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More terrifying Australian wildlife

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Magpies! One for sorrow ? This is very much the case if you happen to stroll through the territory of a Maggo (?) in the Spring.

I have direct experience of this. In suburban Sydney, when my son was 5 years old, the playground was terrorised by a particular magpie and it kept swooping down and nipping him on the head. It was an odd feeling because most of the time birds keep well clear and don’t attack us. However, this one was aggressive and if she really went for it and meant business, she could have caused a severe injury.

It made think of a Hitchcock film, but I forget which one.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-66920781

Billy Sherrill

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I just saw that Billy Sherrill, who produced Elvis Costello’s Almost Blue, has passed away.

As a somewhat love-sick 17 year old, I was very taken with Mr Costello’s version of Sweet Dreams. As I recall, the single had a cover of Jack Kittel’s Psycho on the B-side. I liked that too, but not because I was love-sick.

Almost Blue was my gateway to Patsy Cline and Gram Parsons and it is still one of my favourite Elvis Costello albums. There’s a documentary (Edit: I see it’s the South Bank Show) about the making of Almost Blue, which I remember as being good. I see it’s on YouTube, so that’s my next hour sorted.

Billy Sherrill also co-wrote Stand By Your Man. I find Tammy Wynette’s version a bit cloying, but I like Lyle Lovett’s. I was going to pop that in here too, but I don’t know if I can, so I will (try to) be the first to comment on my own post and put it there.