If Music Could Talk

Dirty Harry wrote: ↑

11 Jan 2018, 9:22am

Heston wrote: ↑

10 Jan 2018, 2:25pm

Kory wrote: ↑

10 Jan 2018, 2:01pm

WestwayKid wrote: ↑

10 Jan 2018, 12:40pm

Just trying to get some fresh discussion going and I'm sure I could probably answer this myself with a little digging/thinking...but are there any tracks that are completely Joe-less?

Just off the top of my head: Inoculated City, probably, right?

It still bugs me that Mick did the three part harmony for this song, he had two other capable singers in Joe and Topper.

Agreed as I’m pretty sure Joe was singing inoculated city when they were playing it live in late 1981

He was, yeah. He would have nailed the lower register harmony. Added a bit toughness to it.

Heston wrote: ↑

10 Jan 2018, 2:25pm

Kory wrote: ↑

10 Jan 2018, 2:01pm

WestwayKid wrote: ↑

10 Jan 2018, 12:40pm

Just trying to get some fresh discussion going and I'm sure I could probably answer this myself with a little digging/thinking...but are there any tracks that are completely Joe-less?

Just off the top of my head: Inoculated City, probably, right?

It still bugs me that Mick did the three part harmony for this song, he had two other capable singers in Joe and Topper.

Mick did that off and on, it seems. Stay Free is all Mick I believe, at least vocally. Somebody Got Murdered is like two Mick's and a Joe...I think? But then you have London Calling which has a ton of Joe/Mick shared vocals, usually double tracking the melody, but occasionally harmonizing (Clampdown is the first example that comes to mind).

Heston wrote: ↑

11 Jan 2018, 10:24am

Dirty Harry wrote: ↑

11 Jan 2018, 9:22am

Heston wrote: ↑

10 Jan 2018, 2:25pm

Kory wrote: ↑

10 Jan 2018, 2:01pm

WestwayKid wrote: ↑

10 Jan 2018, 12:40pm

Just trying to get some fresh discussion going and I'm sure I could probably answer this myself with a little digging/thinking...but are there any tracks that are completely Joe-less?

Just off the top of my head: Inoculated City, probably, right?

It still bugs me that Mick did the three part harmony for this song, he had two other capable singers in Joe and Topper.

Agreed as I’m pretty sure Joe was singing inoculated city when they were playing it live in late 1981

He was, yeah. He would have nailed the lower register harmony. Added a bit toughness to it.

I actually prefer the live version of the 'Up and At em' Bootleg to the Combat Rock version , Joe definetly gave it that more toughness

Speaking of Inoculated City
Were the lyrics written by Mick? I thought those were Joe's, but i read somewhere that the music and lyrics were all Mick.

daredevil wrote: ↑

11 Jan 2018, 11:51am

Speaking of Inoculated City
Were the lyrics written by Mick? I thought those were Joe's, but i read somewhere that the music and lyrics were all Mick.

In my opinion - the lyrics are more Joe-like than Mick-like. I could be completely wrong, but they seem like something that would have come off of Joe's typewriter.

Also, I was just listening to the extended Rat Patrol version. Is Joe in the extended coda? It almost sounds like his voice mixed in with the commercials?? So hard to tell for sure - but listen right before the 2000 Flushes commercial. It sounds like someone is adding spoken word commentary...could be Mick...but really sounds like Joe.

WestwayKid wrote: ↑

11 Jan 2018, 7:06am

daredevil wrote: ↑

10 Jan 2018, 9:10pm

Every Little Bit Hurts
Wasn't this just Mick and Topper?

I think so. Think it was just Mick, Topper, and Watt-Roy. Mickey Gallagher might also be on it...but I'm thinking it is completely Joe-less.

It was only released on the Broadway compilation as an 'unreleased track' should maybe be sitting on the bench here.

WestwayKid wrote: ↑

11 Jan 2018, 2:19pm

daredevil wrote: ↑

11 Jan 2018, 11:51am

Speaking of Inoculated City
Were the lyrics written by Mick? I thought those were Joe's, but i read somewhere that the music and lyrics were all Mick.

In my opinion - the lyrics are more Joe-like than Mick-like. I could be completely wrong, but they seem like something that would have come off of Joe's typewriter.

Also, I was just listening to the extended Rat Patrol version. Is Joe in the extended coda? It almost sounds like his voice mixed in with the commercials?? So hard to tell for sure - but listen right before the 2000 Flushes commercial. It sounds like someone is adding spoken word commentary...could be Mick...but really sounds like Joe.

Yes, it's Joe garbling away. Will never understand why that ending was excised.

Heston wrote: ↑

11 Jan 2018, 5:11pm

WestwayKid wrote: ↑

11 Jan 2018, 2:19pm

daredevil wrote: ↑

11 Jan 2018, 11:51am

Speaking of Inoculated City
Were the lyrics written by Mick? I thought those were Joe's, but i read somewhere that the music and lyrics were all Mick.

In my opinion - the lyrics are more Joe-like than Mick-like. I could be completely wrong, but they seem like something that would have come off of Joe's typewriter.

Also, I was just listening to the extended Rat Patrol version. Is Joe in the extended coda? It almost sounds like his voice mixed in with the commercials?? So hard to tell for sure - but listen right before the 2000 Flushes commercial. It sounds like someone is adding spoken word commentary...could be Mick...but really sounds like Joe.

Yes, it's Joe garbling away. Will never understand why that ending was excised.

Does he also do the “ten hut” at the beginning? I’ve always thought that was Joe.

WestwayKid wrote: ↑

11 Jan 2018, 5:25pm

Heston wrote: ↑

11 Jan 2018, 5:11pm

WestwayKid wrote: ↑

11 Jan 2018, 2:19pm

daredevil wrote: ↑

11 Jan 2018, 11:51am

Speaking of Inoculated City
Were the lyrics written by Mick? I thought those were Joe's, but i read somewhere that the music and lyrics were all Mick.

In my opinion - the lyrics are more Joe-like than Mick-like. I could be completely wrong, but they seem like something that would have come off of Joe's typewriter.

Also, I was just listening to the extended Rat Patrol version. Is Joe in the extended coda? It almost sounds like his voice mixed in with the commercials?? So hard to tell for sure - but listen right before the 2000 Flushes commercial. It sounds like someone is adding spoken word commentary...could be Mick...but really sounds like Joe.

Yes, it's Joe garbling away. Will never understand why that ending was excised.

Does he also do the “ten hut” at the beginning? I’ve always thought that was Joe.

Certainly sounds like him.

WestwayKid wrote: ↑

11 Jan 2018, 2:19pm

daredevil wrote: ↑

11 Jan 2018, 11:51am

Speaking of Inoculated City
Were the lyrics written by Mick? I thought those were Joe's, but i read somewhere that the music and lyrics were all Mick.

In my opinion - the lyrics are more Joe-like than Mick-like. I could be completely wrong, but they seem like something that would have come off of Joe's typewriter.

Agree 100%. I couldn't find the article i read a long time ago, but I found this:
http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=30612

I’ve always liked this track...ever since I picked up CR on cassette as a kid back in the mid-80’s! Just seems so much like a Joe song - but Mick does a nice job on the vocal. I do agree with what others have said, however, would have sounded so much better as a duet between Mick and Joe. The adverts at the end are funny and crucial (in my opinion) to the song: which is about the absurdity of following orders. Love the juxtaposition of the militarism with the inane commercials and to have Joe rambling over the extended coda - man...just a crime to have it chopped. Wasn’t Mick responsible for the initial edit from 4 plus minutes down to 2 and a half?

daredevil wrote: ↑

11 Jan 2018, 5:49pm

WestwayKid wrote: ↑

11 Jan 2018, 2:19pm

daredevil wrote: ↑

11 Jan 2018, 11:51am

Speaking of Inoculated City
Were the lyrics written by Mick? I thought those were Joe's, but i read somewhere that the music and lyrics were all Mick.

In my opinion - the lyrics are more Joe-like than Mick-like. I could be completely wrong, but they seem like something that would have come off of Joe's typewriter.

Agree 100%. I couldn't find the article i read a long time ago, but I found this:
http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=30612

I feel like Mick’s lyrics always tended to be more personal - things that were going on in his life: Train in Vain, Stay Free, I’m Not Down and so on. Joe was more about the statement and I think IC falls into the statement songs.

One epiphany I had from Route 19 was that Mick didn't write a lot of lyrics. Confirmed are: Janie Jones, 1, 2 Crush On You, Complete Control, Stay Free, Train in Vain, SISOSIG. A lot of Mick vocals are Joe lyrics which makes sense because the lyricist for Card Cheat certainly wasn't the same lyricist for BAD's catalog.

matedog wrote: ↑

11 Jan 2018, 6:07pm

One epiphany I had from Route 19 was that Mick didn't write a lot of lyrics. Confirmed are: Janie Jones, 1, 2 Crush On You, Complete Control, Stay Free, Train in Vain, SISOSIG. A lot of Mick vocals are Joe lyrics which makes sense because the lyricist for Card Cheat certainly wasn't the same lyricist for BAD's catalog.

That is very interesting, but makes sense. Not to take anything away from Mick. Just that Joe was the lyric guy and Mick was the music guy. Both amongst the very best at what they did. I could envision times where Joe could pick up something from Mick’s life...Stay Free, for instance...and put it into words. Almost like Joe was an interpreter for Mick and a lot of other people. Just a great team: one guy could write killer words and the other guy could write killer music. I love ‘em both.

WestwayKid wrote: ↑

11 Jan 2018, 6:52pm

matedog wrote: ↑

11 Jan 2018, 6:07pm

One epiphany I had from Route 19 was that Mick didn't write a lot of lyrics. Confirmed are: Janie Jones, 1, 2 Crush On You, Complete Control, Stay Free, Train in Vain, SISOSIG. A lot of Mick vocals are Joe lyrics which makes sense because the lyricist for Card Cheat certainly wasn't the same lyricist for BAD's catalog.

That is very interesting, but makes sense. Not to take anything away from Mick. Just that Joe was the lyric guy and Mick was the music guy. Both amongst the very best at what they did. I could envision times where Joe could pick up something from Mick’s life...Stay Free, for instance...and put it into words. Almost like Joe was an interpreter for Mick and a lot of other people. Just a great team: one guy could write killer words and the other guy could write killer music. I love ‘em both.

Sorry, I meant confirmed lyrics that Mick did write those songs I listed (Stay Free, for example). But Lost in the Supermarket, etc. are Joe lyrics.