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Wednesday, 21 March 2007 16:37

Although I spent most of my youth steeped in punk rock, I've always had a soft spot for "Come On Eileen" by Dexy's Midnight Runners. Not only did my intermittent humming of the chorus lead to several strange looks from my mohawked friends growing up, the "toora loora" part tasted doubly strange in my half-German, half-Austrian Jewish mouth. I think I trace my predilection to the song back to a rerun of Saturday Night Live on which they were the musical act. Frontman Kevin Rowland started spinning his right arm like a windmill toward the end of the song and I was just mesmerized by how energetic the music was. Of course, this was before I knew the band itself was named after Dexedrine. Most of my friends would make up alternate lyrics to poke fun at the song (i.e., "Come on Eileen, oh I swear you're unclean"), but if I was ever alone in the car and it came on the radio, I'd just crank it and sing. I still don't own a copy of it, but I'll be damned if it isn't the catchiest piece of music I know. | Jason Neubauer