One of my earliest childhood memories is being sat in the bath while my mum sang "The Ugly Duckling" to me. I don't think there was any deep significance to the choice of song, it was probably the only one she could remember all the words to - and besides - I liked it.
I also remember her buying a copy of it on 7" so that I could listen to it at my leisure. It wasn't until I dug out the single recently that I realised quite how differently Mike Read approached the song to my mum.
I'm pretty sure she missed out all the cockney rhyming slang and I'm equally sure that parts of the Mike Read version left my infant brain completely baffled - and to a certain extent they still do.
He starts off trying to do a proper crooning job but quickly falls into proto-Frank Butcher mode. By the end of it - it's like he's talking a different language.
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRUNAROUND!
Maybe this is what bath time for Ricky Butcher was ACTUALLY like?
Watch out for the quacking guitar effect on wah-wah in the "all through the wintertime" section...tres subtle
Mike Read - The Ugly Duckling
1 comment:
disturbing, that explains a lot
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