‘Little Hands’ - Skip Spence, 1969
The melody for this song, when Skip sings “…all over the wooooorld”, is so moving. This is a melody that Ocean Colour Scene would kill for. Apparently, Skip Spence went a bit “mentalist” (as Alan Partridge would say) from drugs, and attaced a bandmate (he was in Moby Grape) with an axe. After being institutionalised for a bit, he came out and recorded one album, Oar, before fading away due to mental illness and problems with the bottle. He died in 1999. Yep, the kind of guy you listen to if you also like Syd Barrett, Nick Drake, Daniel Johnson, and that type of stuff. ‘Outsider Art’, I think they call it.
As for Oar, the album, well ‘Little Hands’ is the only song that ever really caught me. But what a tune. Spence plays all the instruments himself, which is to say he plays drums, bass and guitar, while also providing vocals.
His voice sounds a bit broken and defeated, but that’s the point, right? The song shuffles along, carried by the brilliant melody. I don’t really know much about Spence, but this has long been a favourite of mine. Give it a listen.
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