Poor Mohammed [Trower / Reid]

One-Eye and the Poor Boys [UK / USA]

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L–R Al 'One-Eye' Edelist, lead singer / speaker

Roland Clare, bass guitar, electric pianos, Jew's harp, Arab whistle, backing voices, percussion, handclaps

Linda Clare, backing voices, piano, handclaps

Photo taken in Southend-on-Sea by Jill McMahon
RC: Driving home on Bristol's northern ring-road, I heard this arrangement playing in my head, and was able to get to the piano before it faded, and to find most of the chords. A quick instrumental track, owing something to a couple of additional Procol tunes, was sent over to Los Angeles so that One-Eye could replace my pilot vocal with his more gravelly tones, yet neither of us greatly liked the outcome. Luckily we were able capture a strong take on one of his many flying visits to the UK a while later.

Rather than endorsing the seemingly outrageous lyric of the original, this treatment hopes to highlight the wretched endlessness of racial conflict, to which end I had an Arab instrument and a Jew's harp inhabit the same territory in a more-or-less peaceable fashion. The ninefold backing voices gave Linda and me a lot of fun, and her left-hand piano (its sparsity influenced by Every Breath You Take) was the final element to be added to the arrangement.

Bass guitar: Aria Pro IIe
All piano sounds: RD 600
Percussion: faked up from RD 600 with assistance
from the PC soundcard
Microphone: Sennheiser 421
Jew's harp: generic, four-inch model, c. 1970
Arab whistle: marked 'Jahran 1963'
Handclaps: 1953 vintage flesh

Recorded in Bristol using Cakewalk Pro-Audio 9, Adobe Audition 1.5, and Melodyne 2.6 – no MIDI

Tracklisting

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