Musical coincidences # 391

This particular coincidence isn’t all that strong, but it may not be easy to hear, but the similarity between the two vocal melodies is there (albeit in different keys, and one is a little fancier than the other).

Jellyfish – “Now She Knows She’s Wrong” (1991) (excerpt)

Peter, Paul and Mary – “Leaving on A Jet Plane“ (1969) (excerpt)

Here are the full versions:

Jellyfish – “Now She Knows She’s Wrong” (1991) (excerpt)

Peter, Paul and Mary – “Leaving on A Jet Plane“ (1969)

And here’s the original version of “Leaving On A Jet Plane”:

John Denver – “Leaving on A Jet Plane“ (1970)

Song of the day: Jellyfish – "Now She Knows She’s Wrong"

A few weeks ago I went on a bit of a Jellyfish jag (i.e., I couldn’t get enough of ’em), and at the end of it I found myself in possession of a few Jellyfish CDs. (Thank you, eBay!)

This was one of them:

And this is the first track on it:

Jellyfish – “Now She Knows She’s Wrong” (1991)

Song of the day: Jellyfish – "No Matter What" (acoustic)

O Jellyfish: How do I love thee? Let me count the ways…

Jellyfish – “No Matter What“ (1993)

And the original:

Badfinger – “No Matter What“ (1970)

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Musical coincidences # 379

This could be easily be called Musical coincidences # 378 Part 2, because it involves the same Jellyfish song that appeared in the previous coincidence. Admittedly this particular coincidence is not huge, but I absolutely adore the song that Jellyfish borrow from, so that’s why this tiny, tiny coincidence is being presented to you.

Jellyfish – “Glutton Of Sympathy” (1993) (excerpt)

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Seals And Crofts – “Summer Breeze“ (1972) (excerpt)

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Here are the full versions:

Jellyfish – “Glutton Of Sympathy” (1993)

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Seals And Crofts – “Summer Breeze“ (1972)

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Musical coincidences # 378

On my most recent Jellyfish binge I noticed something in one of their songs that I hadn’t noticed before in all the times I’d heard it.

I had just finished listening to “Glutton Of Sympathy”, and the guitar solo decided to stay in my brain for a while. As I repeatedly heard the start of the solo in my head…

Jellyfish – “Glutton Of Sympathy” (1993) (excerpt)

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…I had a vague feeling that I’d heard that melody somewhere before.

I kept singing it to myself, and a few words eventually appeared. Those words were “I took my baby…”.

And then I realised what the other song was. I was gobsmacked. I was so surprised by the realisation that I actually said “Wow” out loud.

I was surprised because the other song is very well-known. So well-known that you’re guaranteed to know it, no matter what your taste in music. In 1991 it went to number one in 19 countries. That’s how well-known it is. And in all the times I’d listen to the Jellyfish song, I’d never noticed the similarity before. (Ah, the mysteries of the human mind.)

I’d love to tell you the identity of the singer of that other song, but his name is so popular in the music industry, and his record company so powerful, that the legal forces behind him tend to shut down anyone playing even parts of his music. And I really don’t want this blog to be deleted because I played you three seconds of his music.

I’ll leave the song title intact, but I’ll give him a slightly modified name (I’d like to keep this blog):

Ezekial Hackton – “Black Or White“ (1991) (excerpt)

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Here are the full versions:

Jellyfish – “Glutton Of Sympathy” (1993)

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Ezekial Hackton – “Black Or White“ (1991)
Nothing to see here. Please move away.

Song of the day: Jellyfish – "Calling Sarah"

If you’re not a fan of 1990s power pop band Jellyfish, then this post may be tedious.

I’m a fan of Jellyfish, and I occasionally find myself having listening binges whereby for a few days I’ll listen to all the Jellyfish I can. And then I’ll listen to it again. And again etc. This continues until I’ve had enough Jellyfish and am satisfied. I’ll then move on to listening to other music.

The above is what’s known in Jellyfish circles as a “Jellyfix”.

I recently had a Jellyfix.

I’ve just come out of it, and at the end of my Jellyfix I discovered that I’d bought five more Jellyfish CDs. What’s unusual about buying five Jellyfish CDs is that the band officially released only two albums (Bellybutton and Spilt Milk).

Two of the CDs were CD singles, another was an EP, and another was a full-length compilation, Best!. (Yes, I know how weird it is for a band that released only two albums in its lifetime to have a “best-of” CD.)

The fifth CD, however, is a relatively new one (it was released about five months ago). It’s called Stack-a-Tracks, and it’s a two-CD set that comprises the band’s two officially released albums with most of the vocals removed. In other words, it’s two albums of backing tracks.

I was going to resist the urge to play you any Jellyfish at all, and keep my listening binge to myself, because I know that other people may not feel about Jellyfish the way I do (i.e., periodically rabid). But…

On Stack-a-Tracks I heard something that caused my brain to release an infinite amount of endorphins. It’s in the middle eight of “Calling Sarah” (the last track on the band’s first album, Bellybutton), and it’s something I’d never noticed before (mainly because they was a heap o’ singin’ on the original version that covered it).

From 2:02-2:05 in the please-take-the-vocals-away version of “Calling Sarah” is a guitar playing F sharp minor 7 with a chorus effect, and when I heard it I thought “I am so glad I bought this CD”.

I’ll present “Calling Sarah” to you in both vocal and backing-track versions, and depending on your level of Jellyfish fandom you can choose what you want to listen to (if any):

Jellyfish – “Calling Sarah” (1990)

Jellyfish – “Calling Sarah” (backing track) (1990)

Song of the day: Jellyfish – "Joining A Fan Club" (live)

Boy oh boy, Jellyfish were good:

Jellyfish – “Joining A Fan Club” (live) (1993)

And here’s the studio version:

Jellyfish – “Joining A Fan Club” (1993)

Song of the day: Jellyfish – "New Mistake"

My favourite Jellyfish song changes from time to time.

At the moment it’s this:

Jellyfish – “New Mistake” (1993)

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Musical coincidences # 258

This coincidence stems from Scott McCarl‘s song, “In Love Without You”, and it involves not one, but four five other artists. (The fifth one is thanks to my friend Steve after this post was first published. Hi, Steve!)

It totals three coincidences, and they all occur within the first 30 seconds of Scott’s song. This is a doozy of a coincidence, and it’s all thanks to two three people: blog commenter “side3” (Hi, side3!) and Scott McCarl, the chap who recorded it in the first place. (And my friend Steve. See Coincidence 1 below.) But I’ll back up a little and start at the start.

I posted a song by the Raspberries called “Play On”. Commenter side3 mentioned that one-time Raspberry Scott McCarl had released a solo album, and that one of the songs on it was “In Love Without A Girl”. Side3 called the song a “fantastic piece of power pop”.

I had a listen to “In Love Without A Girl” and… here we are.

Because this may get messy I’ll try not to interject with cumbersome comments and just let the excerpts speak for themselves:

COINCIDENCE 1

Scott McCarl – “In Love Without A Girl” (1998) (excerpt 1)

The Cars – “Just What I Needed“ (1978) (excerpt)

(My friend Steve reminded me of “Stacy’s Mom”. Thanks, Steve!)

Fountains Of Wayne – “Stacy’s Mom“ (2003) (excerpt)

COINCIDENCE 2

Scott McCarl – “In Love Without A Girl” (1998) (excerpt 2)

The Beatles – “Ticket To Ride“ (1965) (excerpt)

and

Jellyfish – “The King Is Half-Undressed” (1990) (excerpt)

COINCIDENCE 3

Actually, I will interject just for this coincidence. I want to point out that the coincidence in this excerpt occurs at the end, when the band crashes into E minor then A major:

Scott McCarl – “In Love Without A Girl” (1998) (excerpt 3)

A band I get into trouble for mentioning by name (here I’ll call them ‘Left-Right Boil’) – “No Time For Games” (1980) (excerpt)

Here are shorter excerpts where you can hear the specific coincidence:

Scott McCarl – “In Love Without A Girl” (1998) (excerpt 3 – shorter)

Left-Right Boil – “No Time For Games” (1980) (excerpt – shorter)

Here are the full versions of everything above:

Scott McCarl – “In Love Without A Girl” (1998)

The Cars – “Just What I Needed“ (1978)

Fountains Of Wayne – “Stacy’s Mom“ (2003)

The Beatles – “Ticket To Ride“ (1965)

Jellyfish – “The King Is Half-Undressed” (1990)

Left-Right Boil – “No Time For Games” (1980)

Phew.

Song of the day: Jellyfish – "The King Is Half-Undressed"

There I was on Sunday reading the local Sunday newspaper (we still have newspapers in Australia), and I was gobsmacked to see Jellyfish‘s album, Bellybutton, get a mention. Ooo-wee!

To celebrate the weirdness of a South Australian newspaper mentioning the debut album of a defunct 1990s American band, here’s that band with a song from the album, the splendid “The King Is Half-Undressed” (or as I like to call it, “Ticket To Ride On Steroids”):

Jellyfish – “The King Is Half-Undressed” (1990)

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Splendid.

The Sunday Mail, 29 January 2012