The Friday 5×2: Your “Saint” Songs

I’m impressed: you came up with quite a few songs with “saint” in the title. Eight, plus one with a band that had “saint” in the name. I added a tenth that I remembered, to bring us up to ten. And here they are…

1. Foo Fighters, “Saint Cecilia” Cathy came up with several suggestions, starting with this one. She had it down as “St. Isabella,” and I could have sworn I had seen that one, but couldn’t find it. It might have been this one, which Jeanne also suggested. It was the title track from their 2015 EP, and reached #3 on the Mainstream Rock chart the following year.
2. Mötley Crüe, “Saints of Los Angeles” I impress myself sometimes: I got all the umlauts in! Cathy also suggested this. It was the title track from their ninth and final LP from 2008. Helped along by its presence in the video game Rock Band, it reached #5 on the Hot Mainstream Rock chart and was nominated for a Grammy in 2009.
3. U2 and Green Day, “The Saints Are Coming” Ever since the “free album on iTunes” debacle, U2 has been on my “naughty” list. Also from Cathy, this was originally done by the Scottish punk-rock band Skids on their 1979 debut album Scared To Dance. The cover reached #51 on the Hot 100 in 2006.
4. Doris Day, “Ol’ Saint Nicholas” Birgit said she remembered a song by either Doris Day or Kate Smith (or both) that had “saint” in the title, and I found this. I know, it’s not Christmastime until after Thanksgiving, but it’s like everyone is starting “the most wonderful time of the year” early, so I added it.
5. J. S. Bach, “St. Matthew Passion (Final Chorus)” Ed told me he sang this in college, where his choir director used it as a way to teach people who didn’t speak German how to sing it, and that the words, when translated, are beautiful. The whole piece is almost three hours long.
6. Judas Priest, “Saints In Hell” Jeanne contributed this one. From their 1978 album Stained Class.
7. Sara Evans, “Saints and Angels” Sandi wasn’t sure if The Waterboys or country singer Sara Evans did this originally. From what I gather, The Waterboys got it from Sara. This was on her 2000 album Born To Fly, and was the third single from it, released in September 2001. It peaked at #16 on the Hot Country Singles chart and at #3 on Billboard’s “Bubbling Under” Hot 100.
8. Orbital, “The Saint” Jeanne also recommended this theme song from the Sixties TV show The Saint starring a young Roger Moore, who would have made a dynamite James Bond when the show was on. I think he was a bit long-in-the-tooth to play him in the Seventies. I haven’t done a collection of TV Themes in a while. Maybe next week?
9. St. Paul and The Broken Bones, “Call Me” SDC suggested this one, and while the song title doesn’t have “saint” in it, the band’s name does. They’re a six-piece “blue-eyed soul” band from Birmingham, Alabama, and they’ve released two albums and two EP’s. This is from 2014’s Half The City.
10. “St. Trinian’s Fight Song” From the British “St. Trinian’s” movies, popular in the Fifties and based on a cartoon of the same name about a girls’ school where the girls are little hellions. Mary and I used to watch them when Channel 11 in Chicago would run them as the late Sunday evening movie. The first, 1954’s The Belles of St. Trinian’s, featured the redoubtable Alistair Sim in dual roles, as the headmistress as well as her bookie brother. They attempted a reboot of the series not long ago, and it was much less innocent and much less successful.

Thanks to all who contributed. That’s your Friday 5×2 for November 3, 2017.