Friday 1 February 2008

You never wrote that!

Having finally got around to buying the Taken By Trees album Open Field last week (super, in case you were wondering) I read the insert from cover to cover and then proceeded to kick myself. Having listened to and loved Lost And Found for a number of months, I had failed to realise that it was written by Tracyanne Campbell, lead singer with my favourite band Camera Obscura. How this escaped my notice is bewildering, since it sounds exactly like a Camera Obscura song. Here, listen!

Taken By Trees - Lost And Found mp3 (available for 7 days)

And here's another song whose writer I could be forgiven for not guessing. The best-known version is by Herman's Hermits, but I'm partial to this folkish version by Phranc.

Phranc - Mrs Brown You've Got A Lovely Daughter mp3 (available for 7 days)

Now, who was it written by? It was noted British actor Trevor Peacock, best known these days for his role as Jim 'No no no no no no yes' Trott in The Vicar of Dibley. Blimey!


While researching this post I stumbled across the guitar (or ukulele) chords for Mrs Brown You've Got A Lovely Daughter and found they were within my very limited guitar skills. I knew there was some upside to this blogging lark!

Open Field is available to buy from Rough Trade here and you can view and buy Phranc's back catalogue from HRmusic here.

6 comments:

Mick said...

I am more pleased to discover who wrote “Mrs Brown…” than any reasonable person should be. I can’t wait for the next drunken “Did you know…” session down at my local. I just tried it out on the missus and she doesn’t know the song :(

Spike said...

Oh I hate it when people spoil my wonderful bits of astounding trivia by not knowing things! It's so frustrating!
I think I went around telling everyone I knew about Trevor Peacock when I first found out. None of them knew the song either!

Kippers said...

That really is a fantastic pop fact. Love that cover version too, to be Phranc!

Ahh, yes, it seems so obvious who wrote the Lost & Found now you say it. It's like: how much more Camera Obscura-y could that song be? And the answer is: none. None more Camera Obscura-y. ;)

lito said...

I did't know this band and I've been charmed with it. Is it the entire album as good as this song?

I have to post about them!

Spike said...

Taken By Trees is the project of Victoria Bergsman (ex-Concretes). That song is probably the best on the album, in my opinion, but I think the rest of it is lovely as well. You can have a listen to some more on myspace, lito. I think the whole album can be streamed there:
http://www.myspace.com/takenbytreesmusic

ally. said...

oooh you can't beat a ukele. i tried a bit of a cockney walkabout to this and it works darned fine
x
that taken by trees one was one of my faves of a good while too