#106654 - Tue, 10 Jul 2012 13:51:38
Re: Who wrote Wastelands?
[Re: Boxnudger]
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Registered: Thu, 02 Dec 2004 12:00:00
Posts: 517
Loc: Russia, Moscow suburb, the cit...
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As Midge explained, they made a pact to share credits when Midge was doing his first solo album and decided to include some of Danny's songs. If I Was and Call of the Wild were also written by Danny first, then Midge "tinkered" with them - lyrically or musically. The latter is the case with Wastelands, it seems.
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#106789 - Sun, 15 Jul 2012 23:21:54
Re: Who wrote Wastelands?
[Re: Boxnudger]
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Registered: Sat, 11 Apr 2009 12:00:00
Posts: 178
Loc: Here
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Didn't even know some of the songs were covers (well, apart from Living In the Past, obviously). Sharing writing credits is common in the music industry to avoid royalty arguments. And maybe the record company asked for Midge's name to appear on all the songs as a convincer, which sometimes happens. ("Do I want to buy an album of Midge singing other people's songs or an album of Midge singing his own songs?")
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#106830 - Tue, 17 Jul 2012 09:28:27
Re: Who wrote Wastelands?
[Re: thevoice82]
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Registered: Sat, 29 Jun 2002 12:00:00
Posts: 445
Loc: Dunedin, New Zealand
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It's true that some of these tracks originated elsewhere: Wastelands (written by Danny Mitchell) from the Modern Man album, Concrete Scheme ... If I Was (Danny Mitchell) was nothing more than a Messengers portastudio demo' ... Call Of The Wild (written by Danny and Colin King) was a Messengers demo ... but the versions recorded by Midge were quite redeveloped and expanded in parts, so it can be understood how the writing credits were then split between Midge and Danny. And as the very modest Mr. Mitchell would be the first to admit, it's better that these songs were taken up by Midge where they eventually became 'something' rather than just remaining as under-developed demo's or on an album that remained quite 'obscure'. As for the later tracks credited to Midge and Danny ... I think you'll find that in a lot of cases, Danny helped get the 'ball rolling', so to speak, and Midge was very generous with ensuring Danny got his cut. It's not always as it might seem ... 
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#106841 - Tue, 17 Jul 2012 16:58:05
Re: Who wrote Wastelands?
[Re: Rodney]
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Registered: Tue, 14 Sep 2004 12:00:00
Posts: 339
Loc: France
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It's true that some of these tracks originated elsewhere: Wastelands (written by Danny Mitchell) from the Modern Man album, Concrete Scheme ... If I Was (Danny Mitchell) was nothing more than a Messengers portastudio demo' ... Call Of The Wild (written by Danny and Colin King) was a Messengers demo ... but the versions recorded by Midge were quite redeveloped and expanded in parts, so it can be understood how the writing credits were then split between Midge and Danny. And as the very modest Mr. Mitchell would be the first to admit, it's better that these songs were taken up by Midge where they eventually became 'something' rather than just remaining as under-developed demo's or on an album that remained quite 'obscure'. As for the later tracks credited to Midge and Danny ... I think you'll find that in a lot of cases, Danny helped get the 'ball rolling', so to speak, and Midge was very generous with ensuring Danny got his cut. It's not always as it might seem ... I'm glad you posted that, it was all going a bit 'Lord Of The Flies' 
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#106951 - Sun, 22 Jul 2012 17:21:57
Re: Who wrote Wastelands?
[Re: Jon C]
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Registered: Sat, 11 Apr 2009 12:00:00
Posts: 178
Loc: Here
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It would be interesting to hear the original re-Midge demos to see how much they changed after his involvement.
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#107072 - Sun, 29 Jul 2012 20:27:56
Re: Who wrote Wastelands?
[Re: david L.]
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Registered: Sat, 11 Apr 2009 12:00:00
Posts: 178
Loc: Here
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Thanks. I also managed to track down Modern Man's version of Wastelands on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heQI00Vlea8I suppose with If I was and COTW there are some lyrics missing from the demos (particularly the COTW chorus) as well as odd musical bits like the If I Was bass line so perhaps Midge did contribute something significant to those; but I don't really see that wastelands can be considered anything other than a cover. I suppose with hindsight Rodney, Midge was probably trying to capitalise on the Band Aid success and wanted to put out something as soon as, I can't fault him there! Its still a very good album though In his autobiography he said that he just recorded most of the songs for fun in his home studio and only thought about releasing them when someone else said he had enough material for an album. But the fact that so many were really reworkings of Danny's pre-existing songs suggests that thevoice82 may be right.
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#107195 - Sun, 05 Aug 2012 20:31:15
Re: Who wrote Wastelands?
[Re: Tom Allen]
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Registered: Sat, 11 Apr 2009 12:00:00
Posts: 178
Loc: Here
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Just to confuse/clarify things here's a quote from Mr. Ure on on the subject of writing the gift:-
"I've been writing with Danny for some time now. In fact one song, 'THE WASTELAND' we wrote about five years ago for a band I was in then. We worked on the other songs in my kitchen, using a tiny keyboard."
The above quote is from the introduction to the book of sheet music for the album. A band Midge was in five years earlier (ie 1980ish)? That would make it Visage, Thin Lizzy or, at a push, Rich Kids. Did he even know Danny then?
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#107281 - Sun, 12 Aug 2012 21:52:16
Re: Who wrote Wastelands?
[Re: Tom Allen]
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Registered: Sat, 11 Apr 2009 12:00:00
Posts: 178
Loc: Here
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It doesn't actually say in the book. I was actually looking for a quote, probably misremembered due to the passage of time, of him saying he wrote it for the messengers/modern man. But the quote says "a band I was in then". Midge wasn't in either band. I can understand if it was a slip of the tongue but surely he'd be more careful in a written introduction.
Edited by stufarq (Sun, 12 Aug 2012 21:53:37)
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