RALPH, ALBERT & SYDNEY
Eight
Frames A Second

Work Sheet
Work Sheet One
Work Sheet Two
Work Sheet Three
___________________________________________________________________________
I
was clearing out some old stuff when I came across the "work sheet" for 8 Frames
A Second. It was almost certainly drawn up by dear Gus Dudgeon. He was so
thorough and nervous that all went well as it was his first production job.
I did have an attempt at "Suzanne" by Leonard Cohen. I had no idea what the song
was about and did not "get it" also it was pitched in C which meant
I struggled to reach the higher register. Indeed I seem to remember cracking
up at what I thought were absurd pretentious lyrics and also fear that this
song would appear on the album and everyone else would laugh at it too.
Part of my deal insisted that I cover "Granny Takes a Trip" published by
Transatlantic's publishing arm (Heathside Music) and Essex who were after the
Cohen catalogue would use my cover to convince Mr Cohen to assign his work to
them. This did not happen but they did get Tim Rose because of "Morning
Dew" I interviewed Tim shortly before he died on the Radio 2 programme I
hosted for a while. Actually Tim did not write that song. It was written by a
lovely Canadian singer called Bonnie Dobson.
I was pissed off at the time about having to record these extras, but
mercifully "Suzanne" has been lost forever and although I have revised my
opinion of Mr Cohen's work I am very glad that my "Suzanne" never appeared.
RALPH McTELL
November 2003

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