This article was published on Valentine’s Day 2024 and is in honour of she who is normally known as My Beloved Wife whenever mentioned in this blog, and is a follow-up to a previous article about Christine songs published seven years ago to the day!
Obviously, her identity (or at least name) is out of the closet with these two articles, with the first being a review of my favourite songs named after her (OK, none of the songs’ writers actually wrote them about her, but you know what I mean).
These additional ones are generally songs that I have acquired since penning the first piece.
As before, I didn’t actually track down any of these songs because of their titles. However, they all mean a little more than they might otherwise do because of her name.
So, in addition to my seven favourite Christine songs previously detailed, here in no particular order are another five, although lyrically many of them do not describe my Christine or our relationship at all.
Shack – The Fable Sessions
1. Shack – Christine
This was a b-side to 1999’s Natalie’s Party (as Miss. Christine), but I have it as one of the tracks on The Fable Sessions, a remixed version of H.M.S. Fable with extras that I bought from Selectadisc in Soho for £7.99 in November 2003, also picking up expanded versions of the first two Echo And The Bunnymen albums at the same time.
H.M.S. Fable is my very favourite of all of Michael Head’s releases to date, as revealed in this feature, but this is one that was sensibly left off the album as it’s not really in the same league as the killers on that record.
It’s not on Spotify, so here it is on YouTube:
It has a typically mellow Byrds-y start, but the song opens up after a minute or so. It’s decent enough without being able to match the glories of the likes of Streets Of Kenny, Lend’s Some Dough or Comedy, or its original a-side.
2. The Greenberry Woods – Oh Christine
The Greenberry Woods – Rapple Dapple
This comes from these power poppers’ 1994 debut LP Rapple Dapple which I was persuaded to splash out a princely £15 for from Stand Out! Records in Ladbroke Grove in February 1994.
This was a rare occasion when I seem to have only bought one disc from them, though I did spend the same sum at the opposite counter (Minus Zero) for a promo single of American Music Club’s Johnny Mathis’ Feet that came with a Live At Slim’s album.
This is a quite gentle, minor key number sung by Matt Huseman about a love that has come to a sticky end:
“Oh Christine, you led me to the stream then hung me
Out to dry against the warm glow of your radiance and now I wonder why…”
While I certainly enjoy this song, it’s not one of the better ones on the album, which is actually a really decent record, one that gets somewhat forgotten in my collection, but shouldn’t be.
Steve Stoeckel – The Power Of And
3. Steve Stoeckel – Christine
This is on his curiously-titled The Power Of And album that I got for free from Big Stir Records last July, along with the Tony Valentino Of The Standells disc I had actually ordered as well as a couple more freebies – a label sampler and an album by Spygenius. Very generous!
He’s best known as the singer and bassist with The Spongetones, with this being a piece of chunky, guitar-driven power pop, about a dysfunctional (non-?)relationship from his debut solo LP:
“Christine you’re so mean to me…
Are you alone, you won’t pick up your phone…
Christine, why won’t you be seen with me”
4. The Silent Boys – Christine
The Silent Boys – Sand To Pearl, Coal To Diamonds
A song from Sand To Pearls, Coal To Diamonds that I got from Too Good To Be True Records’ Bandcamp for £13.95 in December 2022, which I think I must have discovered via the excellent podcast from The Big Takeover that now sadly seems unavailable on Apple Podcasts.
They’re an indie pop band from Richmond, Virginia who’ve apparently been going since 1986, initially heavily inspired by The Feelies, although their first album didn’t appear until 2004.
It starts with a lovely pseudo-jangly guitar line with subtle percussion before the rather fey vocals kick in. It’s one of the best tracks on the album, to these ears.
This is another song of unrequited love:
“I’ve calculated every step. but who can solve your equation?
I’m awake at odd hours, daydreaming through the night
What’s going on with Christine?
…The heartburn of concealed desire, frigid seas of indecision
I speak to you in gibberish, you must think that I’m a fool”
They’re a band I really need to explore the back catalogue of, as well as keeping an eye out for what they do next.
5. J.K. & Co. – Christine
J.K. & Co. – Suddenly One Summer
This is on a 1968 psych album that I bought as a Sundazed reissue on another trip to Stand Out! Records in January 2002 for £12.
This time around was a busy day of buying, as I also picked up albums by the likes of Gun Club, Grin and Sir Douglas Quintet at the same time.
They weren’t a ‘real’ band, being Las Vegas-raised Jay Kaye plus a load of session men.
It’s not one of the most interesting tracks on the record, musically at least. This is quite a straightforward love song to Christine, with lines such as:
“Christine, I’m in love with you
Let me kiss your rosy lips and stroke your dark brown hair.”
And so ends the further songs of Christine.
Will there be a third in this series? Let’s see, but I have just discovered that there are songs of this name by The Monochrome Set, Motörhead and Christine And The Queens amongst others, so anything is possible!
Follow me
If you want to get an email notification each time there is a new blog post (about once a fortnight, on average), then click on the “Follow” button at the top left of this screen.
Playlist
Here are most of these new Christine songs on Spotify, with the original seven added on at the end:
undilutable slang truth 