Sandie Shaw's connections with The Smiths and Morrissey
> I've heard her covers but nothing else ever from her.
> What's her "claim to fame"?
This article (not mine) has a fairly good summary of her connections with The Smiths and Morrissey:
From http://www.echobelly.f9.co.uk/sandieshaw.htm
Do You Think I Care Too Much.....
Sandie Shaw's name crops up in many different chapters of The Smiths
story and, indeed, that of Morrissey.
The first contact between The Smiths and Sandie Shaw, was shortly
after the birth of Sandie's daughter, Amie. Amongst the flood of fan
letters and cards of 'best wishes', a letter, described by Sandie
as being in "child-like scrawl", arrived at her home.
The letter, written by "two incurable Sandie Shaw fans", stated that
it was their opinion that Sandie's future musical direction should
avoid the "overt icky momism trap" seized by her fellow '60s contemporaries,
by receiving a necessary "injection of high spirit and vengeance"
and they were just the boys holding the syringe.
The lads offered forth a song "I Don't Owe You Anything" written for
her, however, stated that if she wasn't fussed for it, more could
be supplied. The letter ended - "The Sandie Shaw legend cannot be
over yet - there is more to be done" and was signed by "Morrissey
(wordsmith/voice) and Johnny (multi-instrumentalist/composer) - The
Smiths".
The letter was dated 8th August, 1983 and was to spark off a long
relationship which produced, in one way or another, directly or indirectly,
a host of fascinating material.
Several months later, Sandie was to join The Smiths at Matrix Studios
and between being bombarded with questions about her records, work,
the Sixties, and personal life, Sandie and The Smiths managed to
record three tracks - "Hand In Glove", "I Don't Owe You Anything"
and the classic "Jeane".
The tracks were released on Rough Trade and to the shock and excitement
of Sandie, at least, leapt into the charts, as well as topping the
'Indie' charts. Sandie performed barefoot, as was her Sixties' trademark,
on Top Of The Pops, as did Marr, Joyce and Rourke.
Geoff Travis, owner of Rough Trade, and the band themselves, suggested
an album of material. Talk about an injection of high spirit! Unfortunately
Sandie had taken the statement a bit too literally and after announcing
that she was pregnant, the project was scrapped. In 1985, after the birth of her son Jack, Sandie recruited Charles
Negan-Fancey as her manager and signed up with Polydor, a relationship
which is only of interest to Smiths fans for the track "Steven (You
Don't Eat Meat)" which appeared as the 'b side' of the Lloyd Cole
penned "Are You Ready To Be Heartbroken?" and lifted from the Commotions'"Rattlesnakes"
debut.
It was some time later that Sandie was contacted by Morrissey, when
he turned up on her doorstep, cassette in hand, and begged her to
come to do backing vocals for a new single at Solid State Studios,
owned by Paul Weller.
Sandie duly turned up, as did The Smiths - with the exception of Morrissey.
The time was wasted and was rescheduled with John Porter at Matrix
Studios where a "squirmy" version of "Sheila Take A Bow" was recorded.
As the sleeve notes will tell you, the finished article was not that
recorded by Sandie along with The Smiths, or even by John Porter.
After inheriting the nob twiddling responsibilities Stephen Street
grimaced and promptly destroyed the tape and re-recorded the eventual
version that was to appear as the single release.
In 1987, Sandie was intent on releasing an album. She had received
material from various sources but was not quite happy with any of
it. A postcard arrived one morning, from Morrissey, now a solo artist
- "Hello Angel - do you think I care too much?"
Morrissey expressed his doubts about the material as well, but rather
than feeling depressed about the situation, Sandie used the message
as a source of inspiration. She thought up a small melody and decided
to try writing some songs herself. And so was born the album "Hello
Angel". Like it or loathe it, it is never the less, a part of Smiths/Morrissey
history and worthy of some note.
Recorded at various ports with a host of 'names', the album was released
on Rough Trade in October 1988. The sleeve contains notes on each
of the tracks, but here are some notes I have drawn up on each song
sourcing information from various ports.
I hope they are slightly more interesting to those of us who are really
only interested in The Smiths/Morrissey involvement. Sorry Sandie!
"Nothing Less Than Brilliant"
After visiting Morrissey at Wool Hall, Bath, in October 1987, and
recording with him, Sandie headed home on a high, after getting to
know Stephen Street (who as we know binned her previous contribution)
and seeing Morrissey, whom she had had concern for following the split
of The Smiths.
She recalls how, on her arrival the first night, Morrissey and Stephen
ushered her over to the studio and played back three tracks for inclusion
on what was to be 'Viva Hate'. One track was titled "Maudlin Street"
and both she and Morrissey were reduced to tears of emotion listening
to the playback. Anyway, after a short stay at Bath, she flew home
completely forgetting to give Morrissey a tape of tunes laid down
by Chris Andrews for her own album project. She drove round Hyde Park
until she had finished the lyric for what was to be the opening track
of the album. The obvious single inspired by good times with Mr Morrissey
a song written about herself.
"Hello Angel"
A slow meandering song, inspired, as the whole project, by Morrissey's
card. Note the use of those Smithy type words - 'devil' and 'charming'.
"Take Him"
Now then, this is a bit of a tale. Crap song mind you, written about
a visit to a local dizzytech at the Bath Studios (Moz in Night Fever
shock!!), where, along with Stephen Street, Andrew Parezi, Vinni Reilly
and associated crew, the quiffed one took to the floor where weird
scenes of breast rubbing took place. Sandie, however, sat this one
out I hasten to add! Anyway, all of a sudden, a blonde (female) hurricane
appeared from the darkness and after gate-crashing the curious on-goings,
whisked Moz off around the floor sooking on a fag and just about smothering
Morrissey with her attentions, and her contributions to world pollution.
Morrissey returned, somewhat bedraggled, to the the table looking
like he had just had a frightening experience with a hedge. And so
lies the story of "Take Him". As I said though, the track is guff!
"A Girl Called Johnny"
Written by Mike Scott, he who talks to cabbages if you read the tabloids,
and released by The Waterboys. Lifted from their debut album, this
is the story of a fan letter written by Scott to Patti Smith of all
people.
The Smiths connection is that when Sandie went in to record the track
at Westside Studios with Clive Langer, who did she find in the bar,
along with Langer - Johnny Marr! Sandie was overjoyed to see her old
pal and immediately offered him a walk on part with his geetar! Marr,
suspicious and smarting from The Smiths situation, mistakenly thought
that
Morrissey was producing the album. "No, Clive was". "Hasn't he (Morrissey)
written the songs?" "No. Only one." "This one?" "No. It's a Waterboys
song!" "Is HE singing on it?"
Obviously Johnny did not want to knowingly, go within 100 miles of
Morrissey or anything he remotely touched or had been involved in.
And so the maestros' work nearly appeared on the same album, even
if not together.
One other thing - Marr was there to record with The Pretenders on
a Burt Bacharach track, which is in itself spooky as Sandie sounds
as though she is merely attempting to mimic Chrissie Hynd on the song.
Hynd also appears on the album.
"Strange Bedfellows"
I'm sorry to confess that I've not got a clue about this, however
I can say it's got nowt to do with The Smiths - so, next!
"Please Help The Cause Against Loneliness"
Well, this is the one it's all about. The interest, the press slaggings
and "How Sad Are We" for attempting to get hold of it. It's a great
song, performed, one has to admit, with somewhat more sparkle than
Morrissey's own version. It was one of the aforementioned 'three tracks'
Morrissey recorded at Bath on Sandie's first visit in 1987. In fact
this was the reason for her attendance there - Sandie was to do backing
vocals on the already recorded Moz master. She did, however, on her
return to Bath some weeks later discover that the song had been dropped
from the 'Viva Hate' album as it "didn't fit in with anything else
on the album".
Morrissey suggested that Sandie take the song, not that he actually
wrote it for her, as has been documented in various tomes.
Moz own version is pretty tricky to track down but I got a 100th generation tape a long time back. Whether the true reason for dropping it is the "fit in" theory or not I'm not sure but it's probably one of the worst things Morrissey has ever done coming on like a plinky Roll Out The Barrel. The fact that it has never seen the light of day speaks for itself!
"Hand In Glove"
A different mix to that of the single release, the reason lies herein:
After and amidst all the hurly burley between Rough Trade, Morrissey
and Johnny Marr, the tapes for "Hand In Glove" went mysteriously amiss!
After weeks trying to track them down, Sandie had just about given
up hope, until she decided to call Marr. Well, well, did the missing
tapes not turn up the very next morning on her desk - spooky coincidence.
Eh?
It was remixed by Stephen Street and at the beginning Marr states:
"Turn everything over all up!" and not as Sandie later documented.
"Cool About You"
This is a classic! penned and gifted to Sandie by Scotland's gift
to the music world - The Jesus And Mary Chain. Again it surprisingly
stands up well against the Chain's own version, which would tend to
suggest that half of Shaw's problem lay in the quality of her own
songwriting. "There's something warm in everything".
"Flesh & Blood"
And leading on from that last comment, here is an instantly forgettable
offering penned by Sandie and Kevin Amstrong. Next!
"Comrade In Arms"
Sandie was contacted by a friend asking if she would care to visit
a fellow Buddhist who was in a hospice, a victim of AIDS. Martinus
became a close friend and Sandie helped him prepare for his next life.
One night, Sandie had a dream in which she was visited by Martinus
explaining all his concerns about how tired he was and that he was
now prepared to die. Suddenly, Sandie's vision was overcome with well
being and an amazing light source. In the morning she received a telephone
call, but she already new what the message was. "Comrade In Arms"
was written for Martinus and was recorded, all in the same day as
his death.
"I Will Remain"
Another song written with Chris Andrews with no connection Smiths-wise.
Well, there you have it. The album itself, and the stories behind
some of the tracks are of interest to Smiths fans, however, it's not
a great album by any stretch of the imagination. The outstanding tracks
are "Nothing Less Than Brilliant", as performed on Channel 4's 'Don't
Forget Your Toothbrush', "Please Help The Cause Against Loneliness"
and "Cool About You".
The album features, amongst others, Andrew Paresi, Chrissie Hynd (harmonica
on "Nothing..." which was sampled because Chrissie couldn't play properly),
Janice Long (Castanets on "Take Him"), Richard Coles,Reeves Gabrels,
Steve Nieve and last but not least Johnny Marr, Mike Joyce and Andy
Rourke.
Amongst the credits - "Steven for incessant inspiration", to the man
who kicked it all off. I was fortunate enough to pick it up for £4
in a 2nd hand shop in Edinburgh. I consider that a small price to
pay to complete my Smiths catalogue. Another small ditty here. I met
Evan Dando a bit back and suggested he consider, as one of his famed
cover versions, "Stop Feeling Sorry For Yourself". He said he had
never heard of Sandie Shaw, so I gave him an old Shaw 'Greatest Hits'
album I had - you never know he might get around to it one day.
http://www.echobelly.f9.co.uk/sandieshaw.htm
