Saturday, 21 July 2018

Nothing Rhymed

Gilbert O'Sullivan and friends
It's late,  I'm tired, and I've had this song going round in my head all week. It was released in 1970 and, in all honesty, I'm guessing there are only a handful of tunes written since that are even fit to tie its boot laces.

I really need someone like Alyson on hand who could put Nothing Rhymed into all sorts of perspectives - musical, personal, cultural, political even. All I know is that if you're sitting anywhere near me on the train to Sheffield tomorrow morning, I'll probably sing it to you. I apologise in advance.

Before I go, does anyone know what drink Gilbert's talking about when he name checks a Bonaparte Shandy? It sounds very elegant, though probably isn't at all.

Night x

Gilbert O'Sullivan - Nothing Rhymed (1970)

on

16 comments:

  1. The Swede22 July 2018 at 17:47

    A masterpiece and no mistake. Covered at least twice on record by Martin Carthy and on stage a few times by Morrissey.

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    1. John Medd22 July 2018 at 19:05

      I shall dig out the former, and (probably) bury the latter.

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  2. The Swede22 July 2018 at 19:10

    I have to say that when it comes to covers, Mozz has good taste. There are a few examples scattered around YouTube. He makes a pretty good fist of 'Nothing Rhymed'.

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  3. Alyson24 July 2018 at 23:46

    Gosh - I must have missed this one from Saturday. Definitely the kind of song that gets into the noddle and doesn't budge in a hurry. Beautiful though.

    I do remember Gilbert from those days in his schoolboy outfit - Worked well for him as I think his best songs were from that period. That's a great picture of the four of them there - Yes so many musical, personal and cultural references could be culled from that one.

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    1. John Medd25 July 2018 at 13:06

      No clue as to what a Bonaparte Shandy is Alyson...?

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    2. Alyson25 July 2018 at 20:52

      Did a bit of googling and it seems the most likely answer is that it was a substitute for Napoleon Brandy which couldn't be used because its a trade name. Shandy rhymes with brandy and Bonaparte is Napoleon. Makes sense to me but without asking Gilbert himself, difficult to know for sure. Then again you are very good at asking the artists of our youth such questions, so if you are up for it?

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    3. John Medd26 July 2018 at 18:09

      Thanks Alyson; yes, I'd read that too, but wasn't convinced. But, in the absence of any other intel, I'll go with it.

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    4. Alyson26 July 2018 at 20:37

      The Kinks mentioned Coca Cola in their song Lola but had to go back and change it to Cherry Cola - Caused much trouble for them in America however and I think they missed out on the US market for quite some time just when they were at their peak in terms of the song-writing.

      Personally I'm going with the Napoleon Brandy explanation as nothing else makes sense really.

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    5. John Medd26 July 2018 at 22:05

      In that case, When we meet up you must let me buy you one...

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  4. Anonymous4 October 2018 at 17:50

    I believe he may be referring to Napoleon Brandy with a dash of lemonade, which was a popular drink at the time.

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  5. Ukeylad5 July 2019 at 11:56

    Brandy and lemonade

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    1. Jay20 April 2021 at 19:33

      it used to be one of Clapton's favourite as some stage !

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  6. Ukeylad5 July 2019 at 11:57

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  7. Unknown28 January 2021 at 16:10

    Just listened to this again after over a decade and must say it's a brilliant lyric and aged so well classic, Gilbert totally under'rated

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  8. nickatnoon6118 October 2021 at 06:24

    Get Down was my FAV song of 1973! I was only 20 then! G. O'Sullivan is only 6 years older than me.

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