ONE SONG BY THE SMITHS....A SATURDAY SERIES (Part 29)

Saturday 5th February : Itinerary for JC

0600 : Accept kind offer of lift from Mrs V taking me from Villain Towers to Glasgow City Centre (3 Miles)
0630 : Train from Glasgow to Edinburgh (45 miles)
0720 : Arrive Edinburgh, meet Jacques the Kipper
0728: Train from Edinburgh to Aberdeen (130 miles)
0952 : Arrive Aberdeen, having washed down breakfast with vodka
1014 : Train from Aberdeen to Keith (42 miles) having enjoyed vodka with elevenses
1117 : Arrive Keith
1120 : Taxi from Keith to Buckie (15 miles)
1145 : Arrive Buckie. Go To Pub
1500 : Watch Buckie Thistle v Brechin City in last 16 tie of Scottish Cuo
1700 : Exit ground and Go To Pub while JtK goes and says hello to his folks in the house he grew up in
1820 : Bus from Buckie to Keith (15 miles)
1900 : Arrive Keith
1916 : Train from Keith to Aberdeen (42 miles) drain last of vodka
2030 : Arrive Aberdeen.
2042 : Train from Aberdeen to Glasgow (150 miles). Say farewell to JtK at Dundee as he catches connection to Edinburgh. Try not to fall asleep.
2315 : Arrive Glasgow and join long queue for taxi back to Villain Towers (3 miles)
2359 : Get to Bed and Sleep
So that’s an 18 hour day, of which around half will be spent either on trains or within railway stations, and 445 miles all told for a game of football lasting 90 minutes.

There’s only one song for today:-

mp3 : The Smiths - The Draize Train

An instrumental number first made available on the b-side of the 12” version of Panic and released in July 1986.

It was the only track in the band’s history that was credited solely to Johnny Marr. Seemingly, Morrissey was encouraged by Geoff Travis of Rough Trade to compose a lyric, with the record company boss believing it was the best bit of music the guitarist had written. Moz on the other hand thought it was the weakest thing he’d ever done and refused to get involved.

Speaking frankly, whether to Mr Shankly or a wider audience, it is neither the best nor the worst. But it does show off how skillful the band were as instrumentalists and was considered an important enough track to feature in quite a few live sets, particularly when the band were temporarily a five-piece with the addition of Craig Gannon. And of course a live version was made available of the posthumously released Rank LP:-

mp3 : The Smiths – The Draize Train (live)

The live version is far superior, isn't it???

Happy listening.