Tom Morgan & Nic Dalton
Cover version of the month #72
Trust me #29
Sneeze are an Australian band that formed away back in 1991. Consisting of Nic Dalton (owner of Half A Cow Records and one-time Lemonhead) and Tom Morgan (Smudge) plus an array of friends when the mood takes them.
Shaky Ground is a song I discovered a long, long time ago when Evan Dando of The Lemonheads, at the height of his pin-up days promoting It's A Shame About Ray, played an acoustic set that went out on the Evening Session with Mark Goodier in 1993. At one point Dando had to stop the show to ask people to stop screaming.
That night he came on stage and introduced himself with the line; 'Hello jolly children of the universe, my name's Evan Dando and I was born in the spring of the summer of love.' I think I might have swooned myself!
I taped the show and it was a real favourite bootleg of mine for a long time. Just Dando with an acoustic guitar, playing stunning storytelling songs, originals and covers, in his warm and loving way.
The set was actually released as a bootleg called Suck On This.
Back to the original.
Dando's 1991 trip to Australia really did change things for him, meeting kindred spirits in Morgan (who he would co-write with, as well as covering a number of his songs) and Dalton, (who joined The Lemonheads on bass) as well as their friends and bandmates, including Alison Galloway who Dando wrote Alison's Starting To Happen about.
From what I can gather, Dando recorded Shaky Ground before it's authors could. The song crops up as a b-side on a number of UK/US releases in 1992. Dando also mentions the song in the Lemonheads film Two Weeks In Australia when he is giving the camera a talk through about all the etchings on his guitar.
Sneeze finally got a debut album out on Nic Dalton's Half A Cow records in 1994. 41 songs in 47-minutes has songs as short as 18-seconds, while Shaky Ground is one of the longest at 1 minute 55 seconds.
It is a really beautiful song.
A girl (Alannah Russack I believe) and boy (Tom Morgan) trade lines in the verses and join together in the choruses. Like most of Morgan's songs, it tells a story. Around the time I discovered the song there was a girl who would walk her dog near my house and if I saw her I'd go out to accidentally bump into her, so I particularly love the line;
When I wanna see you, I take Jersey for a walk
What's with all this secrecy, when all we ever do is talk?
I love this song so much. The feeling from the playing, the vocals - male and female on their own and then together for the chorus. The sheer love that comes across in the song , in the performance, never fails to warms my heart.
Dando's version finds him taking on both the male and female lyrics & character, his voice softening when taking on the female lines.
Hey Jim, how ya doing, do you need someone else?
Well actually Jemima, I'd prefer to be by myself
Sometimes it helps to have someone else along
But if my girlfriend sees us, she'll come to the conclusion it's wrong
Does this mean we're on shaky ground?
I'm happy when you're around
So let's not put our friendship at bay
I love you in a different way
Paradise and catastrophe, they go side by side
You should tell your baby, we've got nothing to hide
When I wanna see you, I take Jersey for a walk
What's with all this secrecy, when all we ever do is talk?
Does this mean we're on shaky ground?
I'm happy when you're around
So let's not put our friendship at bay
I love you in a different way
Written by Nic Dalton & Tom Morgan
Check the Sneeze video HERE
And Evan's (The Lemonheads) version HERE
I've added the song to my cover versions playlist and my Trust Me playlist.
Search for Everything Flows cool cover versions and Everything Flows Trust Me on Spotify.
Previous covers of the month
40. Jumpin' Jack Flash
44. Witchi Tai To
45. Our Lips Are Sealed
46. Sunshine Of Your Love
47. Here Comes The Sun
48. I Think We're Alone Now
49. Don't Let Me Down
50. It's Oh So Quiet
51. Alcoholiday
52. Summer Holiday
53. Who Do You Think You Are?
54. Head On
55. Nothing Compares 2 U
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