Here’s an early demo; I love how the bridge section isn’t finished yet, so Shirl goes “etcetera etcetera ad-lib”! https://youtu.be/j5P2NkH8olw
On the three Boys Next Door songs on the Lethal Weapons compilation production is credited to Greg Macainsh
Mercedes Ladies. Well you look so cute in your Levis suit Struttin' down Collins Street With your Pucci shoes and your faded blues Honey you look so neat You dress so well no one could tell You spend Thursdays with your mechanic Suburban passion it's all the fashion Your husband don't know so don't panic Mercedes Ladies they got it made Cos when they dig they use a silver spade Mercedes Ladies, Mercedes Ladies. Mercedes Ladies they got it made Cos when they dig they use a silver spade Mercedes Ladies, Mercedes Ladies. You look so smug on your Persian rug Say your Afghan's got a pedigree You rest your head on your antique bed And talk about your arts degree You act so cool by your heated pool And take your lunch at three Own half a boutique that's oh so chic And work hard for charity Mercedes Ladies they got it made Cos when they dig they use a silver spade Mercedes Ladies, Mercedes Ladies. Mercedes Ladies they got it made Cos when they dig they use a silver spade Mercedes Ladies, Mercedes Ladies. You knew there's only one thing better than a 250S And that's a two-eighty SL or a two-eighty SE and there's only one thing better Than a three-fifty SL and that's a two-eighty CE Or a three-fifty SLC or a three-hundred SEL V8 Take pottery classes and you make passes At every young man you find Recapture your youth oh ain't it the truth That you're just one of a kind You could be left or you could be right Or you might just vote for kicks But you're the perfect wife in a perfect life I won't bore you with politics Source: LyricFind Songwriters: Gregory J Macainsh Mercedes Ladies (1994 Remaster) lyrics © O/B/O Apra Amcos Here we have a rock-n-boogie type tracks that moves a bit beyond that simplification, with some typically cool riff sections and some nice use of dynamics and structure to keep this an exclusively Skyhooks song. Essentially this works like character study in class ... This was released as a single in the US in 1975, and the b-side was You Just Like Me Cos I'm Good In Bed. We have this woman being referred to who has all the best fashion, and a generally spoiled life. She's cheating on her husband, but she's a perfect wife and has a perfect life. This is like a satire of sorts on elitism and the way that certain types of folks are held up as the "in people" ... essentially though we seem to have a portrait of someone who has everything, but seems to be incredibly shallow from the way the song angles it. We open with a really neat guitar riff that has a call and response between the lead guitar and the rhythm guitar. It's actually a really cool little idea. Then we move into this nice bouncy verse. We have some little rhythm interludes that flesh out the song nicely and give us lots of texture. The bridge is also really good with the change up and Shirl listing various Mercedes models for a bit of fun. This is another really solid track, that I believe was a concert favourite with the original incarnation of the band.
Apparently there are Pucci shoes too!! Emilio Pucci is an Italian shoe designer!! Learn something everyday - I’ve been singing this song wrong!!!!
All My Friends Are Getting Married. "All My Friends Are Getting Married" Single by Skyhooks from the album Ego Is Not a Dirty Word B-side "Saturday Night" Released June 1975 Studio TCS Studios, Melbourne Genre Glam rock Length 4:50 Label Mushroom Records Songwriter(s) Greg Macainsh Producer(s) Duke Wilson Well all my friends are getting married Yes they're all growin' old They're staying home on weekends They're all doin' what they're told Well I looked into the crowd the other night And I saw an old familiar face He said "How are you doin' Shirl my boy?" He said " Tell me, are you still playin' the same old place I asked him all about himself And he said that he was married with a kid Showed me a picture of his wife And we talked about all the things we did Well sometimes I feel like I'm left behind And sometimes I feel like I just left school Wonder if I'll ever grow up Maybe I'm the only fool But I'm all caught up in this magic Yes I'm caught up in this fun I'm all caught up with this music Well maybe I'll never have a son Source: LyricFind Songwriters: Gregory J Macainsh All My Friends Are Getting Married lyrics © O/B/O Apra Amcos I guess in many ways this was an unexpected track from Skyhooks, after the craziness that had ensued for the previous twelve months. This song was a big hit... It only made it to number 2 on the charts, but it finished the year at number 22 for the whole year, which it a really good result.... particularly for a band that had essentially only really been in the public eye for twelve months. In so many ways this is a really important song for the band, not because it was a hit as such, but more that it showed a broader scope for them. This isn't necessarily a biting, sarcastic social commentary, it's much more of a reflective musing on that mid twenties thing.... it is like a coming of age track. In the first verse we look at the contrast. Macainsh's friends are all growing up and having families and living the prescribed life.... While he is still enjoying the madness of the music industry. The glitz and glamour and the craziness that comes along with it. In the second verse we have the scenario of Shirl seeing someone in the crowd from the old days, and they end up getting into a conversation.... The friend has it all together (as much as anyone does) and the comment "Tell me are you playing the same old place" ... the inference seeming to be, that in spite of the success and stardom, they are still in the same place doing the same old thing.... and essentially it is true. This was written before the US tour, but after the typical problems with the US tour, I'm sure it seemed even more poignant... that line at least... Failing to get any good response from the critics in the US pretty much buries a band that essentially comes from the other side of the world. The logistics of touring endlessly on the opposite side of the world are enormous, and for the most part...... it was all over bar the shouting at that stage.... as we'll see. We get another verse where the singer reflects on his life, and he states that he feels like he just left school, and I can't speak to anyone else's experience, but I have to say, years of playing the pubs and recording and having a great time from a music perspective.... it really does feel like you only just left school. Sure I got married and worked a day job and all that stuff.... but since laying aside the guitar due to the necessity of survival..... I feel like I have aged immeasurably. We come to the final verse, and the conclusion is that I'm all caught up in this scenario, and the music, it's what I love... and the conclusion is "Maybe I'll Never Have A Son"... now that is probably a little hyperbolic, because I think most of the guys got married and had families, but as a picture of the sacrifices you make to do the music thing, it works really well. The video is a beautiful reflection of the song. We have the guys getting ready for a show, and they sing along with the song, but we see the backstage scenario of getting ready for the gig, and the sort of mundane downside to the concert scene. We go for a tour of the suburbs, and then it closes out with the band walking out from a fake room into the blackness of a studio..... It seems like a pretty big statement to me. We already know Shirl had been ready to retire after the first album... and although we get some more albums, it really seems like the band had somewhat done their dash in some ways.... and at the end of 1976, they essentially split up, even though they did come back together again, but we'll get to that soon enough. Musically this is wonderful. A beautiful arrangement, with really good harmony vocals on the chorus. We have excellent production and great playing, and a suitably reflective vocal from Shirl... We have nice key modulations, excellent keyboard embellishments.... This really is an Aussie classic.... I assume some folks may have thought it was a bit of a sell out at the time? I don't know, but I reckon it is a classic, and it still tugs at my heartstrings.
I love the irony of Shirl singing about his friends getting married, when he himself got married later that year!
It was a song that broad appeal and everyone seemed to know it and sing along when it came on the radio - even my parents! The depth of Macainsh as a songwriter is very evident and seems a million miles from songs like “Motorcycle Bitch”! I still love it which is a measure of the quality of the song and the playing!
And here’s an earlier version with original vocalist Steve Hill - shows the importance of having all the pieces together as a band. No disrespect to Steve, but Shirl helped to make the band a success…
That early demo has extra lyrics not featured in the finished song. Also a cold ending as opposed to an extended chorus / fade out. Steve’s low growl just doesn’t fit the song at all.
Every Chase A Steeple . Go to school act the fool Learn to get up early Take a seat be discreet Don't you touch the girlie Nine to five stay alive Fill your head with fiction At the school lose the rules Learn to cause some friction Ay ay ay What's the point of trying to win Ay ay ay Bound to get you in the end Get a job shut your gob Try and make some money Nine to five stay alive Makes your brain go runny Answer back get the sack You'll be keeping silent Save your mon (ey) have some fun A bit of weekend violence They're dying in the gutters And they're dying in their beds They're dying in the colours Of a mouldy loaf of bread They're dying in the bathroom When they're mouths are full of soap And when you're dead you're dead you're dead You're dead no hope Join a band in demand Face in every paper At the door hundreds more Wanna be your neighbour Hit the road no abode Face you at the people Gotta act it's a fact Every church a steeple They're dying in the gutters And they're dying in their beds They're dying in the colours Of a mouldy loaf of bread They're dying in the bathroom When they're mouths are full of soap And when you're dead you're dead you're dead You're dead no hope What's the point of tryin' to win When it gets you in the end Red Symons - Published by Mushroom Music I am much less familiar with this track, and we have a Red Symons track that starts with a fade in, and we get a sort of staggered bouncy 2 beat feel for the intro and the first verse. This seems like an unusual song for Skyhooks, but I actually prefer it to Smut. The lyrics are quite dark for Skyhooks too. Essentially Red cynically tears down the fabric of the system. School is a place where you need to follow rules, and be taught lies... and Red suggests that one should lose the rules and cause some friction. Then we move to the next traditional cycle of life, the workplace. You either toe the line and do what the boss says, or you will be unemployed . If you're a good little soldier, you will have some fun with the spare money on the weekend ... of course if there is spare money. I like how Red ties in the 9-5 stay alive in both of these verses.... Although not technically accurate it paints the picture of serial monotony.... Although I would like things to be a different way, I'm not sure how that would work. We still need people to do the jobs that need doing, and as much as folks try to make out that it's all wrong, I doubt many would want to be without functioning plumbing or electricity or food ... so the arguments against the system we have may well be fair, but nobody seems to have come up with a decent alternative. Certainly we could go back to living off the land, but most are too comfortable with modern society, and wouldn't want to be without their stereo's air conditioning and televisions etc etc ... and I'm not judging because I am no different. I guess my point is for all the moaning we do, participating in society is pretty much a necessity.... It is just probably somewhat egregious that politicians and such seem so corrupt, and swindle money away illegally, yet have no consequences. Anyway, that's probably getting into dangerous forum territory.... I think all that is why we get the chorus that we do "What's the point of trying to win, bound to get you in the end" When we get to the bridge we get really dark ... I'm not really sure of Red's angle here, but everyone's dying... Then the last verse even tears down the idea of the dream of being in a rock band and escaping the 9-5 grind. Join a band and get successful, and then you have no home, no fixed address, which suits some, but it's all an act and we come to the conclusion that every life has its issues and problem (every Church a Steeple) I like the music, it morphs between the herky jerky 2 beat feel of the verse, and then the more smooth, somewhat reflective chorus. We get a couple of nice instrumental breaks, and I think the bridge works well also. To me a very interesting song from Red, that is a little uneven, but I get the impression it's supposed to be.... and I think it works.
There was a review of the Ego album, I think it was in Ram, and half the review was about Red's song. I think the reviewer said it was a six part opera.
Private Eye. Whooooaaa Keep your head above the water, your feet right on the floor Keep your eyes wide open and your back against the wall Keep your hands on your wallet, your hat right down Keep your mouth to yourself and your nose to the ground I'm a private eye I'm a rented spy I'm an undercover agent I'm a bodyguard with a callin' card And I'm right here on the pavement I'm a hired gun A prodigal son Open for your selection A bargain muscler, a Quality hustler Waiting for your direction Got my gun always loaded and my car right full of gas Synchronised my wristwatch, I'm lookin' through the trash Got my camera right and ready and flashlight good and charged My radio's on standby and my salary's been enlarged He's a private eye He's a private eye He's a private eye He's a private eye Oh yeah Oh yeah I can run a block I can smash a lock I can outwit the Lone Ranger Catch a wife Or take a life I'll get you outta danger Snatch a kid, or make a bid I'm your suburban soldier Bust a head, or shoot you dead I'm touch or ain't I told you He's a private eye He's a private eye He's a private eye He's a private eye He's a private eye Greg Macainsh - Published by Doo Dah Music It is really interesting to me that this is also a song I am not as familiar with.... and I am very familiar with the first eight tracks, but the last two, not so much... and I'm really not sure why. We open up with a solid rock beat. Then we move into a sort of pastiche sounding section, that has its roots in some traditional forms from well before the seventies. It probably has some musical roots in fifties rock and roll and some of the dance type tracks from the era. Lyrically it is essentially running through some things that may happen in the life of a private eye. This is a pretty decent song and it has some Skyhooks elements in it, but somewhat less so than most of the songs prior, but this album leans towards being a little different, and I'm not sure if that is because Greg needed to write so much in such a short space of time, or because he intentionally wanted to change the direction of the sound and give them more options by not getting them pigeonholed..... and it is a toss of the coin as to which it is.... or perhaps a little of each. It's a pretty solid closer to the album really, and adds another different flavour.
Ego Is Not a Dirty Word. I reckon this is a solid follow up to Living In The Seventies.... For the most part I think the album is just as strong, but it is a little bit different. For me it works out that the first seven songs on Living In The Seventies are great, and the first eight songs on Ego Is Not A Dirty Word are great .... but perhaps the debut album had some higher highs .... I don't know, I'm torn. I do think this is another album that's very worth having though
Let It Rock. This seems somewhat like a stopgap release. This is the old Chuck Berry standard that many folks have recorded and released on live albums So for the record... Million Dollar Riff came out as a single in October 1975, but I want to discuss the singles with the albums, so we're going to slide this single from March 1976 in before we get to the next album. The way it pans out, Skyhooks recorded Million Dollar Riff as a single, and then went about their gigging. This live track was recorded at the Reefer Cabaret in December 1975 On the bside we get Revolution and Saturday Night ... and so it kind of work like a cross between a live mini-album, and an extended single. Let It Rock charted at 26 The band toured the US in March and April, and remained in San Francisco to record their next album, again with Ross Wilson Producing, and we'll get to that next. The thing I do like about this cover is that it stays true to the original in many ways. Most artists I have heard do this end up turning it into a big jam, and a rock and roll medley type thing. This is a solid rock and roll track. Then we get to Bongo's lead break and he makes a mockery of lead breaks and coughs a couple of times and then we launch back into it... It's actually pretty funny. This is a solid track, and probably not really what the average Hooks fan was expecting. Complete with female backing vocals, and a lot of fun.
As it is the weekend, and tomorrow will be a day off, I'll get us started on the next album. Straight in a Gay Gay World Studio album by Skyhooks Released August 1976 Recorded The Record Plant, Sausalito and Armstrong Studios, Melbourne "Million Dollar Riff" recorded at TCS Studios, Melbourne Genre Glam rock Length 37:46 Label Mushroom Records Producer Ross Wilson Shirley Strachan – lead vocals Red Symons – guitar, backing and lead (9) vocals, keyboards Bob "Bongo" Starkie – guitar, backing vocals Greg Macainsh – bass guitar, backing vocals Imants Alfred Strauks – drums, backing vocals, percussion Side A 1. "Million Dollar Riff" Greg Macainsh 3:50 2. "Is This America?" Macainsh 4:32 3. "Blue Jeans" Macainsh 2:30 4. "Somewhere in Sydney" Macainsh 3:46 5. "The Girl Says She's Bored" Macainsh 3:33 Side B 1. "This Is My City" Macainsh 3:40 2. "Straight in a Gay Gay World" Macainsh 4:29 3. "I'm Normal" Macainsh 3:15 4. "Mumbo Jumbo" Red Symons 3:24 5. "Crazy Heart" Macainsh 4:47 This is an interesting album, because the band were somewhat in flux at the time. They tried and failed to break the US market, or at least get a foot in the door, but the logistics are just so difficult for Australian bands due to distance and costs and such. Although the Hooks had signed this 1.5 million dollar deal with Mercury it was based on something like ten albums over five years or something, and it just never happened that way... as is often the case. This album still did really well for the band, reaching number 2 on the charts, but it somewhat lost a little momentum for them due to the US tour. Million Dollar Riff came out in October 1975, and the album didn't come out until August 1976. We had the interim Let It Rock single, and the band were MIA in Australia for quite a while with the US tour and then the recording of the album. The Band returned to Australia in July 1976 and launched into the "The Brats Are Back" tour, with "This Is My City" being released as a single to coincide with that. It charted at 32. I reckon it's a great track, but it is a little more straight hard rock, and didn't fair as well on the charts. The song Blue Jeans was released as a single in August, I presume to coincide with the album release, and it fared better getting to 12 on the charts.... There is of course the possibility that folks didn't race out to get the singles, because they were going to get the album anyway. We start to see some changes in how things were going though. Whether due to a management decision, or some other thing, in October we see Shirl release his first solo single, Every Little Bit Hurts ... which we will have a look at... but by February 1977 Red Symons packed up and left the band... but for now let's have a look at this album. This is a solid album, and although probably not as renowned as the first two, it may actually be stronger. Here I have to admit that my main contact with Skyhooks was the first two albums, and aside from the singles, these other albums are fairly new to me. As would be expected we have some songs that are somewhat observations of their time in the US, and we have some of the Australiana that we had come to expect from the band. We have a wide palette here that covers a lot of ground, with hard rocking tracks, ballads, and some more unusual type things also. I'm looking forward to having a closer listen to what we have here, and I'll probably have more to say about it all when we get to the end. So please let us know what your thoughts are on this album, and then we'll launch into the tracks and see where we end up.