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I was still working on scripts for International Cabaret in November as well as performing it and I was involved
in another record project, again for Decca. This time it was for an
LP of original songs by Myles Rudge and Ted Dicks. The orchestral arrangements by Barry Booth were ingeniously
colourful but not easy to sing because they ornamented rather than stated the tune and I found it difficult to
sustain the melody line. In the ‘Mesopotamian Tango’ I wanted to sound like a sort of Victorian
strangulated tenor but my voice kept cracking up on the high notes and eventually I had to use a different vocal
characterization. ‘Minnie Dyer’ was a straightforward West Country ballad, and a charming satire about
computers, ‘Above All Else’, lent itself to a Cowardesque delivery. There was a Cockney number,
‘Three Cheers for Charlie’, sending up Labour MPs elevated to the peerage, that required all the gusto
of a Harry Champion. But the one I liked best, ‘The Sound of Children’, was done with lavish
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sentimentality and organ accompaniment. On the record sleeve Myles Rudge wrote, “‘Mesopotamian
Tango” may revive poignant memories for some and it’s interesting to note that Mr Williams had the
entire studio covered with sand before recording it.’
Well, I don’t think I was quite as authentic as that; if the floor was covered in anything it must have
been perspiration because the temperature in the studio, plus my own exertions, made it very hot indeed. When
finally put together, the LP owed much to the producer, David Platz, and all of us were pleased with the record.
Excerpts were played on various radio programmes long afterwards and it was good to find that the humour
hadn’t dated one iota. The studio sessions were spread over a period from the 7th to the 16th of December
and apart from television that completed my work for the year.
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