It's much more spoken-word than the live/demo versions we know but it's so lovely to hear an official version of this, one of Pulp's finest moments, after so many years.
-- Edited by Eamonn on Wednesday 25th of May 2022 11:01:55 AM
Sounds like a Lockdown home-recording reminds me a bit of "Thinking About The New Millenium...", I dont think the omnichord is still there but it's lovely, all the same. I reckon a Jarv Is... version of this with harp and violin could be majestic.
Sarah I think you might be able to listen on the embedded player in this page, even without a Spotify account: www.audubon.org/birdsong-project (Cuckoo Song is track 36)
Oh my Holy fuck..... this is just such a surprise. Shame its in the Jarvis "talk" style, but its still lovely. WOW !!! Wonder what made him revisit WLL demos for....?
So beautiful. We drove back from the Jarvis exhibition today, listening to Jarvis in shuffle on Spotify and this came up. I had no idea this had been done. Amazing to have it out in the wild after all these *decades*!
Looking at the credits to this song on Spotify and its credited solely to Jarvis. I wonder would that rule the Pulp demo version out of inclusion on any future reissue? Is there a precedent for a Pulp song released that has written only by Jarvis?
I imagine there must have been songs on TIH written by Jarvis and brought to the group to arrange and play (there is a direct quote from another band member suggesting as much in the BBC Radio 1 doc from 1998) - I imagine stuff like TV Movie and A Little Soul may fall into that category. Everybody got credited of course, ultimately.
It's always been the case..
Jarvis has the initial song and bare bones..
The other guy's flesh it out with their instruments and talents..
It's no revelation...
He's been generous in this regard as far as I'm concerned..
Splitting royalties that dar?
I don't think i would if i was that talented...
What about all that "Let's try and create an atmosphere as if we're in the woods and Candida you're the crunchy leaves and Russell, you're the ominous presence..." etc. shiz? Was that way of writing songs a rare occurrence?
It's not surprising, really. Russell didn't get a credit for "Help the Aged". Mark never got credited for his involvement on "Do You Remember The First Time".
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Q. How do Pulp fans fix a broken lightbulb?
A. They don't. They just sit around in the dark waiting for it to reform