£24.99 From Argos by Half Man Half Biscuit (1995) discussed...
An ode to the joy of cheap electronic keyboards, amongst other things, £24.99 From Argos features some inbuilt musical twiddles which were always going to be tracked down by our intrepid completists. Features the line “And even on clear days I can’t see the point” which filtered through from the unreleased (unfinished?) song “Clear Day”, broadcast three years before this song was released. If you want to speculate further about Nordic Ski Widows, please feel free.
See lyrics to £24.99 From Argos
Charles Exford
I’m pretty sure it’s this model
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4W5IexC_XGM
After all, the cheaper models don’t even have the Ode to Joy pre-programmed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAVo-cTqsJc
I wonder which one the Killers “wrote” Mr. Brightside on ? 😉
4 September 2009
John Rivers
I always had it as ‘and die in midweek’ rather than ‘dire’ as it seeing your football team ‘die’ in a midweek game. Could well be wrong though!
John
4 September 2009
Neil G
I thought it was ‘and die in midweek’ as well. I can’t hear ‘new’ before ‘genius elect’ although I can’t think what else it can be.
5 September 2009
zertrudetrout
This might be utter bollocks, but I always thought the Ode to Joy bit at the end was a parody of how ‘It’s Grim Up North’ by the JAMMs segues into Jerusalem.
7 September 2009
simon smith
Do I recall Nigel saying the `slumped in the corner for maximum effect` was a nod to the `chained to the wall for maximum hold` line in Echo and The Bunnymen`s `The Puppet`?
I`d vote in favour of `die`. Nigel has form (San Antonio Foam Party) of the lassitude of a bleak midweek and I too am certain I will die on a Wednesday, around 4 o clock, probably in Burnley.
7 September 2009
gary
i think the last line is “yeah well” instead of “girl”
8 September 2009
Chris The Siteowner
Yep, it’s “and die in midweek”. Confirmed: Source
14 March 2010
tomasz.
can anyone tell me where i’ve heard the bit of tune immediately between “…Nordic ski widow” and the ‘Ode to Joy’ excerpt before?
24 May 2011
Charles Exford
Some sort of folk memory of being a barman nearly three decades ago tells me that nascent hornpipe might, just might, be some sort of fruit machine pay-out jingle? Or fanfare for the common man who’s just seen off the space invaders? along those sort of lines (might jog someone else’s memory)?
24 May 2011
Chief Exec
Well I’m pretty sure I heard it on a casio of some description (don’t remember the cost or the place of purchase).
There might have been something similar when a character died on a game back in the NES days? Mario?
26 May 2011
Third Rate Les
Related to this, worth pointing out the similar idea in Luke Haines’ more recent song “Big Daddy Got A Casio VL-Tone” in the album “9 1/2 Psychedelic Meditations On British Wrestling Of The 1970s & Early 80s”.
An album which has plenty of other HMHB overlaps, including a whole song about the unmasking of Kendo Nagasaki. Not easy to talk about these things without sounding pointlessly nostalgic or sneeringly ironic, but he pulls it off.
3 May 2012
Charles Exford
We never did quite pin down that hornpipe twiddle, did we? But as for the bassline, well check out the bass from 3 mins 22 to 3mins 26 on this clip.
Algy Ward (formerly of the Saints) I think.
Good ‘Punk Britannia’ season, this eh?
8 June 2012
Charles Exford
oh yeah, the clip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaYayknwQ0A&list=PL0100BA0429E57C9D&index=16&feature=plpp_video
8 June 2012
Chigley Skin
With the aid of this t-shirt company, you too could spend a week being a Nordic ski widow.
The same company also offers shirts with slogans such as “Kiss Me, I’m South African”, “Born To Do Synchronised Swimming”, and the perennially popular “Got Wombats?” At the very least, you can’t accuse them of neglecting the niche markets.
2 August 2012
John Burscough
I don’t know if it’s a good idea to start being pedantic here about Florida-based clothing manufacturers, but if it’s a Mens (no apostrophe) T-shirt, shouldn’t it be ‘Widower’?
2 August 2012
Paul F
A truly bizarre collection of t-shirts. “Pharmacist by day, ninja by night” for example.
2 August 2012
John Burscough
I particularly like the baby’s bodysuit emblazoned with I ♥ Krav Maga (an Israeli method of self-defence noted for its extremely efficient, brutal counter-attacks, not limited to techniques that avoid severely injuring one’s opponent).
2 August 2012
Chris The Siteowner
Came across this by accident. Fate, more like.
22 December 2013
joeplus
I’ve “found” the little twiddle before Ode to Joy somewhere else. I knew I’d heard it before but took a while to place where I had.
Years ago at a festival I saw Kid Carpet, who’s from Bristol and twats about with keyboards, and was tickled enough to get hold of some of his music. He does a thing with Van Halen’s “Jump” plus Casio riffs, and you can hear the one in question (sandwiched between very similar phrases), in the last ten seconds of this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiRRHv-SN5c
I used to have an MP3 of the studio recording, lost to deletion, in which it’s a lot clearer.
Anyway, there you go. Relatively new to HMHB and this excellent site, I hope I’ve provided something borderline interesting.
29 September 2014
Featureless tv producer steve
Whilst voting in the Lux Familiar Cup 2015, this song has come up a few times, and the title (natch) leaves me momentarily puzzled. As I contemplate it, I realize that even though I can’t place it, for some reason I have good thoughts about the song, and I scratch the ol’ noggin trying to figure out why.
Then I remember: “And even on clear days, I can’t see the point.”
And I vote for it.
9 October 2015
GORDON BURNS
The other demo tune on that Casio was un upbeat version of Jingle Bells. Car journeys just flew by with these two on repeat.
15 July 2019
Batwalker
A bit of a stretch, perhaps, but I find myself wondering whether this song was intended as a parody of Blue Monday, which was famously written so that New Order could show off their new drum machine.
28 April 2020
dr desperate
I suppose we ought to mention that ‘Sylvian and Fripp’ done a collaboration in 1993, after S declined F’s invitation to join King Crimson. Their album ‘The First Day’ led to a tour, a remixed version (‘Darshan (The Road to Graceland)’) and the ‘Damage: Live’ album.
The likelihood of whippets being discussed on the tour is probably on a par with that of jugglers having mates, though one of Fripp’s later collaborations, ‘Talking With Strangers’ by ex-Fairport (and Giles, Giles & Fripp) singer Judy Dyble, does have one on the cover.
13 April 2021