Typical Girls: Women in Punk/Post-Punk/Underground Music (Circa 1975-1980s)

["J Neo Marvin" <j_n_e_o AT hotmail.com>]

Ah, the folk tradition. Songs change over the years or get half-stolen 
and/or transformed into something completely different.

John Holt and the Paragons still deserve credit for a completely different 
(and haunting) melody line even if the basic concept comes from the 
also-excellent Garnet Mimms tune. And the Slits deserve credit for slowing 
down the song and giving it a dark, spooky mood that I still believe 
influenced Massive Attack's version. I also like Ari's cheeky lyric change 
in which she longs for a noisy place where her own noise can be appreciated 
or at least not repressed. A lot of punks could relate to that back then, 
for sure, and no doubt still do.

I'm glad they're opening with that one. Great song.

> From: pascale amzallou <pascaleamz AT yahoo.com>
> Reply-To: "Typical Girls: Women in Punk/Post-Punk/Underground Music (Circa  
> 1975-1980s)" <typicalgirls AT lists.ibiblio.org>
> To: "Typical Girls: Women in Punk/Post-Punk/Underground Music (Circa  
> 1975-1980s)" <typicalgirls AT lists.ibiblio.org>
> Subject: Re: [TypicalGirls] The Slits - Boston, Great Scott - Mon Oct 30
> Date: Tue, 31 Oct 2006 15:37:46 -0800 (PST)
>
>
> Far from being a Massive Attack or Horace Andy or even
> a
> John Holt original (and it was a band John Holt was
> in, the
> Paragons, who did it, not John solo, and they
> originally
> performed it circa 1968, not in 1961!), the song
> originated
> in Garnet Mimms' 1963 soul tune, "A Quiet Place."
> Long
> the subject of debate, Holt admitted has admitted its
> origins
> recent years.  The Garnet Mimms original also was
> adopted
> into a rather different reggae tune called "Johnny
> Dollar,"
> performed by artists like Dave Barker.  Various reggae
> versions of both tracks abound, in addition to the
> Slits and
> Massive Attack's own takes on the tune.  Quite a
> pedigree for
> a song that never made it higher than #78 in the
> charts!
>
> Sample lyrics from the Mimms original:
>
> I can't get no sleep
> In this noisy street
> I've got to move
> (I've got to move)
> I've got to find me
> A quiet place
>
> There's a man next door
> With a radio and he plays it
> All through the night
> There's a couple in the
> Apartment above my head
> That don't do nothing
> But fuss and fight
>
> That said, the Paragons' version is a highly original
> adaptation,
> so some credit is due them, and the Slits' take was
> obviously
> inspired by the Paragons' version, not the Mimms
> original.
>
> Pascale
>
> > "Man Next Door" was originally performed by reggae
> > artist John Holt in 1961.
> > Massive Attack's cover was Holt's lyrics and also
> > included a sample of The
> > Cure's "10:15 Saturday Night."
>
>
>
>
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