Frank Wilson - Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)

Peanut Duck has an unashamed soul bias. Being a musical omnivore my current diet is soul records, and particularly 1960s soul records.

It isn't hard to enjoy these records, because of the two minute joy they provoke. Life rarely provides joy for more than a couple of minutes, but dancing to a great record is one of life's most wonderful pleasures. I have never understood people who don't dance - music at its best encourages participation and soul music is the music of participation. It speaks to you, and if you can't get on your feet and shift your arse then you must be a tragic figure.

Today's choice is Frank Wilson's "Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)". In England, this record is held in especial esteem because it was the last record ever to be played at the famous Wigan Casino, which was the epicentre of Northern Soul. With the crowd in a state of hysteria, the DJ picked this record at random to break the spell, and "Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)" consequently became an instant classic which has come to represent the spirit of Northern Soul.

Schoolhouse Rock - Three Is A Magic Number

Almost the weekend. Thank dog for that.

Unusually, the clip is of interest to me, it being a lovely wobbly cartoony thing created to entertain children. Small wonder it pleases me so.



[Schoolhouse Rock is worth a post in itself on the Pink Half.]

The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band - The Canyons of Your Mind

Readers of the Pink Half may be aware of my admiration for the work of Vivian Stanshall, which I came to know via the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band. When you've finished discombobulating the sardines, you might take your elevenses with this splendid version of "The Canyons of Your Mind", which contains a lyrical nature which can be described as "the sweet essence of giraffe". This clip most crazed (and best) version, improved all the more by the raiding of the BBC's props department.

I saw this performance on BBC 2's repeat of "Colour Me Pop" when I was a teenager. Colour Me Pop was broadcast just as BBC 2 began its broadcasts in colour in 1967, which is a great example of technology and society's desire to wear loud shirts coming together.



The other segment of this show has Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention rendering "In The Sky", which is also worth a listen if you need to scratch your eardrums like cheap vinyl.

Pet Shop Boys - Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)

In a brief moment where I joined the modern world and had an iPod, I used to listen to this on my way to work in the City, along with Pink Floyd's "Money". In retrospective it was proof that I wasn't entirely suited to chasing crumbs from the bankers table.



Tellingly, this track was released the last time we had a crazy financial bubble thanks to the financial miracle that occured with deregulation in the City under Thatcher. Opportunities is even more appropriate for Brown's Britain, since the brawn built the property, and the "brains" securitised until the number of them was bigger than the total GDP of the Western World.

And at the end of the fairytale where the market always went up, everyone made lots of money.

Shirley Ellis - The Clapping Song

Today's sweetmeat is Shirley Ellis. Ellis is almost impossible to find on record or CD, and she is not often found on the intermong.

Shirley Ellis came from an age when a woman's voice on a record was not a breathless whisper or a vocoded monstrosity, but rather a hurricane. I'd love to know when she finds time to breathe on the records she cut.

I make no apology for the stupid dancing clip because Shirley is so difficult to find that I had to settle for this foolery. Salute the protagonist's bandy legged cool and enjoy Shirley at smooth speed.

Everybody Do The Peanut Duck

Welcome to Peanut Duck, my roving blog list of music, with salted comments. The idea is that Peanut Duck will eventually divide itself into categories for soul, rock, pop, nose flute concertos and so on. Hopefully with use of tags I will be able to sort out things much better than before.

Let's kick off with the track that also titles this blog. I have to thank my sister for introducing me to this record. Peanut Duck by Marsha Gee (or persons claiming to be Marsha Gee) is all kinds of wrong, including the bit where Marsha pretends to be a duck. But its unhinged and drunken groove is worthy of respect.