08/10/2011

Earlies


Like Waterloo, the River Thames has sporadically cropped up in past columns, flowing through songs like London itself: the dirty old river in Waterloo Sunset, the sullen River Thames in Grief Came Riding, the echoes of  the lapping of the dark  river waters on a foggy evening in London, Queen of My Heart. As a city river, its place in songs is not unique. Lindisfarne are best known for their  sing-along ode to Newcastle and its river, Fog On The Tyne. There was Liverpool and Ferry Cross the Mersey by Gerry and the Pacemakers. The Seine too  has had its share of songs - Down in the Seine by the Style Council, for example.

The Thames, however, has always held a special place in London and in films and songs alike has been both a focus in its own right and as a background to countless scenes played out visually or musically before it. At times, it is used as  shorthand for  conjuring up traditional London/Britain, like  showing a red bus or Big Ben. Take this clip from a 1964 pop film vehicle for singer Joe Brown, 3 Hats for Lisa: ‘traditional London’ is spelled  out in capitals by a backdrop of the Thames and Tower Bridge –plus Sid James (South African born) as a typical tap-dancing Cockney taxi driver.


 Indeed, its bridges and banks were also part of music’s landscapes, as seen with Grief Came Riding and Battersea Bridge. Then  there was Cilla Black’s London Bridge, a ‘B’ side from 1969. Her 60’s singing career has got over-shadowed by her rapid move from early Beatles’ connections  into light entertainment, Tory Party conferences and general showbiz chummery. She was also a prime example of a  60's home-grown act whose  own version of a particular song was more successful than the original and definitive classic. Baby I Need Your Loving was a UK hit not with the Four Tops original but by Liverpool second-division outfit, The Fourmost. The version of the Curtis Mayfield-penned Um, Um, Um, Um ,Um, Um that was the hit in Britain was by Manchester’s Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders rather than Major Lance, rather losing the enigmatic quality of the lyrics in the process. Sound of Silence was more successful for the Bachelors than Simon and Garfunkel. Cilla Black managed it twice, with number one hits with Anyone Who had A Heart (Dionne Warwick) and You’ ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling (the Righteous Brothers). London Bridge, however, is an unexpectedly charming little period piece from the time when London Bridge  indeed wasn’t there :it had been dismantled and flogged off to an American real-estate developer to put back together in Arizona.

The Thames is also often used as a metaphor, as rivers tend to be because of their paradox of constantly changing whilst staying the same. Elton John’s Across the River Thames, a rather self-conscious 2006 recreation  of his early to mid 70’s sound (complete with Davey Johnstone on guitar and Nigel Olsson on drums) had the Thames as a symbol for his own career, ie still there; “But I'm still here and the fog still rolls across the River Thames”. In Richard Digance’s Dear River Thames, the river takes on another symbolic guise:” Stay by me, stay by me, And don't let me down. .... For the ride, I must confide that you are my friend.” (For some reason, the song is often seen as credited to Ralph McTell). There have been numerous versions of Ewan Maccoll’s Sweet Thames Flow Softly - Planxty, Rufus Wainwright, Cherish The Ladies amongst them. I suppose history and continuity is what the river mainly represents in all these songs.

The song here, Earlies, is rather different. The Thames has only a small walk-on part in the lyrics about doing an early shift in the London of 1981 and the IRA bombing campaign  but it somehow permeates the whole song. There are 2 versions here. The first is a live version by the original artists, the Trashcan Sinatras, a Scottish indie band with a harmonies- and -  jingle/jangle sound reminiscent of Teenage Fan Club  - or the Go-Betweens of Streets of Your Town. The second is a more gossamer and ethereal version from 2011 by Lotte Kestner (aka Anna-Lynne Williams).

The precise meaning of the words/location is hard to pin down: County Kilburn is clear enough  ( a name for Kilburn in north-west London because of its large Irish population) but goodness know where Cakebrick Road is. That hardly matters though, for the song is really about nostalgia and wistfulness for times and places past, and the Thames is a perfect setting for that. There is something about it that can create a mood of yearning and  false or real memories, like the mist rising from it. It was in Waterloo Sunset, with Ray Davies saying the lyrics were shaped by his trips over Waterloo Bridge as an art student in the early 1960’s and by a spell as a child in St Thomas Hospital, seeing from the balcony the views described in the song.

Like anyone who has spent time in London, it has also figured in my memories there. Travelling down it on a boat  to Greenwich on a school trip up from the coast; or a spell doing my own ‘earlies’ after first arriving in London, crossing the river en route to work at 6am; or standing on the banks with my son after his graduation and looking over to the London Eye, not there at the time this song was set. You cannot step twice in the same river for other waters are ever flowing on to you - maybe that is where the nostalgia comes from.



57 comments:

  1. I loved this column, and I think I like the Lotte Kestner version better, thanks Geoff!

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  2. Here's the great song Down in the Seine by the Style Council: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgtSxDUXhWI

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  3. Joe is a legend and my dear friend, played with him recently in Liverpool. We were in What a Crazy World together. We would roam around London with Billy Fury too in the late 50s.

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  4. Joe Brown of course was guitarist on one of British rock n roll's great classics, The Sound of Fury.

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  5. I loved how you pointed out that other rivers exist in songs - the whole concept of a city river - but I do think there is something unique about the Thames. No other river flows through songs as often as the Thames, perhaps because it's such a historic river and somehow seems more central to London's history than other rivers (like the Seine and the Rhine) do to other cities (like Paris or Mainz).

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  6. Here is the (annoyingly catchy) Fog On The Tyne by Lindisfarne: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dF5xVnTo8gs

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  7. it's me, Ray Laidlaw, drummer for Lindisfarne. I prefer this version of Fog on the Tyne: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YrWWek6JCY. Recorded at Watford Town Hall.

    Also, why not do Run for Home (about Newcastle) in your blog? It actually sold more copies than any single we ever did and bear in mind this was at the height of punk.

    Cheers!

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  8. Here's Ferry Cross the Mersey by Gerry and the Pacemakers, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08083BNaYcA - a pretty cool 1965 performance.

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  9. Oh my god, please can EVERYONE watch that link that Belle posted? I have never seen such relentlessly unattractive men singing. It really hurt my eyes! Whether you are looking at the one on the drums with those teeth, or that one on some kind of banjo with the hair, you wonder if you're watching a lost scene from the Lord of the Rings.

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  10. Here's another great scene from 3 Hats for Lisa. More classic British signposting - the black cab, the builders stopping traffic with their drilling who say 'watch it' to the (annoying) people who get in the way of their work with songs and dances, the flat cap on the cabbie, etc - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MW5ogQIolWA

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  11. I had no idea about Cilla Black having an actual and legitimate career in music before she was doing 'Blind Date' idiocy!

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  12. Really great discussion of all the songs that were more successful in their second iteration (Baby I need Your Loving, Anyone Who Had a Heart, etc). Fascinating!

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  13. I agree, it's fascinating to read about the success of the second releases. I only knew about the Fourmost example - it was only after the '60s with Greatest Hits albums by the original acts also including their non-UK hits were issued that radio stations began to ignore the original (UK chart) version for the Four Tops recording.

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  14. But Geoff, isn't is a problem that there was a (more successful) white version of almost every Motown hit - the Fourtown vs Four Tops version being a key example? The Hollies did a over of "Mickey's Monkey," and the Rolling Stones' did "Ain't Too Proud to Beg". It must have been frustrating for black artists that it was necessary to have a white version come out of a hit for marketability.

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  15. I kind of like the Johnny Rivers version of Baby i need your Lovin! - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqfEQwrR5Wc

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  16. London Bridge was sold to someone in Arizona at one point?? I had no idea, and I cross that bridge to work most days!!

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  17. Yep, they took it apart and rebuilt it in Lake Havasu City, Arizona in 1971. It is now part of a theme park that also has a shopping center with a Tudor theme! The bridge is actually one of the biggest tourist attractions in Arizona! Here it is: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/London_Bridge%2C_Lake_Havasu%2C_Arizona%2C_2003.jpg

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  18. There's a film about the relocation of the bridge called Bridge Across Time. Made in the 1980s. Terrible film. Basic plot is that some murders in Arizona get attributed to the spirit of Jack the Ripper, whose soul was brought over in the bricks of the bridge.

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  19. Didn't the American buyer actually think he was buying Tower Bridge (more recognisable) and ended up with London Bridge?

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  20. Here are the enigmatic lyrics to Earlies:

    cakebrick road in summer 1981, we shared a house and garden
    at the height of all the bombing, on the run in busy, hazy london
    through t-shirt breezes walking home from work
    county kilburn sun
    weekends we'd just wash away the dirt of busy, hazy london
    the night grew cold, the thames is old


    found that manners count for nothing and it took
    a welshman in his forties
    guinness elbows rest upon a tabletop
    the two of us on earlies
    three feet of snow fell on the walnut road
    two feet trudged
    round the corner came the sound of bad dreams
    the flame is old. the thames is cold.


    cakebrick road in summer 1981, we left a house and garden
    on the corner boys, best of friends?
    on the corner boys
    both of us on earlies
    two of us on earlies

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  21. Hmmm, Cakebrick Road is a mystery isn't it? Also, the only Walnut Grove is in Enfield, ten miles north-east of the centre. And nowhere near kilburn. Methinks the song wasn't written with a eye on actual geography!

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  22. I like the lyric about Cakebrick Road though, it evokes the hot summer, bricks of the road caked in heat, everything feels sweaty and dirty.

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  23. Love the idea that Elton John's river is a metaphor for his (ever present) career - brilliant!

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  24. Here's Richard Digance’s Dear River Thames - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuqayQJo_pg

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  25. Peter Ackroyd's fine book on the Thames, Sacred River, is the sort of work you want to keep returning to. And yet, perhaps understandably, among all the literary references etc it's missing out on the songs. Thanks for your work in filling in this huge gap, Geoff!

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  26. The Earlies is a song I'm ashamed to say I wasn't familiar with, but I have fallen in love with it. It makes me think of days long gone when I would be on earlies too, and you'd be heading out while the world seemed to be still sleeping, and one day as I set out before sun up I saw these two fox cubs playing in the snow while their mum looked on protectively. You wouldn't have seen that round our way in the daylight ...

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  27. For another Thames reference, there is of course Rolf Harris' Someone's Pinched My Winkles - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTaPf5z2Qz8 - "The Cockney tribes in Britain were meeting for the games held annually, once a year, along the River Thames ..."

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  28. Sweet Thames Flow Softly is all the more romantic in my view for being defiantly non-romantic from the off. There have been many renditions over the years, but my particular favourite is by The Johnstons, an Irish folk outfit, on their excellent 1968 Give A Damn LP on Transatlantic which is infused with the era's harmony pop influences. Am I right in saying the first recorded version was by The Critics Group in '67 when it was the title track of a LP of London related songs (aha!), mixing old broadside ballads with new compositions by Ewan and Peggy Seeger? Great record, and reissued by the good people at Vocalion. I understand that another poem set to music, The Ballad of London River by Mary Byron, was the 'official' school song for many Londoners up to the 1960s, but that is a very different thing. I would like to think that today's school children have the opportunity to hear Ewan's song. Ewan, despite his Manchester roots, lived for many, many years in London (south) and his life story should be studied by us all. "Her necklace made of London Bridge her beauty was enhancing ..." There's a lovely rendition by the great Christy Moore on YouTube which I particularly like for the relish with which he sings the words ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxAsBntDb6I

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  29. Geoff, what job were you working in London where you had to cross the Thames at 6am? I would love to have a clearer picture of what you were up to!

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  30. Ah, all the gloomy singers who sing about the Thames in a terribly gloomy way (including Nick Cave in Grief Came Riding) should watch the sight of Lulu delightfully dancing by on the Embankment... and be cheered up! - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E66uJQtxdHg

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  31. You may enjoy my version of Sweet Thames Flow Softly: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBRKogIvi-E. I also compose traditional Irish songs of my own. You can hear my own songs here: http://www.myspace.com/lilamadrigalioshea

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  32. Here's Sweet Thames Flow Softly - this version by the Dubliners, which I think I like best of all the versions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Lth3cF4-80

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  33. Thanks for mentioning Richard Digance’s Dear River Thames. While, as this lovely song shows, Richard has his roots in the folk scene those of us of a certain age will think of Richard on our TV screens performing topical and comical compositions. Sometimes he would simply sing sentimental and quite touching songs like this (The Washerwoman) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0gAFQcaJlE

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  34. Thanks for not writing about Elton John’s Across the River Thames - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Dpeq4X1lwY - as your main song for this week, as that song does seem like a less interesting exercise in nostalgia (recreating a 70s sound).

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  35. For anyone curious, Geoff is quoting On the Universe by Heraclitus here: "You cannot step twice in the same river for other waters are ever flowing on to you." Also quoted by Plato in Cratylus. I love a blog that needs the occasional footnote - Geoff's University!

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  36. Thanks for the clips of Fog on the Tyne and Sweet Thames Flow Softly

    Laura, I think what you say was true when the likes of Pat Boone had hits with Fats Domino songs but I think it was more complicated with the British groups of that time, who were influenced by r n b and gospel with the call and response sound and r n b songs like Mickey's Monkey were in every beat group's repertoire. Also, the British market was pretty insular still and British artists like Mark Wynter and Susan Maughan could have a chart career covering American hits, black or white.

    Martha, at the time I was working in a shop selling papers, magazines and stationary and often had to pick up supplies on the way in!

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  37. The link of a Lindisfarne concert given by Ray Laidlaw above seems very evocative of a particular era. In fact, for a slice of Britain in the early 70's you could do worse than view clips of Lindisfarne, Hawkwind or Vinegar Joe.

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  38. Another Thames song, and another example of the second-try thing you wrote about (where second releases were more successful) is The Inmates' song "Dirty Water" - "Yeah, down by the river. Down by the banks of the river Thames. That's where you'll find me ..." They made The Standells' Dirty Water their own, adapting it to reflect London rather than the Boston that Ed Cobb wrote about. Certainly when this version hit the charts many of us were hearing the song for the first time and weren't familiar with The Standells'. I have to confess I actually prefer The Inmates' interpretation. - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NrhE4FtqSc

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  39. You may have mentioned this on the blog already, Geoff, but there is Nadia Cattouse's Bermondsey, which mentions London Bridge: "It's night time in Bermondsey. The tide is turning now on barges in Bermondsey. The waters laps their bows. And on London Bridge young lovers shiver and gaze at the lamplight in the river ..." Mysteriously Bermondsey is credited to Unknown, which is fascinating as the local colour is an absolute joy (St Saviour's, Guy's, Southwark Cathedral, barrow boys etc.) I can't find a video online, but the MP3 is here to download: http://www.mediafire.com/?yzmhzdzamzv

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  40. I was in high school when I first heard Trashcan Sinatras on the radio. I was in my room, up late as usual, reorganizing my furniture when “Hayfever,” the single from their 1993 album I’ve Seen Everything, came on. Sadly, it was the only time I heard them on the radio. I did see them on MTV months later when they were featured in a Beavis and Butthead episode. But with their combination of acoustic and clean electric guitars, they couldn’t compete in the US with the verging Seattle scene of what would soon become grunge music. The album that has "Earlies" is I’ve Seen Everything, which is an album that sounds like a band experimenting with their own unique blend of pop rock. The guitars strayed into rock with "Bloodrush" and the bluesy "One At A Time." The album still stayed in the realm of acoustic pop but their sound was incredibly enhanced by the use of orchestration. “Easy Read” got most of my attention because of its use of somber lyrics and inspirational music. It begins like a folk song with just an acoustic guitar and Frank's voice. An electric guitar, along with the full band, takes over with a new riff. On the second chorus, the string orchestra simulates the main guitar riff and adds a level of sophistication. The entire album is a work of art and has inspired me many times over. The album sounds like the mentality of a small indie band harnessing the aesthetics of a well-established composer. As I think about that late night when I first heard "Hayfever," I think about how much Trashcan Sinatras have affected my life and how much of their music brings back fond memories. And I think about how much more they will affect me. I can only hope that Geoff's column inspires people to discover one of my favorite bands.

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  41. I am a sucker for Anna-lynne Williams and her projects Trespassers Williams and Lotte Kestner, Lotte Kestner being the name she gave her solo acoustic project. So you can imagine how happy I was to find out Lotte Kestner's new album would be entirely covers! For some this would be a let down, but for me, who loves covers, this is thrilling. She has done some amazing covers before, a few are included again on this new release, like her amazing version of Interpol's "Leif Erikson".

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  42. Another Thames / bridge song is Vauxhall to Lambeth Bridge by Julie Driscoll, really beautiful song from the Streetnoise LP she made with Brian Auger in 1969 which captures that special sense of escape and reflection that can be found while walking by the banks of the Thames. That part of the embankment Julie sings about, the stretch Vauxhall to Lambeth Bridge, is perhaps one of the better sections of the river to walk quietly along now that there's on the South Bank the Millennium Wheel and the Tate Modern. I love that line: "I think of you as I watch Big Ben and I see he's crying too ..." No video but here is the song: http://www.mediafire.com/?j3mmyzod5yk

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  43. The next time someone tries to tell you there ain't no soul left in the UK's old shoes just play them Kevin Mark Trail's D'Thames. It's quite lovely, and one of the best Thames songs full stop. If you recognise Kevin's name it may be from his work with The Streets. He did a great solo LP in 2005 called Just Living which EMI did their best to keep a secret and then dropped him for not selling millions. The song is online here: http://www.mediafire.com/?jnduoumwhym

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  44. Everything I’ve heard from Trashcan Sinatras is pure genius. As they’ve aged, they’ve only gotten better, more thoughtful and somehow cooler.

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  45. Anna-Lynne Williams has the kind of voice that stops you in your tracks. The kind of voice that can re-affirm your belief in the existence of a benevolent deity or higher power, one whose sole interest appears to be generously bestowing music of great power and beauty upon His (or her) thankful people. It's one of those voices that could sing the phone book, or a Chinese Takeaway menu, and it would have you swooning. Stolen is a covers record. This is a brave move at the best of times. The majority of covers albums don't really work. Here is one, however, which does. The songs come from a variety of sources. Beginning with a haunting cover of Damien Jurado's "The Falling Snow" and taking in songs by artists as diverse as Bon Iver, Hayden, The National and Interpol among others, the sense emerges, of a unified, cohesive album, full of songs which sound like they were written for Lotte Kestner to sing them. This is not a disparate collection of random covers, this is a journey into the heartbeat of an artist and poet, who wrests every ounce of fragile emotion possible form each song she touches. Building on the successful blueprint of China Mountain, this record is awash with delicate acoustic flourishes, delectable vocal harmonies, and occasional interjections from keys and synths which take Lotte Kestner's sound in a slightly fuller direction, without ever distracting from the central instrument: that once-in-a-lifetime voice. Self-released on her own Saint-Loop Records, this is one album not to miss. Lotte Kestner is an artist worthy of our ears, our hearts, and our support. Thanks for writing about her.

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  46. Don't forget Marcel's by Herman's Hermits - "Marcel lives in Wapping. The dockside view is stopping. Marcel's got a houseboat on the Thames. There's grotesque decorations. Eccentric demonstrations. Oh let's go down to Marcel's on the Thames. Knock, knock, sesame, it's open. It's an East End wonderland ..."

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  47. There is also Cath Carroll in Miaow's Thames At High Water. She cites several Miaow numbers as being very much London songs, and Thames At High Water is one she pinpoints as being Rotherhithe or Bermondsey related, dating from a time she was squatting in the area.

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  48. I love Lotte Kestner - the great Anna-Lynne Williams. Her latest album, a collection of somewhat obscure covers, is obviously beautiful. Her interpretations of Trash Can Sinatras and Interpol are obviously commendable. My favorite though is her version of Beyonce's Halo, which is something so sensual and captivating, it is extremely hard to believe these words did not come straight from her heart, but from any given songwriter who will probably always remain nameless. Beyonce can sing. This is obvious. But, anyone who hears Lotte Kestner spill out her heart to the same words the lady of R&B once did, should instantly realize that an improvement was made. Should Beyonce ever come across this track, I can feel that even she would agree that she was trumped. Hopefully she can understand. Here is the song:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK4rhSdUwg8

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  49. Here is Vinegar Joe, that Geoff mentioned as a slice of Britain in the early 70s (1973). Check out the fashions, not only in the band but in the audience too. And at least here they were just appropriating Jerry Lee Lewis, not a black artist! - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpoK_elHKcg

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  50. Ok, thanks Geoff. It's a good reminder to differentiate between the likes of Pat Boone and certain British groups.

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  51. Interesting Geoff! I bet you were reading the music magazines in the store you worked in:)

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  52. Both Robert Palmer and the great Elkie Brooks in the Vinegar Joe line-up

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  53. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYv2n-hRsa0&feature=fvst
    And here is Hawkwind with a bit of time travel to early- 70's Britain!

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  54. That link to Hawkwind isn't available in the U.S. to view, but here is one I found that can be watched over here.... Very very weird!!!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzJfInW9Kx4

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  55. And we cant view that one here!

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  56. Geoff, this is off topic, but the series How to Start Your Own Country is very funny and clever, and made me think of you and your blog (wonder if there are any songs about micro countries, mini nations started by an individual). Here is the trailer:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZUNwRewEnk

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  57. Thanks for that link! I suppose Christiana in Copenhagen is along those lines..

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