He Sells Sea Shells

Band Name Origins, Final Recordings, Shell’s Unlikely Beginnings, and Salty Language

Al and Marty, hosts of Fun Facts and Sidetracks, broadcast from their studio in a converted oil tanker and cover off music trivia, company history, the origins of word  and lots more. 

They explain where several bands got their names (including Radiohead, Motörhead, Simple Minds, Roxette, The Rolling Stones, The Pretenders, Judas Priest, Deep Purple, Jet, Panic! at the Disco, Death Cab for Cutie, Flock of Seagulls, Lady Gaga, Nazareth, and Franz Ferdinand). 

They discuss notable artists’ final recorded songs or last material, including Otis Redding (“Sittin’ On The Dock of the Bay”), Janis Joplin (“Mercedes Benz”), Jim Morrison (“Riders on the Storm”), Elvis (“Way Down”), John Lennon (working on “Walking on Thin Ice” and demo “Grow Old with Me”), Amy Winehouse (“Body and Soul”), Freddie Mercury (“Mother Love”), Warren Zevon (“Keep Me in Your Heart”), Chris Cornell (“You Never Knew My Mind”), David Bowie’s “Blackstar” track (“Lazarus”), and Glen Campbell (“I’m Not Gonna Miss You”), plus last recordings by bands breaking up - Roxy Music’s “Avalon,” The Police’s 1986 tracks, The Beatles’ last full-group session “Because,” and Cream’s “Badge”. They then trace Shell from an 1833 London seashell/antiques business to bulk oil shipping, the first tanker through the Suez Canal, a 1907 merger with Royal Dutch, wartime roles, “Seven Sisters” status, and supertankers and end with an etymology segment linking “salary,” “salad,” “salsa,” “sausage,” “salami,” “sauce,” and “sauté” to salt.

00:00 Welcome and Setup

01:35 Band Names Origins

03:32 Deep Purple Sidetrack

04:09 More Name Inspirations

06:42 Last Songs Intro

07:08 Sudden Final Recordings

15:07 Lennon Sidetracks

19:30 Knowing It Was The End

23:04 Bowie and Gervais Story

25:58 Glen Campbell Farewell

26:41 Bands Final Tracks

27:06 Guest Vocalist Discovery

27:53 Session Musicians Pay

28:38 Police Final Sessions

31:18 Police Live Memories

32:19 Beatles Last Recording

33:43 Cream Goodbye Album

35:05 Shell Origin Story

37:48 Oil Tankers And Branding

43:21 Wars And Seven Sisters

46:54 Modern Shell Mega Projects

50:49 Salt Words Etymology

54:54 Wrap Up And Farewell

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

Speaker 0:19

 Hey everyone  and welcome to Fun Facts and Sidetracks. Gidday. Gidday, Marty. How are you? Yeah, good. How are you out? Good. Uh, coming to you today from our, uh, studio at the Strait of Hormuz. Yes, it's a place where everyone wants to be. Yeah. Just offshore on one of those big tankers. That's it. We've got one, we've got a wreck and we've turned it into a studio….. and we're very nervous. Yeah, we've got some good stuff today. Yeah. What have we got Al? We will talk about some,, band names, where they came from. Okay. That's gonna be interesting. We'll talk about some other music stuff, um, rather morbidly the last songs that people recorded, but Oh, okay. It's kind of interesting, in our little series of, company histories. We're gonna have a chat about another company this time Shell. So shell kind of, uh, oil topical, very topical now that we're on this, this oil tanker. Indeed. And we'll have a chat about a few other things, including a pretty good, last fun fact. Yeah. Don't tell them that one yet. I will not. We've gotta look it up first. Alright, let's get into it. Hey. Yeah. Okay. Alrighty, as always. Music first up. That's a great idea, Al. And this is some Fast Facts about where bands got their name from. First one. What about the first? Well, the first one is Radiohead and they got their name from a song called Radiohead. Yeah. Which was on the Talking Heads album. True Stories, Talking Heads. Yeah. It's a great album actually. Yeah. I, it's one of the few albums on vinyl that I have and still play it. It is a great album. It's very cool. Yeah. So there you go. Motorhead got their name from a song by Hawkwind called Motorhead. There's a lot of head bands, isn't it? Yeah, there is. We should have started a band called The Rude Heads. It's not too late, mate. Simple Minds, yeah. Got the name from David Bowie's, the Jean Genie. Okay. Yeah. So there's a lyric that says “he's so simple minded, he can't drive his module.” That's where Simple Minds come from. Wow. Uh, Roxette got their name from a Dr. Feelgood song called Rockette. Rolling Stones. Probably a lot of people might know this, but that comes from a Muddy Waters song. Rolling Stones. Rolling Stone, and they were heavily influenced by Muddy Waters and all the blues guys. Yeah. The Pretenders. They got their name from a 1956 song by The Platters called The Great Pretender. “Yes, I'm the great pretender.” Oh. There you go. Judas Priest comes from a Bob Dylan song, the Ball of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest. Wow. Yeah, Deep Purple is a good one. Because they were called Roundabout and they changed their name to Deep Purple based on a 1933 piano composition of the same name. Mm God. Yeah. Sounds like something out of Spinal Tap. It does… first sidetrack of the episode though, did you see the Japanese PM on the news the other night? Meeting the members of Deep Purple. I did see her playing the drums with another. Like some other, um, Prime Minister Yeah. Jamming, but no, I didn't see the Deep Purple, how it go. How good. She used to be in a Deep Purple cover band when she was young. Oh God. So, so this vision of her, um, getting these signed drumsticks from Ian Paice. I think she'd be really interesting. Yeah. Yeah. She's out there. Good on her. Yeah. No surprises where the band named Jet comes from? Wings. Yep. Paul McCartney and Wings Jet. Yeah. Great album. Yeah. Panic at the Disco comes from a Smith's song called Panic, which contains the lyrics Burn Down the Disco. Oh Dear… Yeah. What song? Yeah. Death Cab for Cutie. Comes from a song by the Bonzo Dog, Dooda Band. Never heard of them. Well, the interesting thing about these guys is they were fronted by a guy called Neil Inness. Mm-hmm. Who, was in a band called The Rutles with Eric Idle from Monty Python. Oh, Monty Python. Yeah. So he was….The Rutles was like a send up band of The Beatles. Wow. So they had, they had all these songs like The Fool on the Pill and all this stuff. But yeah, they're the guys that sang I'm The Urban Spaceman. It was George Harrison that financed the Life of Brian. Oh, he would've loved it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Flock of Seagulls comes from a song by the Stranglers. The lyrics go, “the young ones use their hands pointed. It pointed the way to a flock. A flock of seagulls.” Wow. A Flock of Seagulls. It's very deep Al. It is very deep. No surprises for guessing where Lady Gaga got her name. Where was that Al? Where do you think? Queen. Queen Radio Gaga of course. Nazareth. So this is a good one. Oh, the Scottish Rock Band? Yeah. Got their name from the lyrics, in The Weight by the band. So the lyrics go, I pulled into Nazareth was feeling ‘bout half past dead. Yeah. “I pulled into Nazareth. I was feeling ‘bout half past dead.” Yeah. Yeah. Great song. There's so many people who have done that. Barnsey. Everyone. Yeah. Yeah. But they do it well. I saw Barnsey recently sing that song actually. Oh, you did? I did. Yeah, champion. And, one last one, Franz Ferdinand. Yes. Who was the Arch Duke of Austria. Who was he? He was the guy that got shot. And he that started the First World War. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Some crazy guy. Yeah. Geez. Um, so a kooky inspiration for a band name. Yeah. But there you go. Very interesting All right, mark. Moving on. Moving on. This is slightly morbid, but it's some fun facts about the last songs that were recorded by famous artists. This is gonna be good. Yeah. Well, some people obviously knew that it would be their last song because the bands were breaking up and others knew they were unwell, and maybe this was their last hurrah. Mm-hmm. And then there's others that had no idea that. What was coming. It just happened. Wow. So let's have a chat first about the ones that didn't know it would be their last song. And a good example of this is Otis Redding. Oh, Sitting on the Dock of the Bay. Yeah. Who doesn't play Sitting on the Dock of the Bay. Yeah. Everyone a great song. Yeah. Yeah. So it's 1967. Yes. And he's pretty well on the verge of being a superstar, so. He's already had, R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Yes. That was later made number one by the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin. And he'd also had a lot of success with Try a Little Tenderness. Wow. Yeah. That was his? Yeah. So in early December, 1967, he records sitting on the Dock of the Bay. Awesome song. And that was with Steve Cropper, who sadly passed away not long ago. Awesome guitarist. But the song wasn't even finished. So you know the whistling Yes. In the outro to that instead of lyrics, which is classic. Yeah, yeah. The plan was to replace that, with lyrics, but they never got the chance. So it's only a couple of days later that, he was performing on a show called Upbeat, and the very next day his plane crashed into a lake. Wow. And, him and the band were all killed. So, well, most of his band, at least he was only 26. 26. Yeah. So that was released after he'd passed away and became the first posthumous number one hit. Yeah, I remember first hearing that song. It was just amazing. Yeah. It was such a nice song. Yeah. And that whistling with the ocean sounds in the background. Yeah. Yeah. And you just, whenever you’re at the beach you were sort of like sitting on the jetty singing it. That's it. Yeah. Yeah. So another one is Janis Joplin, who was taken not long after she recorded this song. So the story goes that, she was in a recording studio and they were having problems with the equipment. Mm-hmm. And so she did this kind of one and a half minute anti-consumerism song called, Mercedes-Benz. So it's, oh Lord, why don't you buy me a Mercedes-Benz? Awesome song. Yeah. And it's just a cappella, right? Yeah. There's no instrumentation. It's recorded on like a two track recorder. Yeah. And not long after, that was recorded in September and on October 4th, 1970, she was found dead, from an overdose of heroin. And, like a lot of people…. at the age of 27. Wow. So yeah, just peaking, aren't they? So young. So young. . Gone down in history now. Yeah. Because, Morrison, how old was he? Because he just seems older, but he was probably about the same age. He was 27. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So that's, that's a good one to talk about next actually. Yeah. It's Riders on the Storm. That's the last song that, he performed with The Doors. Yeah. Great. Start to that, with that keyboard, that ghosty sounding keyboard. Yeah. Yeah. So they were messing around with, sounds that they wanted to be, it was a bit kind of based on Ghost Riders in the Sky. Yes. You know that old song? Yeah. Yep. Yeah. And they were messing around with that jazzy style of piano and Jim Morrison….. 'cause he was, you know, kind of fairly poetic and also a bit mixed up. He had this story about a killer hitchhiker on the road and they kind of merged those two things together. And apparently they all kind of went, how good would this be if we added rain and thunder to it? Wow. So that intro Yeah. Which has all that stuff. Yes. That was them kind of messing around in the studio and that that was on La Woman, which was the last album that he recorded before he died. I saw Waynes World, the other, the other night. You know the part where they go off with the Indian into the desert? Oh yeah. And they meet up with, uh, he goes to like a dream world and it takes him and he says. Build it and they will come. The Indian keeps popping up everywhere and taking him back to Jim Morrison and, and Sammy Davis, Jr. They were just hanging out the two of 'em in the middle of a desert. Those movies were awesome. Oh, the best. They were so good. That was the Doors, was that was the Doors. Riders on the Storm. Yeah. I used to cop that all the time at work. Do you know any Doors? Do you know any Doors? Play the Doors. Yeah. Elvis Presley’s last song before he passed away. Oh yeah. Which one was it? Way Down. Oh. Really go on, you know you want to do the voice? No, I don't. Yeah, you do. Oh, come on. Way on down. Way on down. Yeah. Yeah. So that was, a bit under a year before he passed away. A pretty interesting one is John Lennon. Because he was working on a song called Walking on Thin Ice. Yeah. Which actually wasn't his, it was a song that was kind of Yoko's song and it was a new wave kind of song that they were recording and that was going to be her big break. And it's kind of a cool song if you…. the video's available on YouTube and stuff. Okay. But it was a recording of that song 'cause they'd been at the studio that day doing a final mix on it. He had a cassette of that song in his hand when he was killed. Wow. Yeah OK Al. Here's a fact. Mm-hmm. That Yoko and Lennon, I don’t know if it was when they met, but she was having a, like an art show in London somewhere. I think it was in probably 1966, around that time. Yeah. And he walked in and the piece was a plate with a green apple sitting on it. Mm-hmm. Now he thought, hey, you know, it's a bit sort of lame. So he's picked the apple up and taken a bite out of it. Which sent her through the roof, like she did not like the idea of him picking up her piece of art. Yeah. Taking a bite out of it. Yeah. Yeah. True story. Wow. Yeah. That's So I wonder if that's probably where they met. It probably is. Yeah. Good. Good story. First date, I wonder who paid for the apple? Yeah, right. Probably a very expensive apple too. Yes. I wonder if they've still got that apple. I wonder if it truly, I wonder if they've kept that apple. Oh, as in like, you know, you get dried apples. Yeah. Imagine what that would be worth now. Oh yeah. A piece of it just to have a bite. The dried apples, they sort of get 'em in a packet. Yeah. Yeah. Oh well. Well, I mean the amazing thing about when they met was they were both married, but they both fell head over heels obviously, so Yeah. Yeah. Um, she's an unusual woman. Yeah, but like he became incredibly, um, kind of interested in recording again and, you know, for the nerds out there who care about guitars and things…. on that track, he actually pulled out the 1958 Rickenbacker. Yeah. The black and white one that he used so much with The Beatles. Um, that's what he played on that song. And isn't it interesting? It's pretty cool on December the fourth and he was killed on December the eighth, so, you know. Yeah. Isn't it interesting the connection there with the Japanese and like Lennon or The Beatles? Because being there, you see all these bands who play the music, and everyone seems to know about the Beatles. Yeah. I know they're sold worldwide, but yeah, it's just interesting. Well, I see a connection. I don't know if they're, yeah….. Well, you were in Japan recently, weren't you? Yeah. Yeah. So yeah. Okay. Hey, here's a couple of quick sidetracks on John Lennon. Okay. The last thing that he recorded, was a song called Grow Old with me. I remember something about this. Yeah. And it was only a demo track. It was actually inspired by a romantic poem by Robert Browning. And, in fact, after Lennon was murdered, Yoko found his final Christmas gift to her, which was some handwritten poetry by Robert Browning all framed up in his handwriting. A pretty cool thing to do. Yeah. But he never got to finish the song, but they used the demo on the posthumous album, Milk and Honey that came out in 1984. Yeah, I remember that. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, final sidetrack on that. There's more. There's more. There's only one more. You know how Lennon kind of disappeared from music from kind of the 1975 era onwards? He went very quiet, went really quiet. Yeah. The rumour is that it was the B -52s Rock Lobster that made him kind of come out of retirement. Because he heard that and he went, oh wow. That's something different. It's fresh and you know, maybe I need to be in music again. Wow. Look, Rock Lobster doesn't seem like it goes back that far. I know it does, but yeah, it goes back that far. It's, yeah. Well it was released on the album in 1979. Right? Wow. Yeah. And that's when he came back into music. So, thanks to Rock Lobster. Yes. The B-52 guys. Yeah. Yeah. There you go. Tin Roof!! What was the Chevy? Different song, but still. Yeah. Oh, that's right. That was, yeah. Yeah. That's just my way. The B-52s first album…. I always remember a reviewer wrote how great it was. Yeah. But the guitarist, Ricky, never discovered any of the three top strings on the guitar. He only played bottom three strings. Yeah. Yeah, that's pretty right when you listen to that stuff. Multiply that by a whole bunch of other tracks. Yeah. And they're all kind of just him on the bottom strings, so wow. There you go. Enough nerding out the B-52s. So let's jump onto another one… Another artist that didn't know she was recording her last material was Amy Winehouse. With a song called Body and Soul that she recorded with Tony Bennett. Oh, yeah. So she'd dominated the Grammys with Rehab being Song of the Year in 2008, and Best New Artist, and she loved Tony Bennett and got to do this collaboration with him. But just months later, she tragically died from alcohol poisoning. Again. At the age of 27, recurring theme. Amazing. Yeah. Tony Bennett, they prop him up everywhere, don't they? Well, just sort of. Is he still around? He's gone now. But you know, they're still propping him up. You see him with Elton, you see him with, you know, Elvis Presley, the Doors, anyone? What was his big hit? His biggest hit was, what's it? San Francisco, wasn't it? Oh, yeah. Oh, how did that song go? It doesn't matter. You wanna sing it? I know you do. I've lost it. It came into my head and it was just gone. Now. Doesn't matter. Let's move on. All right, moving on. This is, probably the saddest ….. I left my heart in St. Crabs Disco. That's it. I just dropped the mic. Tony Bennett, ladies and gentlemen. Yeah, he’s left the building. Try the veal. We're here all week. As I was saying before, I was interrupted by Sand Crabs Disco. Yeah. Probably the saddest section of this little…. that song. Oh dear. Oh, you've outed yourself. Yes, it is. Probably the saddest section is when people knew they were dying and they decided to record one last thing, or as much as they could. So, Freddie Mercury, when he was dying of AIDS and, and knew it, he recorded with Queen and he said to the guys, I know I'm on borrowed time. The plan is to record whenever, you know, I feel well enough and just make as much use of me as you can, as much as possible. So they kind of lived in the studio for ages. Yeah. And whenever he was well enough, he came in. The last song that he sang was called Mother Love. Mm-hmm. And it's, it's a pretty cool song. I must admit I love Queen, but I never kind of got into it at the end there. Yeah. But actually, he recorded as much as he could and he said, oh, I'll come back and record the third verse another time. And he never did. So Brian May sings it. Okay. Yeah, I don't think I've heard it. No. Well, if you heard it, you'd probably go, oh yeah. That's sort of a generic queen song. Yeah. There's nothing wrong with it. But when you listen to it now, it's kind of cool because at the end, they've put in the audio from that massive concert at Wembley. Yes. When he's got the whole crowd just singing along and all that stuff. Mm-hmm. And, and it's just him interacting with the audience. Wow. And it's just great. And it finishes with a baby's cry. Yeah. Which kind of signifies the circle of life and that's their tribute to their fallen leader. So. Wow. Pretty sad. Yeah, it is pretty sad while the vibes are low. Yeah. I was, I was thinking more of the circle of life with Elton. I dunno. It popped into my head. I don't know. Which is sad. That is sad. That song. Yes. Warren Zevon, who is, was a legend. Yeah. Again, knew he was on borrowed time and his last song was called Keep Me in Your Heart. And he kind of refused the treatments that might comfort him, but would hinder his ability to play and to sing. So wow. He actually went to work. Yeah. And amazingly, he had all sorts of people around him for the final album called The Wind. So he had, Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Brown, Tom Petty, Don Henley, Joe Walsh, Timothy B. Schmidt from the Eagles. Yeah. And when he was too sick to go into the studio, they built a studio around his lounge room. Wow. And it gets sadder because with his pregnant daughter looking on, he sang the words he'd written after realising his time was pretty well on borrowed time. And it says, ‘if I leave you, it doesn't mean I love you any less’. Keep me in your heart for a while. Wow. Yeah. So that's pretty cool. And after two weeks, he passed away, so that was amazing. And gone at 56. Okay, so another one Mart, kind of equally sad is Chris Cornell. Yeah. Former lead singer of Sound Garden. His last song was a song called You Never Knew My Mind, which was a Johnny Cash song. And, he'd actually met Johnny Cash and he'd appeared on an album as a tribute to Johnny Cash. Oh, really? Yeah. The Man in Black. Yeah. But a pretty sad song when you realise that he committed suicide not long after. So you never knew my mind kind of maybe was a little tell there. A little prophetic. Yeah. Another one is David Bowie, who definitely knew he was on borrowed time. So his album Black Star was something he was working on right up until the end. He died of lung cancer? No, he died of liver cancer. Liver cancer? Yeah. He'd been privately battling it for 18 months. Okay. But I don't think it was any surprise to the people that were working with him on this album. Because his swan song as a goodbye to fans is called Lazarus. You know, the lyrics are saying things like. Look up here, I'm in heaven. Mm. And another song that he recorded on the album, I can't Give Everything Away. Yeah. Where, you know it became pretty clear that he was just getting through it. Yeah. And so he'd go to chemotherapy and then spend the afternoons in the studio. So Bowie…. I didn't know Bowie died on his birthday. He didn't die on his birthday, but it was released on January the eighth, 2016. Yeah. Which was his 69th birthday. Yeah. And two days later, was when he passed away. Who's the English comedian that, that he did the song about on his show? I think it was The Extras or something. Oh, yeah. With Ricky Gervais, little Fat Man. Sad Little Fat man. Yeah. Yeah. He's in the background. No, that's not good. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, Ricky Gervais tells a great story about. David Bowie. Because he was a massive fan of him. He even.…. he even had a band, didn't he? And he, he sounded Oh yeah, he sounded like Bowie. Yeah. Yeah. But he, he wanted to get Bowie to come on Extras and Yeah. And behave like a real prat. Yeah. And Gervais said it'd be great if you could do a song, you know, if you could write something like Life on Mars. Bowie just went, yeah, sure. I'll write a life on Mars for you. So that's why in the show, he is just sitting at the piano. Yeah. And Gervais is sort of opening up to him saying, oh, I'm on this show, but I don't really like it and people don't really respect me. And then he starts tinkering and fat man. Yeah. Depressing little soul or something like. Yeah. And I've just loved the way Ricky Gervais is in the background sort of agreeing, but then going, oh, uh, well I'm not really! Apparently when Gervais went on stage. And he was just sort of becoming famous as a standup. Yes. The last performance that David Bowie gave was that he walked on and introduced him. And just had a mouth harp. Yeah. He just played this little tune and he started singing. Sad Little Fat man. Yeah. Yeah. What a dude. Yeah. They are dudes, aren't they? Oh yeah. So good. So good. Speaking of funny things. Yeah, I reckon this is great. Glen Campbell. Who knew, we've talked about Glen Campbell fairly recently in one of our episodes. Yeah. Glen Campbell's great. In 2011, he announced his farewell tour, and not long after he announced why, because he'd been battling Alzheimer's. So he really just couldn't cope with performing anymore. He was touring with his daughter. His longtime collaborator, Julian Raymond, recalled him saying. I dunno what everyone's worried about. It's not like I'm gonna miss anyone anyway. So the last song he recorded is called, I'm Not Gonna Miss You. Yeah, he was good. Great voice. Yeah. Yeah. So brutally honest. Yeah. So let's just raise the tone a little bit and have a chat about some bands that knew that they were breaking up. Okay. And so this is the last ever song that they recorded together. So Roxy Music, um, Avalon. Avalon. Avalon. Yeah. Now they'd recorded all of this, but then they went back into mix it and they realised that they wanted to rerecord that title track. Yeah. But to me, the neat thing here is there was a. A band, a Haitian band that were recording in the studio nearby, and they heard this girl's voice, she couldn't speak English. Mm-hmm. But they went, wow. Have you heard that girl? Yeah, and so they actually got her in, her name's Yannick Etan. They got her to do all that high stuff on Avalon. If you, if you hear the song you go, oh, that's right. It's got this girl just doing all this amazing stuff. That's her. She didn't speak English. But that's the last ever song that they recorded together. In 1982. I wonder how much they paid her. I don't know. Here's 50 bucks. Probably. Thank you. Oh gosh. We could do a whole segment about that. Oh yeah, yeah. I remember I went to just, sorry, this is just a sidetrack. Yeah. I went with my dad to a jazz concert and a saxophone player was up there. And he, that's who we came to see this guy in this dingy little place playing, and he's told the story of doing the solo on Billy Joel ‘s Just the way you are. Yeah. And he was really bitter. It was like he made the song because this is a great sax solo wasn't, yeah. And he tells the story and he was really bitter and he was really sort. Having a go at Billy Joel. And what , he just got paid for like an hour of studio time? Yeah. There you go, mate. On your way. Wow. Here’s a couple of bucks. Oh, sorry. You dropped 50 cents. There you go. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Good story. Speaking of bands breaking up and knowing they were breaking up, The Police is probably one that, have the most acrimonious breakups of all. Sting and Stewart Copeland, the drummer, I think they were very volatile, weren't they? Both of them. Very volatile. And, being a trio, poor Andy Summers, the guitarist was just kind of in the middle of it all. Mm. And they'd kind of finished, you know, they did, the World tour in 1984. And Sting had been starting his solo career and Stewart Copeland was working on a film and Andy Summers was doing an album with Robert Fripp. Yeah. Which is terrific. But then the record company decided they wanted them to. Oh. They did a few shows for Amnesty International, but then they ended up back in the studio to do this kind of a mix for a Greatest Hits album. Mm-hmm. They wanted to record some songs and I think the record company booked a whole bunch of time thinking that, well. If we can get these guys in a studio, they'll probably come up with a whole lot of new material. Yeah. And potentially a new album. But, Stewart Copeland had broken his collarbone so he couldn't play drums. Yeah. So they had the studio book for three weeks. And instead of drumming, they had a thing called a Sinclavia and they had a Fairlight, so they've got two synthesizers. Yeah. And of course, apparently it was just a massive fight over which of those they should use because again, Sting and Stewart Copeland really didn't like each other and they wanted to use one or the other. Andy Summers said I played my guitar part on the first night. The other 20 days was just those two arguing about the two machines. Pathetic? Yeah. So, there were two songs they recorded. There was a slowed down, sort of more synth version of Don't Stand So Close to me, which was called Don't Stand so Close to me, 86, which apparently no one likes. And they also recorded Do, do do, Da da, da da one more time. Oh yeah. But anyway, they reunited for one last tour and that was it. And, I follow Stewart Copeland on social media. Yeah. And yeah, it's fair to say he's not a massive fan of Sting. from things I've seen from Sting. He's not a massive fan of Stewart still, so. Yeah. I think his Sting's got a theatre thing out there. He's in Brisbane. Yeah, he is. Yeah. Yeah. Having said that, they both recognised that they were really good. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And, Andy Summers is just legendary and was a bit older than both of them. So I think he was just like, will you guys just get it together, you know? Yeah. Yeah. A shame. Yeah. They were sensational when they came out. They were just something different. Yeah. Had a punky look about them, but they had a crisp reggae, come, rocky, come, great sound. I saw them at Festival Hall. Yeah. When. Regatta de Blanc had just come out. Yeah. So that was the second album. Yeah, and I've never seen a whole venue look exactly the same. Everyone had bleach blonde hair. And they all had a Sting shirt on. It was, it was hilarious. It was so hilarious. But, an amazing concert. Didn't they call him, didn't he get his name Sting from when he was playing jazz and he used to wear a stripy shirt? Yeah. And the band, well, the guys around him used to call him Sting. Yeah, that's it. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. What a legend. Yeah, a bit of a legend and yeah. I've never seen a whole concert crowd where every guy wanted to look like one of the three members of the, of The Police. It was pretty cool. Yeah. All right. Moving on, The Beatles. Ah, here we go. Because, we’ve got to include a Beatles song if you're talking about band breakups. (singing From me to you– Nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah) Not quite. Fast Forward about six years and you've got, Because. You could say that Real Love was the last Beatles song, but that was the one where. Paul, George and Ringo had sort of added music to an old John Lennon recording on tape. But the last time they were all in the studio at the same time and actually working together was Because, in 1969. Wow. Because, which was that ? Like, why can't I think of that? Because the world is round it turns me on. It's a John song. It's got, yes. Yeah. It's a great sound. Yeah. And, apparently it's the last time they all recorded as a foursome, even though there's no percussion in it. Yeah. So you've got, George Martin controlling all these backing vocals. Yeah. Where you've got. John, Paul and George, and they recorded three voices, three times. So you've got nine voices on it. But to keep the guitar and harpsichord in lockstep, you've got, Ringo just playing a high hat into the headphones, so technically yeah. So for Beatles nerds, there you go. Yeah. A fun one is Badge by Cream. For people who maybe aren't familiar with Cream, they were called Cream because they were considered to be the very best at what they did. So you've got Eric Clapton on guitar, Jack Bruce on bass and Ginger Baker on drums. But they knew they were breaking up and the album was even called Goodbye. So there was no hiding that fact. The song on the album called Badge was one that, Clapton actually co-wrote with George Harrison. Yeah. So as a side note, they were sitting opposite each other. Mm-hmm. George said he was writing down lyrics. He got to the middle part where the bridge would be, so he wrote Bridge, Clapton looked over and said….. Badge. What's badge? Because he was reading it upside down. Oh yeah. Apparently Ringo wandered in drunk and gave them a line, which was about the swans that live in the park. Because of, contractual reasons, George was called Angelo Mysterio on the song credits. But anyway, again for, music nerds. Yeah, they just kept it, they called it Badge. So, a few laughs in amongst the sadness. Yes. Yeah, it was a little bit sad. Oh, well, we'll, we'll change tone in a sec. Yeah. Hey Mart, in the past we've talked about companies like Heinz. Yeah. And what a fascinating background they have. Oh, incredible. Yeah. Yeah. Really good. I've come across a bunch of info about the Shell Company. Oh, this is gonna be interesting. Yeah. And it's not an ad for Shell by any stretch, but it's just some interesting stuff that I found. I always think it's fascinating to understand where they came from. Well, Shell being in oil. Yeah. Well, I, yeah, shells, ocean. I'm sort of conjuring up here. Why they would call it Shell. Yeah. Well, and that to me, the origin is the story. Yeah. Yeah. Like I'm trying to piece why petrol and Shell Yeah. Yeah. I'm thinking fossils, I'm thinking. Yeah. So tell me more, Al. Alright. Oh, okay. So jump into the time machine. Yep. We're going back to 1833 in a place called Houndsditch, which is a street in the east end of London. “Hello”. I wish I could have put a bet on that. “What can I do you for?” So there's a fellow by the name of Marcus Samuel, and he's got an antiques business, and he decided to try selling Oriental seashells. Wow. I'm visualising this. This is amazing. Yeah, because he's sort of tapping into the popularity of the interior design interest is, what year is this again? This is 1833. 1833. A store selling seashells. Yeah. By the seashore. Yeah. And you know, I was thinking about this, in the end, apparently he ran a seashell shop rather than antiques. Say that ten times fast. Yeah. It's easy for you to say, yeah, he ran a seashore, he sells seashells. I dunno that the east end is by the seashore, but no, but it makes sense because when you think about, well if you think about beaches in England, yes, the shells are probably limited to, I don't know, perry winkles and yeah, I, I couldn't tell you that. I don't know, especially in the East end. “Hello Governor, what you got there?” But you can imagine how exotic it must have been. Yeah. If you could have like conch shells and, you know, all these, all these kind of exotic looking shells, exotic looking shells that, that he could import. So apparently he did incredibly well out of that. Right. Wow. And then nothing to do with petrol. Not at all. But in 1870, he passed away and his two sons, Marcus, Jr. And Samuel, can't believe somebody was called Samuel Samuel. But anyway, mm-hmm. They began to expand the business and 10 years later they became particularly interested in oil. But shipping was the problem because oil was carried in barrels, right. They could leak and they took up a lot of space. And to solve that problem, they actually commissioned a whole fleet of steamers to carry oil in bulk. So these guys were…. that was pretty ambitious wasn't it? They were onto it, yeah. From a shell shop. Yeah. So they had a steamer built called the Murex, and in 1892, that became the first oil tanker to pass through the Suez Canal. Wow. I now you've been through the Suez Canal? Yes, I have been through the Suez Canal. You have mentioned I've sailed through the Suez Canal when I was deported from, from the motherland to Australia….. for stealing a loaf of bread. Yeah. On the SS Canberra first class. Yeah. And like I was only six, but I remember it. Yeah. I remember like going through the Suez Canal, seeing flying fish. Yep. Uh, dolphins and seeing Arabs. Yeah. To, to this day. I remember seeing Arabs on camels. And sand dunes in the middle of the desert and you're in a ship. Just cruising through this canal. Yeah. Yeah. I still remember it. It was amazing. Much like the view out of our window here on the Strait of Hormuz! Well, it brings back memories. This, this place. Wow. And it's such a. Dangerous place. Yeah. Yeah. Like the whole thing is so dangerous and always has been. Yeah. So these guys were onto the idea of bulk transport. Yeah. And it, you know, really cut the cost of transporting oil around the place. So pretty amazing. A big part of their business was kerosene. Mm-hmm. And, they had a major competitor back then, which was called Standard Oil. And Standard Oil is a name that is connected to some of the biggest oil companies in the world right now. Okay. But back then they had blue cans for their kerosene. Yeah. And these guys created red cans and the cans could be used for anything. because remember, this is like the late 1880s. Yeah. 18 hundreds at least. So they use them for bed pans. They use them to flatten out and use on roofing and all sorts of things. Wow. So, pretty amazing because…. I just found it interesting that, two brands. Yeah. Two pretty big brands by this stage. Yeah. And one's red. One's blue. Yeah. 'cause the amount of brands now that still major on those colors. Yes. You think red and you think, you know, Macs in KFC and Coke and Lego and, and politics target Well, political parties. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and then the blue with, you know, Facebook and VW and Wow. Visa and, you know, all these things. So anyway, by 1897, they had renamed their company the Shell Transport and Trading Company. “I think we should rename it. I could see 'em on a, on a, on an oil tanker. With the cigarette. Yeah. Up to the mouth. Going it, I think we should change the name.” I dunno if the cigarette would've been the wisest move, but I think the seashell business was long gone. Yeah. they actually launched, a refinery in Dutch Borneo, so the Dutchy Indies. And then as with the turn of the century, they were in major competition with standard Oil. In 1901 when, oil was found in Texas when Jed was shooting at some food…. Yeah. Not from the ground came a bubbling brew. Exactly. And Marcus Samuel pulled off an amazing coup because he won all the transport and distribution rights over standard all, and at the time they had a, a smaller competitor called Royal Dutch, and they'd started to construct their own tankers as well. And, um, they'd kind of set up sales within Asia and what have you. And because of overproduction, all of a sudden the Shell tankers sat idle, so eventually they merged with Royal Dutch and for a long time, I dunno if you know with Shell, you kind of hear Royal Dutch shell, but that's where those two names come from. It's from a merger back in 1907. And Shell still calls that the birthday of Shell when those two companies merged, so, wow. Yeah. When you think what's happening in the world, that's what the way makes the world go round as we're seeing now. Well, this is the amazing thing. I mean, they started operation in Australia in 1901. Not many cars around at that point. No, but lots of kerosene. Yeah. The interesting thing though, is. They started operating through Europe and in many parts of Asia they were exploring and producing, and these names might be familiar to you in places like Russia, Romania, Venezuela, wow. Mexico, the US. So they're a real success story. And also they were like sponsoring a lot of like motor races and those old ones where they had the leather cap with the round glasses. Well, it would've been back then. Yeah. And here we are at the bottom and, and totally to demonstrate how, great their product was. Right. Wow. The real reason you would sponsor something like that Yeah. Rather than just sticking a logo on the side of something. Wow. They sponsored record breaking races and flights. In the Antarctic, Ernest Shackleton and Captain Scott, they used Shell fuel. The cross-channel flights were made using Shell spirit and all this stuff. So yeah, it was probably cheap as chips back then. Yeah, well, probably was. And you know, there was a lot of expansion basically between the First and Second World Wars because. Of the use of motorcars and the demand for petrol. Yeah. You know, everything. Even the tanks… Yeah, exactly. During the first World War, they became the main fuel supplier for the British Army. And a lot of their ships were actually kind of commandeered by the Navy. Wow. Yeah. Including the Murex that I mentioned before. And then in World War ii, you know, their office was kind of, dedicated to the war effort and, they were investigating new fuels and things for aircraft, like the Spitfire, so yeah. Yeah. Geez. But an interesting one, I was looking at their history in Borneo in, now Indonesia, and there's a, there's a city called Balakpapan. That was a city in which they had two processing plants. Yeah. They had, all sorts of refining. They had a tin and drum factory. They, it actually employed 7,000 locals and about a thousand European employees, and they were turning out. About a million tons of oil annually. So of course when the war came, Balakpapan was like a crucial port, because it's on the southeast coast of Borneo. So it had an airstrip. Yeah, it was a port. So it was like a major target for the Japanese to conquer. Yeah. And um, yeah, they wanted it desperately, didn't they? Yeah, they did. Yeah. So it was a strategic and a tactical target. And so, you know, there was a massive, battle, in 1942 where quite a few Australians and Japanese lost their lives. And, ultimately the refinery had to actually be destroyed before the Japanese occupation occurred, so Yeah. Pretty amazing. Yeah. Yeah. And then, you know, in mid 20th century, so Royal Dutch Shell was one of what they call the seven sisters, the seven big oil companies in the world. Yeah. So, Standard Oil, you've got Exxon, which was Standard Oil of New Jersey. You've got Mobil Standard Oil of New York. Yeah. Chevron, standard Oil of California. And then you had Texaco. Gulf Oil and, and Royal Dutch Shell. Oh, and the Anglo Persian oil company, which was basically British Petroleum. So, wow. So they were among the major players. How you remember Esso? Mm-hmm. Where would that have come from? Esso was Exxon, I think. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. There's a lot of sort of spinoff brands, I suppose. Yeah, especially in countries like Australia. Yeah. I don't see it now. No, no, no. I think there's a lot that have gone by the wayside. There's a lot of new names out there now, isn't. It's like Golden Fleece. Remember that? Yeah. Yeah. Golden fleece. Exactly. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The people, there's, there's a whole, this is getting off track, but there's a whole kind of a community of people who collect tins. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And like if you can get a certain golden fleece one, it's like, oh, oh wow. That's the holy grail of tins, you know? Yeah. They used to be the so and Golden Fleece. Yeah. Amazing. Yeah. It's cool, eh? Yeah. Now it's 7-up. Yeah, that's right. 7-up fuel. Yeah. Oh, it's 7-Eleven, isn't it? Yes. come get a donut while you fill up. Yeah. And a cup of coffee and a Mars bar. Yeah. Would you like a Mars bar with that? All at very reasonable prices. Yeah. Um, the Gap one's just got a new coffee machine in it, so. Oh, is it? Yeah. Good to know. Mm-hmm. So just on Shell, they're the people that started super tankers. Huge tankers. Yeah. Mega tankers. Exactly. Yeah. They almost look like they're gonna snap in half. They're so big. Yeah, they are. And, and they use super tankers also for LNG, for liquified natural gas. Okay. And, one of the cool, fun facts I found about them was, there's a thing called the Prelude, which is the world's largest floating, liquified natural gas facility. In 2017, they floated it 5,800 kilometers from a shipyard in South Korea to be positioned off Western Australia. Wow. You imagine the seas. Yeah. And they're just moving this massive thing. It's just amazing what people do. Yeah. Yeah. And these engineers work it all out. Yeah. So in 2016, they bought the BG Group. For $70 billion. I think it's fair to say that shell aren't struggling for money. No. The thing that's sad for me is there's only one shell shaped garage left in the world. Really? There, there were a few, but there's one in North Carolina now apparently. But I reckon it'd be cool if they had more. Yeah, I think so too. Interesting buildings. Yeah. Anyway. Yeah. I wonder if they were behind the Bee Gees. So, but you said Bee Gees Oh BG… random probably. I, no, but if they put a shell up to their ear, they can hear the Bee Gees. That's the best I can do. Yeah. Sorry that just came to mind. I'm glad it did, could, could've happened. They were from England. Yeah, well, exactly. Yeah. So of course that would be it. I was thinking it might've been the two brothers. Anyway. A pretty good story and a fairly meteoric rise. Yeah. From what started out. That's a great story. Yeah. Yeah. From a little, it's pretty amazing. Yeah. You just don't think of those things now. Yeah. That's incredible. Everything's got an origin story, huh? Well, it make, it seems so primitive, like for back then, like Yeah. You know the cars, you think you'd drive around with wooden wheels and rubber tires and Yeah. You know, guys with leather helmets and round glasses. Yeah, but, and scarves. But you know what, how smart was the guy to start importing like exotic shells? Because Joseph Banks was only like 1770. Yeah. This is only like 60 years later. So Banks was sort of drawing, you know, this is what these trees look like in this exotic place. Yeah. Charles Darwin was kind of around doing his thing then. Yeah. You know, drawing totoises. What was the island? What was the island? Galapagos. Galapagos, yeah. Yeah. There's a story about the Galapagos there. On sailboats they brought back, um, turtles. Yeah, there's tortoise. Tortoise. Yep. These old tortoises, they never made it back, they ate them. Oh. Apparently they're really quite, the flesh was quite nice. And they are a delicacy. “How many have we got left? One. Don't eat that one. No one is to eat that. Uh, sir, don't tell me. Yeah. Well, as a matter of fact”…. just a guy with a napkin tucked into his shirt and a really guilty but satisfied look on his face and a bone. Oh, dear, dear. Oh dear. Alright, well there you go. That's the history of Shell. Yeah. And turtle shells. Yeah, no, it's a terrific story. Yeah, I really like that. Okay, our, the last fun fact, the last fun fact have you got, okay. Well it's interesting because as we always say, we base everything we talk about on either things we've discovered online, or documentaries we've watched or on things we recall. And you know, we're kind of 99% sure things are right. Yeah. Could be a bit loose here and there could be. But with this last fun fact, we know it's a hundred percent right because it's based on lexicology, which is the study of language. Okay. Alright. And this is gonna be good. This one is all about salt. Mm. Okay. And just how many words in our language we maybe don't realise are all based on the use of salt. First of all, where does the word salt come from so, I actually found this on a post from Floydian and Cookery. So thanks to those guys that, um, they keep alive the memory of a guy called Floyd Carzon, who's an Indian American chef. Mm-hmm. Um, but pretty interesting stuff if you want to follow that online. So salt is something that has appeared in languages all through history. It's pretty important stuff. It is pretty important. And if you look back at, ancient Rome, the soldiers were often paid in salt. Wow. And that's, or salarium was the word. And that's where we get our word salary from. I couldn't imagine being paid in salt Al. Well, “Lin, here's another bag. Put it in the shaker. Is it pink?” That's right. Sorry. Yeah. But obviously salt back then was used for curing and for all sorts of things. So it was incredibly valuable. So yeah, solarium is, an abbreviation of salarium Argentum, which is salt money Wow. In ancient Latin. So, that's where we get the word salary from payment for work. So, salad comes from the vulgar Latin word salata, meaning having been salted. And it also relates to the fact that Romans loved eating, um, raw green, seasoned with salty brine dressings. So. Wow. Technically what a salad is in ancient Latin, in French salade refers to a dish made with salty vegetables, salad, salad. It sounds like salad, doesn't it? Slightly. But in Spanish you've got salsa, which refers to a sauce made with Salt. That sounds like a dance, a salty ingredient. Yeah. Well. And sausage. So, sausage, yeah. But sausage is from the Latin, Salsicius, which means prepared by salting. You've got Lummi, which is the general name for several kinds of cured Italian meats. Salumi like, like prosciutto and salami. Uh, well, yeah. And salami is very much has its roots in the Latin term Salare which means to salt. You've got sauce, which is a mix of ingredients, so it comes from the vulgar Latin word, salsa. There's a lot of vulgar stuff going on there. There is, yeah, there is. Yeah. Well. I'm sure it doesn't taste that bad though. And saute, of course, is cooking in oil with salt added, so Wow. Yeah. I'm wonder, not sure the term came, that's grail, that's vulgar. I haven't heard that for a while, but Vulgar Latin. There you go. Yeah. Vulgar Latin. Anyway, lots. There's probably lots more as well, but yeah, that's interesting. But yeah, when you start looking into lexicology of this stuff. It's salt. Pretty interesting. Yeah. So if we didn't have salt, we'd have all that information. Well, exactly right. We wouldn't be able to store food. The Romans would've been broke. The Romans, what did they ever give us? Yeah. Salt. Apart from salt, what did they ever give us? Uh, we've done, we've already done this sketch. All right. Well we, when we start quoting, life of Brian, it's probably time to go. Yeah. That was fun. Now that was good fun, mark. Yeah, it was really good. And hopefully everyone at home is enjoying us being idiots together. Yeah. We have a good time. I'm enjoying it. Yeah. as usual, if you want to send us a note, if there's something you'd like us to rave on about, then send us a note to fun Facts and sidetracks@gmail.com. Yeah. And, we will start posting more content on our social links. We've been pretty slack on that front, but, we're getting to that. So, and a big and a big Hello to Di Di. Yes. Fan number one. Indeed, thanks Di. And see you later everyone. See ya. See you next time.