Buying the albums sampled on “You Can All Join In”.
Track 4 is the sampled track “I’ll Go Girl”, and was a worthy choice. It is a brilliant song, and the best thing the band ever recorded. It is the finest example of craftwork in music that I have come across in my lifetime, with a strong melody and masterful lyrics, with just the right amount of “soaring” into the brief refrains, which are woven almost imperceptibly into the delivery. Moreover, it is a truly super thing to listen to, very easy on the ear indeed.
Track 5 is “Grandad”, and is a profound rag-time curiosity. It is the first of the two songs on the LP to be about an old man who is dead by the end of the song. The first verse ends “Grandad’s getting on now”; the second one ends “And he doesn’t have my gran now”. The fourth and final verse ends with this sad couplet:
“It’s hard to go on now
Grandad is gone now”.
Track 6 is “Ladies And Gentlemen”, a phrase which even now is used to open speeches and announcements. The nouns are also often used to identify which toilet (bathroom in the USA) one should go to. The first use is referred to in the opening words of the song:
“Ladies and gentlemen
Before I make this speech”.
The other use is a reference to public lavatories in central London (at the time; I do not know if they are still there):
“Outside the Ladies and Gentlemen
The ones in Leicester Square
There is a phone booth” [that probably isn’t there either now].
The second stanza contains the nub content of the “speech” being given, and ends with a typically clever joining of two common phrases to make a chilling conclusion:
“Each day, sitting, smoking, talking
Drinking, walking in the afternoon
On and on you go till soon
You’re entertaining all your friends
And constantly on your feet
You burn the candle at both ends
You’re trying hard to make ends meet”.
This is a clever, pleasant song. It actually has a bit of a refrain, but for some reason the lyrics are not given, but they do feature the phrase “coffee in the afternoon”.
More next time.
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