DJP - You don’t know everything, but there’s someting you do know, you know, you know… *approaching hopping getting louder and LOUDER*

Dirty sell-outs those Stranglers.

When I finally heard this back in L.A. it had been around long enough (a year) for a DJ to have altered it so everytime the title was sung, instead of Rogers it was Little Richard yelling “LUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCCIIIIIIIIIIIILLLLLE” in his very best fashion. It improved the song immensely!

*ducks*

It’s going to be a long day. I’ve told the wife not to wait up and I don’t expect she will. She never says a bloody word, that woman!

Will you be going on to the Ormond for a Clodagh Rogers moment in stereo?

Said colleague was a cool, public-school-educated Cambridge graduate, and a pretty funky young woman, mainly interested in R&B. Kenny Roger came on the radio one day, and she expressed some approbation. When we hit New Orleans, I went off to buy the new Janis Ian live album “Working without a net”, but also bought her a cheapo KR greatest hits compilation. Slide it in the CD player, and blow me if she wasn’t word perfect.

Turns out she thought Kenny is a God. When we got to the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville there was an exhibition of photos by KR - turned out he’s a dab hand on the old SLR.

I’m not mad about the melody, but I think this is a pretty evocative piece of storytelling.

Simon Parkin, good God…

I have this footage on a compilation VHS, the like of which I used to compile back in the day. I think that REM single had run its course, there was certainly nothing wrong with the performance. Mind you, Simon Parkin’s career certainly fell and that comment may hold some of the responsibility for this decline.

1. Were the Moody Blues a young band? I thought they were born middle-aged. They always seemed so to me anyway.

2. Of course, those who are “off their tits” as you put it (I sense a little bit of sexism there - how about “off their knackers”?) may well feel that they are in communion with the universe, like Jesus’ son, etc, but to the casual observer they look, sound and behave like prats. (This from one who has been there, on Tesco’s finest, no less!)

See, I find this a really intriguing notion, and far more enticing than most of the people who were young then and really did drop acid (with endlessly tedious results). See particularly Porter Wagoner’s excellent and surprising psych-country effort The Rubber Room.

The single fell from a high of 28 to 33. Parkin’s comment “That was REM there with ‘Orange Crush’ - refreshing on a hot day!” may hold some of the responsibility for this decline.

This’ll kill ya .

I’m fairly sure in the 80s, REM managed the same feat, though quite why I don’t remember.

Actually, that “perfect day” 12″ was the first to feature a ‘bonus track’, which had a “owing to a pressing error, this 12″ single features an additional track” (yeah, righto) sticker.