Trashcan Sinatras

Tidbits:

Trashcan Sinatras are a Scottish band that was formed in Irvine, Scotland in 1986 whose members met through the club/pub music scene there. The original band members included Frank Reader (bass), Davy Hughes (guitar and vocals), George McDaid (guitar) and Paul Forde (drums). By late 1986/early 1987, the line-up had changed to include Paul Livingston (guitar), John Douglas (guitar) and Stephen Douglas (drums), along with Frank Reader moving to vocals and Davy Hughes to bass. While the band has included other members for short periods of time over the years, this is the line-up that would record the bulk of the Trashcan Sinatras’ music to date.

Cake is the debut album of Trashcan Sinatras and was released on June 25, 1990.

Opportunity Knocks is the opening cut on the album and was released in February 1990 as an EP and also as a promotional single in the U.S. Wikipedia has compiled quite a few assessments of the song, including:

…an absolute howitzer of a single with one eye firmly on the Top 40, jangly guitars, a snappy beat and some marvelously intriguing lyrics providing the ideal backdrop for Frank’s love-torn vocals. – Tim Southwell of Record Mirror

…beautifully melodic guitar jangle that lifts the spirits straight away –Penny Kiley of Liverpool Echo

one of the “standouts” [on the Cake album] – Orange Coast Magazine

a high-spirited grouse about fickle fame and fleeting youth, is the best – and eeriest – number. – Carlene Bauer

The band has remained active since its formation. To learn more about them, go to their website here. Where that site is more about current music, if you want the real lowdown about the band, I found this one that is an archival treasury, called Five Hungry Joes.

Always at the foot
Of the photograph
That’s me there
Snug as a thug
In a mugshot pose
A foul mouthed rogue

Owner of this corner
And not much more
Still these days
I’m better placed
To get my just rewards

I’ll pound out a tune
And very soon
I’ll have too much to say
And a dead stupid name

Though I ought to be learning
I feel like a veteran
Of ‘Oh, I like your poetry
But I hate your poems’

Calendars crumble
I’m knee deep in numbers
I’ve turned twenty one, I’ve twist
I’m bust and wrong again

Rubbing shoulders
With the sheets till two
Looking at my watch
And I’m half past caring

In the lap of luxury
It comes to mind
Is this headboard hard?
Am I a lap behind?

But to face doom
In a sock stenched room
All by myself
Is the kind of fate
I never contemplate
Lots of people would cry
Though none spring to mind

Though I ought to be learning
I feel like a veteran
Of ‘Oh, I like your poetry
But I hate your poems’

Calendars crumble
I’m knee deep in numbers
I’ve turned twenty one, I’ve twist
I’m bust and wrong again

Know what it’s like
To sigh at the sight
Of the first quarter of life?
Ever stopped to think
And found out
Nothing was there?

They laugh to see such fun
I’m playing blind man’s bluff
All by myself
And they’re chanting
A line from a nursery rhyme
‘Ba ba bleary eyes
Have you any idea?”

Years of learning
I must be a veteran
Of ‘Oh, I like your poetry
But I hate your poems’

And the calendar’s cluttered
With days that are numbered
I’ve turned twenty one, I’ve twist
I’m bust and wrong again

Ought to be learning, twist
I’m bust and wrong again
Feel like a veteran, twist
I’m bust and wrong again

Calendar’s cluttered
With days that are numbered
And I know what it’s like
To sigh at the sight
Of the first quarter of life

Songwriters: Frank Reader, Paul Livingston, John Douglas, George McDaid, and Stephen Douglas