This is going to be a short blahg. This is the introduction. Short, hunh?
Back in 2017 I wrote a blahg with the title CELEBRATING PAUL QUARRINGTON. I wrote about my fascination with writer and singer Paul Quarrington and how I met him twice and had him sign a book, a 45 rpm, and the 1979 Quarrington-Worthy LP. Here’s what the Quarrington-Worthy LP looks like:
Here’s the back after I had Paul Quarrington autograph it for me:
In my previous Paul Quarrington blahg, I featured some tracks from the Quarrington-Worthy album plus some tracks with Paul’s vocals from his brother Tony’s LP “Top Ten Written All Over It.” Here’s the strange cover to that LP:
My blahg, also featured a song from the band Porkbelly Futures that Paul was in from 2004 to 2010. Paul’s last album was “The Songs” in 2010. Sadly, Paul also passed away in 2010 and there would be no more music.
I hadn’t thought about Paul Quarrington in a while. Yesterday, however, one of his songs from his brother Tony’s LP came up in rotation on my music player. It reminded me that there were more songs from Quarrington-Worthy. I had purchased a promo record of sorts a few years ago that had been issued by CBC Radio Canada in 1976 because it featured four songs from Paul Quarrington and Martin Worthy. Here’s the front cover:
Here’s the rear cover:
This album featured other bands but we see that Quarrington and Worthy were together as early as 1976 and this album contained four songs by them: “Tryin’ Like The Devil,” “Sumpin,” “Devil’s Rodeo,” and “Mary Cargill.” “Tryin’ Like The Devil ” is on the 1979 Quarrington-Worthy LP but I believe this 1976 version is slightly different. At least the introduction is completely different. Here’s the 1976 version and below it, I’ll post the 1979 version for comparison.
1976 version of “Tryin’ Like The Devil”:
Here’s the 1979 version:
Here are the other three songs by Quarrington and Worthy from the CBC album:
“Sumpin”
“Devil’s Rodeo”
“Mary Cargill”
I like these 1976 songs but I’ve discovered there was also a single from 1978 that featured two songs by Quarrington and Worthy that did not appear anywhere else. The two songs were “Stay Awhile” and “Jewel Eyes.” Here are images of the two sides of the 45rpm single:
Luckily, I was able to track down audio for the two songs. My new favourite is “Jewel Eyes.”
JEWEL EYES:
STAY AWHILE:
I started looking for other Paul Quarrington releases or performances. I came across this video on YouTube of Paul Quarrington with his brothers Tony and Joel performing in 2009, a year before Paul died. The song is “Blame It In My Youth”:
Somewhere in my record collection I also have an album by Joe Hall and the Continental Drift. I know that both Paul Quarrington and Martin Worthy were part of that band. I know that Paul did some vocals but it was mostly Joe Hall. Here’s a video of them all performing live in 1978. Paul is contributed as playing Bass and background vocals.
I miss Paul Quarrington. He was a great author and a great singer/songwriter. I’m glad I remembered about the CBC record and even happier that he came up in the song rotation yesterday. I hope you will remember to check out other songs by Paul Quarrington and definitely read his books. There was and never will be anyone like him.