The GP Xmas Edition

Regular readers of this blog (all four of you - hi out there!) know that I have a slight Christmas song fetish; see the previous GP entries for 'East 17', 'Freiheit' & 'Kirsty MacColl'. Pop songs, carols, whatever - I love them at any time of the year, so I thought I would post a selection of my favourite videos for the holiday season.

Jona Lewie 'Stop The Cavalry' (1980) - one of those Xmas songs that, with the exception of a single lyric and a smattering of sleigh bells, has little if anything to do with Xmas and indeed was a summertime hit in France!

The Waitresses 'Christmas Wrapping' (1981) - The Waitresses are better known for 'I Know What Boys Like' but this track is a staple of Xmas Compilations and has been covered by such luminaries as, um, The Spice Girls and Miranda Cosgrove.

Mike Oldfield 'In Dulci Jubilo' (1975) - is there anyone who went to primary/elementary school and did not have to play this on the recorder? Come to think of it, is there anyone who actually played the recorder after they left primary/elementary school?!

Greg Lake 'I Believe In Father Christmas' (1975) - sometimes mistaken to be an anti-Xmas song, this is actually anti-commercialisation of Xmas. Greg wrote (with thanks to Prokofiev) and recorded this separate from Emerson, Lake & Palmer although the group did release a version a couple of years later.

John & Yoko 'Merry Xmas (War Is Over)' - yes, it's another not-very-Xmassy Xmas song and a little cheesy but, hey, we can hopefully all agree with the sentiments...

Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year to one & all. See you in 2010!

Kirsty MacColl - There's A Guy Works Down The Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis

The daughter of acclaimed folk singer Ewan MacColl (the writer of the seminal 'The First Time Ever I Saw Her Face'), it's a shame that Kirsty MacColl is somewhat better known for her collaborative work e.g. The Pogues 'Fairytale Of New York' and The Happy Mondays 'Hallelujah', than as an artiste in her own right. However she released a string of singles and albums throughout the 80s and 90s until her untimely death in 2000 in a boating accident in Mexico (she saved one of her sons from the path of a speedboat allegedly driven by a member of Mexico's high society).

Outside of the aforementioned collaborations, she is best remembered as covering Billy Bragg's 'A New England' and The Kinks' 'Days' and for her early tracks 'He's On The Beach', 'They Don't Know' (covered by Tracey Ullman, an earlier GP entrant, with Kirsty on backing vocals) and this, her first hit reaching #14 in 1981. Fun Fact: this was released in the US as 'There's A Guy Works Down The Truck Stop...' as it was felt that Americans would not know what a chip shop was! I highly recommend hunting down a copy of her compilation 'Galore' or, if you to be comprehensive the box set 'From Croydon To Cuba'. R.I.P. Kirsty...

Bonus Clips: 'They Don't Know', Kirsty's first single:



as it's the holiday season, one of my favourite Xmas songs, 'Fairytale of New York':



and finally, just for an excuse to post the lovely 'The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face'. Here's a version by Peter, Paul & Mary, featuring the recently departed Mary Travers. R.I.P. Mary...

William Shatner - Common People

William "Cpt. James T. Kirk" Shatner has often been pilloried for his 1968 album 'The Transformed Man' which featured cover-versions of recent hits performed in his own inimitable style of dramatic interpretation, making every phrase sound as if it should be followed by an exclamation mark. For example, 'Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds': "Picture Yourself! In A Boat! On A River! With Tangerine Trees! And Marmalade Skies!" However, old Bill appears to be able to laugh at himself and has continued to spoof his style in various commercials and at the 1992 MTV Movie Awards (where he performed all 5 of the Best Song From A Movie nominees). In 1995 in teamed up with Ben Folds to produce another album 'Has Been', the only cover this time being Pulp's 'Common People' which also featured Joe Jackson (of 'Different For Girls', 'Is She Really Going Out With Him?', 'Stepping Out' fame). For some reason, the dramatic reading actually works here either because the source material is so good or because the verses have little melody anyway. Funnily enough, 'Has Been' got pretty good reviews and became the basis for a ballet (choreographed by Margo Sappington, best remembered for 'Oh! Calcutta!') also called 'Common People'. Who said "Pop Will Eat Itself"?

Bonus Clips: Here's the aforementioned 'Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds':

... and just in case you thought this cheese was limited to Cpt. Kirk, here's one of Leonard Nimoy's contributions to popular music:

Tenpole Tudor - Swords Of A Thousand Men

Truth be told, I have a soft spot for their entire debut album 'Eddie, Old Bob, Dick & Gary' which also included the seminal 'Wunderbar' and '3 Bells In A Row' along with this, their biggest hit (No. 6 Apr 1981).

Tenpole Tudor was originally formed in the mid-70s by Eddie Tudor (born Edward Tudor-Pole, his family allegedly being descended from the Tudors) who was briefly Johnny Rotten's replacement in The Sex Pistols and appeared in their film 'The Great Rock 'N' Roll Swindle'. After a couple of albums, Tenpole Tudor disbanded with Eddie eventually returning to his first love: acting. Nowadays, he is best remember as the host of the UK version of 'The Crystal Maze' having taken over from Richard O'Brien in 1993.

Bonus Clip: Here's the resolutely silly 'Wunderbar'....

David Dundas - Jeans On

Another GP that popped into my head the other day as an earworm, this track from 1976 is quite interesting for the following reasons:

• David Dundas is actually Lord David Dundas, the 4th Marquess of Zetland (wherever that may be)! His father, the 3rd Marquess of Zetland (also known as the Earl of Ronaldshay) was a British tennis player in the 1940s and played Wimbledon.
• 'Jeans On', Dundas' only big hit, started out as a commercial for Brutus Jeans (see also: 'I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing' by The New Seekers and 'Inside' by Stiltskin
• 'Jeans On' was sampled by Fatboy Slim for the track 'Sho Nuff'
• Dundas went on to score the cult movie 'Withnail & I'

Fox - S-S-S-Single Bed

You know what? Nearly everything about this track is wrong, from the Lili Von Shtüpp inspired lead-vocal by Noosha Fox (check here if you've never seen Madeline Kahn's Lili in Blazing Saddles) to the use of a Peter Frampton-esque talk box. However, the whole turns out to somehow be greater than the sum of it's parts! Fox were put together by the American Kenny Young, who had previously been responsible for co-writing 'Under The Boardwalk' and 'The Captain Of Your Ship', and Australian vocalist Susan Traynor who rechristened herself Noosha Fox on joining the band. 'S-S-S-Single Bed' was the last of their minor chart hits before Noosha went solo and the band split. By the way, no - that is not Lol Creme on rhythm guitar although it really, really looks like him (I believe that it is actually Herbie Armstrong).

Bonus Clip: As mentioned above, Kenny Young also wrote Reparata & The Delrons' 'The Captain Of Your Ship'. It's one of my favourite girl group songs so that's an excuse to post it here!

Musical Youth - Pass The Dutchie

"This generation rules the nation with version"

Musical Youth were a Birmingham-formed UK reggae band that included 2 sets of brothers and spanned the ages 11-15 when 'Pass The Dutchie' was released. At the time, a 'dutchie' was said to be a patois term for a cooking pot i.e. a dutch oven. However, the song was actually a cover version of The Mighty Diamonds' 'Pass The Kouchie', which was about something else all together (Hint: the call & response verse in the original is "how do you feel when you got no herb").

'Pass The Dutchie' was a huge hit in the UK in the autumn of 1982 but subsequent releases provided diminishing returns and the group had faded from the public eye by 1985.

"Ba Dang Dang Biddley Biddley Biddley Bong!"

Bonus clips: Here's The Mighty Diamonds' 'Pass The Kouchie'.

... and Lenny Henry's Musical Spoof.