Wednesday, December 28, 2011

1000 SONGS - DAY 151: SONG #181

Day 151: A forgotten favourite song from times ago
Who invented the effect of the "megaphone-voice"? Although many will think that Mark E, Smith was the one to get the credits, it seems to have been David McWilliams (1945-2002) from Northern Ireland. He wrote the magnificent song The Days of Pearly Spencer and first recorded it in 1967. The one who had the biggest success with a version of this song was Marc Almond, who charted with his cover in 1992 (top five). As McWilliams had lost the rights to his music by then due to some management failures, he did not receive a penny for that succes of his song. Although I do like some of Almond's records I do not think that his rendering of the song can match the original. Among the covers, the one I do like most is the recording of the song done by the French psychedelic group The Vietnam Veterans, featured here alongside McWilliams' original recording.
A tenement, a dirty street Walked and worn by shoeless feet Inside it's long and so complete Watched by a shivering sun Old eyes in a small child's face Watching as the shadows race Through walls and cracks and leave no trace And daylight's brightness shuns The days of Pearly Spencer The race is almost run Nose pressed hard on frosted glass Gazing as the swollen mass On concrete fields where grows no grass Stumbles blindly on
Iron trees smother the air But withering they stand and stare Through eyes that neither know nor care Where the grass is gone The days of Pearly Spencer The race is almost run Pearly where's your milk white skin What's that stubble on your chin It's buried in the rot gut gin You played and lost not won You played a house that can't be beat Now look your head's bowed in defeat You walked too far along the street Where only rats can run The days of Pearly Spencer The race is almost run The days of Pearly spencer The race is almost run

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