Cult of Ffynche
Non Est Festinandum
The human voice: the instrument to which all others aspire. No other instrument is so versatile, so nuanced; no other instrument has the range of tonality nor its infinite variety; and no other instrument can inspire an emotional response the way the human voice can.
The original versions of the songs below are unimpeachable. You should listen to them. The soul of these works cannot be replicated by simply re-recording the parts. As Moondog would say, these songs are ‘impregnable masterpieces’.
So why record them? Simply for the joy of singing them.
Hey Girl Don’t Bother Me
Originally released by The Tams in 1964, the song had been confined to the bargain bucket of pop history when it was picked up by the Northern Soul movement. God bless ‘em. It spent 3 weeks at the top of the charts in September 1971 and I’ve loved it ever since.
Drown In My Own Tears
An oft-recorded classic. Ray Charles’ version reached No.1 in the Billboard charts in 1956 and is perhaps the the best known version, although Aretha Franklin’s 1967 cut from her seminal album I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You is equally wonderful.
Have You Seen Her?
This Chi-Lites 1971 classic has seldom been covered, probably because of the spoken word parts at the beginning and end of the song. Such things can never be replicated with any success, certainly not by someone with the speaking voice of an East End docker. So I made melodies out of the original spoken word.
Thanks for listening
Canute
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