David McComb
David McComb
David McComb, an Australian singer-songwriter who died at 36 in 1999,1 was lead singer for The Triffids and later a member of the Blackeyed Susans. He also did a solo tour with his own backing band, The Red Ponies.
An especially well-done summary of the history and significance of the Triffids and McComb by UrPal, a contributor to LeonardCohenForum and a moderator of The Triffids web site, is available at “Don’t Go Home With Your Hard-On” By McComb & Peters Is On Leonard Cohen’s Jukebox.
Memories By Leonard Cohen
I am an unabashed fan of “Memories,”2 a song originally concocted during the brief, stormy, and itself memorable collaboration-collision of Leonard Cohen and Phil Spector. Previous Heck Of A Guy posts featuring “Memories” include the following:
- Two Leonard Cohen Memories – This post contains a full discussion of the history and significance of the song
- Leonard Cohen – A Dance Down Memories Laine
- Lou Reed-Anjani Duet You’ve (Probably) Never Heard
- It’s Valentine Day – Let Me See Your Naked Body
These covers by David McComb and The Red Ponies and by the Blackeyed Susans are outstanding additions to the collection.
Red Ponies – Memories
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Blackeyed Susans – Memories
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_____________________- McComb had a history of alcoholism, drug abuse, and cardiomyopathy, for which he underwent a heart transplant in 1996. He died a few days after being sent home from the hospital following a car accident. From Wikipedia↩
- I have, in fact, only recently become resigned to its absence from the set lists of the World Tour concerts and continue to lament that error in choice of songs by the otherwise astute Mr. Cohen↩
Allan, Thanks for putting these covers of “Memories” out there for an airing. Not for the faint-hearted, but I hope some listeners will find them a spirited and “true” re-casting of the spirit behind Cohen’s original.
Incidentally, the fiddle player who abuses his bow until the instrument collapses under extreme pressure on those recordings is none other than Warren Ellis, now known for his movie soundtrack and other work alongside Nick Cave. Warren has also been involved recently in at least two projects with respected New York producer Hal Willner, who produced the Came So Far For Beauty shows.
That Jezebel, she was a caution, wasn’t she.
Is it ok DFG, if I remind folk that they have only 5 days left to find that perfect birthday gift for a certain heck of a blogger?
i have a much better version of red ponies doing ‘memories’ … for my money, it’s *the* best version of this song *ever* (shame about the FM radio quality, though mix is better than this one, in my opinion … )
The Blackeyed Susans include ‘Memories’ as part of their encore during their tour to promote their retrospective box set release ‘Reveal Yourself’. Rob Snarski does the main vocal and the Ukeladies do the response verses.
http://www.blackeyedsusans.com.au