I’m partial to “Why Didn’t Rosemary” by Deep Purple.
Mark I Deep Purple, with Rod Evans on vocals and Nick Simper on bass. It’s on the extremely difficult to find album with the Bosch painting on the cover (I picked it up in the used CD section of a record store. Didn’t even know Deep Purple had made an album with a Bosch painting on the cover, and I’ve been a DP fan for 17 years)
So, how 'bout it, Dopers- what’s your favorite song nobody else has ever heard, either by an early or never released in your country album by a well known artist, or by an artist nobody else has ever heard of. Please share.
I have a dog named Fido that I like very much,
I used to spend all my dough on puppy-cakes and such.
My family learned to love him, to our hearts he was endeared—
But now we’ve gone in mourning 'cause poor Fido’s disappeared!
CHORUS
But I won’t look all over, the way they did for Rover,
For I know just where little Fido’s gone, poor dog—
He’s in a place below where all the naughty doggies go,
Down, down, down where there isn’t any snow!
Though his hair is short and his tail is long, I miss the little devil somehow
(bow-wow!)
But he won’t get cold feet at that; there’s “Too Much Mustard” where he’s at—
Fido is a hot dog now!
We never had a burglar, they wouldn’t take a chance,
Cause they knew little Fido would hang onto their pants!
I used to love bologna, 'twas the only meat I’d get—
But now I cannot eat it; it reminds me of my pet!
(REPEAT CHORUS)
—“Fido Is a Hot Dog Now”, 1914 (Raymond Walker, music; Charles McCarron, Thomas Gray, lyrics)
So, anyone wanna hear a few choruses of “My Little Bimbo Down on the Bamboo Isle?”
I’ve got an old LP by Dave Mason & Cass Elliott. My dad was an exec with a religious music label and got it for me and I’ve never seen it for sale in any store. Wonderful tunes.
Another might not be rare but I’ve only heard it on the radio once. I’m not a BTO fan at all but they’ve got a song called Looking Out for Number One that’s absolutely wonderful. Fortunately it’s the first song on the album and you don’t have to wade through any other of their crap to get to it.
People I know haven’t heard of most of the songs I really like but here are two that mean a lot to me:
“Bill Lee” by Warren Zevon. It’s buried in the middle of a middling album called “Bad Luck Streak In Dancing School”. It’s about the outspoken misfit baseball pitcher from the 1970s, but the lyrics remind me of all the stupid crap we have to put up with from other people (especially bosses and co-workers) in life. I sometimes sing it when I’m having a bad day at work. Okay, I sing it a lot.
Next is “Will It Ever Stop Raining?” by The Saw Doctors, an underappreciated Irish rock band. The song is on a great album called “Songs From Sun Street”. It’s about all the times when your plans for having a good time or enjoying yourself go all to hell. Ruined vacations, failed romances, sure things that weren’t, etc. An uptempo gripe song I guess you could say.
Next is “Will It Ever Stop Raining?” by The Saw Doctors, an underappreciated Irish rock band. The song is on a great album called “Songs From Sun Street”.
[quote]
Kiss me oim Oirish,
We got barred from the pub,
She stole all of my money,
And I thought it was luv.
Yup they are a wonderful band, but not all that obscure, some of their lyrics are absolutely top drawer, like in Good News from the same album.
You should get a copy of Same Old Town too, and maybe you should also check out Christy Moore, and the Hothouse Flowers.
As for obscure, how about “From the Underworld” by The Herd.
Based upon the myth penned by Virgil, am I the only person with this record in my posession.
Radiohead’s “Stupid Car” from their pre-Pablo-Honey printed-in-500-copies EP called Drill.
The Avalanches’ remix of Badly Drawn Boy’s “The Shining”. Superb song.
Mad Professor’s track “Radiation Ruling the Nation”, from his Massive Attack remix album No Protection (on which he remixes all tracks off of MA’s album Protection).
Thomas Brinkmann’s “0100” from the VA album Clicks & Cuts 2.
Velvet Underground’s song “Ride Into the Sun”, which didn’t make it into the final cut of Loaded. They played it live many times. AFAIK the only studio version availible is on the big-ass box set they released five years ago.
Mine is by The King’s Singers, and appears on their album “Wathcing the White Wheat.” It’s called “O Waly, Waly.” The song is an old folk song (I’ve seen it called “The Water is Wide” as well), but they sing it over a cello piece by Bach (I think it’s the prelude to suite #1 for cello, but I’m not certain of this). The two songs sound as if they had been written for each other.
Hey Eve, can you do “Rambling Rose” (Gordon McCrae)? I really like that one. Or howsabout “I Hear You Knocking” (Gale Storm) or maybe something posh like “Feudin’ and Fightin’” as in the style of Dorothy Shay, the Park Avenue Hillbilly?
[sub]Why, yes, I collect '78s, why do you ask?[/sub]
Mid-80’s track “Jellyroll” by Blue Murder (feat. Carmine Appice [Sp?] on drums!].
A whole relationship summed up into a 3.5 minute song. My favorite part is where the relationship is ending and:
I scream to the Heavens
“My God, make me strong!”
No one can hear me
My love, she is gone
What can I say
What can I do
Believe me, baby
My love belongs to you
(Leads into much mid-80’s heavy metal guitar tweedling)
Great choice! There’s actually about 4 studio versions of this song doing the rounds - for the nicest, quietest version, try to find the Australian 3CD compilation ‘What Goes On’ on Raven Records, or if you’re really keen, the bootleg 7" with it from the mid 80’s. There’s an instrumental version you can sing along to on their ‘Another View’ album, as well.
As for my choice, it’s not that obscure, but it’s a beautiful cover version of Daniel Johnston’s Speeding Motorcycle done by Yo La Tengo from a radio broadcast, where Daniel accompanies them via telephone. It starts off making you giggle, and ends up making you cry. Sterling stuff.
Pete Droge is probably my favorite obscure artist. He may be fairly well-known around the Northwest part of the country, but around here no one knows who he is. I suppose his claim to fame in mainstream music is a song featured on the Dumb and Dumber soundtrack called “If You Don’t Love Me I’ll Kill Myself,” a rather amusing little tune. But it’s definitely not his best work. “Fourth of July” is a good one, as is “Sunspot Stopwatch.” I’m thrilled to learn that he is releasing a fourth CD next year! He sounds a lot like Tom Petty (and has often been dubbed the Young Tom Petty - or something to that effect). If you like that type of music, I highly recommend picking up a few of his CDs.
Don’t know how obscure this one is-I’ve never heard it on the radio around here: Desperadoes Under the Eaves by Warren Zevon. I like all the lyrics but especially:
“And if California slides into the ocean
Like the mystics and statistics say it will
I predict this motel will be standing
Until I pay my bill”