This one is another Josi collaboration that we put together in the Lower Haight at the old Frisco Studios. Anyone been up and down Steiner recently will notice that the studio was bulldozed over the holidays. Bye bye extra super expensive sound re-enforced Hardkiss studio courtesy Columbia Records. Hello condos.
I had stumbled across the video of Mick Jagger’s Performance and sampled dialog that referenced the Owl and Pussycat. Performance, made in 1968 (my favorite year), is a experimental film which included graphic depictions of violence, sex and drug use. The Owl and The Pussycat is one of my favorite nonsense poems:
The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
‘O lovely Pussy! O Pussy my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!’
You can read the rest here.
I asked Jay Bowman to sing a phrase and he obliged delivering, between laughter, a straight faced version. I added some backing vocals.
There was a time when I conceived of a side project called Nubile Flesh which would have included this song and other silly/sexually ambiguous songs. I even created some label art which was a collage of pictures ripped from a ’60s era x-rated movie review magazine. I thought it was hilarious and sent it out to a few labels who I never heard from. Just as well. My idea of good humor can be offensive.
Here’s a dj edit of the track. I will post the original at a later date.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (7.6MB)
Nice one Gavin. Thanks for sharing as always. Hope all is well back up North.
I have a lovely children’s book of this poem and read it to my 1- and 3-yr old daughters all the time. They love it. And I’ve loved this interpretation since you first made it available in 2006.