This sums it up perfectly. I really love the lyric booklet and the well-written liner notes. If anything, I can't get enough of them: it would have been even better if lyrics and comments for all songs had been included. But given the price of the set, you can't really complain on that front.
You’re right; they were both unreleased. For some reason I thought “Girl Overboard” was one of the original “Bang” iTunes bonus tracks. I’d definitely include that in my list too, now.
Oh, it's only now I noticed that I crossed that threshold. Well, I'll say, "Well done, all of us. And thanks for being such a great host!" We could continue with our alternative tracklistings for the best-of album. I recall that someone proposed doing these (around the time we discussed A Secret History) once we reached the end of the Office Politics era.
You guys can do what you like afterwards, but I have two more songs and a couple of history lessons for you over the next day or so, and then I’m going to take an extended break from obsessive checking of this forum, I think!
Yeah, I had suggested that. I believe my ground rules given by the imaginary label person were: - must include one track from each record - must include at least six singles of your choice - must fit on one CD (which means double vinyl as well) - otherwise be as idiosyncratic as you wish, or stick to the tried and true classics if you like
Here you go, should play in VLC on a PC at least; you might need to convert it to something else to play elsewhere: fgjkleoo - 1280x720 3785K.track_257.aac
Divine Comedy History Lesson, Part 45 By May 2020, the world is quite a different place, but Neil seems to be keeping himself busy. On the 3rd of May, a momentous event takes place - the first ever “Isolation Song Contest” - organised by comedian Tom Taylor as a charity fundraiser and unofficial replacement for the sadly cancelled 2020 Eurovision. (I say sadly because Iceland really REALLY deserved to win that!) The brief - 14 comedians and musicians have just a week to come up with a song and a video for the country they have been randomly assigned, with the videos premiering on May the 3rd and voting taking place over the next few weeks, with the winners being announced on May 22nd. Why’s this relevant? Well, Neil takes part, writing and performing what he himself describes as his fourth fake Eurovision song under the pseudonym of Eduardo Maldonado Castellano De La Cruz, as Spain’s entry. In the end he comes second, losing out on the public vote to Mel Giedroyc’s “Italian” entry, but still - lots of money is raised for charity and everyone has a flipping good time in the process. If you’re interested in the whole thing, you can watch the live show here: https://youtu.be/bJCGbIwuSvI And the results show here: https://youtu.be/E1FjP4MInXU But here’s Neil’s entry all by itself…
Fun song. Someone in the comments kindly posted the lyrics: Despacito, Oye como va Vino tinto, huevos tortilla Arantxa Sánchez Vicario Grab your flamenco guitaro Te amo, te amo España I am your number one fan, yeah The sun and the sea and the sand, yeah Te amo, te amo España Nine times out of ten your paella Does not make me feel unwell-a I take you as you are, you take me as I am, oh, Te amo, te amo España Manchego queso, pimientos de Padrón Una paloma blanca, jamón jamón Enrique y Julio Iglesias Taught me all these Spanish phrases And I just want to say, muchos muchos gracias Te amo, te amo España I am your number one fan, yeah The sun and the sea and the sand, yeah Te amo, te amo España If you are the man from La Mancha I will be you Sancho Panza I take you as you are, you take me as I am, oh, Te amo, te amo España Te amo, te amo España I don't always quite understand ya But I do the best that I can, yeah Te amo, te amo España One day when the lockdown is over We'll get on the ferry at Dover We'll drive down to Spain To say 'hola' again Oh te amo, te amo, te amo, te amo España ¡Te amo, España!
So, yeah, today’s song is: Te Amo España By Eduardo Maldonado Castellano de La Cruz. Neil’s fourth fake Eurovision song … (My Lovely Horse, The Miracle is Mine, Trafalgar, this one?)
Thank you for that - I didn’t quite catch them all the first time around! Obviously this is no masterpiece, but it does prove once again that Neil has a great knack for pastiche and parody!
Te Amo España This one had passed me by completely, so it was nice to hear a new Neil/TDC song. It's more or less everything you would expect from an exercise such as this one, but it touches on all the right things and has an ingratiating melody that works well for what it is: Fun and listenable. (Can I say how much I dislike the common English mispronunciation of "paella"? No? Okay then.) 3.8
Te Amo Espana I do think this is in a way a work of genius, hesitant as I generally am to use that term! It is well done, funny and plays into every stereotype of the way Brits see Spai(including 'pie-ella'). Of course it's basically another list of stuff with a chorus. I love this part: And the final verse relating it back to the lockdown adds a touch of poignancy which lifts it further. For what it was intended to do, and for nailing the brief 5/5 As a song to listen to with any frequency 3.2/5
Don't Mention The War - first time I've heard this but I liked it a lot, probably more so than anything I did off Office Politics at first listen (at least as far as I remember from this distance.) It seems to have more of a classic TDC feel although it's hard to put my finger on what exactly that means in practice. Maybe there's a slightly more driving accompaniment on it than tends to be the norm these days. Is this the last song we're covering? If so I might as well push the boat out and give it 5 / 5
That was my line of thought, but it depends on an intentional resemblance between the two songs that possibly only exists my imagination
Te Amo España - Ahh apaprently that *wasn't* the last song (can I take back the 5/5?) That's what you get for writing about songs when you're still two pages from the end of the thread... musically this is fun, but those lyrics... sorry, I didn't get into TDC to hear dreadful Spitting Image-style comedy songs. This seems to be aimed at the kind of person who only turns up at Divine Comedy gigs in the vain hope that he'll play "My Lovely Horse" for them if they shout out for it loudly enough. I wonder what the young Neil who desperately wanted to be Scott Walker would make of this? Possibly best not to think about it... Well, I gave the last one 5 / 5 so it could only be downhill from there. I'm afraid it's 1 /5 for me (and that's only for the tune.)
Nope, and we have one more tomorrow! (which actually now I look at it probably should have been discussed before this one... but I would prefer not to end on a joke/novelty song )
So as has been discussed elsewhere on this board and web, Spotify’s yearly Wrapped summary has dropped, and among other stats, it tells me I’m in the top 0.05% of Divine Comedy listeners on the service, thanks in large part to this thread! Neil, the 80 cents or whatever you earned from my listens was well earned.
Te amp Espana Dreadful. In a good way. Would have won Eurovision in 1975, less so today. Fun to see Neil giving full welly to what has clearly been a simmering dream for at least 25 years. Makes me wonder if Ireland have ever approached him for an entry. It’s been even longer than the UK since IE won and he couldn’t do worse than that awful turkey (whose name has thankfully slipped my mind). 2.5/5