David Thomas and The Pedestrians - "Man's Best Friend"
From: "Sounds of the Sand" (1981)
You need to scroll to 8:47 to hear this number
“The details of my fabulous past
Noisy clatter cans of my fabulous past
They come right in sit right down
Very pleased with themselves
I wish I could put them on the bus or something.
My feet are my special friends
They ask no questions
They push me home
Swing low
Push me home.
”
David Thomas, aka Crocus Behemoth, has been the singer for the self-described avant-garage band Pere Ubu for all of the group's existence. Formed in 1975 in Cleveland, Pere Ubu has recorded and performed right up until the present day. Their latest release, "Trouble on Big Beat Street", still startled my ears when I recently heard it.
"Man's Best Friend" is the first song I ever heard from either Pere Ubu or David Thomas, over the airwaves of WCUW. The LP was a new release in 1981, and Mark Mills played this song on his "Music Under the Moon" program, of which I was a devoted listener. Hearing it inspired me to go backwards, and catch up on their catalogue. Ubu had played a couple of gigs at Circe's in Worcester in May of 1978, which I dearly wish that I was hip to at the time.
The official lyrics are surprisingly sparse, but Thomas spreads them out into volumes of words. The musicians include former Fairport Convention guitarist Richard Thompson; Young Marble Giants bassist Philip Moxham; Golden Palominos (among many other groups ) drummer Anton Fier; renowned Jamaican session trumpeter Eddie "Tan-Tan" Thornton; Ubu synthesist Allen Ravenstine; and Mayo Thompson of the Red Krayola guesting on accordion.
The music lopes along for the most part, in some sort of avant-skiffle beat. Moxham's bass is a constant, Thornton chimes in with a repeated riff fairly often, Fier adds a lot of great clatter in the middle, Richard Thompson flutters along the edges for a while, and eventually combines with Thornton for an intense entwined duet near the close.
-Andy Cimino-
