“Your Wife and Mother“- the Chandler Travis Philharmonic from their new digital-only EP, “Waving Kissyhead Vol. 1“, recorded by Ducky Carlisle with Joe Stewart at Dimension Sound in Jamaica Plain. This is a cover of a song I first heard a few years ago, thanks to my good friend Rob Hart, the Bully of Broadcasting, and when I first heard the provocative first line of the lyric I nearly drove off the road. Though I think it’s probably based on some sort of ancient calypso song (I’ve certainly since heard other versions), the one I heard first was credited to the Virtues and the Ambassadors, which sounds like two bands; my theory has always been that it was a safety in numbers deal, because no one band would have the balls to sing this. Just a theory…
We’ve always had a particularly good time playing it at weddings.
Notes from the mind of The Valet:
It was getting near time for the session at Dimension Sounds to finish, and I knew Chan wanted to do this song. I even think maybe we had just finished what was supposed to be the last take of the day-long session (I think we came out of that session with like 14 or 15 basic band tracks), and I was almost sure Chandler would call “Wife & Mother” immediately after we finished whatever it was we were working on. And lo, it was so … a quick count and we were off. Dinty ran in from his mandolin/mandocello “booth” (I think it was a bathroom or closet) to sing with me on my mic (I was in the control room with Ducky). And then we were done for the night.
What we have here is pretty close to that final result – maybe a redone vocal line here or there, maybe a few overdubs, but essentially one take. Damn, that was a fun day.