Almanac Music: ‘It’s always cold inside the icehouse’ – Songs Involving Ice
Blue Ice in South Greenland. [Wikimedia Commons.]
Almanac Music: ‘It’s always cold inside the icehouse’ – Songs Involving Ice
Hi, Almanackers! This piece in my long-running series about key popular song themes concerns songs involving ice (the frozen stuff, not the drug). By this, I mean songs incorporating the word itself and/or other words directly leading from it, like iced, icy and icily. I thought this theme was particularly fitting at this chilly mid-winter time of year.
So, dear readers, please put your relevant ‘ice’ songs in the ‘Comments’ section. Below, as usual, are some examples from me to get the ball rolling.
‘One After 909’, written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, performed by the Beatles (1970)
‘Come on baby, don’t be cold as ice’
‘Cold as Ice’, written by Lou Gramm and Mick Jones, performed by Foreigner (1977)
‘Icehouse’, written by Iva Davies, performed by Flowers (1980)
‘Walking on Thin Ice’ written and performed by Yoko Ono (1981)
‘Fire and Ice’, written by Pat Benatar, Tom Kelly and Scott Sheets, performed by Pat Benatar (1981)
‘Icy Red’, written by Martha Davis, performed by The Motels (1985)
‘Under Ice’, written and performed by Kate Bush (1985)
‘Running On Ice’, written and performed by performed by Billy Joel (1986)
‘Black Ice’, written by Angus and Malcolm Young, performed by AC/DC (2008)
…………………………………………………………………
Now, dear readers / listeners – it’s over to you. Your responses to this topic are warmly welcomed. In the ‘Comments’ section, please add your own choice of a song (or songs) involving ice, along with any other relevant material you wish to include.
Read more from Kevin Densley HERE
Kevin Densley’s latest poetry collection, Please Feed the Macaws…I’m Feeling Too Indolent, is available HERE
Read more Almanac Poetry HERE
If you would like to receive the Almanac Music and Poetry newsletter we will add you to the list. Please email us: [email protected]
To return to our Footy Almanac home page click HERE.
Our writers are independent contributors. The opinions expressed in their articles are their own. They are not the views, nor do they reflect the views, of Malarkey Publications.
Do you enjoy the Almanac concept?
And want to ensure it continues in its current form, and better? To help things keep ticking over please consider making your own contribution.
Become an Almanac (annual) member – click HERE.
About
Kevin Densley is a graduate of both Deakin University and The University of Melbourne. He has taught writing and literature in numerous Victorian universities and TAFES. He is a poet and writer-in-general. His sixth book-length poetry collection, Isle Full of Noises, was published in early 2026 by Ginninderra Press. He is also the co-author of ten play collections for young people, as well as a multi Green Room Award nominated play, Last Chance Gas, published by Currency Press. Other writing includes screenplays for educational films.
KD, here’s a first (or two) – me making a submission to your series for the first time, and, possibly, the first contribution to this topic:
Mondo Rock – ‘Cool World’ – ‘Your world is as cold as ice…’
A Bob song is the first ice that comes to mind KD.
Love Minus Zero/No Limit
‘My love she speaks like silence,
Without ideals or violence,
She doesn’t have to say she’s faithful,
Yet she’s true, like ice, like fire.’
Magic Dirt’s “Ice” would have to be at the top of the list, shirley.
Husker Du – Ice Cold Ice
Didn’t Split Enz do Icy Red?
Hi Ian. Welcome aboard the ‘theme express’! ‘Cool World’ is an excellent choice to open proceedings.
Fine, thematically spot-on Dylan song – thanks, Col.
Thank you, McAlmanac for ‘Ice’ by Magic Dirt, a band that’s among Geelong’s best exports.
Thanks, Swishter, for your opening contribution.
And ha ha regarding your Split Enz ‘entry’!
Yours truly 2095: Electric Light Orchestra
Heart of hearts: Electric Light Orchestra Part II
Breaking down the walls: Electric Light Orchestra Part II
Save me now: Jeff Lynne
Before we go: The Orchestra
Rip it up: James Reyne
The sidewinder sleeps tonite: R.E.M
Joy Division – Living In The Ice Age.
Magnificent
Thanks for this inspired blast of bleakness from Curtis and the boys, Dips.
Thank you for your ELO/The Orchestra/Lynne songs, plus those by Reyne and one of my favourite American bands, R.E.M., Liam.
Good Friday morning KD.
The theme took me back to Jethro Tull’s 1974 ‘War Child’ album and a very fine song……
Skating Away (On The Thin Ice Of A New Day).
Good morning to you, too, Karl.
Thanks for your introductory foray into this new ice theme territory.
Are we too high minded for Vanilla Ice; Ice, Ice Baby? That’s three Ice in the one sentence.
Iceberg – 10cc
Ice Cream Man – Jonathan Richman
“Well now, ice cream man (Ice cream man)
Upon my street
I heard your truck outside, it’s really neat (Ice cream man)
Ice cream man (Ice cream man)
Upon my block
Your little chimes, they reel and they rock”
Jeane – The Smiths
“jeane
there’s ice on the sink where we bathe
so how can you call this a home
when you know it’s a grave?”
Greetings to the New Brunette – Billy Bragg (speaking of Shirley)
“Here we are in our summer years
Living on ice cream and chocolate kisses
And would leaves fall from the trees
If I was your old man and you was my missus?”
Judy Is A Punk – Ramones
“Jackie is a punk
Judy is a runt
They both went down to Berlin, joined the Ice Capades
And oh, I don’t know why
Oh, I don’t know why
Perhaps they’ll die.”
Love Kills – Radio Birdman
“Driving out to Detroit Metro
The snow driving on the wind
The sky was grey and white
The road was to the end
Ice was flying through my eyes
My heart was cold as sin”
Many thanks for ‘Ice Ice Baby’, Matt – a very apt addition to our songlist
A fine variety of choices in your latest material – thanks, Swish.
V funny Matt Z, and great call, and no we are never too high minded for a great call!
Anyways:
Iceman, Bruce
Rusty Cage, and I’m gunna go with Johnny’s version
The Driver, Drive-Bys
Does Lefty Frizzell’s terrific song, Saginaw, Michigan squeeze through? If not, and I understand it probably won’t, then I’ll throw in The Wino and I Know, by Jimmy Buffett (The ice cream man he’s a hillbilly fan/Got seventy-eights by Hank Snow/Walks down the street, shufflin’ his feet/To a rhythm that only he knows)
Cheers
I challenged my best friend & companion to come up with an ‘ice’ song and she came up with this beauty…
Led Zeppelin – Immigrant Song
Ah-ah, ah!
Ah-ah, ah!
We come from the land of the ice and snow
From the midnight sun where the hot springs flow
Thanks for your choices, Rick.
Yep, ‘Saginaw Michigan’ is a excellent song, but doesn’t fit the specifics of this ice theme in terms of my definitional opening paragraph.
And isn’t Cash’s version of ‘Rusty Cage’ a beauty?
Excellent song choice by your friend, Karl. Thank you – and her.
Sonny Boy Williamson – Nine Below Zero
Ice is not mentioned in the lyrics but at nine below zero there would be plenty of it about.
Albert ‘The Iceman’ Collins released several albums/songs on the theme of ice such as Frosty, Ice Pickin’, Frostbite, Iceman and Frozen Alive.
His album Ice Pickin’ has the coolest cover showing Albert ‘pickin” his Telecaster with the guitar lead plugged into a huge block of ice.
And then there’s:
Used Cars, Bruce
Winter, Tori Amos
Roll of the Dice, Bruce
Days When the Rain Would Come, Bob Seger
Cruella De Vil, from 101 Dalmatians but I’ll go with the absurd version by The Replacements
Ice, you say …
Ice Cold Ice – Husker Du
“I feel I’ve never known myself (ice cold ice)/Frozen in the sand again (ice cold ice)”
Ice Queen – Stranglers
“I was never sure of the accurate score/When I sat in for a hand with the Ice Queen”
Ice – The Stranglers
“There is ice in my vision/There is ice always in season/I want cold air not your treason/It won’t do”
Ice Cream Man – Tom Waits
“’Cause I’m your ice cream man/I’m a one-man band, yeah/I’m your ice cream man, honey, I’ll be good to you”
Stephanie Says – Velvet Underground
“It’s such an icy feeling/It’s so cold in Alaska (Stephanie says)”
Speak for Yourself – The Chills (NZ)
“Such clumsy attempts at breaking the ice/Great?st mistake was sound advice”
Lawrence of Arabia on Ice – Wreckless Eric
“When you fell off the back of a lorry / Outside the discotheque / It’s a crying shame / That you didn’t break your neck”
The Letters – King Crimson
“Impaled on nails of iceAnd raked o’er emerald fire/The wife with soul of snow/With steady hand begins to write”
Iceberg – Trashcan Sinatras
“i can see them coming beating paths to my door/come to see me running my natural course/Iceberg”
Glacier – John Grant (well, a glacier is a big fuckload of ice…)
“This pain/It is a glacier moving through you…”
‘The thin ice’ from Pink Floyd’s The Wall.
Thanks, Peter Crossing, for your input. Of course, relevant songs to our theme must possess the word ‘ice’ or variations of it (such as iced, icily etc), as I mentioned in my intro. I particularly enjoyed your details about Albert ‘The Iceman’ Collins.
Thanks, Rick, for your latest five, all by quality performers, as is usual for you.
Thank you, Peter Cresswell, for your interesting array of highly fitting material (with ‘Glacier’ not quite making the cut). I would’ve been disappointed if there wasn’t a NZ connection somewhere!
(Note: Swish mentioned ‘Ice Cold Ice’ earlier.)
Thanks for the Pink Floyd song, Ian.
My brain is working overdrive on the ‘ice’ theme KD, but so far – a poor return on electrical brain impulse investment. Even Bob is disproportionately quiet on the theme!!! (I’ll save a few for the weekend).
I do however return to Jethro Tull and the 1975 Minstrel In The Gallery album (a favourite of mine):
Cold Wind To Valhalla
‘Breakfast with the gods night angels serve
With ice-bound majesty
Frozen flaking fish raw nerve
In a cup of silver liquid fire’
Thanks for your second Jethro Tull song, Karl.
It will certainly be interesting to see how this ice theme further develops.
I think the theme needs a mascot……Quinn The Eskimo!!!…
….and a couple of 60’s classics….
George Harrison – Here Comes The Sun
‘Little darling
I feel that ice is slowly melting
Little darling
It seems like years since it’s been clear’
The Hollies – Bus Stop
‘Came the sun,
The ice was melting
No more sheltering now
Nice to think that that umbrella
Led me to a vow’
Some folk songs
The Frozen Logger – Pete Seeger and The Weavers (written by James Stevens, Johnny Cash also recorded a version)
“As I sat down one evening
Within a small café
A forty-year old waitress
To me these words did say
[Verse 2]
“I see that you are a logger
And not just a common bum
‘Cause nobody but a logger
Stirs his coffee with his thumb”
[Verse 7]
“I saw my logger leaving
Sauntering through the snow
Going gravely homeward
At forty-eight below”
[Verse 8]
“The weather, it tried to freeze him
It tried it’s level best
At a hundred degrees below zero
He buttoned up his vest”
[Verse 9]
“It froze clean through to China
It froze to the stars above
At a thousand degrees below zero
It froze my logger love”
The word “ice” isn’t mentioned but it is present when you freeze.
Put a Light in Every Country Window – Gary Shearston, written by Don Henderson
“Put a light in every country window
High-speed pumps where now the windmills stand
Get in and lay the cable so that one day we’ll be able
To have electricity all over this wide land
The old Coolgardie and the red-hot woodstove
They all have seen their day at last
For now the ice and fire that is coming on the wire
Has made them all relics of the past”
Lord Franklin (Lady Franklin’s Lament – A. L. Lloyd
“It was homeward bound one night on the deep,
Swinging in my hammock I fell asleep.
I dreamed a dream and I thought it true,
Concerning Franklin and his gallant crew.
With a hundred seamen he sailed away,
To the frozen ocean in the month of May.
To seek that passage around the pole,
Where we poor sailors do sometimes go.
Through cruel hardships these men did go.
His ship on mountains of ice was drove.
Where the Eskimo and his snow dogs, too
Was the only one who ever came through.”
(This is the tune and structure the Bob used in Bob Dylan’s Dream)
Hi Karl. Love the Quinn the Eskimo idea regarding a mascot!! Thanks for that pair of wonderful 60s classics, too.
Thank you, Dave, for your trio of songs, excellently presented as always and fine work, overall. That important thing said, the first song doesn’t exactly fit my definition for this theme because it doesn’t incorporate the word ‘ice’ and/or other words directly leading from it, like iced, icy and icily. This may seem pedantic, but the reason I framed the theme this way was to focus the responses to it. Therefore, songs about frozen landscapes, the Artic, Antarctic, snow and the like are outside the definition in those instances when they don’t include at least one of the relevant words.
How about a timely ‘RIP’ to Ozzy viz Black Sabbath’s 1975 Snowblind
‘Crystal world with winter flowers
Turn my days to frozen hours
Lying snowblind in the sun
Will my ice age ever come?’
And one from Joni – Both Sides Now
‘Rows and floes of angel hair
And ice cream castles in the air
And feather canyons everywhere
Looked at clouds that way’
A timely – and highly relevant to theme – nod to Ozzy, Karl. In a very odd way, he was always an endearing character. (Ever heard that story about how, as a young man, he did a burglary wearing fingerless gloves and left his prints all over the place?)
And yes, ‘Both Sides Now’ – a timeless classic, of course, and so fitting in the present thematic context.
Thanks for highlighting both songs.
Has Baby It’s Cold Outside been put forward? If not, count it in.
Great call Karl with Joni’s great song and nice tip of the hat to Ozzy.
Long Gone Lonesome Blues, Hank (I’m gonna find me a river, one that’s cold as ice/And when I find me that river, Lord I’m gonna pay the price, oh Lord/I’m goin’ down in it three times, but Lord I’m only comin’ up twice/She’s long gone, and now I’m lonesome blue)
In the Good Old Days (When Times were Bad), Merle Haggard
Nice, The Carters (who are Beyonce and Jay Z)
The Winner Takes it All, ABBA
I Never Cared for You, Willie Nelson (one of his first singles)
As the sun sets on this last Saturday in August, I can add Dylan’s entire contribution to this theme (beyond Col’s earlier addition of ‘Love Minus Zero/No Limit’) – one more song only…..
Isis – from the 1976 Desire album
‘We came to the pyramids all embedded in ice
He said, there’s a body I’m tryin’ to find
If I carry it out it’ll bring a good price
‘Twas then that I knew what he had on his mind’
This song includes one of my all time favourite Dylan lines:
‘When he died I was hopin’ that it wasn’t contagious’
So KD, there may be a song here or there where Dylan references ‘ice’ by name, but it has alluded me.
As for lyrics that suggest ‘ice’ that do not qualify forr this theme, I submit:
Winterlude: ‘Come out where the skating rink glistens’
Never Say Goodbye: ‘Twilight on the frozen lake’.
Enjoy your weekend!
Some heavy hitters:
Ride Sally Ride, Lou Reed
London Calling, The Clash
Hey Ya, Outkast
Sliver, Nirvana
Orphan of the Road, Johnny Cash (The black-sheep child that grew up wild/From the seed the four winds sowed/Unwanted son of ice and fire/An orphan of the road) I include the lyrics to the JC song as the songwriter has an interesting life story, considering the era, as well as that they have a few other top shelf songs.
I accept your strict interpretation of “ice” in the song, Kevin.
Here is a different and totally legitimate use of the term “ice”
Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend – Marilyn Monroe
“There may come a time
When a lass needs a lawyer
But diamonds are a girl’s best friend
There may come a time
When a hard-boiled employer
Thinks you’re awful nice
But get that ice or else no dice
He’s your guy
When stocks are high
But beware when they start to descend
It’s then that those louses
Go back to their spouses
Diamonds are a girl’s best friend”
Fareweel tae Tarwathie – (A whaling song written by George Scroggie and recorded by numerous folk singers including Ewan MacColl and Judy Collins. Recorded in Australia by Gordon McIntyre)
“Adieu to my comrades, for awhile we must part
And likewise the dear lass that fair won my heart
The cold ice of Greenland, my love will not chill
And the longer my absence, more loving she’ll feel.
Our ship is well rigged and she’s ready to sail
Our crew, they are anxious to follow the whale
Where the icebergs do float and the stormy winds blow
Where the land and the ocean are covered with show.
The cold coast of Greenland is barren and bare
No seed time nor harvest is ever known there
And the birds here sing sweetly on mountain and dale
But there isn’t a birdie to sing tae the whale.
And a third context for ice.
Harper Valley PTA – Jeannie C Riley, written by Tom T Hall
“Well, it happened that the P.T.A was gonna meet that very afternoon
And they were sure surprised when Mrs. Johnson wore her miniskirt into the room
And as she walked up to the blackboard, I can still recall the words she had to say
She said, “I’d like to address this meeting of the Harper Valley P.T.A.”
Well, there’s Bobby Taylor sittin’ there and seven times he’s asked me for a date
And Mrs. Taylor sure seems to use a lotta ice whenever he’s away
And Mr. Baker, can you tell us why your secretary had to leave this town?
And shouldn’t widow Jones be told to keep her window shades all pulled completely down
Well, Mr. Harper couldn’t be here ’cause he stayed too long at Kelly’s Bar again
And if you’ll smell Shirley Thompson’s breath, you’ll find she’s had a little nip of gin
And then you have the nerve to tell me you think that as a mother I’m not fit
Well, this is just a little Peyton Place and you’re all Harper Valley hypocrites!’
‘Baby It’s Cold Outside’ hasn’t been mentioned until you did so, Rick, so we’ll lock that one in.
There’s certainly a lot of heavy hitters in your two most recent selections of songs, with ‘London Calling’ jumping out of the pack, so to speak, and hitting me squarely between the eyes.
Thanks for your choices in general.
Thank you, Karl, for your latest Dylan input. It’s interesting – though I have no particular theory about it – that the great man’s work contains so few direct or indirect references to ice.
(Note: it’s the last Saturday in July, of course. The year’s going quick enough as it is!)
Thanks, Dave, for your most recent choices and comments – I loved the three songs with their direct mentions of ice and their different uses of the word.
And here’s another song that directly references ice, Gordon Lightfoot’s superb ‘The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald’:
‘Lake Huron rolls, Superior sings
In the rooms of her ice-water mansion…’
Lightfoot was certainly at the very top of his game when he wrote this one.
On this last Sunday of JULY, (where did August go?), I have a few more for the list – as we wind our way through the high 40’s…..
Someone who seems to be rarely seen in these themes:
Van Morrision – Snow In San Anselmo (from his 1973 Hard Nose The Highway album)
‘The silence round the cascades
The ice crisp and clear
The beginning of the opera
Seem to suddenly appear
Seem to suddenly appear’
Dire Straits – Love Over Gold (1982)
‘You walk out on the high wire
You’re a dancer on thin ice
You pay no heed to the danger
And less to advice’
Thanks, Karl, for these latest two – Morrison and Dire Straits. Yep, it is interesting how some artists don’t appear that often in our themed songlists – mainly, but not only, to do with the tastes of those choosing the songs and commenting, I guess.
Trapped Under Ice – Metallica
Rime of the Ancient Mariner – Iron Maiden
“Driven south to the land of the snow and ice
To a place where nobody’s been
Through the snow, fog flies on the albatross
Hailed in God’s name, hoping good luck it brings”
“And the ship sails on, back to the north
Through the fog and ice and the albatross follows on”
Rain – Dragon
“Ice on the window, ice in my heart
Fooling with thunder, every time we start”
Thank you for these three, Greg. ‘Rain’, incidentally, is one of my favourite Dragon songs.
I Slipped, I Stumbled, I Fell, Elvis, clocking in at 1.35 minutes, we’ll call that a short song, another fun fact, the songwriters also wrote Follow that Dream for Elvis and incidentally it is the first song on Springsteen’s new boxset of unreleased song (One crazy kiss, and, bam, I head for the skies/I guess that love is like a cake of ice/You skate along, but then you can never tell/I slipped, I stumbled, I fell)
The Way the World Goes Round, John Prine, look I love John Prine and this song should be a ripper but the first verse (which isn’t quoted here) has not aged as it is can be interpreted as being an enabler of domestic violence (I’m sure that was not Prine’s intention) but it is problematic to say the least, even in the 70s when it was released (I was sitting in the bathtub counting my toes/When the radiator broke, water all froze/I got stuck in the ice without my clothes/Naked as the eyes of a clown/I was crying ice cubes, hoping I’d croak/When the sun come through the window, the ice all broke/I stood up and laughed, thought it was a joke/That’s the way that the world goes ’round)
Violets for your Furs, Frank, say no more, such a simple lovely song (It was winter in Manhattan, falling snow flakes filled the air/The streets were covered with?a?film of ice/But?a little simple magic that I’d?heard about somewhere/Changed the weather all around, just within a trice)
Ice Age, David Byrne and St Vincent, and yes, got my tickets to see the great DB next Jan at the Bowl (Oh, diamond, get outta bed/All unbuttoned, seams are showin’/It’s freaking me out, freezing it out/Your own little ice age)
Rinse the Raindrops, Paul MacCartney, maybe Maccas longest ever song and not a bad band jam (Rinse the raindrops from your head/Wipe your eyes, go back to bed/In the morning, skies will clear/And I’ll be here/Whoa see the sunlight, break the ice/For the birds of paradise/Listen to the song they sing)
Many thanks for your latest choices, Rick – as you might put it, some ‘heavy hitters’ there. To select just one for comment, ‘I Slipped, I Stumbled, I Fell’ is a fine example of songwriting craft, Elvis’s special way with the delivery of a song, and the key role The Jordanaires played in the Elvis’s sound for so much of his career.
Lots of Ice in Whaling songs.
Rolling Down to Old Maui – Danny Spooner (traditional sea shanty, lots of different entries, but these lines were taken from Danny’s version)
“It’s an ample share of toil and care we whaler-men undergo,
Through many the blow of frost and hale and bitter squalls of snow;
Those horrid isles of ice-capped tiles that deck the Polar Sea.
But now we’re bound from the Arctic Grounds rolling down to Old Maui.
Once more we’re blown by the northern gales and bounding o’er the main,
And the green hills of these tropical isles we soon shall see again.
Though for many a day we’ve toiled away in the cold Kamchatka Sea,
We will think of that as we laugh and chat with the girls of old Maui.”
The Antarctic Fleet – Harry Robertson
“I went down south a-whaling, to the land of ice and snow,
And eight-and-twenty pounds a month, was all I had to show,
For being on a little ship like a sardine in a can,
And eating salty pork and beef, they stewed up in a pan.
Chorus
Heigh-ho! Whale-oh! Wi’ the Antarctic fleet,
I’ve got a drip upon me nose and I’m frozen in the feet.
South Georgia is an island, it is a Whaling Base,
And only men in search of whales, would go to such a place,
No entertainment does exist unless you make home brew,
Then we would have some singing and, we’d have some fighting too.”
Thanks for the highly apt whaling songs, Dave – this sub-genre, I’ve found, is a particularly rich and evocative one.
‘That Old Black Magic’, written by Johnny Mercer and Harold Arlen, recorded by Frank
Sinatra and numerous others:
‘Those icy fingers up and down my spine…’
And while I’m thinking about it, there’s a lovely early Kate Bush song called ‘Snow Bowl’, which contains a number of direct references to ice. According to the online Kate Bush Encyclopedia:
‘ ‘Snow Bowl’ is a song written by Kate Bush. It was recorded as a demo, presumably in 1976. The song has never been released officially, but it did end up on various bootlegs. The song is also known as ‘Hot In The Ice’, ‘On Fire Inside A Snowball’, ‘Set In The Snow’ and ‘Snow’.’
Speaking of great female artists:
Reeling, PJ Harvey, only two albums into her magnificent career PJ released a B Sides album, which for a lot of other artists would be a formal release (I wanna go to Spain/Spend nights/Just sipping on nectar and ice/I can’t sleep for thinking/Send my head a reeling)
Tomorrow’s Grave, Sleater-Kinney, from the 10th album of legendary punkish rock band, yes, high recommendation (Well, now I’m wiser, now I understand/I’m the drought, I am the barren land/I’m the flooding and the rising tide/I’m the heat, the wind, the fire, and ice)
West Texas Waltz Emmylou on a ripper Flaco Jimenez (of Texas Tornados – check ’em out) album, early 90s, i think (We spent the next to the last dollar in the old ice cream parlor/On a milkshake and a malt and a pop/Then we heard us some sounds, there was a honky tonk lounge/Right Next to the ice cream shop)
Ice Cold, Waxahatchee, again, highest recommendation for Katie Crutchfield’s band, the album this song is on and the song! (I might have it out with/The next person I see/But I’ll never/Have another/Burning hot/I run ice cold)
Aurora, Bjork (Threading/The glacier head/Looking hard for/Moments of shine/From twilight/To twilight) or if glacier doesn’t meet the ice definition, I’ll throw in Water by The Sugarcubes, Bjork’s band (I love you/And you know I will be back/Hold your breath/And nestle into the ice/Wait for me underneath the water/Wait for me and count to ten/You’ll look up and I will be there/Wait for me)
Cheers
Excellent material for us to listen to and reflect upon, Rick – even if, for thematic definitional reasons, we need to watch as the Bjork song involving a glacier glides gracefully into the chilly distance and away from our songlist ‘icepack’ of individual numbers utilising the word ice and / or direct variations upon it.
And another thematically apt song has just occurred to me, one I should know because the pub band I played in, Murmurs, covered it: ‘After the Rain’ by The Angels. This song begins:
‘Who lies on sheets of ice?
Who pays for paradise
After the rain, after the rain?’
No worries KD, I get it. Some ice lyric toons from Declan Patrick MacManus, with what may appear to be some ice like comments from moi:
Running out of Fools, EC covers this early Aretha Franklin song, on Kojak Variety, an album of covers, the album was bootlegged years before its official release, and while it’s a bit so what, it does includes a couple of inspired covers, noteably, Days by The Kinks and a Little Richard song and one by The Louvin Brothers, however his version of Fools is nothing special as prior to Little Elvis it has also been covered by Diahann Carroll, Isaac Hayes, Marlena Shaw, Labelle, Tammi Terrell, Kiki Dee and Neko Case, and Elvis C would be the last in that line as far as singing goes.
Having it All, Little Hands of Concrete, which was ECs non de plume while recording King of America mid 80s, this album along with Blood and Chocolate marks the end of an outstanding run of albums by EC, and quite frankly in the next 30 years, he never comes close to this sustained greatness again, this song is a leftover from KoA, and was released on a boxset commenorating KoA (Through the cellophane windows/Of a warm winter’s stove/I see the ice on my fingers/And a look that I loath/But there’s one thing for certain/I’ll never beg, borrow or crawl/If you can’t give me what I want I’m having it all/If you can’t give me what I want I’m having it all)
Dissolve, lower case elvis, this song is from the 2002 album, When I was Cruel and well, I’ll let the AllMusic website review do the talking: “it the most Costello Costello record since probably Blood & Chocolate — one that maintains a consistent tone, bristles with nasty humor, and is filled with carefully written lyrics (some could call them labored)” (Ice is melting a the distant Pole/The gin and tonic glasses overflow/Dissolve/The precious little else that I could say/Your stupid tear of laughter washed away/Dissolve)
North, little e, from the album that was released the year after When I was Cruel, which is called, er, North, and I’ll hand over to Pitchfork music mag to sum this up: North, Elvis Costello’s 24th (yes, 24th) album is among his least inspiring to date. (Up were the rushing rivers run and salmon leap/I could even get there in my sleep/Give me the ice and snow/Time to go…)
World Serious, The Coward Brothers, which is Elvis C and T Bone Burnett, they created this fictional duo back in the 80s and released a ripper song called The People’s Limousine, and reunited last year for an album and small tour, which is where this song and the next come from and they’re okay I guess (Eating ice chrome at the spaceball game/Between the China Reds and the New World Braves/The grandstand swayed as the organ played its soulful anthem/And the old announcers voice rang through the night in Gotham)
Row Me Once, The Cowards, again (Pretty face take me back to the place/Where the sand and shells castaway their spells/Row me once, row me twice, row me back to paradise/With a shot of rum and a glass of ice/Row me back to paradise)
Brilliant stuff, Trucker – your encyclopedic popular music knowledge to the fore. Declan McM often seems to ‘get you going’ – one way or the other! Comments like these take our themed discussion threads up another level, and are stimulating to read.
And I can’t recall a K-pop song being mentioned in any piece in this long running series of themed music discussions – the song I’m putting forward now in this context is ‘Ice Cream’, recorded by K-pop girl group Blackpink with Selena Gomez (released in 2020).
Hi KD, as FA has reprised my Warner essay from 10 years ago (doesn’t make me feel old at all) I thought I should throw in a Dave Warner song here and it’s a ripper.
Old Stock Road, I count it in his 10 best songs, live it’s a fave, hardly 2 mins long but in that time we get close up and personal with young lust, written in the mid 70s so you can throw in a reference to Last Tango as well:
With a thump, thump, thump, in my heart/And a boom, boom, boom in my brain/Ice, ice, ice in my beer/I got a girl, girl, girl in my bed/She got her tongue, tongue, tongue in my mouth/I got my hand, hand, hand on the light-switch (it gets a lot raunchier real fast)
Thanks, Rick, I enjoyed and commented upon your Warner piece earlier today, as you may have seen.
Thanks for ‘Old Stock Road’. Fine pickup!
While I’m here, what about a favourite song by one of my favourite bands, Blondie: ‘Sunday Girl’… where the words ‘cold as ice cream ‘ occur. It was originally on a single – a B-side of the fine A-side, ‘Denis’.
I think there’s probably a whole bunch of ‘ice cream songs’ which are yet to appear on this current songlist, too.
‘Ice Cream Phoenix’ by Jefferson Airplane.
NEW THEME BEGINS TOMORROW, FRIDAY 8 AUGUST.