I also make mixtapes themed around Fruit.
1) Strawberry Swing - Frank Ocean
And kicking us off is a cover of one of Coldplay's better latter-day tracks (I imagine - I lost interest after the disappointing "X & Y", and now only ever overhear them on the radio or when they play the stadium next door to my house). Frank Ocean blows the original out of the water, by preserving the sugar-spun guitar parts and Graceland-esque rhythm, and simply by not being Chris Martin. Even the latter's unwanted appearance towards the end only serves to emphasise how much better a singer Ocean is, thus bolstering the cover's worth even as it nearly derails it completely. Not sure how this ties into the whole fruit theme beyond the title, and I'll be buggered if I know what a strawberry swing is (an All Bar One cocktail, perhaps?), but the smooth soul and concluding alarm clock sample make it a worthy opener to "Now That's What I Call Music About Fruit Vol. 1 (of 1)".
2) Lime Tree Arbour - Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
Nick Cave appears to be in some sort of orchard in this low-key ballad, which isn't very Nick Cave of him. A boatman is having a go at him, and "a lone loon dives upon the water" as he tries gamely to chat up the girl he's with. The limes seem almost incidental. In fact, if I didn't know any better, I'd say that Nick Cave is just using the lime trees as window dressing for another heart-stopping vignette of bittersweet love and desire. It's shocking false advertising, but it's also a nice song and "Raspberry Beret" isn't available on Youtube, so in it goes at track number 2.
3) Lemon - U2
4) Peach Plum Pear - Joanna Newsom
Three fruit for the price of one from famed East End market stall-holder Joanna Newsom. An abrupt about-turn from the cutting-edge Eurofunk of Zooropa, this song features just a run-of-the-mill antique harpsichord, hammered with merry abandon, and strident vocals which even the staunchest of Newsom-ites would concede are a little... eccentric. Still, it's a rousing little ditty, offering glimpses of the genius later to manifest itself on "Ys" and "Have One On Me", and it contains all the makings of a decent fruit salad.
5) Tangerine - Led Zeppelin
The band whose legacy lives on in the pun-tastic title of this very blog, Led Zeppelin were a very popular blues rock outfit from the late '70s (and also gave us "The Lemon Song"). Though they were known for their rock 'n roll lifestyle, thundering riffs and endless drum solos, Led Zep were often at their best when breaking out the acoustic guitars and getting all gooey on us. Case in point is "Tangerine", a lovely three-minute tune about lost love and citrus fruit, featuring a melodic solo that I never Jimmy Page had in him. There's more to this lot than just "Stairway" and indecent acts with mudsharks, you know. Plus, this song means I don't have to include any Tangerine Dream, for which we should all be grateful.
6) Step On - Happy Mondays
"You're twistin' my melon, man"
7) Strawberryfire - Apples in Stereo
Possibly the fruitiest song there is, "Strawberryfire" is by Apples in Stereo, and seems inspired by the Beatles' "Strawberry Fields Forever" (actually it's more in the "Rain"/"Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" mould, but that doesn't fit the narrative, damn it). A veritable farmer's market of produce all in one four-minute burst. It's also considerably more cheerful than the other "apple" songs I considered, including "Rotten Apples" by the Pumpkins and "Rotten Apple" by Alice in Chains, who should both lighten the hell up, frankly. This is meant to be an uplifting fruit compilation after all.
8) Coconut - Harry Nilsson
Unlike Nick Cave, Harry Nilsson isn't one to take limes for granted. Or coconuts for that matter. He built one of his best-known tracks around those two fruits (is coconut a fruit? It had better be), just the one chord and some silly voices - the rest is history, by way of Reservoir Dogs, which is where I first hear it. A brilliantly silly song which will stay attached to your head, facehugger-like, for days after you hear it.
9) Bowl of Oranges - Bright Eyes
Conor Oberst is another lime enthusiast, but for the sake of variety I've chosen another of his fruit-based works, and one of my favourites songs on "Lifted". I love the intricate wordplay of the lyrics and breezy simplicity of the folky backing, especially compared to some of the more arduous tracks surrounding it (having said that, I'd forgotten what a tune "Don't Know When But A Day Is Gonna Come" is...). "Our still lives posed / like a bowl of oranges / like a story told / by the fault lines and the soil": doesn't really mean much, doesn't even rhyme particularly well, but it's a great way to end a song.
10) Grapefruit Moon - Tom Waits
Tom Waits doesn't strike me as someone who eats as much fresh fruit as he should, but his Vitamin C loss is the music world's gain. He's seemingly well enough acquainted with the stuff to mention it in his lyrics, although again, I'm not entirely sure what a grapefruit moon is supposed to be. Still, it sounds good alongside lines like "Every time I hear that melody / Something breaks inside" - basically, it's early-period Tom doing what he does best and being all lovelorn and down on his luck in the coolest way possible.
Honorable mentions:
Peaches En Regalia - Frank Zappa
Raspberry Beret - Prince
Strawberry Wine - Ryan Adams
Lemonworld - The National
Orange Appled - Cocteau Twins
Banana Co. - Radiohead
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