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  2. And for Peter Wyngarde’s bonkers album, a mixture of out of tune chansons and stuff like this (there is a song of sorts eventually, it’s just a really long intro).

  19. John Belushi & Dan Ackroyd

    And now ladies and gentlemen, it is the distinct pleasure of the management to present to you, the evening’s star attraction. Here they are back after their exclusive three year tour of Europe, Scandinavia and the sub continent. Won’t you welcome from Calumet City Illinios, the show band of Joliet Jake and Elwood Blues.. The Blues Brothers.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnaSRhMB_qo

    • Seconded.

      I like Mr Berry’s music more than enough to overlook the slight lyrical muddle when he refers to watching lambs skip and play during a Winter solstice.
      Makes me suspect he’s been in London a fair while.

      Fun to watch live as well, I’ve seen him and the Maypoles a couple of times at Kentish Town Forum.

  26. If an actor sings, my first thought is: vanity project.

    But Zooey Deschanel is no slouch as a pop star. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw She and Him live by what a good show she and M Ward put on.

  27. From Paint your Wagon, Lee “Point Blank” Marvin.

    He does have a rather wonderful, Waitesque voice.

    And from the same movie, the even more unlikely sight of Clint singing.

    • And from around the same era, Anthony Head’s brother, made a few films, did a nice album from which this comes:

      Also sings on Chess, remember One Night in Bangkok?

        • Say It Ain’t So, Joe is fantastic. My mother loved it but mainly because she fancied Murray Head probably. Cooing at him through showing of Sunday Bloody Sunday on TV one night.

          Father: “A bit young for you, darling?”. Condescendingly.

          Mother: “Young. And virile” Pointedly.

  31. Morgana King – probably best known as Mama Corleone – released numerous albums featuring her strange quivering voice and luxury class string arrangements . Wonderful version of “A Taste of Honey” – and her “It’s a quiet thing” album is an all-time classic late night listen.

  44. Remember Julie Covington? Of course you do; acting in “Rock Follies” (and 70s stage drama by David Hare Caryl Churchill, and Howard Barker) and making pop albums: “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina,” of course, but I like this melodramatic folk thing that Bob Stanley put on a compilation.

  45. Julie C did a thoroughly decent Richard Thompson helmed album, with this as the lead single.

    She also turned up as a backing singer on the Albion Bands epic Rise Up Like the Sun LP, and ton he tour that went with it, the girly singers, at least at the Venue, near Victoria station, being Covington, Melanie Harold (aka Joanna Carlin) and Viola Wills.

    • That album by Julie Covington, “The Beautiful Changes” – isn’t that mainly an album of Clive James and Pete Atkin songs? I’ve never heard it. I’m a huge James/Atkin fan, so maybe I should check it out one day…

    • A friend of ours is an airline pilot. Early on in his career – with his first airline – the legendary screen hardman Mr. Waterman was on one of his flights. During the flight, Mr. W consumed a packet of Mini Cheddars. Our friend obtained the empty packet after the flight, and contacted his agent for a signed photo. Both items were framed and currently reside in his sister’s downstairs loo, a slightly faded conversation piece.

      This utterly un-Hoary Old Rock Anecdote was brought to you by Grey Pooter.

      • Great story, if a somewhat strange item to frame!

        I’ve got a DW story too. In the early 70s I briefly lived in Finborough Road, Chelsea*, just a stone’s throw from Stamford Bridge.

        Match days were a nightmare, made worse by the fact that we lived on a side road with a little off-road parking area/yard down the side of the house. It goes without saying that people were constantly blocking the entrance to the yard, especially on week night games when they would pretend not to see the “No Parking” signs.

        One night in particular I returned home to find a big fuck-off BMW New Six (predecessor to the 7 Series) parked squarely across our driveway. My flatmate was doing his nut since his car was trapped in the yard and he had to be somewhere very soon.

        Before leaving the house on foot he fired off a stinging note along the lines of “Thanks for blocking me in, twat! Don’t fucking park here again, you stupid c**t!!!” and tucked it under the wiper of the Beemer.

        At around 9.30 I was leaving the house myself when the BMW’s owner turned up. You’ve probably guessed by now it was Dennis Waterman, apparently a huge Chelsea fan. Before getting in the car he retrieved the note, studied it carefully for a few seconds, looked around, then screwed it up and threw it on the ground. He then roared off toward Kings Road.

        *actually the Fulham Road end of Earl’s Court

  48. That’s an hilarious story GCU.

    Rather like the Middle Ages when a church would have holy relics like The Toenail Clippings of St Cuthbert or the Jockstrap of St Jacob.

    Anyone else the proud owner of the discarded snack wrappers of the stars?

  49. When Dennis Waterman sang the theme tune to New Tricks – a ditty penned by Mike Moran – many people thought its similarity to End of the Line by The Traveling Wilburys was a cynical move. But there’s a back story that goes back nigh on 30 or so yearsish.

    Mike hit Number 2 with Rock Bottom in 1977 with Lynsey De Paul. The pair were the talk of the nation. As this was also the UK Eurovision entry, the exposure to the song in an age before social media (just 3 TV channels, a handful of radio stations) was so extensive that a visiting Tom Petty was under the impression that the song must have a certain undefinable something. They were even on the cover of Titbits!

    He also liked the idea of duetting on pianos with a pretty female sitcom star. Hungry/desperate for a hit, he thought he’d “borrow” the whole concept and by making a few tweaks, he could claim the song as an original composition. De Paul’s hair resembled his own, so he could picture himself singing her parts. It also explained the beauty spot that appeared on his face at around this time and the top hat that he still wears to this day.

    So…safely back in the States, Tom wrote a song called “Back Bottom” which he performed with hot-as-all-get-out TV star Florence Henderson, back to back on pianos. He considered the lyrical tweaks clever, but the song’s integrity suffered:

    Tom : Terr-agedy?
    Flo : you got ‘ it!
    Tom : history?
    Flo : I get it !
    Tom: Where are we?
    Both : Back Bottom! Wrap it up and start it again!

    Tom’s mistake was overestimating the discernment of of the UK pop audience. He didn’t take on board that the British are grateful for any entertainment at all and have very, very low standards. Of course the more sophisticated jeans-wearing US audience hated the song. On the Tonight show, Tom and Flo’s performance actually provoked boos and catcalls. Audience footage shows the people holding their noses and mimicking flushing a high cistern toilet.

    After musical performances, an impressed-looking Johnny Carson tended to say “How *about* that? Weren’t they somethin’?” – but after that performance, his face was like thunder and he stood silently for a moment before shaking his head and moving on. That gesture killed the song stone dead in America.

    Nevertheless, some years later Mike was in LA and approached Tom about the song – and Tom admitted his plaguerism and promised to discuss a settlement. The next day a couple of goons visited Mike at his rented condo and left him in no doubt that pursuing the matter will not be a good idea. This was heartbreaking for Mike because he’d always been a fan of both Harry Secome *and* Michael Bentine.

    So when Dennis Waterman approached Mike for New Tricks, Mike couldn’t resist nicking one of Tom’s songs and changing the lyrics a bit. It was a bit petty.

  54. Mike Flowers Pops (MFP- geddit?) deserve to be mentioned here as it was an actor, Mike Roberts,
    who was playing the part of the king of easy listening. Whatever happened to him?

    Very witty arrangements anyway.

  57. Jacek Koman is an Australian-Polish actor who on the side has a band, VulgarGrad, who sing songs of the Russian underclass. They seem to get over the language barrier rather well.

  59. Tom Waits definitely appeals to actors who want to make music.

    Bad Liver och hans brustna hjärtan were a band who did Waits covers in Swedish. What made them special was that rather than simply translating the lyrics, they wittily transferred the stories to a Swedish setting.

    Jockey full of bourbon

    The heart of Saturday night

    Might appeal to @locust. Duh! She probably has already heard them.

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