Magic Rabbits – Details, episodes & analysis

To kick off with, Tim and Damian natter about their musical journey, using one of their old songs as a springboard for the chat. This week it's 'The Newlyweds', which they've re-recorded specially for this show.

Stephen Duffy (The Lilac Time)

⁠https://open.spotify.com/album/5SgauH4yHE5d2s7cBZRHKK⁠

⁠https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DZ06evO0Ew8gg⁠

Led Zeppelin

⁠https://open.spotify.com/album/0GqpoHJREPp0iuXK3HzrHk⁠

Marc Bolan

⁠https://open.spotify.com/track/4JzqDlNhjxxZ3oQcfXhS6q⁠

Mike Oldfield

⁠https://open.spotify.com/album/0a3YQpBnRzJzNktOjb6Dum⁠

⁠https://open.spotify.com/album/200p7O3raeXT2jNhmzK4TE⁠

Yanks Records

⁠https://medium.com/@alangregson/vinyl-hunting-in-mid-to-late-1980s-manchester-bd564c213258⁠

The Jam

⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e3M8X_FV-8&list=RD1e3M8X_FV-8&start_radio=1⁠

Aztec Camera

⁠https://open.spotify.com/album/1VduWll7rkJvGmwe5gYu72⁠

XTC

⁠https://open.spotify.com/artist/2qT62DYO8Ajb276vUJmvhz⁠

ELO

⁠https://open.spotify.com/artist/7jefIIksOi1EazgRTfW2Pk⁠

Steely Dan

⁠https://open.spotify.com/artist/6P7H3ai06vU1sGvdpBwDmE⁠

Little Feat

⁠https://open.spotify.com/artist/0ZIwOAzDuGPspzK7yiTc4S⁠

Bob Dylan

⁠https://open.spotify.com/artist/74ASZWbe4lXaubB36ztrGX⁠

Side FX

⁠https://www.youtube.com/@SideFX-x9g/videos⁠

Biscuit Barrel

⁠https://www.emmabridgewater.co.uk/products/blue-hen-biscuit-barrel?variant=56315146011011⁠

The Clash

⁠https://open.spotify.com/artist/3RGLhK1IP9jnYFH4BRFJBS⁠

Prefab Sprout

⁠https://open.spotify.com/artist/4w3QqrcmBv8dasemwBXmxf⁠

Tears for Fears

⁠https://open.spotify.com/search/Tears%20for%20fears⁠

Elvis Costello

⁠https://open.spotify.com/artist/2BGRfQgtzikz1pzAD0kaEn⁠

LYRICS:

The Newlyweds

words and music by Damian Scott

The bridal suite wasn’t quite what you expected

And the view out of the lake was not that at all

And the thirty-year-old outlook from a sixteen-year-old mind

Will never help you when she’s crawling up the wall

Wishing you were not the newlyweds

Wishing you were not the newlyweds

Wishing you were not the newlyweds

Start from the start and wake up one day ten years later

The honeymoon, it came and went in silence

As you packed away your memories in that case

The pressure cooker romance started leaking steam, quiteslowly first

But blew its top much later in your face

The photographs were dull and uninspiring

A perpetual reminder of the grief

A Kodachrome rendition of a black and white state of mind

That took away your future like a thief

Wake up, wake up, wake up!

(Won’t you) wake up, wake up!

Tim and Damian once again amble along the windswept promenade of music-biz memories, deliberating on childhood tribalism, cultural appropriation, difficult time signatures, recording studio nerves… and Jamaican beer. All culminating beautifully in a wistful re-recording of Tim’s ‘Can’t SeeFor Looking’. Grab a jacket, turn up the collar and join them for the b-side stroll.

References:

Peter Gabriel

https://open.spotify.com/track/6vZZtivPrtpggT5SSXsYTy

https://open.spotify.com/album/5mHESsxnNuS9E6s6769eWu

Aztec Camera

https://open.spotify.com/album/1VduWll7rkJvGmwe5gYu72

The Style Council

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3eGSA4P5vw&list=RDT3eGSA4P5vw&start_radio=1

Sly & Robbie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVIsTZPp0iM&list=RDVVIsTZPp0iM&start_radio=1

Stephen Duffy - The Lilac Time

https://open.spotify.com/album/5SgauH4yHE5d2s7cBZRHKK

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DZ06evO0Ew8gg

David Sylvian

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEArdmll_9w&list=PLI6kLIhBBwmRkH-vUXwHhDFkortLSwLsi&index=4

Linden Studios Cumbria - Guy Forrester

http://lindenstudio.co.uk/

LYRICS

Can’t See For Looking

words and music by Tim Riley

I can’t see for looking, see the wood for the trees

Though I’ve looked high and low on my hands and my knees

And I wish that you’d tell me what it is that I’ve lost

Cos I can’t see for looking

Our union is ending, and it cuts me in two

To see you turn away when I look at you

And you decline my invitation to give it one chance

Our union is ending

I’m practising perfection, my motive unclear

It’ll soften your defences, I’m certain, my dear

And if that were to happen, I’m sure you’d agree

Oh, what am I saying?

As a desperate attempt, I have pleaded with you

To consider it further and start anew

But my rivers of persuasion are fast running dry

These rivers of persuasion

Please forgive me

Please forgive me

Please forgive me

Please forgive me

I can’t see for looking, see the wood for the trees

Though I’ve looked high and low on my hands and my knees

And I wish that you’d tell me what it is that I’ve lost

Cos I can’t see for looking

Our union is ending, and it cuts me in two

To see you turn away when I look at you

And you decline my invitation to give it one chance

Our union is ending

Join Tim and Damian on another scamper through the deep, dank forest of bandmate nostalgia.

This time, the nearly-men of pop bang on about the weight of mandolins, the value of using antique audio equipment, first-person versus third-person song perspectives, brushes with bigwig A&R men…and background sheep noises.

All topped off with a rousing little rendition of Tim’s “A Thousand Miles Away” (with tasty real drums!).

Join them and together, hack through the music-biz wonder-growth.

LYRICS

A Thousand Miles Away

words and music by Tim Riley

She’s away from here

Even when she’s right here

And her vacant stare

Means she’s never quite there

She’s a thousand miles away

She’s a thousand miles away

With her head in the clouds

She skips around the town

And no one knows the sanctuary she’s found

She’s a thousand miles away

She’s a thousand miles away

She’s away from here

Even when she’s right here

And no one knows the sanctuary she’s found

She’s a thousand miles away

She’s a thousand miles away

It’s time once again to rope up to Tim and Damian as they traverse the rocky (‘n’ rolly) wastelands of bandmatery.

This week, our musical explorers discuss banishment from a famed pub…van breakdowns… a lovely and much-missed fella called Martin Ruby…inspirational management…getting kitted out at Afflecks Palace…dodgy ‘Suede’ bootleg cassettes… and a recording studio called Frog.

And, as if that weren’t enough (and it probably isn't), the show culminates in a newly recorded version of an old ‘Boat Thief’ live set classic, Tim’s marvellous paean to Edinburgh: ‘Morningside Road’.

Och, the new!

🎧 BOAT THIEF

LYRICS:

Morningside Road

words and music by Tim Riley

Well, I wrap my coat around me

And I wish that you were here

So I can take your hand in the Canny Man’s

And make things disappear

Come with me and share my load

I’m gonna walk with you down Morningside Road

Come with me and share my load

I’m gonna walk with you down Morningside Road

So I nudge the sleeping city

As I’m walking through her streets

And I kick my toes at the falling snow

As it settles around my feet

Come with me and share my load

I’m gonna walk with you down Morningside Road

Come with me and share my load

I’m gonna walk with you down Morningside Road

Well, I’ve always seen this place as my second home

And the city is my friend when I’m all alone

So I’m counting every hour

Til I’m with her once again

Til I again embrace that wondrous place

That mistress to so many, many men

Come with me and share my load

I’m gonna walk with you down Morningside Road

Come with me and share my load

I’m gonna walk with you down Morningside Road

Time again to clamber aboard the soul-fired train of musical memories with your drivers Tim and Damian.

This week, the mates present ‘Tea and Biscuits’, a song that draws upon the stop-frame joys of Trumptonshire and tabloids. Along the scenic route, they’ll discuss life, first jobs, and Tim’s close and lasting relationship with Billy Bragg (almost).

It’s another unmissable ride – and you’ll get there in 45 minutes (or if you can’t then you can claim a ticket refund via a cunningly complex online process).

LYRICS:

Tea and Biscuits

words and music by Damian Scott

Tea and biscuits as you curse into your cup

Beer and grumbling as you swear your time is up

Words of wisdom as you put the world to rights

The morning paper to see who won the fight

Ten o’clock and never late

You’re waiting for the early morning break

And the papers will tell you what’s going on in the world

Tea and biscuits as you toast the bride

[Papers, read all about it in the papers]

A royal wedding for the folks inside

Tea and biscuits as the hooter blows

[Papers, read all about it in the papers]

Pull up your trousers and wipe your nose

The Sun or Mirror left by the toilet seat

Smiling Sam is there to make your day complete

A perfect figure and a page of misspelt words

She’s sitting pretty in her sealskin and her furs

Ten o’clock and never late

You’re waiting for the early morning break

And the papers will tell you what’s going on in the world

Tea and biscuits as you toast the bride

[Papers, read all about it in the papers]

A royal wedding for the folks inside

Tea and biscuits as the hooter blows

[Papers, read all about it in the papers]

Pull up your trousers and wipe your nose

Like or lump it as you contemplate your shares

It’s cake or crumpet for the chaps that work upstairs

Ten o’clock and never late

You’re waiting for the early morning break

And the papers will tell you what’s going on in the world

Tea and biscuits as you toast the bride

[Papers, read all about it in the papers]

A royal wedding for the folks inside

Tea and biscuits as the hooter blows

[Papers, read all about it in the papers]

Pull up your trousers and wipe your nose