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 (see note at the end of this post).
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.
EDIT - just doing a bit of housekeeping and noticed that Burning World recently posted pretty much the complete HMHB Peel Sessions - so go and see if they still have 'em!
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?)
3 comments:
Ha Steve. As an 8 year old I used to listen to JR's Old Tige over and over again - with my dog on my lap. "Got to thinking about my dawg" became a standard line in our house!
Play it back to back with Old Shep and you'll be looking for a gun to shoot yer sen!
I think it was the B Side to Distant Drums, but I could be wrong.
Thanks mate
hey there dicky-boy - it is indeed the b-side to 'Distant Drums' - cheers for stopping by - "I couldn't help ma tears"...
Another great post - but you could have plugged the new HMHB album due at the end of the month - CSI:Ambleside featuring tracks such as "Took Problem Chimp to Ideal Home Show"
Anyway - what's weird is that I had an almost identical experience, heard the HMHB version on the Peel Sessions EP back in the day and was at my (then) girlfriends house and found her dad had a stack of Jim Reeves records - so I found Old Tige and put it on. She burst into tears at the end! Result!
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