Jimmy Mack - Martha and the Vandellas
Oh Jim - Gay Dad
Sweet Baby James - James Taylor
James - Camera Obscura
A Man/Me/Then Jim - Rilo Kiley
Jimmy Jazz - The Clash
Jimmy - MIA
Jimi - Martha Wainwright
Jimmy Jimmy - The Undertones
Jim Cain - Bill Callahan
I could also have included Little James by Oasis. It's funny that some music journalists must have been so in fear of Liam Gallagher at that time that they didn't say it was the most comically bad song of all time. And my original list had the theme to an 80s TV show which I really don't want to think about now (2012 edit).
Anyway, I had an old, longer list for this post, but can't find it, so you'll have to make do with this, though I thnk this is pretty much what was meant to be there and if not, I'll change it if I find the other list.
So, I've already done David, which is me, so now James which is another common name, indeed the name of my brother. When we were growing up, James was top of the boy's names charts, but it's far from it any more. Still, we all know a lot of Jims or Jameses don't we? I don't think the Jim/James debate is as crucial and feverish as the Dave/David debate, but i certainly know plenty of Jameses who've generally balked at any kind of shortening or nicknaming. Funny that the French for James is Jacques, cos that sounds like Jack, which is a different name.
Anyway, I thought there were lots of goods songs about Jimmy, so i did the list, and it's turned out pretty well - i think this is the first mention of Gay Dad in the whole blog - better late than never.
This is a companion piece to an earlier little thing about football you may recall - it also dwells on the profound effect happenings to do with left-sided sportsmen in the early 90s had on not just themselves, not just the people around them, but THE WHOLE FUCKING COSMOS.
This isn't about if though, this is about when -
WHEN JIMMY MISSED THE BLACK
When Jimmy missed the black I knew
that nothing I'd been told was true -
however well you strike the white
nothing will ever turn out right.
I knew no God was in his heaven
when Jimmy failed to gain that seven
which meant he'd have too much to catch
that would have given him frame and match
and Vs to all who'd said "That White'll
never win Snooker's World Title."
When Jimmy missed that simple pot
I knew this spinning world was not
a spinning ball of hope and glory -
though we'd been fed a different story
of the whey-faced boy from Tooting
for whom each man on earth was rooting
against the pock-faced Scottish robot
who earned no love and messed up ... no pot.
Each year, the same tale would be told -
It's Jimmy's year, he's not too old,
and as he sailed through round on round,
we told ourselves our faith was sound,
but learnt, each time he spurned the chance
to disregard that fine romance.
When Jimmy blew it that last time
his sweat, his twitch was mine, all mine,
his incapacity to seal it,
I did far more than merely feel it.
Genuinely beautiful poem
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