Jape - I Was A Man

He/They seem to be everywhere these days. Ray D’Arcy declared that if he had such a thing as a Single Of The Week, ‘I Was A Man’ would be it. Richie’s album ‘Ritual’ is released in a few weeks, after a very long gestation period. I (hopefully!!) will be playing three or so tracks from it on my show at midnight on Phantom 105.2. I have just seen a comment made by Padraic expressing his concerns over the way Jape are being marketed over in the UK - somehow I don’t think the press release Padraic speaks of would get the all-clear over here. But I have also come across this version of ‘I Was A Man’ recorded by Channel 6 for The Airfield Seesions. I think this is actually a better version than the mastered single mix. I’ve loved ‘I Was A Man’ for ages - knowing it from both his live shows and his Myspace page - but the single version just doesn’t have quite the oomph that I had hoped for. I still think it’s a fantastic song, however, so this is me just being a niggly pedant and I can’t wait to sit down with the album and have a proper listen to it.

This track also contains another excellent couplet: “I popped my cherry to ‘November Rain’/I think she liked it but don’t think she came”. Indeed.