I've recently been trawling for humorous songs from the darkest corners
of my collection. Obviously, if you're going to do anything at all about
comedy in music, you have to feature
Half Man Half Biscuit. They're kind of the blueprint for how you
can do this kind of thing well and for a long time - you just need to have a bit of intelligence.
I remember an article in an old copy of
Smash Hits that looked at the finances of contemporary (mid 80s) musicians and the
only
act to make any kind of profit was HMHB. Wish I could remember who else
was featured, but I do know they all had massive major label advances
up the wazoo.
Half Man Half Biscuit - Old Tige
This
was from their first Peel Session and was always one of my favourite
recordings of theirs. Musically it's a pretty faithful talky-song until
1.29 when Nigel obviously gets bored and drops the cheesy American
accent. At the end it all dissolves into some quite chilling
Muttley-esque laughs.
Jim Reeves - Old Tige
The other week I was going through some of my late Grandad's old records when I found this, the original version of
Old Tige. I still like the Half Man Half Biscuit version, but I
really like the Jim Reeves version now as it shamelessly tugs at my heart strings.
The
Biscuits didn't change any of the words in their version but even
though I've heard them mercilessly ripping this song to shreds for
years, I'm not ashamed to say that this is one of the saddest things
I've ever heard - especially when the ghostly chorus cranks up in the
dying seconds of the track.
If this doesn't get you, you either have a heart of stone or have never owned a dog.
Or you never had a Grandad who had a dog and who loved soppy country music.
Visit - Half Man Half Biscuit
Visit - Jim Reeves
Buy - Gentleman Jim - Definitive Collection (*doesn't have "Old Tige" but I can't find it anywhere. any ideas?)
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