Comments on: PAUL YOUNG – “Wherever I Lay My Hat (That’s My Home)”

By: DV

DV — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 13:05:16 +0000

I am glad you mentioned the terrifying fretless bass line on this. I think someday someone should release a compilation called “The Magic of Fretless Bass”. Or “All Your Fretless Bass Are Belong To Us”.

I remember when this came out, people talked about how it was soul music. I had no idea what this meant, and thought it was something to do with either Young being a god-botherer (not obvious from the lyrics) or else this “soul” business just indicated that he meant it, maaaan.

For years I believed that Paul Young was Gary Glitter’s son.

By: peter goodlaws

peter goodlaws — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 11:12:08 +0000

The Toast geezer’s version of this couldn’t have been more different from Marvin’s, which despite the sombre lyric is surprisingly jolly and sounds a bit like a wind-up to me – especially the girly chorus. For me, Paul Young had to be the dullest artist of the period and this is a colourless performance, which quite frankly I had forgotten all about.

By: wichita lineman

wichita lineman — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:02:15 +0000

K-Tel watch: end of an era. The last pre-Now! comp was Headline Hits, in a truly a sleeve that applied make-up to everyone, even KC. And Jimmy The Hoover. A pretty upbeat selection, which includes some (very) old timers – Rocky Sharpe? The Chi Lites?? Kenny Lynch??? – as well as the Lotus Eaters’ definition of indie/major crossover.

Side 1
Give It Up – KC & The Sunshine Band
First Picture Of You – The Lotus Eaters
Wherever I Lay My Hat – Paul Young
Come Dancing – The Kinks
Boogie Nights – Lafleur
Fool For You – Julie Roberts
Walking In The Rain – Modern Romance
Nobody’s Diary – Yazoo
Tantalise (Wo Wo Ee Yeh Yeh) – Jimmy The Hoover
Watching – Thompson Twins

Side 2
IOU – Freeez
Everything Counts – Depeche Mode
(She’s Sexy And 17 – Stray Cats
Changing For You – Chi Lites
Half The Day’s Gone And We Haven’t Earned A Penny – Kenny Lynch
Stop Please Stop – Rocky Sharpe & The Replays
The Walk – The Cure
Down Among The Dead Men – Flash & The Pan
Freak – Bruce Foxton
Wait Until Tonight (My Love) – Galaxy featuring Phil Fearon

By: Erithian

Erithian — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 08:57:16 +0000

John Lennon said in 1965 that he often thought about what he’d do if there were 48 hours in a day, only to find that the extra 24 hours filled up pretty quickly as well. Having kids, especially new ones, is a bit like that – so take your time Tom and enjoy it!

By: Billy Smart

Billy Smart — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 08:39:49 +0000

Everybody wants you, Tom!

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 23:20:16 +0000

(BTW the current lack of updates isn’t because I expect anyone else to have anything to say about Paul Young!)

By: ace inhibitor

ace inhibitor — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 22:00:05 +0000

Landfill status still holds. Walking past a charity shop in Dundee, this lunchtime, sure enough – ‘No Parlez’ was on display in the window. I don’t mind this at all, but the video is pretty terrible. stop fiddling with your nasty pink tie, paul!

By: pink champale

pink champale — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 10:17:25 +0000

#25, #28 blimey, so i was exactly right in imagining upthread what the marvin gaye original might sound like – well done me!

By: Kit

Kit — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 06:10:52 +0000

“But YouTube still has a few gems – here’s one:”

Ah bless, that rip’s down to my playing the clip when they toured last year. (Dude also stalked me to the Ghostface show last week, it seems.) Molly’s uncharacteristically *coherent* there though!

By: Snif

Snif — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 02:00:01 +0000

“♯38 Weren’t the singers known as the Fabulous Wealthy Tarts or am I confusing them with someone else?”

They were, and i agree that they were the best things about the song.

By: lonepilgrim

lonepilgrim — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:23:19 +0000

♯38 Weren’t the singers known as the Fabulous Wealthy Tarts or am I confusing them with someone else?

By: will

will — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:17:13 +0000

Wherever I Lay My Hat sort of washed over me, but the two follow ups, Come Back And Stay and the aforementioned Love Of The Common People, were much better. If only for the two women who were Young’s backing singers at the time and their hilarious counter vocals (‘Did-you-write-the-book-of-love?’) I wonder what happened to them.

By: Billy Smart

Billy Smart — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:31:50 +0000

#31 Aha! But what ‘original’ of ‘Love Of The Common People’ are you thinking of? Nicky Thomas may have had the hit, but The Everley Brothers had an amazing version as early as 1967.

Both are about fifty times better than Paul Young’s interpretation.

By: LondonLee

LondonLee — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:51:25 +0000

Re #34. I’m trying to remember when the Levi 501s ads started. It must have been after soul had been granted street cred by The Face and NME otherwise the ad guys wouldn’t have bought into it.

I remember a mate of mine buying an Al Green compilation back then – because it seemed the thing to do now he’d bought his own house and was having dinner parties – complaining to me that all the songs sounded the same.

By: LondonLee

LondonLee — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:47:26 +0000

I remembered PY’s version of ‘I’m Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down’ last night, I think I quite liked it but that’s definitely a case where the original is the killer.

I hated ‘IOU’ too. Awful, annoying record, not a patch on ‘Southern Freeze’

By: Mark M

Mark M — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:25:53 +0000

Re 33: Yes, I prefer the Marvin version, and I’m not a big fan of his at all (I can’t stand What’s Going On).

I do think it’s worth lingering on soul’s imposing place in British popular culture as the mid-80s rolled in.

By: wichitalineman

wichitalineman — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:34:34 +0000

It’s the reverse of I’m Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down which, in the hands of Ann Peebles, was subtly menacing, with maybe the greatest minimalist-soul Hi production. PY makes it into an orchestral-stab fest with nasty domestic beating overtones. Not a song for Everybloke.

Does anyone out there prefer “Marvin”‘s version of ‘Hat?

By: David Belbin

David Belbin — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:22:09 +0000

Ah but ‘Love of the common people’ has an unsurpassable original whereas, I’m with Lee on this, the PY version is superior in every sense to MG’s, although it goes off at the end. Great arrangement and Young makes the lyric into a confession of the shallowness of the lifestyle it portrays. An interesting version, nice bass (from a guy who, 20 years later, would join The Who) and the shining moment in a journeyman career.

By: Rory

Rory — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:11:20 +0000

That’s the one, Erithian. He had a lot more tongue-tied moments than that one, but the ABC’s equivalent of wiping all the early Doctor Whos was wiping old Countdowns, so a lot of them were reduced to memory. But YouTube still has a few gems – here’s one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRdMatLhCsI

I’ll give you “Love of the Common People”, which I much preferred to this.

By: Erithian

Erithian — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:32:44 +0000

I’ll post another vote in favour of the bass, and of the record generally – one of the best of the year, and a fine voice giving the song a distinguished treatment. I remember thinking Streetband sounded a bit like Ian Dury, and it was a pleasant surprise when Young stepped out from making cars or whatever he was doing to use a warm white-soul voice to highly profitable effect. There’s room for everyblokes and larger-than-life stars at the same time, and Paul was good to have around (a special shout for “Love of the Common People” which worked beautifully in the reworking he gave it).

As for Pino, in the words of Cozy Powell, “the bass man he don’t cop for no glamour”, so it’s good for them to step forward now and again. Summer ’83 was not far behind ’76 weather-wise, and that bass line was one of the signature sounds of the summer – lazing on the grass listening to that and the riff on “Long Hot Summer”… and, er, “Wings of a Dove”. My, some great records out as the sun shone. Mind you, sorry all you soulboys but I thought “IOU” was shallow, repetitive shite.

Rory, wasn’t “Molly” Meldrum the bloke who had a severe case of starstruck tongue-tie when he was supposed to be interviewing Prince Charles one time in the early 70s? It gets shown on blooper shows now and again. Poor bloke – a bit rough for that to be the only thing you’re known for half the world away, but still…

By: LondonLee

LondonLee — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:28:59 +0000

I always thought Marvin’s version (I can call him “Marvin” can’t I?) sounded like Motown doing a ska record.

By: Martin Skidmore

Martin Skidmore — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:08:19 +0000

I wouldn’t want to give this a lot of praise, but I always quite admired the fact that it changes the mood greatly from the original – Marvin is bragging about this and sounding as if he is enjoying himself, helped by very jaunty horns, even by Motown standards. Paul puts in loads more melancholy and underplays the bragging aspects. Good for him, but the end result is still a dull record.

By: wichitalineman

wichitalineman — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 08:58:28 +0000

Spare a thought for Sad Cafe singer Paul Young, whose post-Cafe solo career was scuppered once this hit.

By: Rory

Rory — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 23:34:32 +0000

I remember Ian “Molly” Meldrum, the compere of Australia’s TOTP-equivalent Countdown, being unusually enthusiastic about this, but I’m not sure if that was relative to his usual level of enthusiasm for new releases (which always hovered around 9.8 out of 10) or to my own surprise that anyone could be enthusiastic about such a limp record. The bass was just too lugubrious, and I never really saw the appeal of Young’s vocal. All hat and no cattle, as them Texans say.

Worse, no matter how bouffant his hair, Young seemed like just some bloke, and being everyman didn’t work in his favour; pop stars should surely be larger than life. How did we get from Adam Ant to this so quickly? The same couldn’t have been said of many acts of the preceding few years, not even Sting, but Young headed a veritable parade of Blokes of Pop (*cough*RickAstley). Okay, maybe Phil Collins got there first, but at least he’d been in a Proper Band.

This was and is pretty much the definition of average for me. 5.

By: wichitalineman

wichitalineman — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 23:11:28 +0000

I’m in agreement with Lee – this is entirely different to Marvin Gaye’s original, which sounds like The Wanderer on 78. It was re-issued later in the year on the b-side of a What’s Goin’ On 12″ and, hearing it for the first time post Paul Young, was a grave disappointment. It’s a great shame that Spands’ buddy “Marvin” didn’t have the opportunity to rework his own song as a ballad in a similar way.

It is a strange concept, isn’t it, the roaming ladies man coming over all melancholy? But there’s a small tradition – Ricky Nelson’s low key Travellin’ Man (double-A flip of Hello Mary Lou) came just before The Wanderer, while Run Run Roadrunner by Gene Pitney* is the acme, with a full NYC Righteous Brothers-style WW3 backing, entirely tortured, even though the lyric doesn’t give any kind of clue as to why. Self loathing, sexual confusion, fuck the pain away, etcet, possibly.

Re 20: It does sound like showing off to me, as pretty much all fretless bass-work does, and so doesn’t exactly complement such a minimal record: ‘lighting’ is exactly what it needs rather than scene stealing (vocal aside, of course). Pino crosses the line because Phil S, Timbaland and Trevor H are making great records rather than creating settings for great songs. This is a good song AND a good record.

**who wrote Hello Mary Lou, an odd twist that may well only make me and Paul Gambaccini smile.