An odd one this - Estelle and Davies were both stars of the then popular BBC sitcom 'It Ain't Half Hot Mum', but while it's their names that are all over the sleeve, the voices in the grooves stay in the respective characters from the show of Gunner 'Lofty' Harold Sugden and Sergeant Major Williams. Estelle is a perfectly fine tenor and he croons the 1940's chestnut straight as a die, but then Davies interjects halfway with a Telly Savalas-like spoken rendition of the lyrics (they recorded a whole album of 1940's songs in this manner should you be interested).Why this was felt necessary is unclear - it probably felt like a good idea at the time but it's neither funny nor adds anything to the song. Also, if his character was there as a selling point to emphasise the crossover from the show then it by itself is a major misfire - the last thing Sergeant Major Williams would do would be to encourage Lofty to sing, but I guess as long as he's there it's either that or hang around like a spare part (or mug furiously in the background while Estelle sang whenever they were called on to perform the song on television). 'Whispering Grass' is a classic of it's era and this version is by no means hateful, but it would have gone down a whole lot better if Davies had followed his own character's favourite order and SHUT UP!
No comments:
Post a Comment