Ep3 Costello, Carrie and the Crazy Piano Pushbike

In this episode, Marty and Al dive into the fascinating world of famous songs that were initially turned down by well-known artists, revealing surprising backstories behind hits from Kylie Minogue, John Denver, Aerosmith, and Tina Turner. They explore quirky celebrity pseudonyms, bizarre historical coincidences, and fun facts about the British royal family. The duo also shares a hilarious personal anecdote about a musical bike performance at the 1988 Brisbane Expo. Tune in for a mix of music trivia, royal insights, and laugh-out-loud moments.

00:00 Introduction and Hosts' Banter

01:09 The One That Got Away: Iconic Songs Rejected by Artists

02:36 Unexpected Song Origins and Artist Stories

08:31 Celebrity Hotel Aliases

10:42 Crazy Coincidences in History

15:44 Random Facts and Trivia

16:54 Reflecting on Elvis and Austin Powers

17:32 The Story of the Traveling Wilburys

19:08 Fast Facts About Royalty

22:58 Bicycle Fun Facts and History

26:47 The Mobile Piano Player at Expo 88

33:11 Wrapping Up with Final Thoughts

If you have a fun fact you’d like us to share, send us an email to: funfactsandsidetracks@gmail.com or leave us a comment online at our social pages on Facebook or Instagram Thanks for listening and never be afraid to get sidetracked.

The boring disclaimer: We do try to double-check all of the facts we talk about. If something isn’t quite correct, we humbly apologise. Credit to our many sources including, A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs, Tim from Kicking Harold, Mental Floss, Wikipedia and so many more.

Transcript

Hey, we're back again. Fun facts and Sidetracks. I'm Marty. And I'm Al. Yes, you definitely are. My last my looked at you were Al. We had to talk about some great stuff today. You know, music, movie stars, all that sort of thing. We don't claim to be experts on these topics, but we do our research. What do we do, Al?

Yeah, we do. We, rely a lot on Mr. Google. It's fair to say. Yeah. But also, uh, lots of books, lots of, other podcasts. We should sort of acknowledge that. We listen to a lot of stuff and, you know, we kind of share things that we've found and if I happen to just go off on a bit of a story, I can tell you it's 100% true.

Yeah. Couldn't make that stuff up, right? No. Alright, let's get [00:01:00] started, eh? Yes. 

Okay.  As always, we'll start talking about, the one that got away. This is songs that were offered up to people and for whatever reason they said no. Yeah, it's very interesting. So first one up. Today is a song that is very synonymous with Kylie Minogue. Can't Get You Outta My Head.

Great song. Great song, great video clip. Yeah. Yep. That was actually offered to S Club Seven apparently. Yeah. So I think they probably made a bad call. I think it was their manager, Simon Fuller, who said no. But yeah, bad call Simon.

 That song was written by Kathy Denis, who seems to have a whole lot of songs in this category. I think she's a prolific songwriter of hits. But it seems like it takes a while to find the right [00:02:00] person Yeah.

To connect them with. And I guess if you're an agent or if you're management for an artist, they must have songs just coming across their desk all the time. So was that the, was that the song that made Kylie like. It was a bit more serious than, you know, what was the train song like Locomotion?

Yeah. Yeah. It came a little bit after that, but, yeah. Yeah. It was, it's a more grown up started the show. Yeah. That's it. Anyway, she was perfect for the song. Yeah. She owns it and, apparently was even offered to, Sophie Ellis Bextor at the time.

Okay. And yep. Will Kylie be happy? I think she would be. Another one. What's another one? Take me. Home Country Roads. Oh, now that song has had a bit of a renaissance lately. If you, if you go to the football. Oh, okay. There's two songs that they sing constantly. Do they really? . One of them is Neil Diamond’s. Sweet Caroline.

Oh yeah. Yep. And the other one is Country Roads. Really? Which is a bit bizarre because poor old Johnny Denver, Johnny [00:03:00] Denver's, long since left the Planet and yeah. It's an hero plane accident, wasn't it? Didn't he? Yeah, yeah, yeah. He was flying the plane. 

 Yeah, he was in the plane on his own, I think. Yeah. And he went into a lake or something. Pretty sad. It is sad. Apparently the song was written for Johnny Cash and somehow John Denver got hold of it and said, no way, we're gonna record this now.

And actually jumped into a studio and. Got, got the band together and Wow. I thought he wrote that song. No, I know. So did I. Yeah, there you go. That's scary. Yeah. That's him, isn't it? That's that's what totally probably that's his song. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I really did think he wrote that song.

 He was an interesting guy too. He was a bit, he was married to Delvine Delaney's. Sister. That's right. Cassandra, was it? Yeah. Yeah. 

 Remember when, when he was big? Yeah, the key was huge. You know, remember any song? Yeah. You fill up my senses like at night in the forest and all that stuff. Wow. Yeah. There you go. Anyway, that big face of his and those big glasses, he looked like, [00:04:00] Billy Fields, you know the bad habits.

That's right. Very round face. Yeah, he did. Yeah. Anyway, here's another one. Don't wanna miss a thing. So this is a song that is synonymous with Aerosmith. And obviously it was, , on the soundtrack for the movie Armageddon. Yeah, yeah. Now that was intended for Celine Dion. I can't imagine if Celine Dion had sung that, but there you go.

Mm-hmm. Strange coincidence. So Steve Tyler from Aerosmith, his daughter Liv, was one of the main characters in the main actors in Armageddon. So there, wow. Yeah, so I'd say Celine Dion's people might have regretted not taking that one. 

 I was thinking of Johnny Cash singing Country Road. I just sort of, I dunno whether it would've suited him or not. Yeah. But that really low voice of his and really slow talking. You know, Country Road sort of an up song, isn't it? It's a bit upbeat. It's not the, there's no death in it or trains or you've, [00:05:00] have you heard the, prison cells?

Have you heard Johnny Cash not long before he died, did that, cover of Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails. It's the most depressing song, it's brilliant. Yeah, it's fantastic, but it doesn't lift you up where you belong. No. It's fair to say, but that's what I was just thinking in the back of my head.

I'm thinking Johnny Cash Country Road. Yeah. Country Road. Sort of a happy, you know, I'm coming home and this is usually, you know, I've just murdered 10 people and I'm coming home and no one wants me. And have I got a home to come to? Yeah. Very cool. Johnny Cash. Yeah. Oh, he's the best. Yeah. Totally. The man in black.

Yeah, that's it. Now here's another one for you. What's love got to do with it, Mart? I don't know. What has love got to do with it? That's love. . So really synonymous with Tina Turner. Mm-hmm. Basically, this was the song that signalled her comeback. But it was intended for Cliff Richard, believe it or not.

What would he have done on roller [00:06:00] skates? Yeah. Probably. Yeah. Donna Summer was the other one they, they offered it up to. But you know, had. It had not gone to Tina Turner. Mm-hmm. Does her whole, re-energizing happen or not?

I don't know. Yeah. That's a hard one. Yeah. She had a really interesting life. I mean, like, yeah. Wow. You know, she was such a strong lady. You know what she went through. Yeah. And still stayed focused on the big picture. What she wanted, she wanted to be this star.

She could see herself being this rock star, not like a cabaret or, but a rockstar playing to, stadiums. And she did it. Mm. And she did it the best. Simply the best. 

 Better than all the rest.

 Better than anyone.

 You're finished. You sure? Anyone I ever met.

 Okay. Moving on. Now when it comes to, passing up songs mm-hmm. I don't think it comes any bigger than passing up a song written by Paul McCartney. But history shows that McCartney wanted to [00:07:00] write songs for Frank Sinatra, Billy J. Kramer, the foremost, whoever they are. I think they should have taken the hint and, yeah, caught, caught the tip and get the McCartney song.

Yeah. Even Thom York from Radiohead turned him down when he wanted to collaborate. I mean, it doesn't come any bigger than  Paul McCartney. Yeah. Bloody hell. So anyway, yeah, yeah. I dunno that it helped any of their careers by not having a McCartney. Did Frank Sinatra sing yesterday? Here's a Frank Sinatra quote.

Frank Sinatra said that something. Mm. Was the greatest Lenon and McCartney tune he'd ever heard. And you just go, well, I know you're the chairman of the board and all that stuff. That's a George song, right? So, you know, wow. Anyway, fun fact on Paul McCartney. Yeah. When he was checking into hotels, he often used fake names.

One of the names that he used was Paul Ramone [00:08:00] and. At the time, this fellow called Douglas Colvin, who was a bass player in a local rock band. Fans of the Ramones will know that that's actually DD Ramone. Yeah. And he heard that name and went to his band and said, that's a cool name. We need to use that.

And they did. So that's how the Ramones came about. Wow. Shout out at this point to Jeffo Smith, who is the world's greatest Ramones fan and who I know would already know that fun fact. But, I thought it was pretty cool for sharing anyway. Yeah. Just made me start looking at what other names people have used as Norm de Plumes. Yeah. When they've checked into hotels. So, Jay-Z and Beyonce, funnily enough, have checked in as Frank Sinatra and Ingrid Jackson. Angelina Jolie checks in as Miss Lollipop.

 Mm-hmm. Tom Cruise, cage hunt. Cage hunt. Yep.

Michael Jackson often checked into hotels as Mr. Doolittle. 

 [00:09:00] Justin Timberlake calls himself, Mr. Wood Pond. Justin Timberlake, Timberlake Wood Pond. Yeah, so there you go. Uh, Jennifer Love Hewitt. Winnie the Pooh, Rachel Hunter View Martini. Yeah, so there's some, there's some kooky ones there.

Jason Lee said that if he, if he did, he'd use the name Burt Reynolds. And, my personal favourite, the Canadian band, Bare Naked Ladies, all registered under side character names from The Simpsons, so Ralph Wiggum, Millhouse van Outen, and Ned Flanders. So I think they win for, that's good. Yeah. That's really good.

 It did get me thinking, Mart, that you were going to check into a hotel under a nom de plume, what name do you reckon you might use? Oh, I'd have to be Big Ray. Big Ray Charles. Big Ray Charles. Big Ray Charles? Yeah. Yeah. Loved the guy. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. That's a good one. I reckon I'd probably use an obscure character.

People listening to this podcast will learn over [00:10:00] time that. I'm a massive fan of things like Sharknado and even in fact, any, any shark movie, Ghost Shark, Sand shark, Six Headed Shark Attack. But, Finn Shepherd, who is the main character, Finn Shepherd. Finn, hey, see the, get the joke. Yeah. Finn Shepherd from Sharknado would probably be mine.

Or, Jasper Beardly. He's Abe Simpson's friend at the retirement home on the Simpsons. So I'd probably go there, I reckon. Yeah. Yeah, that's good. But I doubt that I'll ever need to. You never know, al, you never do. You never do. 

All right. Here are some crazy coincidences for you. Mart. What do you got? The Hoover Dam. The Hoover Dam in America. Hoover Dam in America. The first worker to die during the construction of that dam. Yeah. Was JG Tierney on December 20th, 1922, [00:11:00] the last person to die. It was JG Tierney's son who died on December 20.

The same day. The same day. The same day. 1935. Wow. Like how, how does that happen? Like how many years apart is that, sorry. So you're looking at 13 years apart. 13 years apart to the day. Yep. The father and son die. Yeah. It's almost like he committed suicide on that day. It's, it's ridiculous.

That's, that's just too, yeah, too freaky. You ready for this? This is, this is equally as bizarre. So Hitler was born 129 years after Napoleon. He also came to power 129 years after Napoleon. He invaded Russia 129 years after Napoleon, and he was defeated 129 years after Napoleon.

See, that's just, how do you do that? The way things connect like that, it's hard to believe really. [00:12:00] Well. Believe it or not, but yeah, it's, it is truly bizarre. And the world just seems full of coincidences like this, which just, you know, kind of confirms that the truth is strange than fiction, but it is.

It is. Yeah. Like that is just, you know, that's amazing. I didn't know that out. Yeah. I knew there was similarities there, like going to Russia and all this sort of thing, but not, yeah, yeah. No, it's bizarre. On a slightly lesser note, but nevertheless, a pretty neat coincidence. Okay. The movie Friday the 13th.

Yeah. So it was made as a low budget slasher film. Mm-hmm. There's a terrific, documentary about the making of it, and it really is, uh, case of getting a few friends together and making this film for the, you know, the running on an oily rag, if you like. Yep. And the film had been completed, but they actually had, a financier for it.

Mm-hmm. And it had been shot on Camp Crystal Lake [00:13:00] famously. But the, the guy who was financing it and who was trying to get it into cinemas had just seen the movie Carrie the way that Friday the 13th currently ended. Was that, the girl in the end, called Alice Hardy for fans of Friday the 13th.

She was murdered by Mrs. Voorhees, the killer. Yep. Okay, so there's a clean ending into that film. Nothing more to see. That's the end of the movie, end of the end of Friday the 13th. Yeah. This guy had just been to see the movie Carrie. Now in the end, at the end of Carrie, when all the mayhem happened. The very last scene is this girl bringing flowers to Carrie's grave.

Mm. And it's all serene. And then this bloody hand comes out of the grave, like it still is a scary movie scene. Yeah. Hand comes outta the grave and grabs her, right? Yeah. Yeah. And this guy saw that and [00:14:00] went, that's the sort of jolt I want at the end of Friday the 13th. I don't want all the main characters to die.

Yeah. So he went, I'll finance the thing, but we've gotta get back out on Camp Crystal Lake and reshoot that final scene. So the famously at the end of Friday the 13th, we've got Alice Hardy, the one surviving team from the crazy camp. Yeah. Out on the lake in a canoe, and it's all serene. And of course, Jason comes up from the lake and grabs her, which scared the shit out of me when I was a much younger, younger person.

At a drive in thinking that everything was over. Anyway, that one coincidence. Just seeing Carrie and insisting on making that change. I mean, how many Friday the 13th movies have they made a lot. 14 or something. Wow. You know, Jason versus Freddy, and Jason does this and Jason does that. Jason Outer space, you name it.

And, and all the merch and all the, you know, it's such a franchise. Wow. He [00:15:00] made some streets so much money. Yeah. As opposed to one slasher movie that was may not have even done a thing. That's right. The very shock at the end of it. Yeah. Is the one that has you not wanting to turn the lights off.

Yeah. It's interesting, isn't it? Yeah. It's amazing. So, but that was, I mean, that's the difference. Carrie was a Brian de Palmer movie, who was the king of scary movies. Yeah. As opposed to the people who made Friday the 13th. They were lucky then, weren't they? Yeah, very well, you know, like Yeah. It's coincidence though, right? Yeah. Coincidence. But still was smart enough to sort of recognize that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely Okay. 

 As always, Mart, a few, random facts. What have you got for us, Al? First one is Elvis Costello's name. So great name, great, great, great artist. Great. Yeah, he's awesome. Yeah, he's just awesome. As a lot of people know, his real name is Declan McManus, [00:16:00] which the record, record company decided maybe wasn't such a great name.

I can't understand that. Yeah. Lee, you go. 

Yeah. And in any case, he took his dad's stage name, which was Day Costello and Elvis Presley had just died.

 Yeah. And he had no problem with taking Elvis's name. Which is a ballsy move. I was gonna say, it's pretty bold, isn't, it's a pretty ballsy move. Isn't like he's the king of rock and roll being in the same industry.

He's the king of rock and roll. And you are, you haven't got your first album out yet. Yeah, yeah.

Wow. That's amazing. Even, even thinking, calling yourself Elvis said, oh, that's a bit cruddy. And I really can, to even say that, I saw him in Brisbane . Mm-hmm. And I went with Lynn. And he had a big, you know, like a wheel wheel wheel Yeah.

Yeah. With all his songs on. Yeah. So if he spun the wheel and went on the same song, he'd just play the same song again, but differently. Yeah. Right. It was a great concert. Yeah. Yeah. It's funny, I, I love him. I've got so much [00:17:00] Elvis music. Yeah. But you do hear mixed reviews these days about, really about him.

Yeah. Which I think is really sad, but he's not Well now is he? Well, no, he hasn't been, well, he's got cancer or something. Yeah. But he's, I loved him in the Yeah. Baby movies. Oh, Austin Powers. Austin Powers movies. Yeah, . That song he does. Oh, we could, what do you get when you Fall in Love?

With Bert Bacharach on Piano, right? Yeah. Yeah. There's cool dude. We could talk about the Austin Powers movies. Yeah. Another day for a whole episode. And we will, here's another one for you. So I love the whole thing about the Traveling Wilburys, how they got together, how it was all really coincidence.

'cause George Harrison , who already had his album ready. Yeah. And the record company said, we need. A B side. And he just happened to be at the same studio as Jeff Lynne, who was a friend of his And from ELO. Yeah. From ELO. And all of a sudden they'd sort of come up with this song and [00:18:00] piece by piece, they were out at dinner and you know, George had a guitar that was over it.

Tom Petty's house. And then as you do, as you do, and they ran into Bob Dylan and, then all of a sudden they go and see, Roy Orbison backstage and see if he wants to be in this sort of loose band thing. Wouldn't that be terrific just to have those friends? But, but they've got this song and they're in Bob Dylan's garage, quite literally a garage, and they're wondering what they should call the song, and they're kind of coming up with lyrics.

And there's a cardboard box in there and it says, handle with care. Mm-hmm. So the song became Handle With Care. Wow. Like, you know, random. Yeah. But so good. That was a terrific album. Yeah. It was great. And as, as only they could do because hey, they were the kind of kings Mm. They released, you know, Volume one and Volume three without any Volume two.

Yeah. Good. How good. Imagine [00:19:00] working with Dylan, but Mm-hmm. ​

Okay, Mart, time for some fast facts about royalty. What you got for us now? Well, you pretty well can't turn on the TV these days without seeing Harry and Meghan or William and Kate. There's, and she love them constantly in the public eye, but I thought it was interesting that, that William and Harry both have a half-sister called Laura.

And she's pretty well out of the public eye. So she was born in 1978, and her parents are Queen Camilla and her then husband, Andrew Parker Bowles. Oh, but for someone who is pretty closely related to those guys, yeah, she's very much out of the. Public eye isn't you? You, you don't hear anything. I didn't. I didn't even know.

There you go. Until you're telling me now. Fun fact. Yeah. And I should know because, well, yeah, I should. Being a 10 pound pom and being a 10 pound pom, you should [00:20:00] be all over it. Yeah, yeah. Well, here's another one for you. Okay. So the British Royal family is named after Windsor. And you might think that Windsor Castle was named after the House of Windsor, but it's actually the other way round.

So the Royal family, changed its name from, and I'm probably getting this pronunciation completely wrong. Sachs-Coburg, Gotha, which sounds, what is that? Pretty German, let's face it. In 1917, what is it again? Sachs-Coburg, Gotha. Wow. Gotha. Yeah. So, that name Windsor was adopted by King George the Fifth.

So it would sound less German. And, uh, he chose Windsor because they had ties with the English town of Windsor. So you think these things go back forever, right? Geez. Game of Throne style, but, um, they don't, it's amazing how it's related. Yeah. Yeah. The Germans and the French

yeah. It's just big families. Totally. So that's, there's been five British [00:21:00] monarchs under the house of Windsor. Yes. I won't bore you with them, but, oh yeah. Okay. Why not bore me? Job boy, George the Fifth, Edward the Eighth, George the Sixth, Elizabeth 2 and Charles 3 now. Wow. Yeah. That's incredible, isn't it? Yeah, it is.

Now, speaking of Monarchs. Mm-hmm. Something I came across, which I thought was pretty cool, and that is that, her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth 2, Yes. Actually had a stand in. A stand in A stunt woman. Yeah. A stunt woman. so, when she would go to public events or when she would be, exposed to say the sun for a long of time.

Yeah. They actually had this lady who was the perfect stature to match Wow. Her majesty. And she filled in so they would actually rehearse all of these things and make sure that her majesty wasn't going to be, you know, looking into the sun or Yeah. Exposed to, things that might tie her. So they had this lady Yeah.

Her name wasn't Maudie, was it? Yeah. For those listening [00:22:00] that's. My mom, Mart's mother-in-law. And she could've, she was the same stature. She looked so much like the queen. God love her. That's right. But yeah, so there was this. Wow. Yeah. And, but there, there was only one thing she wasn't allowed to do.

And what was that? And that was to sit on the throne because she wasn't the queen. Yeah. The throne. Well, I know what you're thinking. Yeah. I am thinking, yeah. It was that throne. It wasn't the other throne was it? It was the, big throne with the crown and the whole, maybe she had to check out all the thrones.

Well, maybe case were booby trapped May. Wow. Yeah, maybe. Yeah. But, anyway, there you go. Yeah. Wow. Mm-hmm. Well, great. That's a great story. Yeah. Well, you know, it's something I came up with. I knew it all anyway. Yeah, of course. Being a 10 pound bull. Yes. 

 Okay, Mart, now back again, just before we wrap up. Yes. I thought it might be cool [00:23:00] to do a little segment talking about bicycles. And what are these fun facts now? The first commercially available bike was made in France in the 1860s. It had wooden wheels, was it?

Yeah, it was without the, without the chain and the pedals. Yeah, they just pushed themselves around with wooden seat. Yeah. Wow. Well, they called it the bone shaker for good reason, because bloody this, I think the earliest one had no pedals. Yeah. And it was made of timber. Yeah. I've seen pictures Yeah.

Of them pushing themselves around. Yeah. Weigh like 80 kilos. So what year was this? This is in the 1860s. So 1860s. Yeah. Imagine the guy that did that. Well, it would've been a revelation having a thing that you could move around with that wasn't horsepower quite literally. You mentioned if you could take one of the bikes today, like one of these.

These bikes that they got like 20 grand bike, push bike, yes. And then dropping it back there. Look you created. Oh, I always think about that stuff. I know I always [00:24:00] think about like musicians from the early 19 hundreds and stuff. Yeah. You know, they're sort of singing in their big baritones and tenors and whatever and then, you know, drop 'em into, now what's Ozzy Osborne?

Yeah. Well, you know, any, anything. Just show them some music TV and go, yeah, here's the future of music, you know? Yeah. What do you think? Oh God, are we heading in the right direction? Yeah, exactly. With P Diddy. Oh yeah. Moving on. 

 Yeah, so the word bicycle actually comes from the French word bicycle. Let. Before that they were actually known as velocity, which kind of makes sense. 'cause you know, velocity being, yeah. Being velocity, right? Yeah. Yeah. Speaking of velocity, yep the fastest recorded speed, by a human being on a bike is 183.9 miles per hour.

That's miles per hour. That, that's amazing. That's pretty wild. That's about the speed that David did on that little trike story I [00:25:00] told you down the hill in that street we lived in. Lucky he wasn't doing that speed. Holy do we. And he got a wobble up. Imagine getting into a speed wobble at that speed. Did you ever get him a speed ball?

Yeah, all the time. Yeah. Oh man. Yeah. Push bikes and skateboards. Oh, it was the most frightening thing. Was it? Yeah. It's the death. Death wobbles. And the thing is you do it and you think, why did I do that? Yeah. And then you do it again. Everything slows down. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway. Oh God.

In terms of bicycle use, it seems like a couple of European countries have this on a string. Mm. Amsterdam, 40% of the commuters use a bike to get to work. Isn't that great? Yeah, it's terrific. Mm. And in Denmark. Yeah, it's something like 36% use a bike to get to work. And in fact, they have a scheme where, you can rent bikes for free.

What? Yeah. So not surprisingly, um, rent them for free. Yeah. So, you [00:26:00] know, we've got a bit to catch up with here, haven't we? Well, but it's so successful that only 27% of people, actually drive cars. Isn't that terrific? Yeah. Yeah. Brisbane, it's, it's a lot of bikes.

Yeah. Well, Brisbane, um, we just have some crazy hills happening here. So many other, places in the developed world. Yeah. Uh, nowhere near that. Yeah. It's terrific. Yeah, it's pretty cool. And here's the last fun fact. What's that out? That is that in the us? , The most popular kind of bike is a mountain bike, so they account for 25% of bicycles.

They're such a good bike too, aren't they? Yeah, they are. Yeah. And closely followed by hybrid bikes at 24%. Wow. Yeah. I've got a bit of a bike story out. Happy now. Yes, I, yes. Okay. So when I was in my musical career in 88. 1988, they had an expo that came to Brisbane. [00:27:00] It was huge. It was huge. All these pavilions, you know, like, uh, New Zealand, England, Romania, everywhere you could think of, had a pavilion.

And it went for six months. I think it was six months, and you've got a pass you could buy a six month pass, two month pass. But it was terrific and it was a thing to go to was after work, you'd just go, let's go to Expo. Or on the weekends you'd go, yeah, let's go to Expo. That's right. It was like going to Europe, wasn't it?

You'd go, you'd eat the, that one they did. They had all the food. Yeah. Anyway, yeah, it was great. The stories about the bike is that there was a job going. For a mobile piano player. Now, I didn't play the piano terrific as knocking out tunes, but I sang and played, and this bike was a proper piano, a steel frame, timber, piano.

You know that most people that tinker at home, yeah. Used to have, they don't anymore. You couldn't lift if you tried, you could not. [00:28:00] No. It takes two big Samoans to lift one and, um. Here this thing was, and it had a big metal frame just to make it a little bit lighter. A big metal frame around the front with a, you know, where the bike had the, where your handlebars went into?

Yeah. Well, this was a BMX bike, so there was no handlebars or front wheel. But it was hooked up to the piano, right? Where the, so the handlebars were the piano. Oh. If that makes any sense. Yeah. So you steered it with the piano. So when you, you turned the, the handle, there was two big wheels on the piano. Two big motorbike wheels uhhuh on each side of the piano.

I. You are understanding this? Yep. So you got the big piano. Timber. Piano was weighs a ton with two motorbike wheels on each end of it. And the steel frame that came round to A BMX bike now. So this BMX bike you sat on and you pedalled, but it was so heavy that the pedals had actually. [00:29:00] Bent, bent, downwards.

Oh no. And I turn up, I rock up for this job. And it was in the, in the, in the back section of where there was no people. And I said, I'm here to do this. Um. You know, entertain the crowds. It was to entertain all the people that were queuing up to all the pavilions. So were you supposed to ride and play, or were you supposed to pull up and stop somewhere and then play to the crowds?

Because the cues were at Expo were amazingly long. They were, they were huge. Yeah. And that was what it was for. But no, no, you, I think you'd find it hard. To play. It was just so heavy and it was not the sort of thing You had a quick getaway. Yeah, no, it was like driving a steamroll and so anyway, I'm in the back of this section and the guy says, there's your piano there.

And I walked up to it and I thought, oh my goodness. I thought it was gonna be like an electric piano in a fake piano frame. But no, it was a real piano and I've jumped on it and did a couple of circles. [00:30:00] And here I'm dressed up. I've got the Cooper hat on. I've got a waist coat that my uncle, uncle Stan was in a big band with.

It was a glittery blue thing, white shirt, uh, white pants. I had piano socks on and a piano tie. I think I looked tore. Anyway, so I jump on this thing and he says, WGE, you're gonna go out there. I had to go out there and entertain him for two hours and he said, are you ready? 'cause I'm gonna open up this wall.

It was like the front of a ship and it just was so quiet where I was. And then he opens up. This just opened up really slowly and beyond the wall. Was this wall of faces and people, you know, just kids granddads, just everybody. And I had to ride into them with this piano at about one kilometer every 10 hours.

And with pedals at a, yeah. Bent down from the way. Yeah. And I didn't know where to go. I didn't know what to do. So I just started writing into 'em and they started following me like I was the pied piper, [00:31:00] you know? And I'm thinking to myself, what have I got myself into here? You know, I'm amongst thousands of people and they're expecting me to do something, so I stopped and I knocked out my 10 or 15 song repertoire.

And I said, okay, I'm moving on. And they said, where are you going now? And I said, well, just down here. And they go, oh, we'll come to, and I thought, no, please don't. But anyway, the story goes on. It was just a crazy thing. And I lasted a couple of, about two days I think, and I was burnt out. Oh man. Yeah. So once you're out there, I suppose, 'cause it was just a sea of people, it was, you couldn't, you couldn't find anywhere to kind of.

Escaped the crowd, right? Well, I, I did in the end. I was just so exhausted. I sort of went round behind this pavilion and people were sort of following me and not following me thinking he's going over here. Let's have some fun. Yeah, he's great. And I sort of just found this build ran by a guy that was New Zealand Pavilion or something, and [00:32:00] I sort of hid underneath it and I thought, oh goodness.

I just sat there for a while thinking, what the heck am I doing? I've gotta get outta here. And then it started to rain. And all the people came under where I was, so I'm stuck there. My head's above them 'cause I'm sort of a little bit high than everyone on this piano and they wanted me to entertain them and I'm just thinking, just go away.

I ended up getting off the bike and just walking away. Oh, you ditched it like a lime scooter? Yes. I went back at about now later and wrote it back to the, the thing and gave him the keys. I was exhausted. Yeah. Oh, it was horrible. I was just emotionally and physically a wreck. Oh, that's too bad. But it would've been okay if I could just rattle out tune after tune.

Like you knew busy you, I knew Suzy, you know, like just act like an idiot. But, um, I was acting like an idiot. Anyway, uh, that's a bit of a sidetrack there. Good time. Smart. Yeah. I dunno about [00:33:00] that album. I thought I'd do it to sort of build up my entertaining skills, but. Yeah, it was a hard one.

Okay, well, I reckon That's about it for this episode. Mart. I think we had some fun there. Yeah, I'm still getting over the expo. 80 8:00 PM Yeah, sorry about that. I went on a bit about that one. No, that's great. Yeah, that is, that is too funny. It's an emotional scar. Its the sort of thing I wake up in the middle of the night in a hot sweat to peel that bandaid.

Yeah. Oh man. That's too good. Yep. Alright folks, thanks for listening. We'll be back soon hit us up on the socials if you wanna say hi. Yeah, see ya. ​