Oh well, all good things come to pass and I’ve supported this lot since god knows when. Bye bye, Supergrass – it was fun while it lasted. Where did the last 17 years go?
Funny how I just sold all my Supergrass CDs on eBay…
I’ll go for the obvious and post this one…however, the eagle-eyed of you will see how a young Danny Goffey manages to mouth a giant, silent “FUCK OFF!” during the first chorus (50 second mark). That has been broadcast all over the world, without anyone ever complaining…I love this silent British anarchy, don’t you? Certainly beats Bill Grundy – wow link back to McLaren the other day, no?
Category: Diary
Today we are talking theme tunes. DHG posted a meme-type-thing (Good name for a band that) about theme tunes for blogs. Of course, being an egotist, I would use my own tunes for the themes here, but somehow I think the meme is more about the music you like than the music you produce, so I will play ball accordingly.
The main theme of this blog would be King Crimson’s “Into the Frying Pan”, which seems to sum up the last few years quite nicely. I feel I’ve been chewed up and spat out a few times. This is a live rendition taken from their gig at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire back in 2000 – it was our wedding anniversary and as a treat I took the Missus along. Poor cow.
The play out music would be Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac “Man of the World”. A song that just explains who I am in just over two minutes.
Oh dear, another musical icon and svengali has checked out. Always been a fan of Malc, not so much for the Sex Pistols but for his experiments in music during the 80s which have often been overshadowed by his punk hey-dey. Apparently, he’d been diagnosed with cancer some time ago and he finally gave up the fight on Thursday after taking a turn for the worse. A truly colourful, intelligent character, who made the music industry a genuinely interesting place – though I doubt John Lydon will be sad to see him go!
Here’s Double Dutch, a song that infused African rhythms into a Western pop sensibility long before some bloke called Paul Simon did it:
And Buffulo Gals, a song from my schooldays which introduced the phenomenon of scratching to a UK public. How we stood in a buffulo stance:
And here’s Malc going all popera on us (that’s mixing opera with pop) with his take on Madame Butterfly:
And remember he recorded an album about vogueing a good two years before Madonna!
I don’t get much feedback for my musical noodlings, so when the odd email plops through the virtual letterbox and it is filled with words of praise, I like nothing more to bask in its warm, LED, glow…
Via YouTube comes this from Ton Venhuizen:
Hi Darren,
I subscribed to your channel because I think you’re music is very inspiring. Your influences are also musicians I value highly (Hackett, Fripp, Oldfield). Keep up the good work!
Best regards,
Ton
Well I guess at least someone out there is enjoying it all!
I’ve been a fan of Neil Innes, Vivian Stanshall and the Bonzo Dog Band for as long as I can remember – from being entranced by the Innes Book of Records on my TV set as a young sproglet back in the who knows when to discovering the family tree and back catalogue when I was a keen music consumer.
As there’s likely to be an election called in the next week or so, I thought it would be a timely response to post the following song, which must be about 20 years old now, called “No Matter Who You Vote For, The Government Always Gets In…”
Never has a truer word been said or sung. More of the same, but in a different suit. Apathy…? You betcha!
And here are the words so you can hold your lighter aloft and sing it like you mean it…
No Matter Who You Vote For,
The Government Always Gets In (Innes/Stanshall)
BONNGGGG
Preside!
Hear, hear, hear!
Might I remind you…
Say it…
Order!
Might I remind you…
(Heigh ho!)
No!
OOORDERRRR!!!
Noises on the radio
Megaphones on cars
Sermons from the Street of Shame
Know-it-alls in bars
Posters in suburbia
Experts on t.v.
Don’t let them disturb-i-ya
They’re just the powers that be
Heigh ho!
Don’t worry
Nobody can win
(Heigh ho! Heigh ho!)
No matter who you vote for, the government always gets in!
Heigh ho!
riiiiinnng!!! (yaaaawn)
Oh, great, great slumbering nation cock-a-doodle-doo!
Awake! Set yourself free!
Oh, smell the comforting bacon
Taste the bromide tea
sluuuuurrrrp aahhh!
An’ give a little chirrup as I ladle on the syrup
Promises are cheap
Let me bear your crosses
Make me Boss of Bosses
Then you go back to sleep! ha ha ha…
Heigh ho!
Don’t worry
Pop your cross in the bin
(Heigh ho! Heigh ho!)
No matter who matter who you vote for, the Government always gets in!
Heigh ho!
Heigh ho!
Heigh ho!
Heigh ho!
Men have dreams of a finer place
Incorruptible Shangri-la
Women too have their Shangri-Las
Shangri-La la la!
See them in the public eye
Oozing oily charm
Hear them all personify
Down on Animal Farm oink oink moooo!!
Dog eat dog, not cock and bull
Isms are the game
Ism this and ism that
Ism it a shame?
Heigh ho!
Don’t worry
Nobody can win
(Heigh ho! Heigh ho!)
No matter who you vote for, the Government always gets in
gobble gobble gobble
Heigh ho!
Don’t worry
Pop your cross in the bin
(Heigh ho! Heigh ho!)
No matter who you vote for, the Government always gets in
(Heigh ho! Heigh ho!)
Don’t worry
You know you can’t win
(Heigh ho! Heigh ho!)
No matter who you vote for, the Government always gets in
(Heigh ho! Heigh ho!)
(Heigh ho!)
Pop your cross in the bin
(Heigh ho! Heigh ho!)
(Heigh ho!)
The Government always gets in
(Heigh ho! Heigh ho! Heigh ho!)
(Heigh ho!)
Pop your cross in the bin
(Heigh ho! Heigh ho!)
Sorting through a box of things, trying to figure out what to do next, I came across my old box of Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt’s Oblique Strategies cards. I drew a card at random:
Make a sudden, destructive, unpredictable action; incorporate
This seems to echo with the instincts in my head.
After discussions with her management team and deals being inked, Verity has decided to have another crack at singing from her magical musical lullabye book. Her previous effort only garnered a three-star rating. I mean, what kind of meanie gives a two-and-a-half year-old cutie three stars? And so Verity is aiming high for a five-star rating this time. There’s only one mistake, when her musical book malfunctions during the final song, but we kept it in for this stunning live performance.