03 September 2021

3 September 2021 - Mary's Danish - Underwater

It is rare that I can share one of my favorite songs of all time, by one of my favorite bands of all time.  I know that's not true, but just listen.  Then I'll talk about it.  The song is that good.


Mary's Danish was a LA band that released three studio albums and a live EP.  Yes, I own all of them.  This is from their last, 1992's American Standard. The band was short-lived, which is odd (and completely the fault of their record label, Morgan Creek), because the dual lead vocals from Gretchen Seager and Julie Ritter were legendary - they didn't both sing lead on EVERY song, as their voices tended to hit different styles - Grethen tended towards the harder pop/rock songs, whereas Julie had a bit of a twang that lent itself to a folksier/bluesier sound - but they sure did on this one.  Guitarist David King passed away this summer, so they are unlikely to reform again.  

But they left behind many versions of this song. Take this one, a B-side to this very single.  It's an alternate take that some call "acoustic" but was probably the demo.

 

The band made the rounds of the late night talk shows, and performed this song many times.   Let's start with Leno.  The Tonight Show was recorded in the band's hometown Los Angeles, and boy, did Jay ever look uncomfortable introducing them.... 


Get out of here with your Burbank propaganda.

Next, we go to Letterman.  Dave was far more comfortable introducing them.  I know that because I watched it live.  This recording cuts off his intro.


Also, do you remember CD longboxes?!  Man, those were the days.  

(postscript: if you want to read the heartbreaking story of why Mary's Danish broke up, go here.  They say it far better than we could)

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