We've got to stop the pain and put the wars on hold

[venta]

It's Friday, and it's about 3 o'clock. It's time to go underneath the covers (with the lights out).

I always recommend listening to a cover version without knowing what or who it is, so click on the link before reading ahead...

Link to cover version expired

That was Gordon McIntyre covering Stay Another Day, originally by East 17. Stay Another Day was the Christmas #1 in 1994.

For those of you saying "Gordon McIntyre? Who?" then he's the singer/songwriter attached to the wonderful Scots band Ballboy.

If you're still saying "Who?", then get yourself a copy of A Guide for Daylight Hours, a wonderful introduction to the band featuring such songs as I Wonder If You're Drunk Enough to Sleep With Me Tonight and You Can't Spend Your Whole Life Hanging Out With Arseholes. And some others which are as good or better, but don't have such readily quotable titles.

This cover of Stay is freely downloadable from Mr McIntyre's podcast page, specifically Episode 3. The podcasts are lo-fi extravanganzas of acoustic songs, cover versions and wittering and if that sounds like your thing, I highly recommend them.

For those who like less wittering, Ballboy songs are directly downloadable from their own website.

Apologies if this sounds like an advert :) I'm off to see Ballboy tonight tomorrow night in Kings Cross and I'm very excited about it. So there.

Edit Yes, I did get the day wrong. I'm going to see the Sleeping Years in Kings Cross tonight. And Ballboy at the 100 Club tomorrow. On the plus side, I'd have ended up in the right place, just been a bit surprised when the band came on stage.

Comments

[sushidog.livejournal.com]

I like this one a lot. E17 were a bit crap in general, but that's actually a good song, and I think it works really well done acoustically like this; nice to hear it without all the bells (literally!) and whistles of the original.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Yes... bells, the scourge of the Christmas single!

[skorpionuk.livejournal.com]

Oh god, I'd forgotten about the bells!

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

I think Tony Mortimer was an underrated songwriter: a few of their songs are pretty good. I probably would prefer to listen to this cover rather than the original, but I think he could have given it a bit more oomph...

[zotz]

Thought the voice sounded familiar. The song sounded familiar, but I couldn't place it. I don't think I paid much attention to it at the time.

[phlebas.livejournal.com]

The Bells! The Bells!
_{actually I quite liked them.}

[addedentry.livejournal.com]

Hooray, hooray, you have succeeded with this cover in erasing the image of Tony Mortimer from my mind's eye, which was my main objection to East 17.

You have also sent me off to listen to the only Ballboy record I own, which is an EP where he duets with Laura Cantrell's lovely voice on a song with the self-explanatory title "I Lost You But I Found Country Music".