This wasn’t going to be the next in this series, although it would have featured eventually. It’s just that the title (and song) sprang to mind given the lack of activity on here during December.
Within 12 hours of posting the Shane MacGowan piece, I was in the back of an ambulance with blues and twos, on the eight mile journey to my nearest A&E, with a suspected heart attack. Suffice to say I was in a bad way, responded to treatment and it’s taken some time to recover. My heart is actually in very good nick for a 57 year old, apparently, but while I have some other relatively minor health issues. the main culprit appears to have been something I picked up in SE Asia. All this has made me reappraise things and I’m eating less and have dramatically reduced my caffeine intake. Alcohol? Yes, I’ve dropped a bit off my usual level as well – being ill during the Christmas do season has helped on that front. During lockdown, I lost three and a half stone, moving from “obese” to “overweight”. Half a stone had crept back on, but that’s now gone again – I don’t really want it to reappear. Mrs TGG had started making salads to take to work – she’s now doing double the amount and leaving a portion for me. I’m very grateful for this and have enjoyed the absence of my usual pastry-based lunches far more than I expected.
The song?
This one came to my attention as a freebie sent to the student radio station in 1985. CBS/Epic were very good at sending us stuff – often multiple times. I just remember playing this and loving it instantly. It was released twice (with different B-sides and the piano intro missing from the re-release) but doesn’t appear to have got anywhere remotely near the UK chart. Wikipedia claims this song made No 1 in Japan, but Discogs doesn’t list a Japanese release. Believe what you want to believe.
From memory. the two guys were both called James and were busking in Coventry before landing their major label deal. One of the B-sides was a medley entitled Songs From The Street, which included songs they’d played while busking. There were a couple of other singles and an album and that seems to have been it on the recording front. I was also fond of one of the other singles.
I think my liking for their songs was because they were a little different to a lot of major label releases in 1985 and I’m a sucker for upbeat acoustic guitars. The Everly Brothers style vocals also won me over.
I don’t play these two songs as often as I should, but boy, am I glad to be well enough to share them with you.
I have at least one more post I want to get in before New Year. Let’s see how that goes!
TGG
3 responses to “Unsung Songs #6: Jimmy Jimmy – Silence”
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I dropped by to catch up and wish you a happy holiday, TGG, not expecting to read that you’d spent time in A&E in the lead up to Christmas. I hope you’ve been able to take it relatively easy and enjoy the last couple of days at home with Mrs TGG.
Thanks for stepping back into the blogging spotlight. I don’t get to comment as often as I like as my phone seems to really (I mean, really) dislike WordPress these days so I only get the chance to read and catch up on your blog when I have a quiet moment on the family computer (and I’m not frantically trying to get my own posts finished).
Keep on keeping on…but at your own pace. It’s worth the wait.
Cheers,
Khayem
Wasting time in the study 
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