Death Is a Laff Riot here