With Just A Hint Of Amelia

It’s that time once again, time for another post to Amelia’s blog. Today we will venture through the square window (Amelia you’d better ask Mummy or Daddy to explain that cultural reference to a very, very old children’s television programme called Play School) into a prehistoric world. A world which existed a very, very, very long time ago, yes even before your Uncle Bill was born! Millions of years before even the great Kingdom of Godderwil existed! This month’s tale is all about Dinosaurs in music. I won’t mention the dinosaurs of rock that the punk movement in the late 70s set out to finish. We’ll save that for another day.

This post will give you songs and groups named after or about dinosaurs. I know it’s often little boys that love dinosaurs, but I’d like my Odd Daughter Amelia Catherine to buck the trend on that one! So where shall we start? Well how about with a little information about those big old beasts the Dinosaurs. The name comes from the old Greek for Terrible Lizard and there were more than 9,000 different species of them. How do we know all this? From all the fossilised bones and coprolites that archeologists have found over the years. I’m sure that Mummy or Daddy will explain what bones are, but let me tell you what coprolite is. Listen carefully because I need to whisper it, are you ready? OK then, coprolite is Dinosaur Poo! I think that one day I’d like a paperweight made of coprolite 🙂

Actually this next video is very educational and may even give us some new clues as to how the dinosaurs disappeared. What do you think?

The dinosaurs died 65 million years ago when a big lump of rock bumped into the earth, or maybe it was a big piece of alien coprolite? Everything went dark and all the animals that survived had a long sleep and then woke up as our ancestors. In simple terms the dinosaurs mostly shrank and became birds. There are still a lot of people who don’t believe dinosaurs existed at all. Well I reckon those same people don’t believe in Father Christmas, the Tooth Fairy or the Easter Bunny too. So that just proves that they are quite silly doesn’t it? We know that Father Christmas, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, Elves, Fairies, Pixies, Superheroes and Gnomes all exist don’t we? I know that at least Amelia and me will always believe that!

And before the music let’s have a look at a classic nature programme from a few years ago that shows dinosaurs in their natural habitat. It was called ‘Dinosaurs’ and has film of a wonderful little baby dinosaur;

So now let’s enjoy the dinosaur top 10 with Amelia

“Bront0saurus” – The Move. A great British band from the 60s whose key member was Roy Wood. Mr Wood went on to form to other great bands; The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) and Wizzard. I’m sure that one day they may feature in Amelia’s blog.

“Walk The Dinosaur” Was (Not Was). This band was the brainchild of two men who called themselves David and Don Was,but they were not really brothers. They were actually called David Weiss and Don Fagenson.

“Salamanda Palaganda” – Tyrannosaurus Rex. This goes back to the 60s when the band were very hippy and mystical. They later shortened the name to T Rex, who we’ll hear from later

“Dinosaur” – Ke$ha. A lady who spells her name with a dollar sign rather than a letter

“Metal Guru” T Rex. The band became much more electric when they shortened their name to T Rex. They also became much more succesful. This song from 1972 was the last of their 4 UK number ones

“Seaside Shuffle” Terry Dactyl and the Dinosaurs. The band were actually called Brett Marvin and the Thunderbolts and they changed their name for this release which became their only hit. The band also featured one Jona Lewie whose “Stop The Cavalry” has become a Christmas standard.

“Dorothy The Dinosaur” – the Wiggles. Dorothy is a “rososaurus”, a “yellow-spotted herbivorous green dinosaur with surprisingly scary teeth. The Wiggles were the highest paid Australian entertainment group for three years in a row.

“Dinosaur” – Hank Williams Junior. Hank is the son of US country music icon Hank Williams!

“First Daze” – Pterodactyl. This wonderfully named band are from Brooklyn in New York.

“Velociraptor” – Kasabian. The band took their name from the surname of Linda Kasabian, one of the infamous Manson Family.