Always believe in your soul
It's Friday, it's about 3 o'clock. It's time to go underneath the covers (with the lights out).
I always recommend listening to a cover version without knowing what or who it is, so click on the link before reading ahead...
Today's cover version [link expired]
That was Duvall covering True, originally by Spandau Ballet.
One of the many things I uncovered recently when moving house was a dozen A4 pages of lyrics quiz, printed out circa 2000. I'm not 100% sure of the quiz's provenance, it was something someone e-mailed to Felix, I think. Anyway, by folding the sheets in half to hide the answers I figured it was still possible to extract some fun.
Picture, if you will, some people lying about on a blanket last Sunday in the sunshine, post-BBQ, running through the quiz. "Why do I find it hard to write the next line?" I read out.
"Ooh, ooh, ooh", said Cathy and I, in the manner of people who know they'll know the song as soon as they've sung themselves far enough along to reach the chorus and (hopefully) the title. ChrisC made a strange groaning noise as of someone who was dredging something out of the depths of memory.
"Spandau Ballet", said Cathy and I at around the same time ChrisC triumphantly shouted "Duvall".
We looked at him funny. We assured him it very definitely was Spandau Ballet. He sang a line or two from the Duval song he was thinking of. We assured him that what he was singing was definitely still Spandau Ballet.
And so a cover he's been hiding from me was, er, uncovered. "I didn't know it was a cover", he says. I ask you. Having located the original on YouTube he has now conceded that he does of course know it, but by its distinctive sound and distinctive intro rather than having any idea of the words. Since the cover sounds different, he hadn't made the connection. I ask you.
Duvall are quite fun, and I'm quite enjoying Volume & Density. However, for people who want new music I'd be more likely to recommend Destination Failure or Born To Quit, by Josh Caterer's previous band The Smoking Popes.
For the curious, here are some of my favourites from the monster lyrics quiz:
"Nothing to write home about" - the one everyone knows but many people can't quite place.
"Your purple prose just gives you away" - from a song I know quite well, but with such incomprehensible, inaudible lyrics I didn't recognise it.
"Sat down for a drink in your father's favourite chair" - which made very happy and started me singing, even though no one else present knew it.
I can't possibly type the whole quiz all up at once, but could maybe reproduce it as a long-running serial if people cared :)
The Management apologises for the lack of a cover last Friday. The Management was, in fact, swanning round Kew Gardens with its parents and totally forgot to post an mp3.
I always recommend listening to a cover version without knowing what or who it is, so click on the link before reading ahead...
Today's cover version [link expired]
That was Duvall covering True, originally by Spandau Ballet.
One of the many things I uncovered recently when moving house was a dozen A4 pages of lyrics quiz, printed out circa 2000. I'm not 100% sure of the quiz's provenance, it was something someone e-mailed to Felix, I think. Anyway, by folding the sheets in half to hide the answers I figured it was still possible to extract some fun.
Picture, if you will, some people lying about on a blanket last Sunday in the sunshine, post-BBQ, running through the quiz. "Why do I find it hard to write the next line?" I read out.
"Ooh, ooh, ooh", said Cathy and I, in the manner of people who know they'll know the song as soon as they've sung themselves far enough along to reach the chorus and (hopefully) the title. ChrisC made a strange groaning noise as of someone who was dredging something out of the depths of memory.
"Spandau Ballet", said Cathy and I at around the same time ChrisC triumphantly shouted "Duvall".
We looked at him funny. We assured him it very definitely was Spandau Ballet. He sang a line or two from the Duval song he was thinking of. We assured him that what he was singing was definitely still Spandau Ballet.
And so a cover he's been hiding from me was, er, uncovered. "I didn't know it was a cover", he says. I ask you. Having located the original on YouTube he has now conceded that he does of course know it, but by its distinctive sound and distinctive intro rather than having any idea of the words. Since the cover sounds different, he hadn't made the connection. I ask you.
Duvall are quite fun, and I'm quite enjoying Volume & Density. However, for people who want new music I'd be more likely to recommend Destination Failure or Born To Quit, by Josh Caterer's previous band The Smoking Popes.
For the curious, here are some of my favourites from the monster lyrics quiz:
"Nothing to write home about" - the one everyone knows but many people can't quite place.
"Your purple prose just gives you away" - from a song I know quite well, but with such incomprehensible, inaudible lyrics I didn't recognise it.
"Sat down for a drink in your father's favourite chair" - which made very happy and started me singing, even though no one else present knew it.
I can't possibly type the whole quiz all up at once, but could maybe reproduce it as a long-running serial if people cared :)
The Management apologises for the lack of a cover last Friday. The Management was, in fact, swanning round Kew Gardens with its parents and totally forgot to post an mp3.