Thanks to everyone for all the nice comments about the new MOAT song Gone By Noon since the official digital release on all those wacky platforms yesterday (the album Poison Stream is circling the planet and waiting to land). How things have changed, it’s not quite the same as going to your local record store and buying the single and ultimately the album. I remember buying I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe) by Genesis in 1973 (Twilight Alehouse on the B-side). I still have it. It was unusual because, well, it was Genesis and they weren’t exactly a singles band but this catchy little number had the promo department at Charisma Records frothing at the mouth. The song managed to reach No. 21 in the UK charts which is something of a miracle for this kind of band, Wikipedia says, “The song, inspired by The Beatles, has a psychedelic rock sound”. Well, I didn’t think of the Beatles when I heard it but I did love its lilting feel and melody and then there’s the lyric:

It’s one o’clock and time for lunch
When the sun beats down and I lie on the bench
I can always hear them talk

There’s always been Ethel:
“Jacob, wake up! You’ve got to tidy your room now.”
And then Mister Lewis:
“Isn’t it time that he was out on his own?”
Over the garden wall, two little lovebirds – cuckoo to you!
Keep them mowing blades sharp

I know what I like, and I like what I know
Getting better in your wardrobe, stepping one beyond your show

Sunday night, Mr Farmer called, said:
“Listen son, you’re wasting your time; there’s a future for you
in the fire escape trade. Come up to town!”
But I remembered a voice from the past;
“Gambling only pays when you’re winning”
I had to thank old Miss Mort for schooling a failure
Keep them mowing blades sharp

I know what I like, and I like what I know
getting better in your wardrobe, stepping one beyond your show

When the sun beats down and I lie on the bench
I can always hear them talk
Me, I’m just a lawnmower – you can tell me by the way I walk

As a 15-year-old boy, this was something else and a must-have even though the song was on the album, but the B-side wasn’t and an extra track by them was also a must-have.

So although Gone By Noon is available to listen to, I truly wish I could present it as a 7 inch single with an unreleased track. Sadly, I missed the album tour for Selling England By The Pound but I did see The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway at the Liverpool Empire in April 1975, one of three nights.

I went swimming today, managed the mile but phew, it’s tough, a real workout, no time to stop for a drink because it takes just about the time allotted to make it. I tried a different counting plan today, I counted in 4 lots of 16, usually I get to 44 and count 2 lots of 10, I used to just count the 64 but for some reason, the task seems less daunting when you split it up into smaller numbers. I always leave with a chlorine irritation that lasts through the night. There was one other lady in the medium lane, she told me she’s 38 and does the mile in 35 minutes. She was quite a large lady, but she tore past me in the pool. My technique must be seriously lacking or I’m bigger than I admit or I’m 62.

Olivia and I went for a lovely walk down to the sea today. The tide was out and we went onto the barnacle-covered rocks and took some pics. We sat there for a while looking at the waveless deep blue sea. There were some kids playing on the rocks, jumping around in bare feet, I was getting shivers in my legs just watching their poor little feet on the sharp barnacles, one slip and they’d be bleeding profusely. There were small fish in the rock pools and back on the beach a father was screaming at his small child to come out of the water and the child was stubbornly not responding to his request. It was making him angrier and angrier until he said, “Ok, I’m going home, you stay there” and the child came running out of the water.

We ran into Annabelle and her moped at the supermarket, she is also a violinist and Olivia turned her on to the octave string cellolin which she had happily incorporated into her arsenal. In keeping with the sad death of Diana Rigg today, she looked like she was in an Avengers episode albeit more of the Tara King era. She went into the supermarket in crash helmet and leathers without a mask and no one seemed to care, perhaps they thought the crash helmet was protection enough against the virus. Dare and I saw Diana Rigg in a play in the West End of London in the eighties, Medea, heavy, but the problem was that we had the cheap seats that were so cheap that we couldn’t see the actors’ heads – kinda took the sting out of it.

On the walk up to the studio, we met Indian Billy outside his flat and he ran in and grabbed the Stax storybook he’s been promising to lend me. We walked with him and took his route from the sea into town for a change. We are so desperate to travel that taking a different route from the supermarket to the studio seemed adventurous and exciting.

I had a session at 7PM with Brian in New Jersey, great progress there and I have emails to send tonight to two more new sessioneers, setting up preliminary Skype meets. Plus all those other pesky mails that I’m trying to catch up with. We watched Humans – Season 3, Episode 4 over dinner, it’s all so sad. It’s almost as if entertainment has to be sad or it’s not credible, it’s a reflection of the world, joyous entertainment would be shallow and meaningless, the world is too screwed up for artistic happiness.

Music today felt like The Beatles so I listened to A Hard Day’s Night (1964), Beatles For Sale (1964), Help (1965), and Rubber Soul (1965). Note this is four albums in two years plus there’s the singles and the B-sides they released (in England), like the double A-side, Day Tripper/We Can Work It Out, I’m Down (B-side of Help), Yes It Is (B-side of Ticket To Ride), I Feel Fine/She’s A Woman, hmmm, The Beatles.

Songs Of The Daze