Menu:

 Site Intro

1. Clutching Intro

Album Tracks:
 

1. Hotel Hobbies
2. Warm Wet Circles
3. That Time Of The Night
4. Just for the Record
5. White Russian
6. Incommunicado
7. Torch Song
8. Sláinte Mhath
9. Sugar Mice
10. The Last Straw
11. Happy Ending?

B-Sides:

1. Going Under
2. Tux On

Clutching At Straws - Sugar Mice

Introduction: From an unnamed article in No1 Magazine written by Debbie Voller on 30 May 1987, sent to me by Kristie English:

Fish: "I was laying in bed in the Holiday Inn and looking up at the ceiling at some hearts 'n' stuff that some lovers had carved, and I was feeling really down. So I rang my old lady but it was a bad phone call; lots of long silences. I felt even more depressed. Torch has run away from everything and everybody and gone in search of a dream that doesn't exist!"

'Sinatra'
Comptons Interactive Encyclopaedia: "SINATRA, Frank (born 1915). The term bobby-soxers was first used in 1943-44 to identify the young audiences who sighed, squealed, sobbed, and swooned over Frankie Boy the original teen idol. Part of Frank Sinatra's appeal then was his vulnerable, slouchy look, and part was his way of caressing a lyric. He bent his voice like a trombone to develop an intimate style of provocative slurs and eccentric phrasing. Known to different generations as The Voice, Ol' Blue Eyes, and Chairman of the Board, he was a superstar for more than five decades.

"Francis Albert Sinatra was born on Dec. 12, 1915, in Hoboken, N.J. He began singing in amateur shows in 1933 and formed a musical group, the Hoboken Four. Bandleader Harry James discovered Sinatra's act at the Rustic Cabin in New Jersey in 1939. Their best recording together, 'All or Nothing at All', did not become a hit until after the singer's solo career took off four years later. During 1940-42 his jazzy style was developed with trombonist Tommy Dorsey's band.

"In 1943 Sinatra also starred in 'Higher and Higher', the first of more than 50 films. He won his first Academy award in 1945 for the patriotic short subject 'The House I Live In'. 'From Here to Eternity' (1953) brought the award for best supporting actor. He was nominated for best actor for 'The Man with the Golden Arm' (1955). Other films included 'Suddenly' (1954), 'Pal Joey' (1957), 'The Manchurian Candidate' (1962), 'The Detective' (1968), and 'The First Deadly Sin' (1980). Sinatra won numerous awards for his recordings and a variety of television shows. Frequent concert work included the Ultimate Event tour (1989-90) with Liza Minnelli and Sammy Davis, Jr.

'Sugar Mice'
As seen on the cover, these are literally small, coloured mice made from sugar, with a string tail.

'Raincheck'
The original term was 'rain cheque'. Jeroen Schipper's FAQ: "A raincheck is something that is given out:

- At events when it rains, like a baseball game. Usually it means the game is being cancelled at the current time, and the raincheck will allow you into the rescheduled game.
- When you go to buy something at a store and it is on sale. If something is supposed to be on sale, but it's sold out, they can give you a raincheck to pick the item up later at the sale price.
- When talking about social occasions, as in "Would you like to come over for a drink?" "No thanks, I'll take a raincheck" meaning either a) Can't do it right now, how about later. or b) a polite way of saying bugger off."

'Clutching at Straws'
Brewers: "A forlorn hope; 'A drowning man will catch at a straw'"