Lady Godiva’s Whisky You’re the Devil, Tales of Kings and Boozers, and Red Letter Day

cover, whisky you're the devil, a photograph better not describedPatrick O’Donnell wrote this review.

You’ve got to hand it to Lady Godiva, a “Celtic punk” group out of Sauerland, Germany. In the “unlikely” category they’ve taken the prize, hands-down. Who would’ve thought the Pogues would inspire a bunch of beer-drinking buddies to take up instruments they didn’t know how to play, adopt a distinctly Pogues-like sound, book themselves into a festival with just four weeks to practice, and then go on to release three albums over the next five years. In some ways, their story is like that of the Monkees — on crack.

And while they may not be up for a Grammy anytime soon, they ought to get a blue ribbon for having the sheer bollocks to stand in front of a mike and record the likes of “Foggy Dew,” “Me and Bobby McGee,” “Beer Beer Beer,” and “The Unknown Stuntman” (a prize if you can remember who wrote this classic!).

Bollocks aside, this rag-tag band of musicians isn’t lacking in talent when it comes to playing. Their four weeks of practice before the festival must have paid off. The tin whistle shines, and the accordion and fiddle are decent, cover, Tales of kings and boozerstoo. But the singing and song-writing … well, that’s a different matter entirely.

As mentioned earlier, The Pogues were one of the band’s biggest influences, and it’s immediately apparent in Lady Godiva’s style. It’s as if they took every song Sean McGowan and the boys wrote, carbon-copied the music and set new lyrics to them all. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, The Pogues must be either tickled pink, really peeved, or, in McGowan’s case, too drunk to care. And after listening to all three albums several times, I’d recommend the last option and buy McGowan a pint myself. Because with these tunes, you need something to dull the pain.

Let’s start with their covers of “McGee” and “Stuntman,” off the Whisky You’re the Devil and Tales of Kings and Boozers albums, respectively. “McGee,” set to a banjo and accompanied by frequent background shouts of “Wee-hoooo!” careens along at a blistering pace, swerving back and forth across the road while the drummer pounds out a one-two punk-metal beat. If Kris Kristofferson isn’t ready to kick someone’s rear, it’s only because cover, red letter dayhe’s too busy rolling around on the floor laughing. And if Janice Joplin isn’t rolling over in her grave, it must be because she’s at one heck of a party with Jimi Hendrix, Mama Cass and Jim Morrison.

Now, if you recalled that Lee Majors (yes, the Six Million Dollar Man himself) wrote and performed “The Unknown Stuntman” for his series “The Fall Guy,” here’s your prize: the dubious honor of being an expert in 1980s musical events best left forgotten. Still … at least Majors wasn’t accompanied by an accordion, singing an octave too low and entirely out of tune.

Granted, the group’s work seems to be performed with a good dose of tongue-in-cheek. And they do passable versions of classics such as “Raggle Taggle Gypsy Lord” and “Greenland Whale Fisheries” (both on Tales ). But by and large, I can’t get past some of the really awful lyrics. Maybe something was lost in the translation. In fact, I hope it was. Because if it wasn’t, I can’t see anyone really listening to or enjoying songs like “Brazen Rascals” off Red Letter Day:

“We are the brazen rascals / And we’re coming in your town / We kick you in your ass / And we watch you falling down / And we fuck your little sisters / And drink your Irish stout / Cause we are the brazen rascals / Now we are in your town / (Don’t go out of your home).”

And for sheer triteness, there’s “Lovely War,” off Whisky: “As I was a young man I had to go to war / now I’m sitting in a wheel-chair and my friends don’t like me anymore.”

The best thing I can say about these three CDs is that they’re good for a laugh or two. And they might make really good coasters to keep rings off my coffee table.

(1996, Slainte Records)
(1998, Slainte Records)
(2001, Jig It records)

Diverse Voices

Diverse Voices is our catch-all for writers and other staffers who did but a few reviews or other writings for us. They are credited at the beginning of the actual writing if we know who they are which we don't always. It also includes material by writers that first appeared in the Sleeping Hedgehog, our in-house newsletter for staff and readers here. Some material is drawn from Folk Tales, Mostly Folk and Roots & Branches, three other publications we've done.

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