Shout Out / The Sopranos (Warner)

• The book opens with the girls discussing a rival choir from "The Fort" in reference to Fort William, another similarly-sized town about hour further north from Oban.
• Throughout the book, the girls drink Hooch which, rather than being generic term for alcoholic drinks, is a reference to Hooper's Hooch, a brand of alcopop that was hugely popular in the UK during The '90s.
• The Port has a statue of John Loudon McAdam, and is described in the book as "surveyor, advocate of tarmacadam and national hero."
• The statue of the Virgin Mary fixed to the roof of the school was originally placed there by a Westland helicopter, a real helicopter manufacturer that was implicated in a scandal with the Conservative government about ten years prior to the publication of the book.
• Wee Maria once tried to get a bad henna tattoo out by using Vanish soap stain-remover.
• Fionnula mentions NATO when the girls are discussing the submarine in the harbour.
• Kylah’s big brother Calum apparently makes Airfix (as in Airfix Dogfighter) models, as Fionnula and Manda were able to nick some of the kit paint from him when they were Second Years.
• There's a mention of Fionnula and Manda’s "convexy belly buttons snipped into shape by the National Health".
• Some of the choir members own novelty lighters that play “Lambadas”, possibly meaning the 1989 dance hit by Kaoma.
• The brands of cigarettes smoked by the choir include B&H ^* Benson & Hedges, Regal, Embassy, Malboro, Silk Cut and Lambert & Butler.
• One of the songs in the choir’s repertoire is Forth Let the Cattle Roam, an English-language version of "Enchanting Song" by Béla Bartók.
• Manda and Fionnula decide to wind up Sister Condron by instigating a rendition of Good King Wenceslas.
• Father Ardlui uses the arrival of the submarine as an opportunity to deliver a sermon about Jonah that doesn’t seem to go anywhere.
• Manda only agrees with Fionnula's assessment of Fionnula’s assessment that Laura Graham is pretty by claiming that it’s in "a kind of Aerobics Barbie sort of way".
• Father Ardlui mentions "Jacob’s Ladder" in his sermon, referring to a specific set of steps in Oban that lead to McCaig's Folly.
• The pupils at the school use Gaelic League pins as earrings.
• Sister Condron mentions that a "pre-Wimbledon passion" for tennis has swept through the school.
• "All Round the House" is another one of the songs in the choir’s repertoire, which is apparently based on Shadow March by Robert Louis Stevenson.
• Father Ardlui owns several Sensor Technology pens.
• Manda borrows Catriona’s Wonderbra, which leads to a discussion about the difference between Eva Herzigova and Bosnia Herzegovina. Kylah mentions that she’s married to Bon Jovi’s drummer.
• Chell mentions how its weird that Emilio Estevez and Charlie Sheen both look like their dad even though they don’t look very much like each other.
• Orla’s family has a caravan at Tralee Bay, a real caravan park a few miles from Oban.
• Orla has a Walkman that she listens to when she's in hospital.
• Manda accidentally puts "Elizabeth My Dear" by The Stone Roses on the jukebox at the Barrels when the group are having their night out with Orla after she comes home from hospital.
• Orla lends the night sister on her ward a copy of My Darling, My Hamburger
• The pool at Lourdes reminds of the rapids ride at the Time Capsule, a leisure centre in Coatbridge.
• Michelle jokes that she’ll have to take down her Take That! posters, "or they’ll scare the Baaby!!" The exact Take That! song this is referencing has yet to be determined.
• The title of the sixth chapter comes from a quote from Malcolm Lowry.
• Kylah’s love of music and her involvement in Lemonfinger gives rise to a wide range of references:
  • Artists and songs she mentions liking include:
    • The Cocteau Twins
    • Life is Elsewhere by Superstar
    • Frank Sinatra
    • Nat King Cole - Orla later recalls hearing her sing "Nature Boy".
    • Geoff Love
    • James Bond themes. Spimmy tries to impress her by playing "The Man with the Golden Gun" on his Fender copy.
    • The Jaws soundtrack.
    • Grace Slick from The Great Society, who she regards as a much better singer than Janis Joplin, particularly on the album Conspicuous Only in Its Absence, although in the book it's referred to as "Conspicuous Mainly By Its Absence".
    • Damo Suzuki from Can.
    • Jack Bruce and "that guy in The Grateful Dead".
  • She takes "Wheels of Fire" by Cream for the coach journey specifically because its length will prevent anyone else putting anything on that she doesn’t meet her approval.
  • She wishes she could sing on Jah Wobble’s Invaders of the Heart.
  • She doesn't think much of Jimi Hendrix or Hope Sandoval as singers.
  • She’s aware of the fact that Pamela Anderson is married to the drummer from Mötley Crüe, but doesn’t bother bringing it up in conversation after Orla was dismissive about her above-mentioned Bon Jovi factoid.
  • Lemonfinger practise in a local Scout hall.
  • They have a few covers in their setlist:
    • "The Snake" by The Pink Fairies
    • "Grimly Forming" by The Great Society. The text of the book quotes an extract from the song.
    • "Help Me, Mary" by Liz Phair. Kylah thinks that she sounds like a "nubile Old Testament prophet" when she sings it.
  • Kylah reckons that the rest of the band got the idea to write a pretentious acoustic guitar prelude by reading about it in NME.
  • They write an original song called "Homage to Catatonia", the title being a Pun on Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell, and possibly also a nod to the Alternative Rock band fronted by Cerys Matthews.
  • They sometimes swap instruments and play "Smoke On The Water" for fun during rehearsals.
  • When Spimmy and the others first asked Kylah to join the band, she told them to "keep on watching their fucking Commitments video!"
  • Spimmy claims that he wanted Kylah to join the band because he heard her singing "Glencoe" in Gaelic at the Gaelic League. Presumably this was the song " Massacre of Glencoe" by Jim McLean, although it's unclear if a Gaelic-language translation has ever been written or recorded in Real Life.
  • When Spimmy calls up Kylah to ask her again, she's watching Brookside. Spimmy claims that it isn't as good as it used to be. When he asks if she's seen any of the repeats with Harry Cross, Kylah mentions that her mum thought that Harry was "a right dour so and so".
  • Kylah wears a pair of Converse All Stars to her first meetup with the band.
  • She mentions the band Cast at one point.
  • On the bus back to the Port, Orla recalls her singing "Nature Boy".
• On the subject of fashion, Orla states:
  "I like Kate Moss’s tits, but I can’t stand all that Calvin Klein shite that comes with her."
• Kay dishes out a box of Cadbury's Roses on the coach. Kylah takes one saying she's "always partial to a Rosey, specially Ian Brown".
• Orla chews Wrigleys chewing gum.
• Rest and Be Thankful has some Humbers and Austins in the car park, as well as some Bova tour buses.
• Daddy Patrick is described as being "down in Davy Jones’s locker". His was boat called the Eilean Shona, a reference to an island in Loch Moidart.
• Buzz owns a Daihatsu Zebra pick-up which he salvaged from the Bear Park at Loch Lomond.
• Buzz has a telly in his garden, where a young Chell sees Buzz's pal Snorkel watching Panorama.
• Chell walks her dog, Selwyn, on Battleship Hill, a Real Life Oban landmark.
• Jamie Prenter's parents own a Nissan Datsun.
• At McDonalds, Kylah gets a "scorching-looking black coffee". The infamous Liebeck vs McDonald's Restaurants hot coffee case concluded a couple of years prior to the publication of the book.
• Kylah owns a Miss Selfridge skirt that she ordered from a catalogue.
• Fionnula shares an anecdote about a guy from the Port known as "The Argonaut", prompting one of the others to mention the film that's "all shitey special effects."
• Between them, the girls have a mixture of Nike, Head and Adidas schoolbags.
• The main page quote, said by Orla as the girls are changing in the bathroom at McDonalds, is a reference to the Evangelical counsels, the values cited by Jesus in the Gospels as the virtues one needs to cultivate in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, and are frequently associated with the vows taken by those who've taken holy orders (e.g. priests and nuns).
• Orla quips about cleaning "The Last of The McDonald's" from her retainer.
• Sergeant McPherson drives a Land Rover.
• Chell has a box of Scottish Bluebell matches. The barmaid who serves Kay and Fionnula mentions that they're actually manufactured in Hampshire.
• At the first pub they go to, the girls mention Home and Away and Neighbours when trying to pin down the barman's accent.
• Some of the shops on the agenda for the trip are Schuh, French Connection, Gap, River Island and HMV.
• Kylah and Chell buy themselves some Magnum ice lollies. They then stop at a pub where "Citadel" by The Rolling Stones is playing.
• Yolanda McCormack tried to smuggle back two boxes of Gitanes on the school French trip.
• Manda jokes that Fionnula seems like Mystic Meg in some of her spacier moments, a reference to the resident astrologer at The Sun.
• When Manda confides in Orla about her and Fionnula drifting apart, Manda says that the conversation is starting to sound like something off Ricki Lake.
• At the Pillbox, the first song the DJ plays is Celebremos by Kool & the Gang, but everyone in the bar sings along with the English lyrics.
• Stephen came to the Pillbox to see a band called "Jerry Cornelius and his Taiwain Sellout."
• Spimmy gets told off by on the phone by a barman pretending to be Kylah's new manager who asks "[E]xactly who are you, fuckin Michael Barrymore or something?".
• When a couple at the party at the Pillbox announces their engagement, the DJ plays "We're a Happy Family" by The Ramones.
• A police sergeant gives Kylah and Chell some directions that mention a BP garage.
• According to Kay, Ana-Bessie is spending her free time after rehearsals in Jenners.
• When Fionnula shows Kay how to light up and drink a flaming Sambuca, Kay jokes that it's one way to "make friends and influence people."
• Kay mentions "shaken, not stirred" when discussing gin measures with Fionnula.
• Kay doesn't have any interest in backpacking through the Himalayas, claiming that the only good thing about the Dalai Lama is Richard Gere.
• Fionnula mentions Clive James when talking about Australia.
• Kay claims that when people ask Fionnula to be more specific when she mentions The Border in conversation, they're doing it to wind her up because they all know that she's "a big Nat", i.e. a supporter of the the SNP.
• Kay's parents had a dinner party where one of their gynaecologist friends came as Goldfinger.
• One of Manda's modest aspirations in life is to get Sky TV.
• Manda sent off for a holiday deal in the News of the World, only to realise that it was not for a trip from London to America as she had originally thought but to see Chicago in London.
• Fionnula that "insecure" is just a "word out ah Cosmopolitan".
• When Kay describes Fionnula as the most popular girl at their school, Fionnula points out that their school is nothing like Heathers and that none of the boys look like Christian Slater.
• Kay remembers their year group studying A Hanging by George Orwell in English.
• Kay, Catriona and Iain had a halitosis contest that involved drinking Grant's Vodka.
• Kylah sings "Somebody to Love" on the karaoke machine at the Pill Box.
• When Manda sees one of the bar staff at the Pill Box cleaning up some glass with her foot, she thinks that she's dancing like the audience members seen in Top of the Pops 2.
• Manda mentions Billy Connolly when pointing out that The Divorcee likes to think of himself as a funny guy.
• When he's introduced to Kylah, Stephen nervously rattles off a bunch of pop-culture factoids, most of which Kylah is unimpressed by. Between the two of them they mention Holger Czukey (Kylah asks if he's related to Keyser Soze), Echo & the Bunnymen, Glastonbury, Sammy Davis Jr. and Michael Stipe.
• While Stephen tries to make a phone call in the Pill Box, the DJ plays "Somebody's Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In Tonight" by The Rezillos.
• The Divorcee refers to his and Velcro Suit's flat as their "house of fun."
• Velcro Suit has two crates of McEwan's lager in his fridge.
• Before The Divorcee puts on his wedding video, there's a brief snippet of an episode of The Montell Williams Show about Gangbangers on the TV.
• When Velcro Suit cuts his toe he gets blood all over his Reebok trainers. The Divorcee calls him "hop-a-long", referencing the Hopalong Cassidy character who appeared in many Western short stories and films.
• Kay says "Smart thinking Watson" when Fionnula tells her that she used her own parents' phone number when asked for Kay's contact details.
• When Fionnula and Kay get lost in a housing estate, they pass some graffiti indicating that they have found themselves on the "HIBS END OF THE STREET".
• Fionnula jokes that Kay would consider any housing downmarket from a Barratt house to be dodgy.
• The sergeant at the police station is reading a copy of the Edinburgh Evening News when Chell and Kylah turn up there for a second time. While there, he informs them that their classmates have been lifted for shoplifting in Woolworth's and British Home Stores. Manda compares the sergeant to John Cleese.
• Manda mentions that they could hypothetically wear their stolen school uniforms again if they soaked them in Lux.
• Father Ardlui has a collection of books including titles from Georges Bernanos, François Mauriac and Walker Percy. He's also mentioned to have enjoyed listening to Messiaen's "Quatour pour la fin du temps''.
• When Kay tries to suggest to Kylah that she could do something with her musical talents besides working at the record counter in Woolies, Manda points that Richard Branson is unlikely to be found dishing out record contracts anywhere nearby.
• When the girls head towards the Mantrap in the hope of finally meeting the sailors, they start cracking jokes in "bad, Cornishy Dorsety accents" about Treasure Island, Captain Birdseye, Portland Bill and Seaman Stains.
• A couple of guys in the Mantrap are reading Daily Records.
• One of the guys in the Mantrap, Scobie Macintosh, is referred to by Manda as "Scobie Doo".
• "Time After Time" is one of the slow songs that plays at the Mantrap.
• Kay and Fionnula decide to dance together when they hear the DJ play "There Are Worse Things I Could Do" from Grease.
• Catriona and her friends from the salon are referred to as "Catriona an The Hairdressers" at one point.
• The Bouncer homebrew is Birmingham Lager infused with magic mushrooms.
• Kylah turns on the radio in the Bouncer's flat and hears the local radio station playing Jimmy Shand music. Later, "Waiting for Conrad" by Shooglenify can be heard on his tape machine.
• The Bouncer wears Hush Puppies on his feet.
• The girls set off a box of Astra fireworks they find in the Bouncer's living room.
• Kylah mentions that the Sally Army office is down the stairs from the Bouncer's flat.
• Kylah thinks that the train bringing Stephen to the Port because might be early because it could be "speedy gonzalez Simon" who's driving it.
• When Stephen gets off the train at the Port he jokes that he feels like Spencer Tracy in Bad Day at Black Rock. Orla doesn't get it.
• Stephen, out of nerves, asks Kylah if she knew that Phil Spector invented thousand island dressing. Kylah has heard of neither of these things.
• The Man's budgie is called "Onan Two". Orla initially thinks Stephen means "Omen Two" when he tells her this.
• Orla tells Stephen about some figures from Celtic mythology such as Fingal, the Green Lady and the Black Hand.
• The British Rail employee at the buffet pours coffee from a Cona flask.
• When Fionnula hears about Father Ardlui's proposed pilgrimage hoax, she jokes that they should sell the story to the News of the Screws.
• "The Oppressed Song" by Bunny Wailer plays as the girls head out of the station buffet.