Three Time Winner

Releasing on all platforms Friday 14th February 2025.



         

Mick writes:

Here's a celebratory little song in keeping with its Valentine's Day release - to my friend, lover and 'all around standby'.

With a little reference to a bottle of whisky in the sideboard thrown in - just to liven things up. Actually, that verse is all part of the story..

This track was originally going to be an acoustic version of the R&B standard 'Hi-Heel Sneakers'. However I ran into some problems.

'Hi-Heel Sneakers' was written by Tommy Tucker, real name Robert Higginbotham. Well the Higginbotham's are very zealous about controlling their copyright. I don't blame them - I'd do the same if I owned the rights to a blues classic.

And they are known for sending out cease and desist letters if they feel their rights are being abused. In fact I fell foul of them myself when I had an earlier version of the song on release on Bandcamp. No big problem.

And when I applied for a license to release this version of the song I was told it wasn't available. I could have bought it from another source at a ridiculous amount of money, but, you know..

So, what to do? I liked the backing track.. thumped out on my Oxfam acoustic and my 1930s Harmony, with the rhythm on a cardboard box. (No tuning involved). And it is, after all, a generic twelve bar blues, so no reason not to insert a new song into the track.

Well I'd been looking for an excuse to employ the phrase 'all around standby' which I'd pinched from a BB King song, so 'Three Time Winner' fell into place.

And the whisky verse? Well that's a little tribute to Mr. Higginbotham's original, where he sings about his 'Old Crow Liquor'. Back in the days when we were making regular ferry trips over to mainland Europe for gigs and tours, I always grabbed a bottle of something from Duty Free on the ship.. often a bottle of cheap and cheerful Claymore whisky. I always think of our bass player Ian Ellis noting my purchase with a gaelic twinkle in his eye.. 'ah Mick's got his Claymore'.

So I hope you enjoy this rocking little acoustic jam on this Valentine's Day, which you can dedicate to your own 'All Around Standby'. Three Time Winner.