| George Harrison - Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea [Album Version] | Details |
This recording originated from a March 3, 1991 recording of a performance at a George Formby fan convention at Winter Gardens in Blackpool. It was one of several songs performed that day and it was also filmed. The performance was broadcast as part of the documentary Mister Roadrunner by Channel 4 TV (UK) on June 6, 1992. It was from this recording that Jeff Lynne and Dhani Harrison did some additional mixing and added a bit more instrumentation to prepare the song for the Brainwashed album. "The old chestnut, The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea [sic], recorded with Jools Holland's band, finds Harrison performing on ukulele. 'Anyone who knew my dad smiles when they hear that,' says Dhani. 'That's really what he was like around the house.'" "And when we came across a tape of the live TV version of that old chestnut, Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea, which George had recorded years ago with Jools Holland and his band, it was magic. George was front and centre with his ukulele, playing it brilliantly, and his voice was so strong and happy. We had to include that on the album. He was proud of that performance." "Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea, a cover of a Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler standard, features him playing ukelele while Jools Holland and his band brew up a boogie-woogie storm in the background." "The [Brainwashed] disc includes a great cover of Harold Arlen's Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, culled from a British TV appearance with Jools Holland's band a decade ago. In it, Beatle George plays his favorite instrument, the ukulele." "The zippy chestnut Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea captures Harrison rocking the ukulele." "Even the lone cover in the set, Devil In The Deep Blue Sea, given old-timey flavour by the coupling of Harrison's ukulele and Jools Holland's piano, is about struggling to find the means to an end." "His jaunty cover of the standard Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, with Harrison on ukelele and Jools Holland plinking piano, displays his music hall roots." "Harrison sounds charming strumming the ukulele and singing the old standard Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, although Jools Holland and his band could have camped up the instrumental track a little less." "The kicker is a sprightly take on Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler's Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, with Harrison's uke chiming and a mischievous sparkle in his craggy voice. A love song to life, to music, to his wife and family, it's as much of a prayer as the Hindi chant with which he and Dhani close this warm collection." "And the old standard Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea gets a jazzy retelling, buoyed by a velvety vocal." "He hauls out a ukulele and flips the script by covering the moldy oldie Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, and damn if it doesn't sound swell." "...his cover of the Hoagy Carmichael chestnut Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (featuring Harrison on ukulele, with Jools Holland's happily old- fashioned band backing him) is a charmer..." "And let's not forget the charming ukulele turn on Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea that'll leave a grin on your face." "[Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea is] the only composition not by George to be included on the Brainwashed album. The number was penned by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler and the track lasts for 2 minutes and 34 seconds. It was originally recorded in 1991 with Jools Holland and Joe Brown and also featured in the TV show Mister Roadrunner in 1992. It was basically George's tribute to George Formby. George was on lead vocals and ukulele, Jools Holland on piano, Mark Flanagan on acoustic lead guitar, Joe Brown on acoustic rhythm guitar, Herbie Flowers on bass guitar and tuba and Ray Cooper on drums. [...] Produced by George, Jeff Lynne and Dhani Harrison, [the Brainwashed album] contained eleven new Harrison numbers and a cover of an old standard, Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea. [...] 6 June [1992]: The Channel 4 documentary Mister Roadrunner, hosted by Jools Holland, features a 1991 clip of George playing the ukulele and singing Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea." "Of all the music presented on Brainwashed, this carefree cover of a 1930s New York show tune [Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea] probably best embodies George Harrison's private music-making in the last decade of his life. After his interest in 1940s British entertainer George Formby was reignited in the late 1980s, Harrison was rarely to be seen without a ukulele, the instrument Formby made famous, in his hand. Throughout the 1991 Live in Japan tour, George held after-show ukulele sessions in his private suite, and the Friar Park Threetles get-together in the summer of 1994, captured at length on the Anthology DVD, gives ample evidence of his dedication to the four-string instrument. Dhani Harrison provided the most succinct recollection: 'That's really what he was like around the house-all day, just playing the ukulele.' In the context of this album, the piece harkens back to Harrison's formative childhood years listening to the prewar standards of Cab Calloway, Django Reinhardt, and Hoagy Carmichael, Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler penned Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea in 1930, for a show called Rhythm Manta, and the tune quickly became a standard. For George Harrison it was a taste of an era of music that epitomized high-quality songwriting and mucisianship; he would later wonder whether the popular music of the 1990s would still be potent after seventy years. The actual recording on Brainwashed is a stereo remix of a 1991 television appearance for Jools Holland that would have fitted snugly in the holiday mood of Harrison's Gone Troppo set. Here is Harrison in strong voice, performing with a group of friends in an ultrarelaxed spirit. It is bne of the most contented-sounding releases in his catalogue." "George's estate released another song which referenced the devil after the quiet Beatle's death: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea. [This song] is a ukulele cover of the classic Cab Calloway song of the same name." | |
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