Saturday, October 11, 2014

40 Year Itch : A Song from the Moon


    In October of 1974, MCA Records released Keith Moon's "first and greatest single", a cover of the Beach Boys's "Don't Worry Baby". With the help of Flo and Eddie ( The Turtles)  and John Sebastian (The Lovin' Spoonful), Keith Moon recorded what has often been described as his favorite song -- one that offered hope for redemption. Moon needed help singing so Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan provided guide vocals...and patience.

"Keith was Keith. There was nothing you could do. You couldn't say 'Sing that better'. It was a song he had always wanted to sing, he always wanted to be a Beach Boy. This was a fantasy record for him. And drumming wasn't part of his fantasy ( that was handled by future actor Miguel Ferrer). Drumming was his job so he didn't want to make a record where his job cam einto play.
-Howard Kaylan



The song would appear on Keith Moon's only solo album, Two Side of the Moon. As would "Move Over Mrs L", a cover of the John Lennon song about Yoko that was dropped from Walls and Bridges at the last minute.

2 comments:

  1. You have passed no judgment on the song or album. I've never heard this before, it sounds like a karaoke version. I have read somewhere that the album Moon made is dire.

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    1. I have heard this album. A very odd listening experience. It is, self-consciously, a lousy album, saved somewhat by a complete lack of pretension to be anything else. At times it actually kind of works, somehow, as a parody of a Ringo Starr album, which is a thing that shouldn't even be fucking possible. It's nice because sometimes the background singers drown out Keith entirely. The last song is basically Keith and Ringo interrupting a Harry Nielsen song to tell bad music hall jokes. It is the best thing on the album by miles.

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