The Buzz

Introduction

What is it with flies and wasps? Are they just there to annoy us? I've had a couple in the house over the last few days, so I open windows and doors to let them out, and then what happens? They keep banging against the window or me.

Admittedly, yesterday the wasp was too slow, so met a sticky end in a tissue. My friend Chris described wasps as the football hooligans of the insect world, always looking for a fight. I have been stung many times but the wasp usually got worse from me.

Then "Fly On The Wall" by XTC came on the player, and I thought of all the songs about creatures that annoy us with their buzzing. Obviously we don't include bees (incidentally XTC had an album called "Beeswax" that I used to have and Gordon Sumner got the nickname Sting because he wore a black and yellow hooped jumper when he was a teacher.

So here are a few stingers:

The Who - "Waspman" - Single "B" Side

Three chord evolution and lots of stings from Keith Moon. A good opener for this group of songs.

U2 - "The Fly" from "Achtung Baby"

When it starts this quite vicious and for many people as annoying as a buzzing bluebottle. The Joshua Trio took the mick here:

Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers - "Buzz Buzz Buzz" from "Back In Your Life"

A gentler take as the main subject is a bee, but bees normally keep their distance and keep our world going. Bees are good (so is Jonathan Richman).

Wire - "I Am The Fly" - Single

Wire are favourites of mine and this is an off kilter janglingly relentless representations of the annoyance that is the fly.

The Cramps - "Human Fly" from "Off The Bone"

Probably influenced by the film "The Fly" lots of obnoxious buzzing, but I still think it is an excellent record.

XTC - "Fly On The Wall" from "English Settlement"

This probably pushed me over the edge to create this playlist with a buzz supplied by the synthesiser.

Conclusion

Thank you for reading and if you have any suggestions I might add them to the list.