I remember at one particularly shambolic gig at The Pony in Melbourne, we attempted to perform an impromptu Thrash Metal version of the song. We got about halfway through, when Ev’s bass pedal came off the drum, and the song sort of petered out. I don’t have a recording of that, but I do have a sloppy studio recording we did, featuring slide guitar and harmonica.

The Mime version was much more upbeat country pop than my own original recording. Compare and contrast:

Also, apologies for the bad American accent.

At the time, my mum tried to convince me to sell the song to a boy band, so I could retire and live off the royalties.

And as a bonus, have a snippet of the Disney version from one of our rehearsals – Donald Duck on lead vocals and guitar, Mickey Mouse on backing vocals, (with Erin on bass and Dom on Drums).

The disgust shown by Nathan at the end is because my Donald Duck impression caused me to slobber uncontrollably all over the microphone. Nice.

Childhood Song

When I sit alone at night
With the feeling that something ain’t right
I’ll sing you your childhood song

When you’re feeling low and blue
I have something that may help you
I’ll sing you your childhood song

Your childhood song
Fixes what’s wrong
Your childhood song
Your childhood’s gone

When your life just isn’t going,
I’ve got the stuff to get those memories flowing
I’ll sing you
Your childhood song

Your childhood song
Fixes what’s wrong
Your childhood song
Your childhood’s gone

When those around you lose their heads,
It’s better to look back instead*,
I’ll sing you your childhood song

Your childhood song
Fixes what’s wrong
Your childhood song
Your childhood’s gone

When you’re feeling crap and shitty
I’ll save you with this reminisce ditty
I’ll sing you your childhood song

*The original line, as heard on the original demo above, was the embarrassing “Gotta think fast to not be dead”. What?

The other week I dug out a few of my old cassettes, and set about digitising them. Here is the first of the fruits of that digital harvest.

I wrote the song around August/September 2001. It is about the awesome time I had just had at the Reading Festival. This was potentially (my memory is a bit hazy) the first song I wrote as a member of The International Language Of Mime. I recorded this song shortly after I had finished writing it – it was very late at night and I was playing and singing very quietly, and very close to the cassette player. I was also incredibly tired, and you can hear my voice cracking a few times. I think the late night tired vibe comes across, and I quite like it. It appeared in the early set lists of The International Language of Mime, but soon dropped out of it, because I wasn’t very good at singing it when I wasn’t really tired.

I have been accused of ripping off the tune from Oasis. I strongly deny this accusation. I ripped off the tune from The Moldy Peaches (let’s just say I was ‘inspired’ by them, shall we?).

I have included two versions for you: the original home recording, and a recording from an International Language Of Mime* rehearsal session.

Let me know what you think.

The Weekend:

I had a really good weekend, baby,
I want to thank you for the weekend, baby,
I had a really good weekend, baby,
With you.

You made me laugh, you made me smile,
You made me sing for a while,
I forgot my watch had a dial.

You made me dance, you made me shout,
You made me run all about,
I forgot I ever had a doubt.

You made me jump, you made me shake,
You always make me double take,
I forgot it was getting very late.

Doo doo doo…

I forgot it’s getting late,
You always made me double take,
You made me jump, you made me shake.

I forgot I had a doubt,
You made me run all about,
You made me dance, you made me shout.

I forgot my watch had a dial,
You made me sing for a while,
You made me laugh, you made me smile.

I had a really good weekend, baby,
I want to thank you for the weekend, baby,
I had a really good weekend,
With you.

*the Mime line up at this stage was Dom, Dan, Nathan and Gavin