''It's a diary entry covering one weekend in 1973.'' So said Brian Protheroe of his one and only hit, Pinball, which reached the dizzy heights of No.22 the following year. Protheroe had just split up with his girlfriend and was crashing at a friend's flat in Covent Garden. Living in London's fashionable West End was obviously not all it was cracked up to be; running out of pale ale, with fleas in the bedroom and flies in the bathroom just adding to his woes. And if all that wasn't bad enough, turns out the cat's just finished off the bread.
Brian Protheroe - Pinball (1974)
I do love this - it's very atmospheric, has that whole feel of the time - I can visualise that flat (lots of spider plants and wicker too). My cats never ate bread though - did yours?
ReplyDeleteAnd of course he's the voice of First Dates!
Toast crumbs, maybe.
DeleteWe saw Nigel Clark from Dodgy play a solo gig last week in Tunbridge Wells and he dropped it into his set. I love its quirkiness.
It's a good song, but not sure its the classic some people have suggested it is.
ReplyDeleteSure I read somewhere that Elvis Costello cites Brian Protheroe and this song as amongst his favourites
A minor classic, maybe. Declan has good taste.
DeleteI’ve written about this song at my place, and I’m sure C has too. Don’t quite know what it is about it, but it really gets under your skin. The lugubriousness of it maybe? Obviously did something for Elvis C too.
ReplyDeleteAlyson
Send me the link, Alyson - I'd love to read it.
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