.............................................................................................................................................................................

LOOK, NO Es


Thanks to an inspiring ‘Anticipatory Plagiarism’, by Paul Grimstad, in an LRB this month (Vol.34, no.23), I’m constructing this blogpost in an Oulipian way: that is, with a voluntary artificial constraint upon its composition. So: a roughly chronological listing of thirty classic tracks  -  and, as with this paragraph’s wording, no song or artist on my tracklist can contain any word with that oh-so-common, hard to banish vocal (as Rafa Nadal and his compatriots would say):

1.  Jambalaya - Hank Williams
2.  Black Hills Of Dakota - Doris Day
3.  Midnight Shift - Buddy Holly
4.  Goin’ Down Slow - Howlin’ Wolf
5.  Chicago - Frank Sinatra
6.  Diana - Paul Anka
7.  I’m Walkin’ - Fats Domino
8.  Raunchy - Bill Justis
9.  Hoots Mon - Lord Rockingham’s XI
10. Splish Splash - Bobby Darin
11. Rockin’ Robin - Bobby Day
12. What Do You Want? - Adam Faith
13. Mona Lisa - Conway Twitty
14. North To Alaska - Johnny Horton
15. A Thousand Stars - Billy Fury
16. Asia Minor - Kokomo
17. Cryin’ - Roy Orbison
18. Hurt - Timi Yuro
19. Any Day Now - Chuck Jackson
20. Sukiyaki - Kyu Sakamoto
21. Turn, Turn, Turn - Judy Collins
22. Colours - Donovan
23. Homburg - Procol Harum
24. Abraham, Martin And John - Dion DiMucci
25. Lay Lady Lay - Bob Dylan
26. Waiting For A Train - Boz Scaggs
27. Domino - Van Morrison
28. Solid Air - John Martyn
29. Waka/Jawaka - Frank Zappa
30. Up Town Top Ranking - Althia & Donna
Labels: , , , , , , , ,

3 comments:

  1. Kieran19 December, 2012

    That's fascinating and very difficult to achieve! There's a novel does the same - no letter 'e':

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gadsby_(novel)

    I think there's a more modern example as well, in Frnch...ahem!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Rain(e)r20 December, 2012

    I must say, an astounding list, … missing Black Sabbath’s Paranoid , Ringo Starr’s Photograph and Dr. John singing Iko Iko though.

    ReplyDelete
  3. DamianBalassone08 December, 2014

    Here's another e-less track for you: Linda on my Mind - Conway Twitty.
    I know I've got too much time on my hands, but surely Dylan was thinking of this song in his 1978 rewrite of The Man in Me e.g. "I'm lying next to her / but I'm dreaming of you"
    I know you've spoken elsewhere about the influence of ‘I Hope I Think I Wish’ on 'What Good Am I?'
    Just a thought.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)