Gatagordinha

I still can't make up my mind which is my favourite, enough to vote anyway. The four songs which are on a loop in my head all day (and night!), though, are One Foot Boy, By The Time, Touches You and Pick Up Off The Floor, so I suppose it has to be one of those. BIOTG has so few votes . Looks like he picked the right song for second single then . Edit: Oops I meant to put Lover Boy too as one of my 'head' songs. I suppose it's no coincidence these are the five songs on the CD that I hadn't heard in full until Tuesday ;-)

suzie, I'm speaking for Nollaig here to clear up this confusion.. 'by George!' is an old fashioned English expression, it means 'goodness me!' or something equivalent. It's nothing to do with George Michael although the coincidence is quite funny I admit. But this is the By The Time thread not the Touches You thread, of course

This is such an intriguing little song, musically and lyrically. Musically it seems quite lightweight and dreamy, almost ethereal, yet the rhythm and the melody are actually quite potent. It's just as catchy as any of the 'poppy' songs on the album but in a very subtle way. Lyrically, as ever with me, I prefer not to over-analyse. I hear it as a lament about being abandoned, perhaps suddenly and without any warning. The 'don't wake up' thing suggests to me that the subject almost wants to bury their head in the sand and avoid the pain of the abandonment, and while to me it isn't explicitly about suicide, there is a slightly macabre edge to it, as if it might be hinting at self harming. These are just impressions I get in my head when I hear the song.

Are you admitting to a secret penchant for N-Dubz too then?

haha Niki I just knew you were a secret chav, as well as a cheese-lover! I probably do like a few chavvy songs but I dunno. Does that Tinchy Stryder/Amelle song qualify?? I like that *shh* I am also now going to admit to really liking 'Wouldn't You' by N-Dubz, and I used to like that H20/Platnum song what was it called, What's it Gonna Be or something. I like to think I have broad musical appreciation

We can hope! When Mika and Moyles met backstage after the Brits last year, Mika had had a couple of drinks, and when Moyles 'congratulated' him on his Brit and said something like 'I knew you would win that', Mika challenged him, pointing out that Moyles had been, shall we say, less than complimentary about him on his radio show in the past. I was so glad to see him do that! Mika knows full well what Moyles is like and I'm sure if there is too much negativity and ribbing, Mika will give as good as he gets so it will be very interesting But it may be all chummy and nice and sweetness & light, who knows.

That is grounds for serious complaint!! I guess the manager of your local HMV is a hater . I went to investigate my local Tesco Extra. It was displayed loud and proud. When I saw it, I smiled and muttered 'ohhh good' under my breath without really realising I was doing it (I was on my own at the time) and I got a funny look from this woman . I left the store feeling satisfied but kinda strange, like a weirdo or something for checking up on the CD displays .

Well it's already a known fact he talks out of his a*** a lot . He has definitely met Mika at least twice. Once at the T in the Park festival in 2007, and again at the 2008 Brit awards. So what is he on about?

I talk to myself all the time. I'm terrible for it. And yes, it's the sort of crazy conversation you have with yourself .

Thanks, very good review...again! Is it just me, or are there just NO really bad reviews of this? Even the poor ones are now at least acknowledging yes he's bloody irritating, jazz-hands* etc, but, but, gotta hand it to him, etc etc... A subtle but definite shift in the general attitude towards him. He has gone out and made an accomplished second album, even his detractors have to give him credit. I'M LOVING IT * anyone else noticing how 'jazz hands' is the new ' Freddie Mercury impersonator' ??

I am loving this song at the moment. To me it is the biggest grower on the album and really scarily addictive once it takes hold. I also think it's a track all non-fans and haters should be made to listen to. Like, tied to a chair and subjected to for a few hours straight. I don't have a verbatim analysis of the lyrics as I don't like to analyse too closely. But the lyrics are some of the most interesting I've heard, from Mika. The feel I get from them is of someone struggling with inner demons, conscience, or split personality. I don't really want to analyse further. I have an image of a short but hugely fat Sumo Wrestler boy, or something like a little fat buddha I see no reason to question that, it's such a nice weird image, I like it for what it is and I don't really care if I never know WHY!

Video already? wow wasn't expecting that. Mika on Jools again, great. As long as he doesn't do WAG too..I'm getting a tad fed up of it now Thanks for the info.

Can't see it posted anywhere yet. Mika - The Boy Who Knew Too Much, CD review Mika's swooping, over the top arrangements and arch delivery make for contagiously merry pop music. Rating: * * * By Thomas H Green Published: 4:56PM BST 23 Sep 2009 Enthusiastically embraces the contemporary pop game: Mika In 2007 Mika burst from nowhere to become a worldwide star. The frothy pop of his debut album Life In Cartoon Motion sold six million copies and he picked up a Brit and an Ivor Novello along the way. Yet, despite such cheerful ubiquity, or maybe because of it, he received plenty of flak. He was criticised by some for being imitative of the Scissor Sisters and Freddie Mercury; some sneered at the Lebanese-American Brit’s rarefied background – from Beirut to the Royal College of Music via Paris and Westminster School – while others noted that his preposterous theatricality emanated a strange neediness. All such criticism, however, misses the point, for Mika fits a very different archetype. Before the age of the pop star, before vinyl even, pop revolved around sheet music and the song. The equivalent of an album was a musical, a host of songs, often ridiculously frivolous, strung together on a flimsy plotline. Mika is disco-friendly and enthusiastically embraces the contemporary pop game, but really he’s a songsmith of this very old school – orchestra-educated and touting unashamed populism for all ages with no theme or wordplay too silly to be worth a punt. Thus Toy Boy, built around parlour room piano, is pure Disney, albeit filtered through a fractured, slightly risqué lens; Dr John has the makings of a raucous pub singalong; and even the disco throb of Rain cannot resist mutating into luscious symphonies. Throughout the album, Mika’s arrangements, particularly of the string sections, swoop right over the top, notably on the slushy I See You, but they are nothing compared to his arch delivery. If there’s a more self-consciously camp intro than Good Gone Girl this year, I’d like to hear it. Occasionally, he does wander musically off-piste, intriguingly so on the gentle African-flavoured Blue Eyes, which recalls Paul Simon’s Graceland period, but these moments are the exceptions. The Boy Who Knew Too Much contains far too much sugar to consume in one sitting, and its less successful moments recall forgotten US soft-rocker Christopher Cross of Arthur’s Theme. However, when Mika hits a seam of gold he’s a flamboyant, showman songwriter and his second album lights up with gigantic and contagiously merry pop music. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/cdreviews/6223559/Mika---The-Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much-CD-review.html

It means 'substitution'. Mika is going to be a DJ for a day, on Radio 1, in place of the usual DJ. So he is going to 'take over', in a sense. Takeover is the noun which comes from this.

Great review, thanks for posting. Seems someone doesn't share our collective enthusiasm for One Foot Boy though .

Why must one of the most iconic superstars of 20th century pop release a greatest hits the same week as Mika? If it weren't for Madge I would have money on Boy hitting #1 now.

Chris Moyles is on record as admitting that when he actually met Mika for the first time he was much 'less weird' than he had been expecting. I think the old Mika charm must've worked a bit on him, I mean, who could not find him utterly disarming? Surely even haters have to admit, if only to themselves in secret , that Mika is basically a nice bloke... That doesn't mean CM won't still have a few snidey remarks up his sleeve about Mika's music, or 'campness', or whatever cliche he sees fit to pursue.. I'm pretty certain Moyles is still no fan. So we shouldn't expect too much from this interview. Mika knows how to hold his own though doesn't he, in these situations. I guess it comes with the territory.

I am disappointed with the studio version of this song . I loved the live version from the Roxy, and other live versions, it is so vibrant and really skips along. I find this studio version a bit plodding though and I can't really hear the piano. Plus, the part at the end is muddied by having the Beach Boysish part overlayed with the coda (is that the right word?) and I don't think that works at all. It's still a good song but for me, musically, it's the only real letdown on the album. Lyrically however it is quite hilarious, with the munter thing and also the double D bust (thanks for that Mika ). And I will still really enjoy it live.

I got myself a cryin' talkin', sleepin' walkin' livin doll. Cliff's got his livin' doll and Mika's got his toy boy, that's a nice little nuclear family right there already. They'll be very happy together .

Whereabouts near Lisbon did he say he was thinking of buying? Serra de Sintra? Cascais? (Couldn't hear the whole interview, damn tv too loud in here ) Cliff Richards has a house there doesn't he..maybe Meeks is off to shack up with Cliff I think I might be going next summer to visit my friends there Get on with it Mika! T4P wonka

Oh yes, I totally did! I closed my curtains (the neighbours already think I am a nutter) put the CD in the stereo and turned up the bass and treble full, and the volume high, and played it right through without stopping. For the first three tracks I danced around with a cup of coffee in my hand ( it wasn't full!) and by the time Rain was half way through I had a little tear in my eye . Because it dawned on me then I had been waiting for this moment for two and a half years! Then I found myself sitting down for Dr John and I See You, before resuming the dancing: a bit of gentle shuffling to Blue Eyes accompanied by a wave of nostalgia for the SFS era (if we may call it that now!). Then a jig/sing along to GGG. Next came the first crucial moment, my first listen of a 'new' song, Touches You, right through. Full on shimmying ensued . Sat down for first full listen of By The Time, then back up for (ditto) One Foot Boy. For some reason I can't remember Toy Boy. Maybe I went to the toilet . Or I was tweeting someone about how marvellous it all was. . Then I sat, letting the full glory of PUOTF sweep over me, full body goosebumps when the orchestration kicks in near the end. Then back to dancing and singing along to Lover Boy, feeling like I was in the grand finale of a musical or something. Phew! It felt like I had listened to it just the way it was intended to be heard. Great!

YOU TELL HIM!!