Last Man Standing: Songs That Tell the Temperature, Specifically
By Mr. Moderator on Jul 24, 2010
It was hot in Philadelphia today. Effin' hot! I took a long walk after breakfast, did some chores, cut up a big batch of hot peppers and put them in vinegar, then went to the Phillies' game, where I sat in the sun and watched my boys chase Rockies' first-half Cy Young Award Winner Ubaldo Jimenez from the game in 3 or 4 innings. Jimenez wanted nothing to do with a 4:00 pm game-time temperature of 100 degrees and our city's oppressive humidity. Unlike Jimenez I lasted all 9 innings, cheering as if it was a night game in the 70s. It was hot!
In honor of all the sweat shed at Citizens Bank Park today, how about a Last Man Standing on songs that tell the temperature, specifically. The song can't simply say it's "hot as hell" or "cold as ice"; it must cite a specific temperature, be it in degrees or celcius. Got me? It's too hot to explain it again. Now go!
30 comments
Comment from: ljhord [Member] 
BTW, here's the verse:
"Well baby, I could stay this way forever,
Just passing time at ninety-nine degrees.
'Cause loving you's my favorite kind of weather.
Oh, forever let the flame burn down in me.
"Well baby, I could stay this way forever,
Just passing time at ninety-nine degrees.
'Cause loving you's my favorite kind of weather.
Oh, forever let the flame burn down in me.
07/25/10 @ 10:43
Comment from: BigSteve [Member]
I immediately thought of 60s pop hit 98.6 by Keith. In fact-checking this I came across this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnP-yxUJBIA
Wow. Then it occurred to me that body temperature may not fall within the guidelines for this LMS. I await the ruling by the judges.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnP-yxUJBIA
Wow. Then it occurred to me that body temperature may not fall within the guidelines for this LMS. I await the ruling by the judges.
07/25/10 @ 11:37
Comment from: Oats [Member]
"110 in the Shade," John Fogerty and the Fairfield Four.
07/25/10 @ 12:22
Comment from: sammymaudlin [Member]
Does body temperature count?
"I've got a fever of a 103" Foreigner, Hot Blooded
"I've got a fever of a 103" Foreigner, Hot Blooded
07/25/10 @ 12:42
Comment from: BigSteve [Member]
Stop Breaking Down, the Robert Johnson song covered by the Stones on the Exile on Main St. EP:
I love my baby -- ninety nine degree
But that mama got a pistol, laid it down on me.
Stop breaking down, baby, please, stop breaking down.
Stuff I got'll bust you brains out, baby,
Yeah, gonna make you lose your mind.
I love my baby -- ninety nine degree
But that mama got a pistol, laid it down on me.
Stop breaking down, baby, please, stop breaking down.
Stuff I got'll bust you brains out, baby,
Yeah, gonna make you lose your mind.
07/25/10 @ 13:56
Comment from: Mr. Moderator [Member]
BigSteve, that Keith song was the first one that came to mind for me, too. Then, like you, I questioned whether it counted. Now I decide it does. Regardless, you are presently LMS based on a later entry!
07/25/10 @ 15:53
Comment from: eh [Member]
I first thought of Keith too (and man, that video...) but he doesn't actually say "degrees!" So my thoughts turned naturally to Suzanne Vega's "99.9 F"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEvjFThqmq0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEvjFThqmq0
07/25/10 @ 16:28
Comment from: BigSteve [Member]
Sonny Boy Williamson, Nine Below Zero
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGUGXOxs6p0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGUGXOxs6p0
07/25/10 @ 17:19
Comment from: beenreepin [Member]
David Lee Roth off "A Little Aint Enough" (yeah, I'm the one who bought it) - 40 Below.
07/25/10 @ 19:44
Comment from: BigSteve [Member]
Bob Dylan, Outlaw Blues
Ain't it hard to stumble
And land in some funny lagoon ?
Ain't it hard to stumble
And land in some muddy lagoon ?
Especially when it's nine below zero
And three o'clock in the afternoon.
Ain't it hard to stumble
And land in some funny lagoon ?
Ain't it hard to stumble
And land in some muddy lagoon ?
Especially when it's nine below zero
And three o'clock in the afternoon.
07/25/10 @ 20:22
Comment from: ladymisskirroyale [Member]
There is a creepy Lemon Jelly electronica song, "Experiment Number Six" which documents the physical responses to a patient in an experiment. The patient's temperature is frequently sited.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rnijc0YfD9k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rnijc0YfD9k
07/25/10 @ 21:22
Comment from: cdm [Member]
blue wing by Dave Alvin
"He had a blue wing tattooed on his shoulder
Well it might have been a blue bird I don't know
But he gets stone drunk and talks about Alaska
The salmon boats and 45 below"
"He had a blue wing tattooed on his shoulder
Well it might have been a blue bird I don't know
But he gets stone drunk and talks about Alaska
The salmon boats and 45 below"
07/25/10 @ 21:48
Comment from: ladymisskirroyale [Member]
Ok, people of a certain age will recall this:
Snow Miser and Heat Miser:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yon2YuXssvo
Thanks to my sister for reminding me of this.
Snow Miser and Heat Miser:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yon2YuXssvo
Thanks to my sister for reminding me of this.
07/25/10 @ 21:56
Comment from: BigSteve [Member]
Bob Dylan, Day of the Locusts
Outside of the gates the trucks were unloadin’
The weather was hot, a-nearly 90 degrees
The man standin’ next to me, his head was exploding
Well, I was prayin’ the pieces wouldn’t fall on me
Outside of the gates the trucks were unloadin’
The weather was hot, a-nearly 90 degrees
The man standin’ next to me, his head was exploding
Well, I was prayin’ the pieces wouldn’t fall on me
07/25/10 @ 23:34
Comment from: cdm [Member]
"a-nearly 90 degrees" is hot and all, but it's not quite as hot as 96 Degrees in the Shade (Third World).
07/26/10 @ 09:28
Comment from: k. [Member]
"The west end desert lives and breathes / at 45 degrees" Beds are Burning by Midnight Oil. That's 113 Fahrenheit for us Yanks.
07/26/10 @ 09:59
Comment from: pepe lepew [Member]
three hundred sixtyfive degrees...burning down the house!
Talking Heads of course.
Talking Heads of course.
07/26/10 @ 13:19
Comment from: alexmagic [Member]
"I'm burning through the sky yeah, 200 degrees, that's why they call me Mr. Fahrenheeeiiit!" - Queen, Don't Stop Me Now
They call me Mr. Last Man Standing.
They call me Mr. Last Man Standing.
07/26/10 @ 16:07
Comment from: jazcoleman [Member]
99.9 Fahrenheit degrees
Stable now, with rising possibilities
It could be normal but it isn't quite
Could make you want to stay awake at night
Suzanne Vega, 99.9 Fahrenheit Degrees
Stable now, with rising possibilities
It could be normal but it isn't quite
Could make you want to stay awake at night
Suzanne Vega, 99.9 Fahrenheit Degrees
07/26/10 @ 23:17
Comment from: andyr [Member]
Beds Are Burning - something about 45 degrees (celsius)
I am LMS
I am LMS
07/27/10 @ 08:15
Comment from: andyr [Member]
sorry - thought I checked through them all
I am Not LMS
I am Not LMS
07/27/10 @ 08:15
Comment from: BigSteve [Member]
From one of my favorite tracks ever, an obscure Staples Singers number called Wish I had Answered. Pops sings:
So many doctors
Standing 'round my bed
One looked away
Lord, he shook his head
He said 'Your fever's
102
I don't believe
I can pull you through'
I wish I had answered
Wish I had answered
Wish I had answered
When He called.
So many doctors
Standing 'round my bed
One looked away
Lord, he shook his head
He said 'Your fever's
102
I don't believe
I can pull you through'
I wish I had answered
Wish I had answered
Wish I had answered
When He called.
07/27/10 @ 09:52
Comment from: Mr. Moderator [Member]
I keep blanking on all these fine answers, but let me second the greatness of "Wish I Had Answered"!
07/27/10 @ 11:25
Comment from: junkintheyard [Member]
"It was a hundred degrees below zero...
and my mother cried"
Zappa- Don't Eat the Yellow Snow
and my mother cried"
Zappa- Don't Eat the Yellow Snow
07/27/10 @ 16:11
Comment from: alexmagic [Member]
Many artists have recorded "Cocaine Blues" over the years, but when Johnny Cash performed it Live at Folsom Prison in 1968, there was one difference that made his version stand out.
You see, 1968 was to be the final year that Adam West's Batman series would air, due to declining ratings. But in the show's second season finale, it gained a new fan, one Johnny Cash, who found Eli Wallach's turn as the villanous Mr. Freeze to be a "total hoot." Cash eagerly awaited the show's return in the Fall of '67, hoping for a return appearance of his now-favorite member of the Batman Rogue's Gallery. And while Cash would be entertained by the antics of Season 3's guest stars, particularly Rudy Vallee's Lord Marmaduke Ffogg, Mr. Freeze had not returned by the time of January 1968 (and indeed, the character would not reappear for the remainder of the series.)
And so on January 13, 1968 - two days after finding Milton Berle's appearance as Louie the Lilac to be "kind of a wasted opportunity, if ya think about it" - a cold-hearted Cash performed at Folsom Prison and made sure to add something special to his take on "Cocaine Blues". As performed by Cash, the line that goes "the verdict read in the first degree, I said Lordy, Lordy, have mercy on me" was meant to be taken literally.
For you see, as re-imagined by Cash, the gun used by his narrator is actually a freeze ray, used to put his wife into a fatal state of one degree about frozen on the Celsius scale*, in tribute to Cash's small screen hero, Mr. Freeze.
*Of course, Cash would later famously reject the Celsius for scale for Farenheit during the recording of the Johnny 99 album at Bruce Springsteen's urging. Also, during an interview to promote American IV, an aged and confused Cash claimed his favorite '60s Batman villain was "that fat guy what was from Egypt, I think?".
You see, 1968 was to be the final year that Adam West's Batman series would air, due to declining ratings. But in the show's second season finale, it gained a new fan, one Johnny Cash, who found Eli Wallach's turn as the villanous Mr. Freeze to be a "total hoot." Cash eagerly awaited the show's return in the Fall of '67, hoping for a return appearance of his now-favorite member of the Batman Rogue's Gallery. And while Cash would be entertained by the antics of Season 3's guest stars, particularly Rudy Vallee's Lord Marmaduke Ffogg, Mr. Freeze had not returned by the time of January 1968 (and indeed, the character would not reappear for the remainder of the series.)
And so on January 13, 1968 - two days after finding Milton Berle's appearance as Louie the Lilac to be "kind of a wasted opportunity, if ya think about it" - a cold-hearted Cash performed at Folsom Prison and made sure to add something special to his take on "Cocaine Blues". As performed by Cash, the line that goes "the verdict read in the first degree, I said Lordy, Lordy, have mercy on me" was meant to be taken literally.
For you see, as re-imagined by Cash, the gun used by his narrator is actually a freeze ray, used to put his wife into a fatal state of one degree about frozen on the Celsius scale*, in tribute to Cash's small screen hero, Mr. Freeze.
*Of course, Cash would later famously reject the Celsius for scale for Farenheit during the recording of the Johnny 99 album at Bruce Springsteen's urging. Also, during an interview to promote American IV, an aged and confused Cash claimed his favorite '60s Batman villain was "that fat guy what was from Egypt, I think?".
07/28/10 @ 10:32
"99 in the Shade" by Bon Jovi. And yes, I bought New Jersey when I was 14 or so.
07/28/10 @ 16:07
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