On Wed, 17 Dec 1997 10:48:19 -0000, Benjamin wrote:

I possibly sense from the tone of the last letter that you ask this question with a small sense of sarcasm? well the answer to your puzzle is thus:

Sarcastic, not me mate....I meant every word, but I just wasn't hard enough on 'the lizard king' (I reckon 'the reptile twat' is far more appropriate). But I would never be sarky about St Nick, who I love very much. In amongst all those forgettable and not particularly regrettable (hey! that's good, I nicked it from the Simpsons) rock n'roll deaths, his was a genuine tragedy.

I think I'm right in writing (can any one correct me?) that the very first person ever to cover Nick Drake songs was in fact Elton John. I believe he recorded four songs (Day Is Done, Saturday Sun, Way To Blue and Time Has Told Me) on a demo way back in 1968. As far as I know these songs are available on bootlegs only.

Blimey, I never knew that. I really didn't, and it's interesting.

So you may well think Elton john is now a very rich man with a partially cured hair problem,

Well, yes I do, but I don't think that's a reason to hate him. 'Your song', 'Daniel', 'Song for Guy'...wonderful stuff. A friend of my mother's was in the same year at school as our Reg, and remembers a shy little six year old who sat on his own playing the piano at kid's parties (it wasn't Elton...she just remembers one) (that bit in brackets was a joke, and it was very, very funny). And he and I share a birthday (he's a bit older than me). Along with Aretha Franklin, Paul-Michael Glaser, Simone Signoret AND the saxophone player from Spandau Ballet (Steve Norman, for those who are bothered). I know this for a fact because I am a vaguely tragic human being, who has an unfathomable curiosity for people that he shares a star sign with (Serge Gainsbourg is my favourite co-Aries. John Major and Damon Albarn aren't).

....but you can't deny that B&S and EJ both draw a pon the same musical influences.

Well, yes. But I sort of prefer not to think about B&S's influences - your illusions can be shattered if you find some of your favourite musical moments are second-hand. Hey! Senor Pedro 'Cojones del Toro' Miller is back! And this time he wants to rock with the Zep. Pero te quiero, anyway. I should have some interesting news regarding Manchester in the next couple of days.....keep watching the skies. It's snowing, maybe I'll see a fox, and maybe I couldn't give a toss. Love Tag ----------------------------------------------------------------------- . This message was brought to you by the Sinister mailing list. . To send to the list please mail "sinister@majordomo.net". . For subscribing, unsubscribing and other list information please see . http://www.majordomo.net/sinister . For questions about how the list works mail owner-sinister@majordomo.net . We're all happy bunnies humming happy bunny tunes. Aren't we? -----------------------------------------------------------------------