Günter Grass – Kat en muis (03-017)

Günter Grass – Kat en muis (03-017)

Walking in town, I had over two hours to pass. Yet no book, hence run into a second hand shop and buy a nice pocket. I had just finished “Im Krebsgang” not too long before, therefore I had the urge to read some more by Grass. This short novel is about Joachim Mahlke, leader of a group of youngster is Danzig, then still a German city, we’re talking beginning of WWII. Nowadays that city is called Gdansk. Mahlke and his friends love swimming, they are on the water a lot. We see them grow up, we see them become adults. The weird leader of the gang turns out different, not surprisingly.

This short novel disappointed me. Not that it is very bad, I was looking for more surprise, for more things to actually happen. It didn’t. Had it been a big book, I probably wouldn’t have finished it, yet as a short novel, it didn’t matter. It did take me much longer than I anticipated though.

Pub rock

Sitting in beach bar Sunset on St. Maarten we saw this guy preparing to play his guitar. The three of us looked at each other and only said: “Van Morrison”. We decided to bet on the time that he played a song by the Irish bard. The question wasn’t IF he would play one, it was WHEN he would play it. He surprised us, it took him at least a quarter longer than anticipated.

The point is that it is so incredibly easy to predict what any band or singer will play in a bar or pub. So we started on a top 50 pub rock songs. Obviously this is a matter of opinion and discussion. So please do. Perhaps if many of you have any input, we can come to the ultimate Pub Rock songs. In my humble opinion the top ten is:

1. Eagles – Hotel California
2. Van Morrison – Brown eyed girl
3. Pink Floyd – Wish you were here
4. Led Zeppelin – Stairway to heaven
5. Police – Roxanne
6. U2 – One
7. Oasis – Wonderwall
8. Doors – Roadhouse blues
9. Bob Dylan – Knocking on heavens door
10. Red hot chilli peppers – Under the bridge

Please let me know what you think. Did I forget some obvious choices? Are some songs too high or others too low? Remember: this is not about what you and I like, but about what a singer with his guitar or with his band is most likely to play in bars and pubs. Chick songs are left out, to me a different category.

The other forty-something songs ( Read more... )