Sunday Samples 36

I’ve just picked up the 2005 album by Lemon Jelly, entitled ‘64-’95. It definitely strikes a darker note than their earlier works like “Spacewalk” (which you may have heard in a recent cat food ad).

Each track on the album picks a song released between 1964 and 1995 as its conceptual basis, and most sample that song extensively. The closing track, though, is only inspired by Lorne Green’s 1964 spoken-word ballad “Ringo”, and is musically constructed out of whole cloth. But who could possibly replace a Canadian 1960s-era spoken-word recording artist and science-fiction television actor?

Enter William Shatner, turning in another excellent performance in Lemon Jelly’s “‘64 aka Go”. Side note: the section in the middle is all but incomprehensible, more meant to be experienced than parsed. Watch the video and you’ll understand.

Go
Go

And so I went, alone
East, west
East, west
East, west
East, west

I went throughout the land
And hour and hour the days went by
From dawn ’til setting sun
East, west
East, west
East, west
East, and west

Near and far, the desert sand
The mountain quest
I knew someday I’d face the test

And sure enough

…

A moment later

And so at last, I understood
Go