THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES!!

A Merry Christmas and a happy new year to both Red Smed fans during the festive season. A seasonal message from the People's Commissar was mislaid somewhere near the Labour Club but instead of this we present a brand new old video of the great fight to save the Sedgemoor Splash (in which we came second).

The images come from the day of the heroic Occupation of Bridgwaters popular swimming pool which was being closed down by Sedgemoor Tories to make way for a gigantic and unwanted Tescos Extra.



The song is "We're all Going Shopping" written by Red Smed for the Dangerous Brothers back in 1979 (when the Splash was in fact the Sedgemoor Council offices - or the 'H block' as it was known). Ironically the song was re-written in 1985 for the Sedgemorons as "I lost my Heart in Tescos" by Red Smed and Radio 4 Producer-to-be Anne 'Betty Bonkers' Dixey. The attached version was recorded in 2001 by the Hot Trot Smash the System Boogie Band and features Smed on shite vocals, ridiculous piano and jazz guitar, Matt Bartlett on bass, Nervo on drums and Elaine, Cathy & Jo on backing vocals. It;s possible that Fat Bald Dave is on mandolin too but if he is he's been faded out in the mix. Which is a GOOD thing.

STOGUMBER CAJUN GUMBO

"Possibly the worse case of miming ever to hit the small screen" admits Red Smed at the launch of his latest tribute to himself 'Stogumber Cajun Gumbo', which features live footage of the Hot Trot Smash the System Boogie Band performing 'Leon Trotsky' at the Bridgwater Labour Club with the studio recording of 'SCG' dubbed pathetically over the top.

"Several parts of the dub actually work" Smed added in an almost desperate fashion. "But most of it doesn't. However, as there is no live footage of us doing any of our songs particularly well, it seemed like a good idea at the time."

Stogumber is a small village in the backwoods of Exmoor. Red Smed has never been there, but he did explain "I once saw the film 'Southern Comfort' where a bunch of US National Guardsmen get lost in a swamp in Louisiana or Canada or somewhere and end up having to shoot the local Cajuns. I think 'Gumbo' is a kind of food they eat in West Somerset and it's probably made out of twigs and roadkill."

Smed admitted he got the idea for the music as he was copying it note for note from the film but "hadn't a bloody clue" what they were singing about so re-wrote the lyrics in his own attempt at French-Cajun creole. "It's probably pretty accurate" he said "I did visit a pub in Wheddon Cross once."

DO THE WASHING UP

In the dim distant past when nobody cared how fat you were or that you'd eaten yet another 3 pack of walnut whips when you'd promised you wouldn't, life was a lot simpler.

'Do the Washing Up' was written in either late 79 or early '80 and certainly featured on the Circus Records session which was done in February 81. In fact if I could be arsed to go over to the drawer i could probably pin the date down exactly.

Well, I did look and I have no record of it.

Needless to say. It's a waltz tempo . In Bb. In fact, Bb to F# if you want to play along, and like all Dangerous Brothers songs, tells the heart wrenching tale of life on the frontline in those crucial years when Thatcher first came to prominence. Mainly it was about my mum telling me to do the washing up .

New RED SMED You Tube release SWEDISH LANGUAGE YEH YEH YEH

Hardly new, apart from in the sense it's new to YOU TUBE, but 'Swedish Language Yeh Yeh Yeh' was originally recorded by the Dangerous Brothers for their 1981 Circus Records session.

Written by Brian Smedley, the original recording featured Smedlo on bass and vocals, Nervo on drums, Neal Heckford on keyboard and Alan Gadd on guitar and Dave Butland in a non vocal role -probably cowbell at a guess??

The recent recording is from the Hot Trot Smash The System Boogie Band album "Do The Washing Up" (also a Dangerous Brothers song from the same period) dating from 2002. This latest version, featured on YOU Tube includes Smed and Nervo again but joined this time by Dave Newton (the original Jim Rude from the Dangerous brothers) plus Matt Bartlett on bass.

To see other classic Red Smed videos click on any of the photos on the left hand list on this page.