Is that a tremor in the space-time vortex? Or simply Word Towers Who nut Andrew Harrison quivering with anticipation? The Beeb, it seems, are to announce the identity of the eleventh Doctor on telly this Saturday at 5.35pm (is it too much to hope that the faithful Grandstand teletype machine can be dusted down for such a fitting timeslot?). It's certainly an inriguing publicity gambit (beautifully, there's been an announcement about an announcement)and it'll be interesting to see if it stays a secret until then.

Idle speculation and rumour-mongering, this is your last dance...

David Bowie famously revisited Space Oddity in Ashes To Ashes, revealing that troubled Nixon-era astronaut Major Tom was greeting the 1980s as a junkie.

Are there any other songs that function as direct sequels to earlier hits?

So. Michael Jackson's single white glove. Morrissey's gladioli and Johnny Ray-referencing deaf aid. That Cameo chappie's codpiece. Meatloaf's operatically sweat-drenched hankie. What other instantly iconic props have accessorised the titans of rock and pop?

We all know them - those moments of artistic misjudgement that soil a song. Maybe it's a flash of overreaching cleverness, or a woefully insincere stab at emotion. Perhaps it's simply an apocalyptically inappropriate instrument. Or just a Curtis Stigers styled 'soul-grunt' that leaps out of the radio and bitch-slaps you with pure horribleness. I'm going for that "Heart attack-ack-ack-ack-ack" bit in Billy Joel's Movin' Out. What's yours?

I remember Bono declaring that joy was the hardest emotion to capture in a recording studio. And on this idle Sunday afternoon I find myself wondering which songs have actually managed this feat, loosing the moorings of songcraft, musicianship and technology to become something giddily transcendent. Amen Corner's (If Paradise Is) Half as Nice seems like a contender to me - the moment when Andy Fairweather-Low dissolves into helpless 'La-la-la-las' has always sounded like an absolute cascade of happiness, pop music as pure, helpless joy, where words fail and all you can do is smile.

Any others?