The other day, I made one of my pilgrimages to the office, and found myself (we don't have our own allocated desk, it's a first-come-first-served, so, with more staff than desks, you have to get there early to bagsy one, beach-towel on deckchair-style) sitting alongside a chap who, during lockdown, had prepared a pop quiz to include in an online departmental Christmas party.
We got to chatting about this, as I had prepared a pop quiz under similar circumstances for the following year. He recalled that I had performed rather better than he had expected anyone to do without the help of Dr Google (19 out of 20, pop fact fans). He'd mentioned to the chap I work with that he suspected I'd cheated (I hadn't - but what I had done on hearing there was to be a pop quiz at an online Christmas party had guessed it would be about Christmas #1s (it was), so I swatted up in advance, only tripped up by failing to distinguish one godawful X Factor winner from another), who, to his credit, defended me. "No," he later told me, "Jez knows a lot about pop music. It's his 'thing'."
"Know your stuff do you?" said, let's call him Paul (because that's his name) as we chatted.
"Up to a point," I said. "Ask me anything about post-2010 and I wouldn't be confident."
"Right," he said, clearly considering this a challenge, and mulling over something that would stump me. And then, a few minutes later: "What record knocked Wet Wet Wet's Love is All Around off of #1?"
"Saturday Night by Whigfield," I replied instantly. I knew that watching all those re-runs of TOTP on BBC4 would pay off one day. I saw him wince and curse under his breath.
"The only record that features a duck quacking to reach #1" I added. I did consider adding: "Of course, CW McCall's Convoy mentions a rubber duck, but that only got to #2," before remembering that no-one likes a smart-arse, so I reigned it in.
"Saturday Night doesn't have a duck quacking on it!" said Paul. I reiterated my claim, and watched as he scrambled to put his headphones on and pay a visit to YouTube. Seconds later, he was laughing. "Fair play," he said, which I took as a compliment.
Our chat continued, about what I can't recall so it obviously didn't concern anything as important as pop music, before Paul announced that he had a meeting to go to, and then, as he stood to leave, uttered a sentence which ended with the words "...one day at a time". He paused and added: "Sweet Jesus", a look on his face which I interpreted as meaning: Challenge extended.
Challenge accepted. "Lena Martell, #1 in 1979" before completely forgetting to reign it in this time and adding: "Co-written by Kris Kristofferson".
He was already walking away by now, but stopped in his tracks and turned back. "Ha! No, it's not, it's Tammy Wynette!"
"No. It's Lena Martell, #1 in 1979, co-written by Kris Kristofferson," I repeated. I was confident about this, partly because I wrote about it in this very series, here (a quick look at said post reminds me that it's more about tea-time quiz show Pointless than it is about One Day at a Time. Also, the link to the Merle Haggard version which I posted then is dead; let me know if anyone wants me to resuscitate it), mostly because, as I wrote back then, "...my brain is somehow wired to remember that kind of useless crap."
Paul headed off, shaking his head and muttering "It's definitely Tammy Wynette..."
"I'm not saying Tammy Wynette hasn't recorded it," I called after him, "just that Lena Martell's version got to #1. In 1979. And it was co-written by Kris Kristofferson."
An hour or so later, Paul returned. I left it half an hour or so, before innocently venturing: "Have you checked whether I'm right or not yet?". Lord, forgive me for being so bloody needy.
"Checked what?"
"Whether Tammy Wynette recorded One Day at a Time, or whether it was Lena Martell's version which got to #1. In 1979. And that it was co-written by Kris Kristofferson...?"
Furious typing ensued, before he slumped back in his chair. "Bloody hell, you're right."
"And Tammy Wynette's version?"
More furious typing followed by more slumping. "No...apparently she's never recorded it."
"That's remarkable. It's been covered by over 200 different artists, you know", I said, quoting my own blogpost/Wikipedia, and really rubbing salt into his wounds now.
Paul just shook his head. "I could've sworn it was Tammy Wynette."
Challenge completed.
You'll have noticed that I mentioned when I last wrote about One Day at a Time, I deliberately didn't post Lena Martell's version, and those of you who are familiar with the record will be relieved to know I'm not going to post it now either.
Instead, I thought I'd post somebody else covering a Kristofferson song. But there's literally thousands of those, so I figured I'd do the old switcheroo, and post Kristofferson covering somebody else: there are far fewer of those to choose from.
In 1995, a compilation of covers by various artists called Come Together: America Salutes The Beatles was released. You may not know this, as it got little to no press coverage, but The Beatles have just released their first new material in yonks, which is remarkable given that 50% of the band is dead.
Anyway, said album contains Kristofferson and full band country-rocking out to this riff-tastic tune, which I offer to you today by way of an mp3, as it seems that none of the streaming services have this album (which probably gives you an indication of the overall quality of it) and, as far as I can establish, Kristofferson has never released it under his own steam:
Kris Kristofferson - Paperback Writer
More soon.
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