We write about the songs that make the whole world sing, we write about the songs of love and special things, we write about the songs that make the young girls cry, we write about the songs, we write about the songs.
Here's some stuff I watched on youtube when I was supposed to be working. John Cage is a man I've always confused with John Cale. Even when writing his name just now, I accidentally wrote John Cale. I long for them to be one and the same man, as this would mean John Cale was a musical god whose genius stretched over five decades taking in everything from avant-garde nonsense to great, viola-driven pop. A bit like Cliff Richard, only without the avant-garde nonsense and the viola-driven pop.
Up above is some fella doing his 4'33. Click here and you can see some other fella playing his Suite for Toy Piano, a suite so complex it has parts that can't actually be played on a toy piano. Alternatively, or concurrently, click here for a man playing Cage's Dream on an unfeasibly large set of xylophones. Read more about John Cage here. And for a further appreciation of my Cale/Cage confusion, click here for Cocaine by JJ Cale. I don't know what Stanley Unwin's doing at the start of the video, but then Stanley Unwin is a bit of a law unto himself. I often get him mixed up with LS Lowry.
I was just thinking, it's been three weeks since we posted a serious video. So I was going to post Glen Campbell's I Guess I'm Dumb, seeing as it was written by Brian Wilson, but I've already shown you that during our two weeks of live blogging, and I have nothing more to say about it although I've at least managed to fill up one paragraph before I try to think of something to say about Boyce and Hart, which frankly I'm going to crib from Wikipedia anyway. And it's something I've already told you as well.
So, Boyce and Hart first of all provided the inspiration for Mike Myer's wardrobe in Austin Powers, but that's a given. I like how they make it look like an album cover at the start. What I didn't know, and judging by this clip I'm not sure anyone knew, was that they wrote Last Train to Clarksville. AND that Last Train to Clarksville was a Vietnam song, Clarksville being the station troops went to to catch the cheap flights to Ho Chi Minh City, probably.
Boyce and Hart also wrote the Monkees b-side and old-favourite "Words" for The Leaves, who were the first band to release Hey Joe as a rock standard, whatever that means. As I told you on the bus to Iguazú, "Words" is a song about haemmorhoids, although I can´t remember the punchline for that one. I once lost a five pound bet to first girlfriend Lucy over the authorship of "Hey Joe". I said it was Hendrix, she said it was Billy Roberts. Turns out she wasn't completely right.
Dear Daniel,
Oh God, if ever there was inspiration for tireless search and research for the secret of time travel, it's poor Bobby Hart's expression throughout this video. He should stay at home and enjoy the PRS. Nobody should make him stand in front of a camera dressed like that, moving like that and slightly, awkwardly smiling like that. His left foot tries to make a break for it at 2'14", before the trousers put a stop to it.
Thankfully, we have a tasteful modern version made cleverly in one shot by the funny guy from the IT Crowd, Mighty Boosh and Time Trumpet, Richard Ayoade...
... which goes to show, of course, that we're a lot more wise and intelligent now than anyone was in the 60s. Stanley Unwin aside.
And just to prove that I listen to what you say, it was "words with lies inside: piles." Far more intelligent, you see, far more wise.
James and Daniel, or Jim and Danny to an unfortunate few, were going to be like the old men who ran 78 Records in Stockport, but writing a blog about the songs and videos they came across seemed a lot less hassle, and saved them having to move to Stockport. And so they created 78x78 Records, so that other people could know what it was like to be their friend, and what they wrote about when they wrote to each other about music. And so they will post videos of songs you might enjoy 78x78 times. And then they will stop. And then they will do something else. That's 6084 posts. They´ll endeavour to get it done quickly. They'd love to hear from you and any videos or songs you'd like them to post. You can do this by commenting in the pertinent area, or by e-mailing them your suggestions at 78discos@gmail.com
