The Story of the Song

Written at the beautiful Steinway piano in Hotline Studios, Frankfurt, Germany during the recording of my debut album "What In The World?" for X-Records.

Featuring a full string section and oboe player from the Frankfurt Philharmonic Orchestra, song received a fair bit of airplay late night on Capital Radio London when it was released in late 1981.

The third and final Big Bam Boo video single. Shot in the California desert, directed by Meiert Avis, in 1989. For the studio buffs amongst you, this recording featured the Eventide H3000 Harmoniser/Effects unit, deftly administered by Producer Richard Manwaring. Written in Parsifal Studios Chiswick, London, it started life as a 16 track version and was completed on 24 tracks at Livingstone Studios Wood Green.

Big Bam Boo's second single (although it was their debut in the USA & Canada) and the story of a very expensive video that was supposed to be "perfect" for MTV - but in fact they didn't like all! And how we almost lost a drummer in true Spinal Tap fashion...

"Fell Off A Mountain" was the debut single from Big Bam Boo. Written in my Plaistow, East London house in 1987 where Shark & I wrote every Sunday creating what was to become Big Bam Boo. Every song had to pass the "spaghetti test". In this month's Story of the Song I talk about the writing process, the way we got our record deal, and about the video shoot in Nashville & Alexandria, Tennessee. This song story was requested by super-fan Eric Miller - thanks Eric - I hope it tells you what you wanted to know!Unfortunately I only ever had the video on a VHS cassette and when I transferred it to the computer many years ago, I didn't have a proper capture device, so the quality is very poor. Add to the fact that for this podcast I've had to reduce the size to fit the vertical resolution. You can watch the video in a larger format on my YouTube channel under the Big Bam Boo playlist, though I'm not sure it will look any clearer! I did however replace the poor audio quality of the VHS with the CD audio for the version in this podcast.

ADHD - an explanation? Perhaps !I realised after I shot this that there was a lot that I'd wanted to talk about but had forgotten - of course that's the issue. I never plan these clips, I roll the camera and start talking. Typical ADHD, no planning, no forward thinking just - ah, now is a good time to shoot the next podcast. So I think this does give a fair representation of - this. The lyrics to the song appear on the screen whilst it plays at the end of the chat."A Dark Horse Damned": can be found on the album "Dark Dog Days", and is available on all streaming services, as well as from my website www.songman.org - where you can listen entirely for free.Thanks to James Stathatos - Bass Guitar and Alvaro Hurtado - Drums

Based on a real Naval battle between the English and the French, that took place in 1793. Eighty Cornish tin-miners had been recruited to serve aboard the Nymphe just weeks before the battle. Jago Trelawney, a character I created, sadly didn't make it home.

Written in 2007, recorded around 2010, and finally mixed mastered and released worldwide in 2014.

In Honour

In honour of so many songs that have been written about love

I won't try - to protest - or deny - that the best

is the song that I wrote just for you

And besides - if it's true

I'm amazed

It all seems remarkably plain when you look at these words

nothing grand or obtuse

eloquent - what's the use?

when these words they just simply belong

in one simple song - for you.

I could pretend that I'm a man of learning

a title to my name makes me look smart

I could pretend that I'm a man of letters

but really I'm just chasing your heart……

your heart

In honour of so many songs that have been written about love

I won't try- to protest - or deny - that the best

is the song that I wrote

just for you - and besides - if it's true

I'm amazed

Words and Music by Simon Scardanelli © 2007 Musica Scardanelli

Written in 1993 (I think) Fish Out of Water really should be awarded a long service medal. It's the oldest song in my repertoire that I sing in virtually every concert I play.

And, after all these years, I've won an award! First prize at TourMusicFest 2025.