A Musical Interlude - Six Degrees of Separation.... Sort of..

Jo and I were relaxing this afternoon; I was doing some ironing and she was playing solitaire and listening to music. I heard one of the songs and it sounded familiar. When I asked who it was by, she told me it was a song I'd recommended to her. This was it - Canadian singer, Mac Demarco - On the Level. She asked me where I'd heard of the song. I got my handy dandy little music book out, the one where I add songs I want to put on my USB. It turned out that I got it from a BBC Radio 2 show hosted by one, Nemone. I also had 3 other songs from that particular show.

Nemone Metaxas

Of course, this started one of those conversations that Jo and I often have. I got Jo to try the other three songs from that particular show, Ivy Lab's Stars, KDA - NYC, and Groove Armada's - I'll Be Searchin'. It turned out that Nemone, born Nemone Metaxas, was at one time a singer and saxophonist in a funk band that also included a certain Tom Findlay who went on to form Groove Armada.

For Jo, the Ivy Lab song reminded her of Sweet Like Chocolate by Shanks and Bigfoot. I can hear what she means. There may have been some sampling going on. Either way they are both great songs. I particularly like the video of Sweet Like Chocolate.

As we continued our musical discussion, we wandered from Groove Armada to that Canadian group that I recalled that had a song about washing your face in my sink.... Ah yes, said my wife, you mean Dream Warriors, a Toronto band that ran from 1988 - 2002. The particular song was Wash Your Face in My Sink.. They never had any big hits in Canada, but Jo told me, Wash your Face reached #16 in the UK. Their big hit, however was My Definition of Boombastic Jazz Style.

Of course when we reached this song our Six Degrees of Separation really caught fire. It turns out that the Dream Warriors song sampled a song from jazz meister Quincy Jones from 1962, Soul Bossa Nova in his album (yes that's what we had back then, albums.. .LP's.. records.. ) Big Band Bossa Nova.

This song has been used and sampled many, many times over the years. Probably the most famous incarnation was in a certain movie by another Canadian, Michael Myers, Austin Powers. Do you remember this?

The final look at the Soul Bossa Nova came from another Canadian performer, jazz singer Emilie-Claire Barlow. She did an interesting version combining Quincey Jones's Soul Bossa Nova with Sonny Bono's The Beat Goes On. It's quite excellent, as Jo described it as smooth peanut butter for the soul. This is her version of The Beat Goes On. For Canadians of a certain age (my age that is), Emilie is the grand-daughter of The Friendly Giant. Cool, eh?

Anyway, there is your musical interlude for a week in October. Hope you enjoyed it.