Tag: Ben Murphy

The Ultimate Love Song, Ben Murphy Recording, 1993

As part of The Ultimate Love Song‘s 25th birthday celebrations (born 29 February 1992, so perhaps six-and-a-quarterth birthday…

…and because I find it hard to resist responding to requests (thank you, Andrew Poole)…

…I think I have fiddled around and successfully uploaded an MP3 of Ben Murphy’s rendition of The Ultimate Love Song, which was on Ben’s 1993 cassette album “Cover of the Rolling Stone” along with several other songs of mine.  More on that anon…

…here’s The Ultimate Love Song, sung by Ben Murphy.

Up The Creek With Janie & Annalisa & Gerry Goddin But Without A Paddle, To See Ben Murphy, 28 November 1992

Times change. These days (he says writing in late 2019) Up The Creek Comedy Club is located in trendy Greenwich and is perceived as a happening place on the comedy scene.

In 1992, Up The Creek’s was deemed to be located at Deptford Creek and its reputation was seriously edgy. When people spoke of an act dying there, it was quite possible that there was need for a post-mortem and funeral thereafter. Back then, the place was quite new, having replaced Malcolm Hardee’s famous (or should I say infamous) The Tunnel Club only a year or so earlier.

Mark Ahsmann [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)]

So what in the name of common sense were Janie, me, Annalisa and Gerry Goddin doing going to that place on a Saturday night?

We went to see the west-country comedian Ben Murphy perform. Ben had recently engaged with some of us Newsrevue writers and had especially taken a shine to some of my lyrics, which he was proposing to try out at Up The Creek that night.

Here is a link to my first letter to Ben – only a week or so before the Up The Creek visit – a very business like and quite counter-cultural letter viz the Ben I subsequently got to know rather well. Perhaps that is why I tended to get paid by Ben, whereas some less commercially-minded writers are (I believe) still waiting for their royalty cheques.

Here and below is a link to Ben’s subsequent recording of The Ultimate Love Song, one of several of mine that he used regularly live and also recorded:

The Ultimate Love Song, Ben Murphy Recording, 1993

Menawhile, back in November 1992, Janie and I actually moved an appointment to eat with Janie’s mum, plus twin-sister Phillipa and niece Charlotte, which was due to happen that evening. If my memory serves me correctly, we all went for a Chinese meal at North China on the Uxbridge Road at lunchtime the next day instead. I think that was the first time I met those three.

So, if I now point out that seeing my material, in the hands of Ben Murphy, doing battle with that seriously-arsy Deptford comedy crowd, was a far LESS daunting prospect than the thought of meeting Janie’s mum…

…but then you wouldn’t have tried mother-in-law/my girlfriend’s mother jokes at Up The Creek in 1992; that would not have ended well.

I do recall warning both Janie and Annalisa that it would be seriously risky for us to “take on the audience” if they turned against Ben. In those days, even Gerry Goddin was able to quell his instincts to chirp back in such circumstances, but I wasn’t so sure about the girls.

In the event, Ben went down pretty well at Up The Creek and we all survived the experience. Some acts that night were less fortunate than Ben…

…but then most of those acts were less naturally talented and less able to control an audience than Ben Murphy.

I have managed to find a video of Ben Murphy performing live, many years later, in less edgy circumstances – on that south-west coast circuit that he made his own for a long time:

I remember that Janie insisted on driving to Up The Creek and that we dropped Annalisa and Gerry home, as both of them, in those days, lived conveniently en route or near to Janie’s place.

This evening was an unforgettable experience that certainly helped forge my links with Ben Murphy…

…but it did not stoke a desire in me to write comedy for or see comedy in edgy clubs like Up The Creek.

My First Letter To Ben Murphy, 20 November 1992

I’m not sure how I missed this one on my first electronic pass, as I do have an electronic copy of the letter. I’m guessing that Harriet must have given Ben my phone number.

The first of much too-ing and fro-ing with Ben, who was an Irish comedy performer based in the South-West. Here is a link to the tag showing all of my interactions with him posted so far.

I mention the White House song – I wonder what the other one was?:


                                                           20 November 1992
 
Dear Ben,
 
Thank you for calling me yesterday regarding my lyrics.  I enjoyed talking with you about them. 
 
I enclose the two songs you requested.  The White House song I have slightly revamped for you into a solo version.  (I also enclose the original duo version for your information).
 
As we agreed, these two songs are £10 each for you to try, plus a further £15 each should you decide to use them as a regular feature in your live show.  As we discussed, this agreement covers live performance only and is non-exclusive. 
 
Should you wish to use the material for other purposes (e.g. broadcast, publication or recording) we would need to discuss terms.  Please note that in most of these circumstances you would also need permission from the publishers of the music.  I imagine that your agents would be able to help you with these arrangements should the need arise.
 
I understand that you are performing in London in the near future and that some of the News Revue crowd are planning to see your show.  I shall try to make myself available for that trip.
 
I shall give some thought to the styles that we discussed on the phone and may have a go at writing some lyrics along those lines.  By all means get in touch if you think of anything else you want.
 
I look forward to hearing from you and meeting you soon.  Thank you once again for your interest in my material.
 
Yours sincerely

Mama Mia Farrow, NewsRevue Lyric, 18 August 1992

This lyric ran and ran in NewsRevue in the second half of 1992 and was also recorded by Ben Murphy the following year (recording below).

It was still early in my NewsRevue “career” so I have a few very clear memories about the writing and initial performing of it.

The first memory is that the Woody and Mia rift story broke early in the week and the song popped into my head very quickly. I recall jumping in the car and dropping a lyric sheet and cassette at the Canal Cafe Theatre, probably on that very (Tuesday) morning.

I also recall Jonny Hurst confronting me on the Thursday evening, when the song was first performed, because he had also used the rhyme “Manhattan…shat on” (in a lyric that resembled Maria from West Side Story); Jonny found it hard to believe that I might independently have had the same thought. Fortunately I had a good evidence trail that my lyric had been submitted independently and indeed earlier than his; Jonny not only went on to become the chant laureate but he is also a lawyer!

Here is my lyric:

MAMA MIA FARROW

(A Song for Mia Farrow, Woody Allen and Sprogs To the Tune of “Mama Mia”)

 

VERSE 1

 

MIA:Woody’s cheated on me since I don’t know when,

WOODY:I like Mia’s daughters once they’re nine or ten;

MIA:Look at him pry at them lustily,

WOODY:I’m goanna try to get custody,

I have thought,

I might fancy a ward of court;

MIA:God you look a bit like Bernard Levin,

WOODY:Sling your hook go back to Andre Previn.

 

CHORUS 1

 

SPROGS:Wo oh oh oh, Mama Mia, here they go again,

My my, listen how they bicker;

Mama Mia, hear them blow again,

My my, like one of his flickers.

WOODY:Central Park came between us,

MIA:He has a massive – genius,

SPROGS:Why why, do they have to argue so?

Mama Mia, now we really know,

Why you’re name is still Mia Farrow.

 

VERSE 2

 

WOODY:I’ve been dating Soon-Yi and we’re both having fun,

MIA:You’re an aging loony and she’s just twenty-one;

WOODY:I’m sorry I’ve broken etiquette,

MIA:You’ll go to gaol in Connecticut,

Yankee States,

Won’t allow you to have young mates;

WOODY:Our love tryst should have been in Tennessee,

MIA:Analyst is who you should go and see.

 

CHORUS 2

 

SPROGS:Wo oh oh oh, Mama Mia, here they go again,

My my, like the film Manhattan,

Mama Mia, hear them blow again,

Mia, thinks she has been shat on;

WOODY:We both shunned matrimony,

MIA:But still found acrimony,

SPROGS:Why why does this have to carry on?

Mama Mia now he has done wrong,

Shove him up his own Orgasmatron.

Here is Ben Murphy’s recording of the lyric:

And just in case you want to see Abba singing Mamma Mia, here is a vid:

Or if you’d sooner see the Abba lyrics:

Postscript: I have subsequently noticed that my creative process is captured on my diary page for 18 August 1992:

The Ultimate Love Song, Whoops Vicar, NewsRevue, Ben Murphy…, 29 February 1992

I think a basic version of this song might have sat on my jotter for years before I typed it up and tried to do something with it, but I copyrighted it 29 February 1992.

That makes the lyric proper 25 years old this week (at the time of writing), unless you are really pedantic about dates, in which case it is six-and-a-quarter. I was reminded of it, coincidentally, during its anniversary week – click here for that story. 

Anyway, I think this one first saw the light of day in the hands of Brian Jordan, who found it in the NewsRevue reject pile (probably thanks to John Random) and took it to Edinburgh in 1992 in his show, “Whoops, Vicar, Is That Your Dick?”  So I can for ever boast that my material made its Edinburgh debut in a show by that glorious name.

Subsequently (and/or perhaps simultaneously), the song did NewsRevue runs and was also picked up by west country comedy-singer Ben Murphy for recording –  click here or below to hear.

Definitely one of my bigger hits. I can even thrash it out on my baritone uke, key change ‘n’all.

Click here or below for a link to the tune and lyrics: Nothing’s Gonna Change My Love For You by Glenn Medeiros.

THE ULTIMATE LOVE SONG

(To the tune of “Nothing’s Gonna Change My Love for You”)

 

VERSE 1

Every little thing she does is magic, you will never walk alone, the winner takes it all;

I can’t give you anything but my love, together we are beautiful, it’s not unusual.

You to me are everything, I’d like to teach the world to sing;

Only you, love me do,

You don’t have to say you love me.

 

CHORUS 1

Nothing’s gonna change the way I sound,

Just take another song and swop the words round;

One thing you can be sure of,

This is a sound you’ll hear some more of.

Nothing’s gonna change the way I croon,

There isn’t too much scope with only one tune;

You can wait your whole life through

But nothing’s gonna change the songs I do.

 

VERSE 2

You’re the first, the last my everything, with you I am born again, more than I can say;

You won’t find another fool like me dear, I can’t give you anything, one day I’ll fly away.

When will I see you again? you know that you have got a friend;

She’s not there, I’ll be there,

I don’t want to talk about it.

 

CHORUS 2

Nothing’s gonna change the songs I sing,

Just churn another out and hear the tills ring;

How come I’ve made my fortune,

When I have only written one tune.

Nothing’s gonna change the way I chant,

I sorta tried it once but found that I can’t;

This style’s the one for me,

The only thing I change is key (rising to higher key, slightly beyond ability of crooner)

Nothing’s gonna change my serenade,

Despite the fact it sounds as if I’ve been spayed;

I’ve made a pile this way,

So I’m afraid this song is here to stay.