Back to Backwards

After all this time to find we’re just like all the rest …

“Back 2 Good,” Matchbox Twenty
“The Back Door to Heaven,” Aztec Camera
“Back in the USSR,” The Beatles
“Back in Your Head,” Tegan & Sara
“The Back of Your Hand,” Dwight Yoakam
“Back of Your Head,” Julie Miller
“Back on Board,” Aztec Camera
“Back on the Chain Gang,” The Pretenders
“Back to Back,” The Replacements
“Back to Brooklyn,” Unlikely Cowboy
“Back to Earth,” Willie Nelson
“Back to Me,” Kathleen Edwards
“Back to the Start,” Lily Allen
“Backstreets,” Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band
“Backwards and Forwards,” Aztec Camera

Roddy Frame apparently really likes writing songs with “back” in the title. And I apparently really like songs written by Roddy Frame.

Frame’s not the only true Scotsman in that list. The Julie Miller song was written by the fun Scottish band The Electrics — here’s their version. That explains the lyric: “I wish I’d seen your sleekit face.” Merriam-Webster tells me that sleekit is “chiefly Scottish,” and can mean “sleek, smooth” or “crafty, deceitful.” Here’s my favorite Electrics song: “Get to Heaven.”

While nosing about for those Aztec Camera links, I was happy to find that someone has uploaded videos from the songwriters circle with Frame, Neil Finn and Graham Gouldman. Here they are on Crowded House’s “Better Be Home Soon,” 10CC’s “I’m Not in Love,” and Aztec Camera’s “Somewhere in My Heart.”

That Dwight Yoakum song was written by Gregg Henry, aka, Mitchum Huntzberger, aka the Sheriff of Paradise, aka That Guy Who Was In That One Show …