While My Giraffe Gently Weeps

There are a plethora of musicians that still continue to sell bucketloads of albums from beyond the grave. Johnny Cash, John Lennon, Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley and Jimmy ‘Nine Legged Bingo Ball Machine’ Wilson being famous examples. There has been some material in the form of demo recordings or early takes that have been overdubbed to give a complete studio recording effect. The majority of these releases however have been the repackaging of the respective artists back catalogue, whether in the form of album reissues/remasters or ‘Greatest Hits/Best Ofs’. These releases have often proved lucrative for the artist’s family and/or record company and generally find their way into shops as some form of anniversary for the artist or seasonal releases at Christmas, Easter, and St Dickie Davies’ Day.
This brings me to my next story...............

Whilst out shopping for chocolates (Mmmmmmmmm, chocolates) in a nearby village I decided to peruse a couple of the charity shops situated there. Often one can find a bargain amongst the record racks and pick up rare or ‘forgotten classics’ for what can amount to no more than a couple of quid. Whilst searching through one of these aforementioned record racks I stumbled across a rather perplexing piece of vinyl. It appeared to be an LP but in a plain white sleeve. Me being me thought this could have been The Beatles ‘White Album’. I picked it up from the rack and found that it had no markings whatsoever on the sleeve save for a line of text on the back cover. The text read ‘Demo Recordings 09/05/1917’. I was immediately intrigued. What did this piece of vinyl contain? Were the recordings of a good quality (seen as they were purported to be recorded over 90 years ago)? What were they recordings of? These questions pulsed through my cerebral cortex so I rushed to the counter and handed it over to the elderly lady serving there. She stated that the price was £1.99 and I proceeded to hand over my money. She then asked if I wanted a carrier bag. When I declined, she asked if there would be any ‘tangerine spaceships firing strawberry fudge lasers at the Baked Bean’s Hotel’? Confused I ran out the shop as she spontaneously combusted in a shower of Tooty Frooties and limeade. Once I returned home I took the vinyl from the sleeve and placed it onto the turntable in anticipation as to what I would hear. The sound was obviously ‘scratchy and hissing’ but rather good for a 90 year old piece of history withering away in a side street ye olde charity shop. The first sound was the voice of a gentlemen announcing that this was ‘the sounds of The Reginald Funge Orchestra. This is the Animal Album. Enjoy’. What then followed were 14 songs dedicated to various animals and what happened when encountered by Reginald Funge in 1917. I immediately thought that this album needs to be brought to the attention of everybody in the world. After 6 months of various meetings, EMI were more than happy for the recordings to be ‘cleaned up’ and released to the general public. I am overjoyed to announce that they will be released this summer by EMI on the Parlophone label. I hope that when it is available you will buy and listen to this album and decide forevermore that Reginald Funge is the past, present, future and future future of music.


Track listing

1. My Horse The Microwave
2. Ostrich In My Slippers
3. The Platypus E-mail Disaster 1981
4. She’s A Zebra On Toast
5. Giraffe With Me On A Friday Evening
6. The World Shaped Badger
7. Travelling On A Mars Bar With My Third Cousin’s Hippopotamus
8. The Gerbil In The VCR
9. The Ballad Of The Octopus Pizza Delivery Robots
10. Dishwasher Seagull
11. Operating Your Mechanical Cassowary
12. Gazelle’s Aloud
13. Koala Bear Eats Mobile Phone/Penguins And The Toothbrush/Rhinoceros Ciabatta/Verbose Panda (Medley)
14. And The Radio Plays Marmoset Gravy



*for information on where to purchase ‘The Animal Album by The Reginald Funge Orchestra’ please visit www.toclafaneinmysoup.co.uk for details on how to make Doctor Who characters from Weetabix.