Musical Magpies

It's fairly unlikely you'd have made it here without ever having heard of Jason's previous incarnation. So here you go, talk away...

Moderators: sunny, runcible, MODLAB

Post Reply
natty
Known user
Posts: 765
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 1970 1:00 am
Location: Comfortably dumb.

Musical Magpies

Post by natty »

"Talent borrows, genius steals" said Oscar Wilde (I think it was him, anyway). That must put Pete and Jase pretty near the top of the genius tree I guess. Of course one of the things that makes them great is that like any great band they were/are more than the sum of their influences. How much "borrowed/stolen" stuff is there?
Off the top of my head:
OD Catastrophe - The Stooges - TV Eye
Hey Man/Come Down Easy/Fixin' to Die - Trad/Dylan
Losing Touch With My Mind - The Rolling Stones - Citadel
How Does it Feel - Silver Apples - I Have Known Love
Revolution - MC5 - Intro to "Kick out the Jams".
Cop Shoot Cop - John Prine - Sam Stone.

I can't be bothered to think of any more right now as I'm paying for this internet time so I'll leave it to other people...Pete even?
Ian
Known user
Posts: 445
Joined: Thu Jan 19, 2006 5:55 pm
Location: Brighton, UK
Contact:

Post by Ian »

I wrote up the ones I could think of a while ago (Spacemen only). Check out the third answer from the bottom on this page.

Love,

Ian
I have a passion sweet Lord...
http://www.spacemen3.co.uk
Starfish
Known user
Posts: 1189
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 1970 1:00 am
Location: MidWest, UK

Post by Starfish »

I'd say Call The Doctor is heavily, uh, influenced by 'Sister Morphine' from Sticky Fingers.
Also on Sticky Fingers, is 'I Got The Blues' which bears more than a passing resemblance to Soul 1.
sonic boom
Known user
Posts: 117
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 1970 1:00 am
Location: Rugby
Contact:

Post by sonic boom »

Starfish wrote:I'd say Call The Doctor is heavily, uh, influenced by 'Sister Morphine' from Sticky Fingers.
Also on Sticky Fingers, is 'I Got The Blues' which bears more than a passing resemblance to Soul 1.
U might say everything we ever did was influenced . We never claimed to be but a sub-set of everything we loved -in music & in life ,at best.

ofcourse , someone states above , some aphorism by Oscar Wilde which aptly states that if its stealing - its of the highest order of such . most of those mentions above are only small parts of those songs & credit is duly given left , right & centre .
course some are traditional & are open to usage .I think mostly its very tastefully done . I;ve always been very fair in mentioning all our influences & have never sought to hide anything . oh yeah .if anything , call the doctor is influenced & in parlais with 'call the doctor' by JJ Cale . its a differant song , but almost like two differant peoples views of the same actual situation . many of the early songs refer to others -Street Hassle by Lou Reed for example .
' Sister Morphine '=-no ,not intentionally or visibly to me .................but 'Honey' was conceived on Moonlight Mile . As was my remix of Britta Phillips & Dean Wareham's version of 'Hear the Wind Blow' -the Opal song .
Likewise 'Losing touch with...' hangs out with Citadel by the rolling Stones occasionally ........
Starfish
Known user
Posts: 1189
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 1970 1:00 am
Location: MidWest, UK

Post by Starfish »

I think what set Spacemen 3 apart was that not only did they openly admit their influences (musical or otherwise), they actively encouraged listeners/fans to go out and discover these sources.
I cannot count the number of doors opened to me by Spacemen 3. It was without doubt a life-changing moment when I discovered them.
I never saw the Spacemen as rip-offs... such was the love & respect they had for their influences, it could only ever be seen as a homage.
On the Stones tracks, I wasn't pointing the finger and saying "a-ha, found out!"... it was just something that always struck me after listening to the two tracks a lot (something which comes from Sticky Fingers and Perfect Prescription being two of my top five all-time albums. Possibly top two.)




Here i lie in my hospital bed
Tell me, sister morphine, when are you coming round again?
...
Call the doctor pretty baby, you know I'm near to my last breath
You'd better hurry now honey, or you're gonna be my death
...
Ah, come on, sister morphine, you better make up my bed
'cause you know and i know in the morning i'll be dead

You'd better throw away the spoons and all the other dirty things
Cos when the law arrives this evening, I don't think they'll wait and ring
...
The scream of the ambulance is sounding in my ears
Tell me, sister morphine, how long have i been lying here?
...
Hey there's the door now pretty baby, see who's on the other side
Tell them to back up with the wagon now I think I'm going for a ride
a beautiful noise
Known user
Posts: 1783
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 1970 1:00 am
Location: things are easier said than done

Post by a beautiful noise »

i love it, well done.
Guest

Post by Guest »

Starfish wrote:I think what set Spacemen 3 apart was that not only did they openly admit their influences (musical or otherwise), they actively encouraged listeners/fans to go out and discover these sources.
I cannot count the number of doors opened to me by Spacemen 3. It was without doubt a life-changing moment when I discovered them.
I never saw the Spacemen as rip-offs... such was the love & respect they had for their influences, it could only ever be seen as a homage.
On the Stones tracks, I wasn't pointing the finger and saying "a-ha, found out!"... it was just something that always struck me after listening to the two tracks a lot (something which comes from Sticky Fingers and Perfect Prescription being two of my top five all-time albums. Possibly top two.)

This is what I was aiming at. I discovered so much music through Spacemen 3 it was a life-changing moment for me discovering them as well. I think the above along with what Sonic has written illustrates what I want to say. I never saw the Spacemen as rip off merchants either. The Spacemen always made something else of the bits and peices they adapted and that's one of the things that makes their music sound so cool to me. It was cool that they were always open about their influences, which is how I found a lot of music I love.




Here i lie in my hospital bed
Tell me, sister morphine, when are you coming round again?
...
Call the doctor pretty baby, you know I'm near to my last breath
You'd better hurry now honey, or you're gonna be my death
...
Ah, come on, sister morphine, you better make up my bed
'cause you know and i know in the morning i'll be dead

You'd better throw away the spoons and all the other dirty things
Cos when the law arrives this evening, I don't think they'll wait and ring
...
The scream of the ambulance is sounding in my ears
Tell me, sister morphine, how long have i been lying here?
...
Hey there's the door now pretty baby, see who's on the other side
Tell them to back up with the wagon now I think I'm going for a ride
Post Reply