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My Hair’s Still Curly And My Eyes Are Still Blue
131 Plays1 month ago
This week, Steve and Giles are searching out more examples of interpolation and mash-ups from their lo-fi universe. There are sonic contributions from Frankie Machine and Tearzan as well as two more long-lost tunes from the TAJD tape mountain. Sandwiching it all together are all the digressions and brotherly nonsense you could ever need...
I warn you now, this episode features, amongst other things:
- Expert Quonalysis
- "To all the girls Steve’s loved before" (Pt.1)
- Gig review(s)
- Radio(therapy)head
- Musical Theatre Appreciation Society
Related audiovisual material has been lovingly compiled for you on the blog
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
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Transcript
Introduction to Johnny Domino Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Get down, deeper and down. Down, down, deeper and down. Down, down, deeper and down.
00:00:12
Speaker
Get down, deeper and down. I want the world to see, to see you're laughing and you're laughing at me.
00:00:24
Speaker
I can take it all from you. again, again. again Again, again, again, again, and deeper and down.
Status Quo Discussion: Fact or Fiction?
00:00:58
Speaker
Welcome to the This Art Johnny Domino podcast, a heartfelt, moving and hopefully amusing journey through the musical lives of two brothers from the middle of England, ah myself, Steve Woodward.
00:01:14
Speaker
And my brother, Giles Woodward. Hello. I'm Giles. Hello. Nice to meet your acquaintance. How's it going? I'm good. I'm good. I am a listening to a lot of status quo at the moment.
00:01:28
Speaker
They were the immortal words of Mr. Rossi, weren't they? Mr. Francis Rossi. Now, did he write the words? It wasn't parfit. No, parfit did some other good ones.
00:01:40
Speaker
But that was definitely a Rossi number. And it was a big hit for the status quo. It was their only number one single. That's not true.
00:01:52
Speaker
I am not lying, unless Wikipedia is lying. can't be true. Goodness. It's a cracking song, isn't it, Steve? It is. It's a great song. you've
Song Analysis: Bass Line and Genre Comparison
00:02:02
Speaker
You sent it to me the other day to do some, what we are calling, co-analysis. Co-analysis. I asked you to do a co-analysis.
00:02:10
Speaker
ah Yeah. ah Particularly of the bass line at the end of that song. Yeah, I mean, it's perfectly serviceable bass line. I think you're so wrong. No, I mean, there's a nice bit of harmony work that he plays a little melodic figure and then he inverts it slightly. So he basically turns the root chord into a first inversion chord, which is very nice.
00:02:34
Speaker
And then he kind of vamps on on your classic power chord figure. So you've got the root, the octave and the fifths. you know, is it's good, you know. Yeah.
00:02:44
Speaker
Listening to it, it did raise the question, did status quo hear Noy? Because there's a particularly sort of like driving, ah motoric edge, particularly to that song.
00:02:58
Speaker
It's very heads down. There's loads of bands at the moment. um there's There's a band called Endless Boogie. Oh, yeah yeah. Everyone talks about, oh, yes, amazing, and improvisational and and all this kind of stuff.
00:03:09
Speaker
And I've heard some, and it sounds a bit like status quo. I think a lot of good music soundss us sounds like status quo. I think Spaceman 3 sounds like status quo sometimes, to be honest, at their best. Heads down.
00:03:22
Speaker
Yeah. I can hear some kraut rock at the end of Down, Down, Deeper and Down, particularly the album version, which has got a good two extra minutes on it. So that's the one I would recommend to you, listener.
00:03:34
Speaker
But yeah, yeah yeah've you've tuned into this, our Johnny Domino. This becoming the number one status quo fan podcast in the UK. This is what we're going for now. I bet there's another one.
00:03:47
Speaker
Oh yeah, it'd be better than that. You sort of like toss out these comments. There's bound to be someone somewhere wanging on about the quo. There will be. ah But yeah, I remember Status Quo were like a band that your big brother used to like, really, or your older cousin.
00:04:02
Speaker
Yes. Well, you are the big brother. Yeah. Well, Kulder Al used to like Status Quo, you see. And I remember when I got my first first tape player, my first boombox, Status Quo was the first tape that I put into that.
00:04:16
Speaker
Nice. Just to check it out, just to make sure it was working. Good. There you go. And it was a copy as well, wasn't it? It wasn't. It was it was it was a dubbed tape. It was a dubbed tape. I wore that tape out.
00:04:29
Speaker
I really did. Anyway, come on. we We're going to talk. what What are we doing? What are we doing? What are we doing here? Okay, podcast. We are rammed on about status quo, aren't we now?
00:04:40
Speaker
but Can we move on from the quo? I mean, I know you don't want to, but let's I think we need to. When
Purpose Shift: Own Music to Others' Music
00:04:46
Speaker
we started doing this podcast 46 ago, episodes ago Feels like years.
00:04:51
Speaker
It was to talk about music that we recorded in our youth and our past. Yes. Both of which are the same. And we we still do that, but we're increasingly talking about other people's music.
00:05:07
Speaker
And that's what we're doing on this episode is is a bit of us, a ah bit of them. We do. And we have engagement opportunities, don't we, Steve? We do
Creative Process: Interpolation Experiences
00:05:17
Speaker
have engagement opportunities. Or, Cam U G in Cantonese.
00:05:23
Speaker
Is that really? Cam U G Okay. Just for our Cantonese speaking listeners. Hi there. And the one that we are concentrating on, particularly in this episode, is is interpolation, isn't it?
00:05:40
Speaker
It's people taking the words of a song that already exists and writing their own music for it. Basically. Yeah. we've We did it in the past, and that was effectively we got some music, but we didn't have any words.
00:05:53
Speaker
So we grabbed some words from a song and stick them over the top. It seems to be seems to be incredibly common. It's what I'm hearing. Yeah. It is. It's not just that. It's also kind of taking different songs and smushing them together as well, isn't it? A bit like George Ajan was doing last episode.
00:06:11
Speaker
Yes. Collaging songs together as well. So a bit, all of that kind of stuff. It is common. It is common. So we're finding some good examples, aren't we, Steve? Yes. And the first one we're going to talk about is a song by the artist at this point not yet known as Frankie Machine.
00:06:31
Speaker
Oh, was it a while before that? then It was. it this We're talking, this is, and well, on the email that he sent to me, he says, on the new challenge front, I found a four track recording I did in the spring of 1994.
Cover Versions: Hank Williams vs. Frankie Machine
00:06:45
Speaker
And it's a Hank Williams song. we but Yeah. Hank Williams song. He wrote his own tune, which was inspired by the residents stars and Hank forever LP.
00:06:55
Speaker
Oh, man, that is a freaking weird record. I was listening to that the other day. It's got some crazy songs on it. It's got Hey Good Looking. That is a particularly messed up version of Hey Good Looking.
00:07:09
Speaker
Oh, God. I'm not if want to hear that. I'm not sure you do. I think but you you want to listen to what Rob does because it's much nicer. It's much nicer, isn't it? Okay. And this is the artist yet to be called Frankie Machine.
00:07:23
Speaker
With Hank Williamson. Why don't you love me like you used to do? And I do!
00:07:29
Speaker
Why don't you love me like you used to do? Why do you treat me like I want and I should?
00:07:41
Speaker
My head's still blonde, my eyes are still blue.
00:08:41
Speaker
Why don't you love
Emotional Context in Music: Rob's Rendition
00:08:43
Speaker
me like you used to do? And I say sweet nothings like you used to could.
00:08:53
Speaker
The same old trouble that we've always been through.
00:09:30
Speaker
I ain't had no love in a long, long while.
00:09:53
Speaker
So why don't you love me like you used to do?
00:10:30
Speaker
I don't love
00:10:50
Speaker
my own Why can't we be just like we used to be? How come you find so many faults in me?
00:11:04
Speaker
Somebody's changed. Let me give you a clue. You don't love me like you used to
00:11:19
Speaker
do. That is mate Rob with his version of Why Don't You Love Me Like you Used To do by Hank Williams. As he said, it's very miserable and you can tell that I'd just been dumped by my long-term girlfriend.
00:11:33
Speaker
I don't
Songwriting Skills: Hank Williams and Rob
00:11:34
Speaker
know. That might have been where it was coming from, but I find it quite chilled. and Actually, it's quite nice. It's chilled, relaxing, and it had a nice, sultry, slow vibe to it, which I like.
00:11:48
Speaker
Just like the harmonica. Yeah, very The The. Yes. Well, he said in his initial message, much to his annoyance, a year later, The The released an album.
00:11:58
Speaker
of Hank Williams' covers set to different tunes. Ah. That would be a bit annoying. But like in a distance of time, I don't think that matters, really. I enjoy it for lots of reasons.
00:12:10
Speaker
What did you like about it? Well, I just like the fact that people send us songs. I like that. And if anybody else would like to send us some songs that we can talk about, then we are always more than happy to hear from people. Absolutely. Absolutely. It's interesting because...
00:12:27
Speaker
like the seeds of Frankie machine are in there. I like hearing Rob sing the words, say sweet nothings like you used to coo. I like him. I like fact that he's using the word coo. There's some cracking words in, in that song, you know, how far is a country mile?
00:12:43
Speaker
i don't know. Yeah. Well, there you go. Let's leave that question hanging. And also is is your hair, Steve is curly and your eyes are still blue, aren't they? They are. Thank you. nice So it could be about you really.
00:12:57
Speaker
I didn't really want to say.
00:13:00
Speaker
Hank version is is a great one, though, isn't it, Steve? It's really good. We've talked about Hank Williams quite a bit on this podcast because it's an example of really great songwriting, whether it's country music or otherwise.
00:13:14
Speaker
You know, he's an absolute legend, and the lyrics are fabulous and rhythmically precise, painting pictures with very few words. Yeah.
00:13:25
Speaker
You know i mean? It's kind of like we're talking right at the start of what we think of as contemporary popular music. Yeah. About as far
Genre Appeal: Converting to Country Music
00:13:33
Speaker
back as you can go. It's beautiful. He's just nailed it right from the start. Absolutely. He's an amazing, amazing writer.
00:13:40
Speaker
But... and I like, I mean, Rob's version, I thought I had a tonal difference that I thought was quite interesting because I felt the harmonica certainly lent a sense of sort of resignation, really, to that version that we just heard.
00:13:56
Speaker
it It felt like they, you know, quite resigned to the fact that they probably don't love her and stuff, you know, and like they used to, and kind of resigned to that fact. But I think that if you listen to the Hank version, which I did the other day in contrast,
00:14:11
Speaker
It's a much more upbeat and swinging number. and And Hank's got a bit of a yodel in his voice. And he sounds more inquisitive. He's like he's kind of like going, why don't you love me?
00:14:22
Speaker
you know it's It's almost like, how could you not love me? With me drug problems and me manky back. I'm dressed as a cowboy and I'm singing. Yeah. I think possibly, you know, some audience might be difficult for them to kind of reconcile the misery of Hank Williams's life with the jauntiness of the music.
00:14:43
Speaker
You know, and um first on first listening, you kind of think, well, this is inane. You know, it it sticks to a structure and, you know, there are lots of sort of like formal devices used in all of his songs.
00:14:56
Speaker
well But eventually it it just, if you if you listen to it a lot, and we did, ah i It makes sense. Yeah, yeah absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, it does, Steve.
00:15:07
Speaker
ah But I have to say, i don't think we're ever going to... I mean, it's it's a bit of a lost
Early Days: Recording and Performing Music
00:15:12
Speaker
cause. you know We're never going to convert people to country music who say they don't like country music, right? Yeah, but there's got to be something in every genre.
00:15:20
Speaker
You what mean? if If a genre has ah foothold in ah the world of music... Yes. There's got to be part of it that we will speak to you if you come to it with an open mind.
00:15:32
Speaker
Yeah. i'm I'm waiting for the English folk song that I like. Oh, well, no. You should get into a bit of Fairport Convention, mate. I see. I've tried. son Sandy Danny. She's got the most amazing voice.
00:15:47
Speaker
Okay. Well, you make some recommendations. I will. Because that' that's a bit of a blind spot. Also British heavy metal. Saxon. Yes. Iron Maiden. Yes, the rumpty dumpty rumpty dumpty. Yeah. i mean just look the the less You know what? What you've just said, though, I think that's right. we've got to Maybe we could find.
00:16:07
Speaker
ah yeah Maybe that we're saying that Hank Williams is maybe the thing that could get somebody who doesn't like the genre of country music to like country music, right? So maybe we we're putting out there. can you Can you find something that could make us like heavy metal yeah for example there's a question for you listener anyway think on think on jingle jingle jingle that might be a new jingle I might just like copy that and just use it elsewhere no I think it's good no jingle jingle jingle
00:16:54
Speaker
jing ching gu jing gu ching guing Yes, so that was an example of a song sent to us for our... mean, basically, is one song to the tune of another.
00:17:06
Speaker
Yeah, that's it. Isn't it? so It's one song to the tune of another. And that was a great example from Rob. Here's a bad example. Oh, this is a terrible example. And this goes to goes back to the idea that you know, you're a young band and you've got some music, but you haven't got any words.
00:17:23
Speaker
Oh, let's just open it. You had like a Tune A Day type guitar book, didn't you? With loads of different songs in it. I did. And um one of them. One of them was a song by the Beatles.
00:17:36
Speaker
And um it was a kind of childish Our dad likes the Beatles. People of of his age like the Beatles yeah and they don't speak to us. So let's just get some Beatles lyrics. Unfortunately, we didn't bother with the chords.
00:17:51
Speaker
Now, this is an interesting recording. It's a live recording. Live in the living room. Live in the living room in Ilkiston Studios. This is studio. nearly gave the address then, didn't you? No, didn't, no.
00:18:04
Speaker
But this is studio two. and Studio one being my old bedroom. Studio two was, let's call it the live room. The front room.
School Memories: Friendships and Support
00:18:13
Speaker
Yep. There's some people there. There's some pictures as a crowd.
00:18:16
Speaker
Turkey Paul's on here. guitar iphone
00:18:28
Speaker
Here I stand, head in hand, turn my face to the wall. It's just gone, I can't go on, feeling too small. Everywhere, people stare, each and every day. I can see them, like me, and I hear them say.
00:18:57
Speaker
You've got to hide to another way. Hey, you've got to hide to another way. How can I even try? I can never win.
00:19:23
Speaker
How does she say to me, love will find a way? Well, come on down, all you clowns, let me hear you say Hey, you've got to hide your love away Hey, you've got hide your love away, wait, wait, wait, wait Hide your love away, wait, wait, wait, hide your love away
00:19:57
Speaker
This one's about you. I want to kill my friends. That's not very nice, is it? No, it's not. I don't remember that song.
00:20:08
Speaker
I want to kill my friends. It's like some sort of, it's a school shooter anthem. No, it's that's the one, if you remember, there was a an infamous gig that we did and people used to really like that song, I Want to Kill My Friends.
00:20:24
Speaker
And we were playing at the Alexander Club. but This was it when Jock was playing the drums. Hi there, Jock. Then we played in an actual venue. We played in actual venue and we started the song then Andy stopped it and said, dancing scene is one thing, breaking tables is another.
00:20:40
Speaker
You see, so that was, it was, it was a very popular song in our sets. But he was a bit of a killjoy, wasn't he? bit of a killjoy there, marked his card. He wasn't long for the band after that. Yeah, but you can see where, you know, unfortunately he was. um But we were young and we wanted to play gigs where people were were there and it was a nice venue and we did a couple of gigs there.
00:21:02
Speaker
Sounded very bucolic and nice. But what do you think about that recording? i mean, it's, it's shocking. Yeah. We were preparing for our live debut, which was at the News House in Nottingham, which is like a biker pub, wasn't it?
00:21:19
Speaker
Yes, it was. In the upstairs to that pub in February, i want to say 1988, either 87 or 88, we did a ah gig there on a Friday night supporting a band that will forever being known as the wayward lads to our dads but they were they were actually called the wayward sons know but the wayward lads is such a better name oh it's great name for a band and um and they were more like wayward lads weren't they really course they were was a more suitable name
00:21:52
Speaker
Yeah, and but you know they wanted a support act for for them. And we were basically rehearsing our set. So we invited some friends around and they came around our house and we played the set.
00:22:03
Speaker
Now, can you remember this though? We recorded the set, but the first time we played through the entire set, I'd got my record my my tape deck, I'd left the pause button on. Oh man, this happens all the time with you, man.
00:22:17
Speaker
Yeah. so So, what happened was she said, you've got to stay. We're doing it again until we do it right. So we did the whole set again. Well, everyone sounded like they were having a nice time, even though it was the second time they'd heard it. They were still sounding quite enthusiastic. I think we had to persuade them to stay.
00:22:37
Speaker
Yeah, well, there you go they were part At least they've been immortalized on that recording now. Turkey Paul's on there. Who else is there? I don't know. a few other the people.
00:22:48
Speaker
i think um but one of my friends from school was there. Her name was Janine.
Episode Dedication: Thanks to Janine
00:22:54
Speaker
And she was... you know, you were probably the same as me. You had friends in all the different social groups in schools. Right.
00:23:01
Speaker
And I, and I kind of did that. And Janine was, you know, she was one of the cool kids. Right. But then it kind of, in the last year at senior school, it became known that Steve liked weird music and Steve was in a band and this kind of thing.
00:23:17
Speaker
And. Is this like pretty in pink? No, she was, she was just a really nice person. She, she I mean, she had a boyfriend who was was like way older. Yeah. who was in like a hair metal band.
00:23:27
Speaker
Oh, Janine sounds lovely. She was so cool. and I can't remember her at Oh, well, I'll tell you one thing. That week when we did that recording, I think Andy was staying at our house. I think our mum and dad had gone away and he stayed with us.
00:23:42
Speaker
And we were so pathetic that we managed to persuade Janine to come around and cook for us. Oh, that was nice, wasn't it? Yeah. I've got a terrible picture of Andy trying to come onto her now.
00:23:53
Speaker
But as I say, she had a boyfriend and she was perfectly happy with him. But I used to go shopping with her and stuff and go into town and that. That's a period of school, right? Where you leave school and then you have to go back for a few exams and everyone changes in that period.
00:24:10
Speaker
you know And one of my friends, then she changed the name to Morticia or Lucretia. This is Janine. No, and this is not Janine. Who are you talking about? Are we going through all of the girls you fancied at college? in the Right. Okay. So there was this one and this one and this one.
00:24:27
Speaker
And then no one wanted a bar of me whatsoever. There you go. I think we need to move on, man. Oh, but yeah you look, anyway, Janine, if you're out there, thank you for coming around. Thank you for cooking for us.
00:24:39
Speaker
And thank you for sitting through that set twice. Oh, my God. we're we're gonna We're dedicating this episode of the podcast to you, Janine. Janine, yeah.
Mixtape Creation: Selecting Songs for Johnny Domino
00:24:47
Speaker
This is for you, Janine.
00:24:50
Speaker
That was really funny. Just looking on about Janine. Janine. come look You know, she was she was nice and she cooked for us. You really sounded like you were in love with her no No,
00:25:02
Speaker
Lucretia, I did like. Well, talk about her next episode. New feature. New feature. steve' Steve's girlfriend. To all the girls I've loved before.
00:25:13
Speaker
can't
00:25:18
Speaker
can't remember what we're going to do next, man. It's time for the This Art Journey.
00:25:32
Speaker
So, Steve, what have you been up to?
00:25:38
Speaker
so steve
Concert Experiences: Richard Dawson in Nottingham
00:25:39
Speaker
what youve been up to um What have been up to? well, I haven't been doing much, but a couple of weeks ago, before the last episode came out, I went to see Richard Dawson in Nottingham. Oh, yeah, you did flag that up last episode. I did flag it up, and it was fantastic. It was a venue called Metronome in Nottingham, which I've never been to before.
00:25:59
Speaker
However, it was previously the place where our dad used to work. It was the post office in Nottingham. Yeah, it's a nice venue now, though, isn't it?
00:26:10
Speaker
It's lovely. It was an accessibility dream. And, know, the staff at Metronome, they made it really accessible for me. Nothing was too much trouble for them ah to make it work.
00:26:23
Speaker
And it was just an absolutely unbelievably pleasurable evening. Oh, good. Did he play the hits?
Concert Comparisons: Richard Dawson vs. Melin
00:26:30
Speaker
He did. He played the hits and more. He was really, really funny. Mm-hmm.
00:26:35
Speaker
Oh, yeah, i was going to say, did he have some good between-song banter? He had loads of really good between-song banter. I think a lot of it was quite embedded within the set, is which I don't ah hold against him because, you know, Paul McCartney does the same thing.
00:26:50
Speaker
He had his stories and they were linked with the songs. He didn't just do songs off the the current album. and He did some some deep cuts. He didn't do anything off my favourite of his albums, which is called Peasants. That's the one I've heard the most. Yeah.
00:27:05
Speaker
I think Peasant's my favourite, but End of the Middle is is really great. It was just him and a drummer, and he he was he had an interesting look. He had kind of longish hair. It was quite ah almost like a tight sort of perm, and when he drummed, he would bounce up and down, and his hair would kind of fly up and then sort of like fall down,
00:27:28
Speaker
out of time with his body movement. It was very peculiar. It was kind of hypnotic. I had the drummer out the Wonder stuff, is he? He used to do that. Ah. But, yeah, he was great and very funny and really tight.
00:27:41
Speaker
Fantastic guitarist, great singer, just brilliant. Score out of 10? Oh, no, you wanted to tell us about the support band. Go The support act. that was That was really interesting.
00:27:51
Speaker
It was an artist who goes by the name of Bread Beddle, is a and ah young woman called Rebecca Lee. You have to talk about bravery.
00:28:02
Speaker
Yeah. She went on stage and she said, I've got a crap laptop. I've got a really crap CD player. Both of these things tend to go wrong. What I'm going to do is I'm going to make some loops.
00:28:14
Speaker
I'm going to do it for half an hour. And that is my set. Wow. And that's what she did. ah You know, and the loops were, if if there was a problem with it, they were kind of a bit more abstract. they weren't There weren't the kind of loops where there would be a rhythm that you could kind of tap your foot to.
00:28:34
Speaker
But there's some interesting soundscapes and some weird bits of dialogue were kind of dropped in on top of it. i um Particularly, there was one bit which was, it was like like a narrative and it was like a Northern narrative, like a Lancashire accent and Cumbrian accent. yeah And one of them was like, oh, Rob, come to me.
00:28:54
Speaker
And obviously I'm sitting next to Rob. So he as the a starts to get off. Not you, not that Rob. um but you not you not that room Not that Rob, but, um, you know, some people didn't really like bread pedal.
00:29:08
Speaker
It was not for everyone, but sounds interesting though the Chutzpah of, you know, going on there and saying this kit could all fall apart at any moment.
00:29:19
Speaker
Cool.
Johnny Domino Song Review: 'Ricky and Fred'
00:29:20
Speaker
It was a fantastic gig. Score out of 10? ten 10. and Okay. ten 10. 10 for Dawson. Would you believe it? The very same night I was down the road at another gig.
00:29:31
Speaker
Yes. I went to see a band called Melin Melin. Yeah. They were a Welsh band with a Welsh name and it translates as Yellow Windmill. And they're they're an interesting band. They theyre like dress up like millers.
00:29:46
Speaker
They're a band that make an effort to... Excellent. They have like a costume and a story behind them and stuff. And it's all very good fun, actually. They're a cracking live band.
00:29:58
Speaker
Cool. Marks out of 10? 8.75. I'd go and see them again. Well, based on what I know about numbers, my gig was better. Yeah, well, yeah. it was ah It was at least one and a quarter better.
00:30:13
Speaker
Okay, well, you know, next time when we go head to head. We shall see how it goes. Yeah. I wasn't sure about the Johnny Domino podcast, but I gave it a chance.
00:30:24
Speaker
And now I think I love it Right. Time for a actual Johnny Domino song now. And we're going listen to a song from the album Players, which is probably the one that I'd recommend people like listen to, to be honest, if you've never heard Johnny Domino.
00:30:42
Speaker
And this is track called Ricky and Fred.
00:31:24
Speaker
The zest of a simian grace face fits and I feel safe Your face fits, now feel safe I wonder if we're related A baby born in human form Believed to be arachnid To coin phrase borrowed from book That late is worth a second look I admit I lost it
00:31:56
Speaker
In a bathroom, didn't want to leave the house Put your hand in my face and wipe it all away
00:32:27
Speaker
Take down another face, a second thought is taking shape. Count on us, the future's safe, now all the traps are waiting.
00:32:39
Speaker
Or better off, the favourite was, just as he was escaping.
Admiration for The B-52s: Influence on Johnny Domino
00:33:18
Speaker
I'm lost in, like a pebble on a beach. I woke up in a bad noon, didn't once leave the house.
00:33:29
Speaker
You put your hand in my face and wipe it all away. You put your hand in my face and wipe it all away.
00:34:08
Speaker
Ricky and Fred from the album Players by Johnny Domino. If Players isn't the best Johnny Domino album, it's very much the shortest. Exactly.
00:34:19
Speaker
So Ricky and Fred, where's that title from? As a band, we drew various disparate influences and we often disagreed about a lot of things.
00:34:30
Speaker
The one area that we actually agreed pretty much wholeheartedly was the B-52s. All the way through. Yeah. All the way through up to now. Yeah. So that is, it's Ricky Wilson. Yeah.
00:34:42
Speaker
Ricky Wilson, the guitarist, sadly died at the age of 32 of age-related illness. But yeah, he was probably, I think, one of the best guitarists ever.
00:34:54
Speaker
Yeah. He was a phenomenal guitarist. Yeah. Just an amazing rhythm guitar player. And he also had this... Because of the different tunings that he used and the weird guitars that he used, he was able to play rhythm and lead at the same time.
00:35:10
Speaker
And if you listen to particularly the first album, there are definite times where he is playing both parts at the same time in one take. His playing is so groovy and so cool and so original. It's really good.
00:35:22
Speaker
And then you've got Fred. You've got Fred fred Schneider, ye the inimitable singer of... the new wave band from Nathans, Georgia, that is the B-52s. That was a blatant tribute ah to the B-52s. The first B-52s album that I bought was Whammy, which was their synth-pop album, which has got that sort of like continuous drum beat going all the way through, and you've got Ricky's amazing guitar playing. But yeah, Fred is an absolute legend.
00:35:51
Speaker
I think, you remember that Steve Albini recorded a solo album with Fred Schneider. I think it was one of his favorite jobs that he ever did. And he said, can you imagine waking up every day and your job is to be Fred Schneider?
00:36:06
Speaker
He's got the best job in the world.
Technical Challenges: Revisiting Past Recordings
00:36:08
Speaker
So cool. And ah think because Fred wanted to, as backing musicians, he wanted to use like different punk bands. So Steve Albini put out a call to various people in different bands and everybody wanted to do it.
00:36:23
Speaker
Yeah. Because he's such a legend. Yeah, I mean, he's got an amazingly weird voice. Oh, yeah. In a band that's got lots of really amazing weird voices. Yeah. So it's it's incredible, really. ah love the i love the vocals.
00:36:38
Speaker
Yeah. I can't believe you didn't see them. All right. and yeah What's your favourite B-52's record? ah You see... my heart still says you whammy, the synth pop album, because I just think it's absolutely brilliant.
00:36:54
Speaker
But my, but my mind probably says it's the first album just because it's so, I think they were upset when they first heard the mix that so Chris Blackwell did.
00:37:05
Speaker
Of the first album. Yeah. Yeah, they wanted it to sound like it was recorded in a proper studio. And they went to Nassau, recorded at Compass Point, and it ended up sounding like they'd recorded it in a loft somewhere.
00:37:19
Speaker
So they couldn't produce it into sounding sort of smooth or whatever. No, I think there was a conscious decision made. They could have easily yeah made it smooth, but Chris Blackwell made it sound not smooth.
00:37:33
Speaker
And then they basically did the same thing again with Wild Planet, but that sounds a lot smoother. Wild Planet is my favorite B-52's album. I think it's a really good one. I rediscovered it recently after watching the Minecraft movie because the the song Private Idaho is on the soundtrack.
00:37:51
Speaker
But I think it's this got some really good... The second side of it is amazing. Devil's in My Car, amazing. Quiche Lorraine, song about a dog. Fantastic.
00:38:03
Speaker
Yeah. You've Strobe Light. Want to make love to you under a strobe light? Filth. Oh, my God. And then it's the last one. 53 Miles West of Venus. That's it, which is quite a nice way to end the album, you see. It kind of just like drifts off.
00:38:17
Speaker
It's beautiful. I love it so much. Keyboard bass, though, Steve. Keyboard bass. Keyboard bass. I love the keyboard bass. And rick coming back to our song, Ricky and Fred, which I really enjoyed, actually.
00:38:28
Speaker
I was always a bit dissatisfied um with that song. And I've recently realized why. and it is, it's my playing. It's my playing.
00:38:39
Speaker
Hasn't got the keyboard bass. It needs keyboard bass. I should have played keyboard bass on that. It would have worked really well with like Jim's weird lyrics and stuff and and the guitar playing. And yeah, but just didn't.
00:38:52
Speaker
Can we re-record it with keyboard bass? That's what i'm getting around to. Well, um I did message you, didn't I? Because there's ah an album by the B-52s called Party Mix, which is some DJs in Europe decided to mix songs from the first two B-52s albums, B-52s and Wild Planet, and turn it into a kind of It's a party you mix. I'm overcomplicating it.
00:39:16
Speaker
And we did a version of that. it was a completely It wasn't a mix. It was a completely different recording of that song. Ricky and Fred. Ricky and Fred as a party mix. So the drum machine sound, it sounds like a a Yamaha RX-15. Hi there, tech fans.
00:39:34
Speaker
And the bass playing, if I remember rightly, is keyboard bass. I'd like to hear that, Steve. I know, but I've got it on DAT, but my DAT machine has just broken.
00:39:45
Speaker
It will not work no more. Should we put an appeal out? Anyone who's listening who's got a DAT machine will send you the DAT if you can turn it into a WAV or something. Yeah.
00:39:59
Speaker
It's so annoying because I've gone through all of the DATs that I've got. Well, pretty much all of them. They're all in the cloud now. And I listened to Ricky and Fred, the party mix, while I was doing it. I thought, oh, I'll get that later.
00:40:13
Speaker
Well, at least you've got a bit more space on your desk now. And they've got really adapt machine. Well, it's still there. I'm looking at it. Why haven't you moved it yet, man? It's dead. Because what I do is I press, I've just turned it on now.
00:40:25
Speaker
And I'm just going to try the... Yeah, it's it's still not opening. I've just tried it live. um to those lie Live tech fail.
00:40:36
Speaker
Just get rid of it, man. Put it in the bin. Take it downstairs. Just bear with me. Just have a good time once more. Listen.
00:40:44
Speaker
No, it's not opening. dear. That's sad. Denied. Okay. Well, I think we should either get that version never listen to that, or I would be open to re-recording that one with keyboard bass.
00:40:57
Speaker
You love
Creative Mashups: Led Zeppelin and Cabaret
00:40:58
Speaker
that keyboard bass. Yeah. But yeah, we used to play that one a lot. The thing is, Johnny Domino, we had this horrible thing where we would play a song and people would like it and then we'd move on and just do something else.
00:41:10
Speaker
But no one liked that one, so we played that one all the time. People liked that song, but we really enjoyed playing it. Well, everyone else did apart from me. Yeah, the thing is we played it right the way through till the end of our live playing days.
00:41:24
Speaker
We did. Our live playing days. Yes, that sounds like a yeah Fairport Convention song. Our live playing
00:41:36
Speaker
Hi, I'm Giles and and I don't listen to their podcasts. I think they're very silly boys. Don't be too much of a Debbie Downer because we're having so much fun, but i'm I'm going to mention the old health content again, Steve.
00:41:52
Speaker
Woo-hoo. Yay. Because I've recently started radiotherapy and it's, you know, it's a thing. That's for sure. I've written a poem about it actually.
00:42:05
Speaker
And i'm I'm going to debut it here with you. Go for it. It's called Radiotherapy Head.
00:42:16
Speaker
TV on the radio therapy. Radio therapy free Europe. Video killed the radio...
00:42:27
Speaker
It's your laughing. Your laughing made me... Screw that up. I'm going to start again now. I'm going to turn my microphone off. Turn your mic off. I just said all right after I turned it off.
00:42:39
Speaker
Yeah, turn it off Turning off now. Now.
00:42:43
Speaker
Radio therapy had...
00:42:47
Speaker
TV on the radiotherapy. Radiotherapy free Europe. Video killed the radiotherapy star. Radiotherapy gar-gar.
00:43:01
Speaker
Hello toilet, my old friend. I've come to talk with you again. Got a radiotherapy head I'm pissing through a needle and the damage done?
00:43:13
Speaker
Insane in the membrane. Can I speak? I'm going for a piss now. Okay. I'll pause the recording then. Thank you.
00:43:26
Speaker
You all right? Yes. Hello, toilet, my old friend. I've got to talk with you again. I did make me laugh. Yeah. Well, that song is in my head all the time. Every time I sit on the toilet at the moment.
00:43:40
Speaker
Yes. Hello, toilet, my old friend. Some listeners may remember that and ah few or quite a few episodes ago, we submitted a song to a Facebook group called the PRF Monthly Tribute Series, which is a Facebook group where people choose an artist and all the members of that group submit cover versions thereof.
00:44:03
Speaker
And recently, the artist being paid tribute to was Led Zeppelin.
Music and Theatre: Exploring Creative Possibilities
00:44:09
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Not an actor I'm amazingly concerned about, massively.
00:44:15
Speaker
and But there was a great version by an artist called Tierzan. Tierzan. That's the way to say it. Tierzan. Yes. And I thought it was absolutely fantastic. And it also ties in with the interpolation engagement opportunity we've been talking about. It does. How do you say it in Cantonese again?
00:44:37
Speaker
Oh, shit, I've forgotten. Okay, sorry. I knew you were going to say it. Can you guy war? tom you guy will boy Do you do you really need to put that intonation on it?
00:44:50
Speaker
Interpolation is tab-zik. Oh, that's nice. like that. Yeah, it's good. There you go. So I reached out to Tirzen, which is a gentleman called Taron Beattie, a Canadian gentleman called Taron Beattie, and asked if we could use it. And he said, yes.
00:45:08
Speaker
Let's have a listen. and It's a particularly great version of Kashmir, but taken somewhere slightly different. I won't spoil Maybe this time I'll be lucky Maybe this time he'll stay
00:45:41
Speaker
Maybe this time, for the first time, love won't hurry away. He will hold me fast.
00:45:55
Speaker
I'll be home at last. Not a loser anymore like the last time and the time before.
00:46:29
Speaker
All the odds are in my favour Something's bound to begin
00:47:30
Speaker
Money, money, money, money, money I marker yen up a gold account
00:47:40
Speaker
Welcome and be ever new. Welcome. Friend and stranger.
00:48:04
Speaker
Everybody loves a winner So nobody loves me Lady peaceful Lady happy That's what I long to be All the odds are In my favour Something's bound to begin
00:48:43
Speaker
Money makes love a girl out of me. Money makes love a girl out of me.
00:48:58
Speaker
It's a bit of an inspired combination, isn't it? It's brilliant. Obviously, that is taking...
00:49:09
Speaker
ah bit of an inspired combination isn it it's brilliant obviously that is taken Elements of Cashmere by Led Zeppelin and sprinkling it with lyrics from the Kanda and Ebb musical Cabaret.
00:49:24
Speaker
um mostly Maybe this time. Maybe this time. and But the bit where it goes into Two Ladies, Make Me Laugh Out Loud, the first time i heard it. dade um And then there's bit of Willkommen, Bienvenue, The Money Song.
00:49:39
Speaker
just ah so so It was brilliant. um So I sent him a very long message and he said, wow, thanks. That sounds like fun. He wrote some words and so and I messaged him again and said, be that's great. Fantastic.
00:49:55
Speaker
It'd be even better if you could say those words. ah to have a ah a different voice on the podcast. An audio. An audio clip, yeah. yeah I'm going to stop giving people the option in future. But as I said, it would be great if you could write or record something.
00:50:10
Speaker
Now I'm going to say record it. And i have not heard ah from Taron Beatty since that message. Oh, never mind. What are we to do instead? I did a quick Google, the search terms being read text in Canadian accent, and I came up with this.
00:50:30
Speaker
I first saw Cabaret on stage at Ontario's Stratford Festival when I was 17 or so. When I was 22, I was in a production of Torch Song Trilogy, in which the lead Arnold Bekoff opens each act singing a torch song in drag.
00:50:44
Speaker
Our lead chose, maybe this time, for the second act and I grew fond of it from hearing it repeatedly over several performances, which was the best of the possible outcomes to that. So 30 years later when thinking of Zep's songs to cover it seemed instantly quite simple to grab that chromatic opening from Kashmir and repurpose it to underlie the Liza Minnelli number.
00:51:02
Speaker
The stuff after that was rather more difficult. But I really like Cabaret. And Zeppelin. It's good. It's useful tool, isn't it, AI? it it is. It's useful. is it yeah yes In the right hands, it could be a force for positive, I think.
00:51:18
Speaker
Yeah. um I hope Taron is not offended by me just grabbing an AI and getting his his words spoken.
Podcast Goals: Encouraging Listener Interaction
00:51:27
Speaker
But thank you again to Taron for letting us play that song.
00:51:31
Speaker
I wonder if somebody could do a version of that where it's the other way around, where you've got like bit of campy show tune music with like psychedelic warrior in a desert lyrics over the top of it.
00:51:43
Speaker
Or baby when you squeeze my lemons, the juice runs down my leg. Would that work? Could do. Would that work? I thought it was a very apt song to listen to. It felt very contemporary yeah to me in terms of its tone and its mood and everything.
00:52:00
Speaker
And I thought it worked really well. And, you know, considering Cabaret is about the flourishing of a culture in a country which is becoming a fascist state, I think it sort of works today quite well.
00:52:14
Speaker
Yes. Now think on. Also, I like the idea of a bit more musical theatre happening on this podcast. You know, I'd like to write some musical theatre to one of these days. Oh, we should. Yeah. and And we can't really mention that type of thing with without, of course, giving a quick mention to Dinosaur Planet.
00:52:34
Speaker
Oh, oh, oh, Dinosaur Planet. Oh. Your favourite MJ Hibbert album. oh Oh. I think it is because our friend MJ Hibbert and his validators actually made a ah rock opera.
00:52:48
Speaker
Yeah. Which I think should be one day performed live, you know, in a theatre with props and giant dinosaurs. It has been performed live in theatres.
00:52:59
Speaker
I know, but not with props and dinosaurs and people acting. This is going to be catnip to MJ if he's listening to this That's what I want. um I think we should do a Johnny Domino musical anyway.
00:53:13
Speaker
Let's work on that. Okay. I'm not sure what it's going to be about, but it's going to lots of things where people talk and then it just turns into a song. It's a song.
00:53:24
Speaker
Maybe it could be one of those musicals which is completely sung. I like those ones. What's your favourite musical? Ah, right. I love a Chorus Line. A Chorus Line is one of my favourites.
00:53:38
Speaker
I mean, Stephen Sondheim, you can't really go wrong. Sweeney Todd's a good one as well. Yeah. Not the film. The film A Chorus Line is pretty good. It's got Michael Douglas wearing one of his, a series of V-neck sweaters with nothing underneath. That's kind of, it was the start of his masculinity in crisis period.
00:53:55
Speaker
You've sold it to me. I love that kind of Michael Douglas. Yeah. What about The Book of Mormon? That's my favourite, one of my favourites. I've never seen it. Oh, there's some really good songs in it. And Sondheim, Company.
00:54:08
Speaker
that's That's incredible. Have you heard Oh, Company's all right. Yeah, yeah. really good. When I worked in the theatre, we did a few Sondheim ones. yeah Once you've when you've worked backstage at a Sondheim musical, you tend to kind of go off them a bit.
00:54:22
Speaker
But yeah, chorus line's great. And also an honorary mention for Hedwig and the Angry Inch. about an east East European transsexual who's in a punk band, has a botched sex change operation, hence the Angry Inch, and tours across America.
00:54:44
Speaker
It's flipping brilliant. It's a great, great film. I've never seen it live, but the the film is amazing. I feel we've given people lots to think about today. Remember, if ah you're you're interested in like finding out more about some of this stuff that we're talking about, we have got a blog that is linked to from the show notes.
00:55:05
Speaker
So it's got all the links to the songs and stuff that we're talking about. so Yes. Check it out. Check it out. it from your own volition. Yes. You're a person. You could do it yourself. You're a grown-up.
00:55:19
Speaker
You're a grown-up. Do you really need us? You're probably sitting, you know probably looking at your phone like while you're listening to this. Now. Just sort it out. For God's sake, do we have to fucking give you everything?
00:55:33
Speaker
going back to, you know, first footings, the purpose of the podcast is to choose songs to make up a best of Johnny Domino mixtape.
00:55:44
Speaker
ah We
Conclusion: Thanks and Music Recommendations
00:55:45
Speaker
have two volumes of that already available on streaming services, and we are groping our way towards the third volume. We've only really spoken about one johnny domino song this week and that was ricky and fred and it remains to be seen whether we managed to record a keyboard bass version of it or have a dat player that could allow us to inflict the party mix on people will we'll see we'll see if the appeal works mm
00:56:15
Speaker
Can I just say thank you to Frankie for his Hank Williams cover, Interpolation, and thank you to Tierzen for sterling work mixing Led Zeppelin with with musical theatre.
00:56:29
Speaker
And thank you to you for listening to this episode of the This Our Johnny Domino podcast. and Thank you, Steve. You've been great. Thanks. I'm just going to say that there.
00:56:41
Speaker
But ah I just wanted to mention, just to give people value for money, I've got one more song that I would like to bring to your attention.
00:56:52
Speaker
Okay. Have you heard of a band called White Fence? It's good. If you've not listened to the White Fence, I'm saying go away now and listen to White Fence. It's Tim Presley, an American singer-songwriter, varied career, played with The Fall at one point, like late period of fall, worked with Kate LeBond.
00:57:10
Speaker
yeah we need We need to talk a bit more about Kate LeBond on the podcast, I think. And it's good for fans of 60s tinged psychedelia and weird pop.
00:57:21
Speaker
And this song is what I think is a song for a summer at the end of the world. And it's from the 2014 album for the recently found innocent, which is a hard recommend from me.
00:57:37
Speaker
And the song is called Sandra. Sandra. When the Earth Dies. It's spacey, bright, and it's got a lo-fi, summery feel. And the lyrics have a positive slant on the apocalyptic vibe.
00:57:52
Speaker
Less, it's all going to be okay. More, when the earth dies, we'd wish we'd died. And it features birds and junkies and Latin lovers and a powdered wig.
00:58:03
Speaker
And it sounds like summer to me. And I like it. That's a weird summer that you've just portrayed there. That's my summer. I'm having radiotherapy.
00:58:13
Speaker
Okay. Fair enough. Listen to it. You'll get into the vibe that I'm in. That's what i'm saying. get Listen to it. You'll get the vibe. You'll get the vibe. Okay. Thank you again for listening to Inane Ramblings and we'll see you again in a couple of weeks.
00:58:29
Speaker
We will. Please do like and subscribe to our podcast and recommend it to someone who you think might like listening to all this kind of weird shit. Send us some of your old music and enter the eternal halls of the four-track gods.
00:58:53
Speaker
But, um... but um