Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Cover Versions Special!
131 Plays8 months ago
It’s a Cover Versions Special!
Good lord, what is happening? Can you believe your eyes? It’s quite literally a special episode where we talk about cover versions! This is madness!
But not the band Madness.
Why do we do cover versions? Are they ever better than the original? What band did the best cover versions? What would be a wise song to cover now? All of these questions and more may be ignored as we listen to a bunch of cover versions that we recorded. Songs originally made famous by artists including Neil Diamond, The Ramones and Bryan Adams.
This episode also contains what we call an Engagement Opportunity. Which you could ignore if you like, but quite honestly it’ll make you a more interesting person if you take part.
Related video material is available on the This Are Johnny Domino blog
Your listening experience will be enhanced by hearing, in full, the original versions of the songs featured in the show, which you can find in your favourite record shop or online platform.
The Out To Lunch song lyrics are:
Searching for time that just is not there.
Does it always have to take this long?
You said don’t push it too far, just let it fade away.
But I felt I had to do something before we threw it all away.
Chorus
Just a dash of creativity that's all it needed.
Creativity
with all of them trimmings that come with love.
So take heed,
before you jump that gun
settle your conscience.
Can't you see what I see?
Girl, are you blind
to the ways of the lovin' man?
You need. . .
(Repeat Chorus)
Visit the Johnny Domino website
Connect with Johnny Domino on Facebook and Instagram
Podcast artwork by Giles Woodward
Edited by Steve Woodward at PodcastingEditor.com
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Theme
00:00:00
Speaker
There's a ghost in my house, the ghost of your memories, the ghost of the love that you took from me. Where our love used to be, only shadows from the past I see. Time can't seem to erase the vision of your smiling face. Though you found someone new, I can't get over you. There's a ghost in my house.
00:00:44
Speaker
I like the fact that that was such a dramatic reading of that song and then it goes into our stupid little theme tune.
00:00:51
Speaker
And here we are again. So that was the lyrics to There's a Ghost in My House, originally a song sung by Ardene Taylor. But I first heard it in its cover, well, one of the cover versions that have been done of it, which was done by The Fall. The Mighty Fall. Yes. And I really liked it.
00:01:15
Speaker
as of the cover version, but it's an example of a song where I heard the cover version first and then when I heard the original, I really preferred the original.
00:01:26
Speaker
So that's what you're saying about the songs that we're talking about in this episode. Well, because this, this is by way of introduction, this is going to be an episode where we're going to talk about cover versions.
Role of Cover Songs in Bands
00:01:38
Speaker
I just think it's interesting how that relationship works, because sometimes, you know, you hear the cover version first, but then you hear the original and it's like, oh my God, that's so much better.
00:01:49
Speaker
And with that particular song, I really like the original Motown soul version. It's a great, great song. I can't see you shaking a tail feather to the full version. I definitely did. I definitely did at Rock City back in the olden days. It was one that was played, definitely. But yeah, cover versions.
00:02:14
Speaker
Very interesting. I've been thinking about the role that cover versions play in the lives of most bands. Unless you're the kind of person who writes songs in their room on guitars and has been woodshedding songs for years and years and years and then you look for a band to play with, most people form bands with their mates.
00:02:38
Speaker
And the cover version can be a necessity because you've got nothing to play, you haven't written any songs. So let's learn how to play a song. Yeah, it gives you something to do. And you get to sort of practice your chops and stuff. Get your chops sorted. Yeah. And also it's a way of kind of finding common ground with people that you're in a band with. Whether you're doing a straight cover version or you're doing a kind of tongue in cheek
00:03:08
Speaker
Ooh, this song's rubbish. Type cover version.
00:03:11
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, there's so much to talk about with cover versions. It's kind of quite a big topic. It's quite mad. But this episode, we're going to try and tackle it a bit, and we're going to listen to some cover versions that we did. What we did. Which we did do a few. I mean, we did a few as Johnny Domino. I mean, we've done lots of them in all of the bands we've been in. But obviously, this is our Johnny Domino. So we're talking about the ones that we've recorded, whether it was just myself and you.
00:03:41
Speaker
or as a band. One of them, I remember that we did play it live as a band. We played it once. We played it as the last song in our set. Annoyingly, people came up to us and said, good set. Really love the last song. What's it called? That's a thing, isn't it? That is a thing because quite often that happens, I feel probably.
00:04:08
Speaker
If you're a band that mainly plays original songs and then you slip in a cover, quite often I think it's the case that people go, oh, I really like that one.
Experiences with Specific Cover Songs
00:04:17
Speaker
Yeah, that was brilliant. That was amazing. Do more like that.
00:04:21
Speaker
Yeah, okay. Well, you know, Iggy Pop did it first or whatever. Shall we listen to that one first? We can, but before we get into that, you need to flag something up because in this episode, at the end, we're going to, we're going to introduce something, aren't we? Well, absolutely. On this similar tip of cover versions, at the end of the episode, we're going to talk about a new possibility for you, the listener, to get engaged with our podcast.
00:04:49
Speaker
It's an exciting, I'm not going to say it's a competition, because we don't have the budget, but... It's an engagement opportunity. It's an engagement opportunity, yes. We're trying to engage you, the listener, into this Argini Domino brand.
00:05:05
Speaker
Yeah, that sounds so bad. And I like the fact I use the word brand. Nothing sounds like rock and roll than the word brand. So not us. So please keep listening and we will introduce that towards the end of the show. We will. Keep listening to the end.
00:05:23
Speaker
Keep listening to the end. No flipping. Right, first cover version today then, Steve. Hit it up. Hit it up. Let's go with the song that we were just talking about. We did, as a full band when we were recording our first album, Rabbit Themes, Johnny Domino did learn how to do a cover version of Forever in Blue Jeans by Neil Diamond. And this was the song that we played live once and people came up to us and said, that's a great song.
00:05:52
Speaker
and then we never played it again.
00:06:19
Speaker
It ain't nothing extra, baby, it's true If you pardon me, I'd like to say We do okay for every blue cheese Maybe tonight
00:07:01
Speaker
It's not really surprising that you thought it was a great song. Because it is a great song.
Creative and Ironic Interpretations
00:07:25
Speaker
It ain't nothing extra, baby, it's true And if you pardon me, I'd like to say We do okay, forever in blue jeans Maybe tonight
00:07:47
Speaker
Maybe tonight by the fire alone you and I Nothing around but the sound of my heart and your sigh Money talks They don't sing a dance and it don't walk
00:08:32
Speaker
On reflection, I don't find it that surprising that that song sort of stood out as a highlight of the set. A well-written song. Because, yeah, I mean, even our rather... I think it's a fairly plodding version. Can't hide the fact that it's actually a really good song. Yeah. I think the ploddiness of it was... Kind of intentional. It was an intentional choice. It just occurred to me
00:09:02
Speaker
You can make it really relentless, so the drums just kind of pound all the way through it, and the bass is quite loud, pounding all the way through it. But other than that, it's pretty much a faithful cover. I think we have to mention that the original was by Neil Diamond. I think we mentioned that before, but it was by Neil Diamond. Did we mention that? Yes, we did.
00:09:24
Speaker
Yeah, I think that was quite a successful cover version, but as you said, it's a very well-written song.
00:09:32
Speaker
It is, isn't it? And it's got very sincere and emotional lyrics. What are they about? Which was unusual for a song that we would perform because we weren't really big on sincerity and emotion in a lot of our songs. Not all of them, but in a lot of our songs at that point anyway. It was more irony and kind of trying to be a bit arch, a bit weird.
00:10:00
Speaker
But yeah, I don't know. I think the song's about being in a relationship with somebody and that making you realise that the material things in life don't matter. Wow.
00:10:14
Speaker
I'm pretty sure that's what it's about, Steve. Okay, just bear with me because I'm going on to genius.com just to see if they... You're just checking whether my interpretation... No one's actually said anything about what it's about. The only thing it's highlighted is money talks.
00:10:32
Speaker
Money does talk. But it doesn't sing and dance and it doesn't walk. This is just ridiculous. There is absolutely no lyrical insight on Genius.com. I think it's because it's fairly obvious when you listen to it. Sorry. Fair enough then. Then I am the lyrical dunce. That's absolutely fine. I didn't mean it like that. No, no, I don't mind that. You know me, I don't listen to the words.
00:10:59
Speaker
Yeah, I find that really weird. I always listen to the words. I always listen to the words. I just, you know, it's just, uh, it's a running joke. Go on then. Let's have another song. Let's have another one. Okay. Um, let's go for.
00:11:13
Speaker
When I was at university, like most people at university, I watched a lot of Sesame Street and kids television. And I remember that one day your magic number was 11 and they did a song. You know, funny thing is, Steve, Sesame Street was not made for people at university. But it was. It did find an audience, didn't it? It certainly did. But the counting songs,
00:11:41
Speaker
there was one for the number 11 and I'm not sure I don't think I've ever heard it since but to the best of my knowledge this was my interpretation of it so I recorded all this music and I press-ganged you and John and Albert to sing it. Yeah we had a bit of a laugh didn't we? Yes we did.
00:13:09
Speaker
I am absolutely loving Albert reading from the A Up Me Duck book. Yeah, it sort of works doesn't it? Really does. I particularly liked it when we were doing the numbers and he got to six and he went, would that be sex in German? Yeah.
00:13:39
Speaker
and then it fades out and then it fades back in again. You know there was a Sesame Street song that went to 12 that I do remember, followed by The Pointer Sisters. So 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. That one. I don't remember the 11 one. This one. Are you sure you weren't thinking about start by the jam? Might as well have been.
00:13:53
Speaker
That's good. Very Albert.
00:14:36
Speaker
Thank you. Thank you.
00:14:56
Speaker
There's a thing about cool versions. I think what we were trying to do was trying to combine things that didn't normally go together in a collage-y kind of way. And I think sometimes cover versions, I think we tried to do that with quite a few of our cover versions. And with that one, the weird combination of a sort of keyboard and drum machine heavy
00:15:20
Speaker
Sort of funk, funky type song. Kind of. Mixed with somebody reading Ilkeston dialect in a kind of posh voice. Kind of works. It's got many layers. Kind of works.
00:15:39
Speaker
Yes. You were talking during that about the Pointer Sisters song to 12. Yes. Which was the Sesame Street song, number song that I remember. Can you remember that sometimes they would have that song on when the number wasn't 12 and they get to the end and they go, eleven, twelve, seven. No, they kind
Sensitive Reinterpretations
00:16:06
Speaker
of
00:16:07
Speaker
whatever the number of the day was to kind of get all the way, do the big finish on 12 and then just go, by the way, it's still seven. Yeah, no, I don't remember that. But then maybe I, I don't know, maybe I just worked a bit harder at university than you did. Possibly, possibly you did. Although I somehow doubted with your fine art degree. Yeah. I was in the studio, you know, perfecting my, yes, art nonsense. Yes. It's all about paint. It was all about paint.
00:16:39
Speaker
Good memories of recording that with Jon and Albert. Yeah, it was good fun. Having a laugh with our mates, the music goes on a bit too long. It does. Well, you know, let's have an edit.
00:16:50
Speaker
Yes, I think so. Right. Where do you want to go next? I don't know. You can, you decide. You can, you can call the shots today. All right. Okay. Well, I'm going to go for the cover version, which I'm quite uncomfortable about. Do you want me to say the title? You can do. Okay. This is Steve's cover version of the Nirvana song, rape me.
00:17:11
Speaker
Yes, which is a song that has some, well, obviously with the title, it's people, you know, you've got some issues there, definitely. But I think doing a little bit of research.
00:17:27
Speaker
Kurt Cobain did write the song initially as a kind of very literal, straightforward song about rape, dealing with rape from the female point of view. And then later on, it kind of got rock starified. And the idea of it, you know, him being a rock star, being abused by
00:17:49
Speaker
the system, the record, the business, whatever, and that interpretation, which makes it less sympathetic really as a song. Now, I don't really want to dwell on the original Cobain song that much because apart from the fact that MTV refused to let it be performed on the Unplugged.
00:18:09
Speaker
They actually said, they vetoed it. They said, you can't do that one. Right. But you did a version of it. I did. Back in your youth. Right. Back in your youth. And it's kind of, I've insisted that you include it on this podcast because I really like it as a piece of music. And I think you've done a very nice, easy listening kind of job on it. Yes.
00:18:28
Speaker
a la Mike Flowers. Mike Flowers pops, yeah. Mike Flowers pops, you know, like he did Wonderwall, right? And it was like a number one money. It got like, it got, it was like a big hit. I think there's a bigger hit than Wonderwall. So yeah, I mean, this is like your, your kind of like easy listening version of Rake Me by Levon.
00:19:02
Speaker
Yes. I think at every single point I'm trying to undercut what I thought the song was about.
00:19:24
Speaker
Bye!
00:20:00
Speaker
Look at the lyrics. I think you do a very game attempt at that section there. Oh it's got a good ending though. It has got a good ending.
00:20:50
Speaker
Yeah. The days before gainful employment, the days of wine and roses and recording bits of music when you're
Recording and Creative Fun
00:20:58
Speaker
bored. Not only do I love that, right? I love that as a piece of music. I really like that as a piece of music.
00:21:06
Speaker
I'm thinking about creating some sort of dance routine to it in my head. I really don't want you to do that. No, I've been going to dance lessons and I'm learning some moves and this is a new skill and I'm going to work on a routine with that one. You could move around the floor to that.
00:21:26
Speaker
And, you know, I'm going to, I'm going to fight for that one to be included in the next volume of the best of join. I don't know, but I'm going to lose that fight. I imagine I'm going to fight though. You can have a fight, but I liked it that much. Well, I'm glad you got something from it.
00:21:45
Speaker
Sometimes you just don't appreciate your own best works, do you think? Oh, thanks. Okay, let's have another one. We've mentioned in the past, but if you're a new listener, during our time as Johnny Domino, as a duo, we got some interesting posts from different countries through our mate, Jock, who sent tapes of us around his indie pop
00:22:09
Speaker
fanzine swapping circle and the two people that we had the most contact with was a couple called Lauren and Virginia and they were a couple of Jesus and Mary chain obsessed indie kids from from France and they were so obsessed with the Jesus and Mary chain they put out many many cassette compilations of people doing cover versions of Jesus and Mary chain songs and we did one
00:22:33
Speaker
We did a version of their Spacemen 3 kind of baggy era trans anthem reverent. So let's listen to that.
00:24:22
Speaker
And another snow lobe.
00:24:40
Speaker
I never realised before but I think our default thing was to like, let's do a cover version but let's make it funky. Yes. At times, you know what I mean? Probably because the Jesus and Mary chain original was not funky. Was not funky.
00:24:55
Speaker
I haven't heard a cover version yet in this episode that's made me think I like it more than the original yet though. Not me neither. But it is a bit like the full version of R.D. and Taylor. It is kind of making me want to go back and listen to the originals. Okay. So that's good right? It is good.
00:25:19
Speaker
think we've got to give notice to the fact that we've made an attempt to do the kind of Sly and the Family Stone style vocal delivery and there was Big Stevie on the low one. And then there was the lovely Natasha.
00:25:47
Speaker
she was a good singer she was a good singer she sang on two songs in the johnny domino back catalogue and i sent them both to her the other week and i mean she kind of talked herself down and said i didn't really add anything which i think is untrue and then she said lovely memories
00:26:06
Speaker
because I was sending them to her because I kind of thought, why don't you record something or we could get you on a chat and record. But no, she just had lovely memories.
Transformation through Covers
00:26:15
Speaker
And I think that's all well and good. But she did talk herself down and say that she didn't add anything to either of the songs that she sang on, which is not true. Well, if you are listening, Natasha, you could just come and talk to us anyway.
00:26:29
Speaker
yeah just for the hell of it so you know get in touch just for the lols just for the lols right that's all right but yeah you're right our default was i mean in some of our early bands we did our default setting was possibly either funk or reggae yeah i think that's a lot of people do that though right i mean paul mccartney definitely did that he loves the reggae bit he did do that didn't he what does it mad to you
00:27:01
Speaker
What's the next one? Well, this is a, it's a very tender traditional folk ballad called Go Mental by the Ramones. No, no, no, no, no, no. What do you mean? No, no, no. What this was, was us thinking, oh, that's a good Ramones song.
00:27:22
Speaker
which is kind of dealing with the subject of mental health in the way that only the Ramones do. Yes. Let's do it in the style of the throwing muses.
00:28:12
Speaker
Against my will, life is so beautiful I've gone mental, mental, mental I killed my family, they thought I was an oddity I feel so beautiful
00:29:21
Speaker
I feel so beautiful I have gone mental, mental, mental Sitting on my windowsill I feel so beautiful
00:30:16
Speaker
Nice.
00:30:42
Speaker
I was just thinking we were being quite ahead of our time in a way because if you think about cover versions now, one of the things I hate the most is a live lounge cover version where they take a kind of jaunty pop song like a Britney Spears song and they do a really, really downbeat version and you think about kind of
00:31:05
Speaker
female voice, singing a song that's normally kind of quite upbeat, but singing it so that the lyrics become much more poignant. And there's lots of mental, I think there was the recent version of the Candyman film in there, there was a very sort of
00:31:26
Speaker
depressed and downbeat version of Say My Name by Destiny's Child. I want to hear that. Okay. Well, I'll send you that later. But yeah, it's a
Cultural Impact of Covers
00:31:39
Speaker
thing. If you think about it in the Traitors, they were kind of... Oh yeah, definitely. There was an industrial version of a song by Eagle Eye Cherry called Save Tonight.
00:31:49
Speaker
And it's absolutely bonkers, but it kind of lifts you out of the moment when you're watching the telly, because you think that's a terrible version. You know the thing that started all that? It was that version of Mad World that got to number one by Gary Jules, was it? You know, Gary somebody. And he did a version of Mad World by Thea Sophia, and that was like that. It was number one.
00:32:10
Speaker
It was a Christmas number one. It really got to the one, didn't it? It made the lyrics so meaningful. And it was from Donnie Darko, wasn't it? Yes, it was. Donnie Darko. I think that was the first one. I think that was the first one that I remember. Probably wasn't, but... You know that song as well. Sorry, I want to talk about kind of going back to Natasha again, right?
00:32:32
Speaker
Wouldn't it have been good if we'd got Natasha to sing that? That would have been great. That would have been really good. It would have really worked. Yeah. And we did work up a version of Your Ghost by Kristen Hirsch. And Michael Stipe. With Michael Stipe. And I did the Michael Stipe bit. We used to sing that one and work on that one together. And it was pretty good, but we never recorded it. You'd have to just imagine it. That's tantalizing. Yeah. But it's that kind of...
00:33:02
Speaker
Kristen Hirsch throw a Musa's thing, very sort of sensitive, kind of dealing with emotional and mental health type issues. In contrast to Jerry Ramone talking about wanting to kill his family. I like the fact that you don't know some of the words as well.
00:33:23
Speaker
because this was pre-internet hopping. There is a drug which I go, but it's actually phenobarbital. It's a type of barbiturate, basically. We had no idea because there was no internet at the time.
00:33:41
Speaker
I didn't particularly enjoy the really out of tune bass, but I liked the fact that I was channeling Leslie Langston, who was the original bass player from Throne Muses. I was really getting my Leslie on.
00:33:55
Speaker
Yeah, good. And that song, Go Mental, is from Road to Ruin, the best Ramones album. You can say that because I have no idea. Well, it really is. Okay. And do you remember the other thing about Ramones that we loved?
00:34:11
Speaker
was the film Rock and Roll High School, which was a big hit with us. It was one of the videos that we used to regularly get on our Friday night trip to Video Magic in Elkiston. A great movie, actually. The Ramones are
00:34:29
Speaker
Well, it's a strange version of the universe where the Ramones are treated almost like Harry Styles or something. And all of the kids at the high school are obsessed with them. Boys want to be them and girls want to be with them. Which is a particularly disturbing scene when
00:34:53
Speaker
Oh, what's the, what's the female lead character called? Her name is Riff Randall. Yeah, Riff Randall is in her bedroom listening to the Ramones and she's listening to the song. And then Joey Ramone.
00:35:11
Speaker
just appears in her bedroom. Yeah. And it's kind of something out of a horror film. Eating pizza. Awful. And she's swinging at it. He has a massive slice of pizza which he's like dripping into his mouth while this teenage girl swoons at him. Awful. She's got some good music in it though and it is a good film and it's quite funny actually.
00:35:35
Speaker
Interesting when you were talking about cover versions that you didn't record. I remember at the time I was obsessed with the idea of doing a very slow country waltz cover version of the theme tune to The Fall Guy. Oh, that would have been good. Unknown stuntman. You could do it as if like the stuntman, his body's broken, he's got no nerve left whatsoever. And he's drunk in a bar and everyone just thinks he's a loser. He starts recounting.
00:36:04
Speaker
I'm not one to kiss and tell, but I've been seeing with Farrah. It's a really good one. I'm imagining that now. Well, we can imagine that and your cover version of your ghost.
00:36:14
Speaker
imaginary covers imaginary covers new feature more of those to come right okay now we've only got two more to go to uh let's go to one of the last recordings we ever did on a four track and this is a full band version of a song which we call the canadian national anthem
00:36:52
Speaker
From school We had a band and we tried real hard J.D. Quinn, Jodie got married Sure enough, we'd never get far Oh, when I look back now That service seems to last forever And if I had the choice Yeah, I'd always want to be there Those were the best days of my life
00:37:40
Speaker
He's got a good ending, but I kind of want you to fade it out. Big time. Yeah, it took too long to get going. It didn't go anywhere when it got there. Yeah. Good old gym though, did a good deadpan delivery. Yes.
00:37:56
Speaker
I think we were trying to do Devo doing Brian Adams. Yeah. And that's basically the idea. But I did enjoy the stink chord at the end. Yeah, I like the stink chord at the end. Let's just have that. Yes.
00:38:19
Speaker
Right, that was nice. Did we play that one live? No. Oh. No, never played that one live. We could have done, though. We could have done. People would have loved it. Yeah, they'd come up and gone, wow, that new song's great. Yeah. Anyway. As you were talking about cover versions that send you scurrying back to the original, as soon as I finish recording, I'm going to be dusting off my copy of Reckless.
00:38:38
Speaker
Yeah. Have you got that? Yeah, yeah. What, the CD? No. You used to have a tape version. I had it on tape and I think I'd sold it to somebody at my school and then you went to My Vision of Hell, which is Rob's record mark in Nottingham, which is basically someone's front room with a pile of records. Oh, come on. It's one of the best places in the year. I hate it. It makes me want to
00:39:05
Speaker
flame my own skin off. You need to do an entire episode about Rob's records. Anyway, and you got me a vinyl copy of Reckless by Brian Adams. I have no memory of that whatsoever. Yeah, you did because I've got a second-hand copy of it and you know I would not buy a second-hand copy of a record. Well, get it on the turntable after this.
00:39:26
Speaker
Yeah, just that one song. Maybe Kids Wanna Rock as well. Definitely Kids Wanna Rock. This computerized crap ain't getting me off. Everywhere I go, the kids wanna rock. You see, we missed a trick. We should have done that one in the style of Devo. That would have been quite good. The nice irony of this computerized crap thing would have worked quite well, you see. Nice. Right, next song. Final soul. Final, final, final. Final cover version.
00:39:53
Speaker
This is a song that, in my head, our cousin, our older cousin, Daryl,
00:40:00
Speaker
Oh, introduced it to us. He did. He used to come round and he was our big cousin. We used to look up to him because he used to go and see grown up films and stuff. He used to pitch it out. And he also used to like playing particular games where he would win. Oh, absolutely. Yeah, like playing football in my bedroom and he would always win. With your head. I can't remember that. Maybe that's because he was kicking my head around. Yeah. I've hidden the memory.
00:40:27
Speaker
However, he would occasionally grab a cassette deck and when he'd won, he would sing a song of victory. I've got a memory of him singing We Are The Champions to himself. And there was one day he just was singing the chorus to Abracadabra by the Steve Miller band. Which is a good chorus. Yes. Abracadabra.
00:40:56
Speaker
I can see him doing it. It's not a good chorus. What? Abracadabra, I want to reach out and grab you. Labia. Awful. Well, I like it. From the live lounge.
00:43:29
Speaker
See I for one really enjoyed that and I think an edited version of that would be again amongst some of our best work. There you go. I really enjoyed the guitar solo as well. Bring that guitar solo back in man. Bring it back in.
00:43:48
Speaker
Because the original's got a really mental solo, hasn't it? It does. I think he's very much trying to be futuristic and new wave, but he's doing it in 1982. And it's a synthesized sort of.
00:44:04
Speaker
guitar solo yeah and we were trying to create it by me double tracking the same guitar solo on two tracks and then you were playing around with the reverb yes you were just moving it up and down and doing lots of panning as well i think but don't think we had the option to do any panning i think i think you just went up and down with the reverb it seems like that way anyway well i think it's very pleasing well i enjoyed it too i enjoyed it too
00:44:33
Speaker
But just literally minutes before we started recording this episode, I was under the mistaken impression that that song was by Hall & Oates. I'd got it mixed up in my head. Because I'd got it mixed up with Man Eater. Which is another good song that we should have done a cover of.
00:44:53
Speaker
Mmm, I think when this episode is done. Yes, you're gonna go away and listen to Brian Adams. Yes I've already got lined up the playlist. This is Steve Miliband on my Spotify ready to go Well, that'll be a very pleasing eight minutes There's loads really? Yeah the Joker meh and
00:45:22
Speaker
Give me another. The joke. Fly like an eagle. Yes. Yeah. Um. Abracadabra. Abracadabra. Anyway. Yes. Next, next bit.
00:45:37
Speaker
What do you want to talk about now? Have we been through all the songs? We've been through all the cover versions. We're not going to choose one, are we though, Steve? No, because I don't want to put them on a compilation because of copyright issues. But we hope that you enjoyed listening to us faffing about doing other people's songs. And as you basically hunt it all the way through, probably send you off to listen to the original versions and you'll enjoy them. Yeah. That'd be nice. We just did it for a laugh.
00:46:05
Speaker
I've been thinking, if we had a chance to do another cover version, I was thinking, what song would we do? Because we could do a cover version, right? We could do one. So I'm going to ask you which one you think in a minute, which song you might want to do. But the one that occurred to me while I was thinking about this episode might be a bit surprising, but it's Can't Go Back to Savory by John Shortworth.
00:46:34
Speaker
which I think is a beautiful song. It is a beautiful song. I don't know what you could add to it though. I think we could just up the emotional content a bit more. Or maybe I don't want to do a cover of it. Maybe I want somebody like Adele to do a cover version of it. Well, that would be nice. I don't think we could do it any more justice. I think it's a fabulous work of art. It really is. In its own right. But it needs a cover version though, doesn't it?
00:47:04
Speaker
Michael Buble or Adele? I think Adele. I think Adele could do that one. Maybe... What about if the boobs did the Christran Museum song? The Dandelion and burdock song? Yeah, that would be good. That would be good. All right, what song do I think we could do? I think we should do... Oh yeah, the coolest band at the moment. Do you know who the coolest band at the moment is?
00:47:41
Speaker
You're wrong anyway. You're on the wrong side. Because you don't know what goes on in my head, obviously. Because you're not psychic. Because you're not you. Because you're not me. But sometimes I think you are. But yeah, the coolest band at the moment is the Monkees, obviously. Right? They're totally the best band. What? They're the coolest band at the moment. The Monkees. And what planet? In your brain. On Planet Giles.
00:47:58
Speaker
Is it the last whatever it's called? I don't even know, what are they called?
00:48:07
Speaker
I don't live on planet Giles. On planet Giles, they're the coolest band at the moment. Anyway. And the Monkees, yeah. There's loads of songs that, I mean, loads of people have covered the Monkees. Yes. But I would like to cover the song, What Am I Doing Hanging Round? by the Monkees. Well, I don't know that song. Which is the, it's kind of a country one. It's one of the, they're trying to be the birds, basically. Okay.
00:48:28
Speaker
Oh my God, this is such a good band. And the other song by The Monkees, which I don't think we should cover, is the song Words, which you remember that one, right? Words. I don't know it. Go away and listen to it because you will realize that the band, The Coral, which are, you know, a pretty good band, based their entire career on that one song by The Monkees. Excellent. So go and listen to it. The Coral definitely did.
00:48:57
Speaker
Anyway, what was the other thing I was going to talk about? We've got two more things to talk about before the end of the episode. Keep hanging on there, people. Yes, I know. We are getting to some kind of point. You asked me to think about my favourite cover versions. Yes.
00:49:13
Speaker
It's interesting because at the time that I came of musical age, it was like the late 80s, early 90s, and there was a bit of a time of very snarky covers. And I think the Beatles weren't very much in vogue at the time. So I know in one of our early bands, we did very snarky cover versions of Beatles songs. And then you've got people like Sonic slash Chaconi Youth doing
00:49:43
Speaker
I mean, they would say they were respectful covers of Madonna songs, but... Addicted to Love as well. Addicted to Love is a great cover, actually. It's actually good, and it's just using the karaoke track, isn't
Tribute Bands and Listener Engagement
00:49:56
Speaker
it? Yes, she went into a karaoke booth and recorded it. And then it set me thinking about, obviously Kildos' great album, For Ladies Only, has got some amazing cover versions on it.
00:50:08
Speaker
Great album, great albums what you have owned and lost. Did lost it. Someone stole it from me. Yes. Okay. Well, they, they did. They did well. As long as they enjoy it. My favorite cover version is their version of Conway Twitties. You've never been this far before. Take that one out on YouTube. Yeah. It is astonishing. But if you think about taking a song and turning it into something which the original version was not.
00:50:38
Speaker
Jonathan Richmond's track, Don't Let Our Youth Go To Waste, which is a minute and a half vocal recitation. It's barely a song. He is effectively singing a poem. And then Galaxy 500 turned it into a nearly seven minute long
00:50:55
Speaker
drone rock masterpiece you see you've won you've won the game again have i yeah very rarely win the game come on you always win but that is like you've mentioned something that is actually amazing yeah and that i think that took i mean you know how much i love the jonathan and but they took it and turned it into something else completely it is it's one and it's astonishing the music ever isn't it yeah
00:51:24
Speaker
And they did loads of good covers. They did a fantastic version of Ceremony, Joy Division. Isn't it a pity, George Harrison?
00:51:37
Speaker
a great version of Moonshot by Buffy St. Marie at one of the Peel Sessions. They did Listen to Snow is Falling by Yoko on their last album. There you go, Galaxy 500. The best covers band ever. Yeah. If you were going to start a covers band, what covers band would you start?
00:52:02
Speaker
I mean, obviously, Galaxy 500 is the best cover band. Yeah, because their songs are relatively easy to play. Or would you be a tribute band? Could you be a tribute band? I don't know. I mean, I do like when a tribute band has put the hours in to think of the name. I mean, some of the best
00:52:23
Speaker
covers band's names are very simple. If you think of Nearly Dan, I mean, that is beautiful in its simplicity. I seem to remember you had an album by Dred Zeppelin. Yeah, they were pretty good. They were like a reggae Elvis. I was thinking about it last night. It wasn't an Elvis tribute artist as the lead vocalist, but yes, you just confirmed it for me.
00:52:53
Speaker
nearly down Dred Zeppelin, I do like a cover band like, no way sis. That's quite, no way sis. Yeah. I thought I had a really original idea until the internet destroyed it for me because I thought
00:53:10
Speaker
the other night or the other day because I was toying somebody and they kind of came up with the idea and then I stole it. But I was thinking I would like to start a really, really, really precise ACDC cover band and call it OCDC. And they already exist, don't they? They do. They exist already, man. But they'd be very, very precise and... They'd be really, really precise.
00:53:39
Speaker
Yeah, but the thing is AC-DC are incredibly precise. You know what I mean? They're not messing about. There's no fat or gristle on AC-DC. It is. This is it. So I don't know how much more precise you could get it. Talking of precision, this is a precision podcast. We haven't rambled at all on this one.
00:54:02
Speaker
precisely we've got to the point, and we are at the point now at the end, where we're going to talk about an engagement opportunity. Engagement. So tell us about it, Steve. Okay. Bear with me. During our time as Johnny Domino, I think Jim bought me this book.
00:54:23
Speaker
It is a book called Rock Talk, written by a man called Julian Colbeck, and it is a biting expose of the rock business. I'm joking, of course. It's effectively, it's a hardback pamphlet. It's 46 pages in it, but it does
00:54:42
Speaker
promise to lift the lid on the rock scene. One of my favourite quotes is from the introduction by Julian Colbeck, which a friend of mine read it the other night and it made him laugh. And I'd not realised how funny this quote is. Music is not so much a career as a disease.
00:55:00
Speaker
If you catch it, you just have to give it a try. Now, as my friend pointed out, that's not how diseases work. It's not. You know, we go, hmm, I've got cholera. Give it a go. Give it a go. Give it a go. Try that one. Yes. But yes, this is a book called Rock Talk. From when? Give it a go. Is it like 80s or 90s? Right, now you're asking, because that question was asked the other day. Well, just roughly. Just give it a rough idea. Now I'm giving you an exact. 1989. Oh, there you go.
00:55:30
Speaker
It's an educational book, as I say, 46 pages. We learn a lot from it. It's big print. Everything we know we got from this book. The chapters are starting a band, getting a record contract, making a record, the music press, pop videos, life on the road, and then tellingly, you want more. How does this relate to an engagement opportunity? Right, OK. The pages which I've given us so much joy throughout our lives,
00:55:59
Speaker
is from the opening chapter starting a band. I'm going to read to you from the pages. Dale and John T are a duo, a group of two called Out to Lunch. They live just outside London and they're both 19. Dale plays bass and John T is a singer and they've been working together for two years. They spent most of their time writing songs.
00:56:27
Speaker
We just use a cassette recorder and a microphone in John T's bedroom at home. I play around on the guitar and make up tunes, says Dale. Then I play them to John T and he goes away and comes up with some lyrics. And on the page that faces that, there are some lyrics, which my darling brother is going to read out in a dramatic fashion. I will.
00:56:51
Speaker
I'm called John T, by the way, from now on. And you're Dale. We're changing our names. John T is such a rugby type. That's my name. I'm going to universe. John T's reading. Go. Right, this is the verse. Searching for time that just is not there. Does it always have to take this long? You said don't push it too far. Just let it fade away.
00:57:17
Speaker
But I felt I had to do something before we threw it all away. Just a dash of creativity. That's all it needed. Creativity. I'll do it, man. Come on. I can't do it. I can't do it. You've got to do the chorus again. I'm sorry.
00:57:40
Speaker
Just a dash of creativity. That's all it needed. Creativity with all of them trimmings that come with love. I think that's all we're going to read so far. That's it. But that's the, that's the lyrics. There's another verse as well. No, I'm going to take the second verse. What are you going to read it? Yes. So take heed before you jump that gun. Settle your conscience. Can't you see what I see?
00:58:10
Speaker
Girl, are you blind to the ways of the loving man? You need dot dot dot repeat chorus and we won't repeat the chorus, but jaunty.
00:58:28
Speaker
It says so much. So the point of this is that obviously this song exists only on page seven of Julian Colbeck's Rock Talk book. It's Masterpiece. Which is out of print. I'm sure remaining copies will have been pulled many years ago. However,
00:58:51
Speaker
those lyrics have given us so much joy over the years. And they need a tune. They need music. So we're going to write one. Well, we're going to have a go, but we're throwing it open to you. We know that there are a lot of creative people that listen to our podcast. Oh, you are so creative. Well, I'm sucking up to them because I want some content from them.
00:59:16
Speaker
And I want you to go away and take those lyrics. We're going to include them in the show notes. We're going to include them on the blog, which is, this are johnnydomino.blogspot.com and we'll include them in the show notes and we're going to put them on social media as well. And we would like people to send us their versions of that song, which doesn't have a title, doesn't even have a title. We would like you to wherever possible.
00:59:46
Speaker
Just get creative with it. Creativity, that's all that is needed. Just a dash of creativity. If you can find them trimmings, then please include all of them. It could be a dramatic reading. It could be a musical interpretation of the lyrics. It could be a singer-songwriter. I don't really care.
01:00:11
Speaker
We just, it would be nice to have a few different versions of it, wouldn't it? Fantastic. If you can do that, that'd be amazing. So write a version of that song and record it and send it to us, please. We'll include the links to our Facebook page in the show notes. But if you go to facebook.com slash Johnny Domino UK and get in touch with us via there or through Instagram or on the blog.
01:00:36
Speaker
It would be fantastic to hear what you can do with those lyrics, what you can do with those lyrics that Dale and Jonty probably couldn't do themselves. Well, maybe they did, but we never heard it. Because out to lunch didn't really exist, I don't think. Well, they did because we were basically out to lunch. Oh.
01:00:56
Speaker
It would be good if Out to Lunch kind of got in touch. Take the lyrics, do what you want with them, and then send us your interpretation of that song by Out to Lunch. And we will include your work on the podcast in a future episode. But thank you very much. Out to Lunch. Thanks for listening. We'll be back again in a couple of weeks with another episode. If you enjoyed it, please like and subscribe.
01:01:26
Speaker
and all that kind of stuff. All that kind of stuff, but followers on socials because my brother, my dear brother does put a lot of work in. My dear brother does a lot of good stuff on our Instagram channel and the link will be in the show notes. John T Woodward.