There’s A Club, If You’d Like To Go

It's been proven by Finnish bearded people researching for many years, using complex mathematical formulas and a dash of magic from Santa's elves that The Specials are one of the top three coolest bands of all time. This is FACT. It has recently been discovered that the second was The Velvet Underground, but due to an accident befalling these heroic scientists that is still shrouded in mystery and innuendo the third has yet to be revealed. All we know is that there was a letter "L" in it...

Now I'm no maths expert, in fact I was in the 'C' stream at school (and that was in Welling where this isn't really much competition...) so I'm going to have to try and prove it to you in another way, and the only way I know how is to play you this little gem; Friday Night Saturday Morning.

Anyone who has ever tried to describe a great night out to someone who wasn't there will tell you that it's nigh on impossible to get through the whole story without the listener trying to drown themselves in their own tears of frustration and boredom. I for one have lost many friends this way. However, Terry Hall somehow manages to turn a simple evening of Friday night clubbing into something so romantic and noble that you half expect him to put on a suit of armour and go riding out on a white charger. The last couplet:

Wish I had lipstick on my shirt
Instead of piss stains on my shoes

Is surely the best summary of post club feeling there has ever been and beats hands down How Soon Is Now? with its:

So you go and you stand on your own and you leave on your own
And you go home and you cry and you want to die

Don't believe me? Then ask yourself this; who would you rather go clubbing with, Morrissey, or Terry Hall?



The Specials – Friday Night Saturday Morning


Further to this, I've had it in mind to start a thread of 'Cover Versions That Equal Or Better The Original' and I can think of no better place to start than Nouvelle Vague's version of this song. When you first start listening to it you might think that I've accidentally put in a rare outtake of Never Ever by All Saints, but once you get over the initial disappointment that it's something else, what you will find is a version of Friday Night Saturday Morning that is perhaps even more beautiful and romantic than the original.

It also adds a layer of melancholy into the mix that was only really previously suggested by the lyric and was sacrificed by The Specials in order to turn it into a tune that you can dance to. In many ways both versions are love songs. The protagonist is driven to go out drinking and dancing by something beyond them, in The Specials version they give in to it and revel in it, for Nouvelle Vague it’s a bittersweet addiction that they can’t escape from.

So, The Specials version for Friday night, the Nouvelle Vague version for Saturday morning.



Nouvelle Vague - Friday Night Saturday Morning


By the way, if anyone finds the third of the top three coolest bands of all time please let me know. I can tell you it's not revealed in the new Harry Potter book; I've checked.


Ricky Stardust