Trip Out On THIS!!!
 

So last week I mentioned I finally bought "Say You Will". I love the song "What's The World Coming To". Nice catchy pop song. So I'm reading the credits and notice it's credited to LB and Julian Raymond. Now that name was VERY familiar to me because I've been involved in the L.A. music scene since the 80's playing mostly in one band for 16 yrs and a couple of others prior to that. Julian used to be in a band called Bang Bang in the mid 80's. They were sort of a Duran Duran kind of band. Then they broke up and he formed the band Dear Mr. President. Julian was the singer in both these bands. Dear Mr. President was a little more L.A. Glam Rock if you will but not as sleazy. Anyways, I used to see both of these bands quite a lot and met Julian on a number of occassions. So it inspired me to pull out the Dear Mr. President cassette (Yes, I said cassette). They put out 1 album for Atlantic Records. Well, track number 3 is titled "What's The World Coming To?". So of course I listened and lo and behold, it's the same song just with different lyrics. I guess LB rewrote the lyrics except for the chorus. He must have really liked the song. I know Julian over the years has done a lot of producing. I wonder how the conversation went and how LB got the idea to re-do that song. Just a little history on the tune in case you didn't know.

Interesting. I wonder if there is a way you can post this track for us to hear.

I was thinking that same thing. I need to figure out how to transfer cassettes to CD's or mp3. I would love to post it for all. I also found a bunch of treasures while looking for this album that I want to get transferred.

This is interesting. He did something similar for Shut Us Down on the Under The Skin album too.

http://ledge.fleetwoodmac.net/showthread.php?t=33699

I am dying to hear Julian Raymond's original version.

Let me work on getting the tapes transferred to my PC then I can upload for everybody to hear. I was just looking up on line how to do it so hopefully I can have it done in the next week or so. I'm going to Vegas this weekend for Depeche Mode so I'll work on it when I get back.

Don't worry tr1 I've found it!

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?wvwttyjnmz4

This is great. It was so much fun looking at the difference between Cory Sipper's Shut Us Down v. Lindsey's version and now I look forward to doing it again.

Thank you.

Michele

Since I did all the hard work of tracking down the MP3 :D It would be awesome if someone else could transcribe the lyrics for the Dear Mr. President version so we can compare and contrast as we did for the Cory Sipper version of Shut Us Down.

What an interesting find!

Quite a popsinger by the way. Thanks for the investigationwork!

To the best of my hearing abilities. How cool to hear this! It's soooo 80's and I love the 80's. Thank you for sharing this with us, Sharon!! :D Thanks to tr1 for bringing it to our attention. :)

WTWCT lyrics by Dear. Mr. President

What's the world coming to
Love a man, love a woman
It could be dangerous
Downright dangerous.

Take a walk down your street
See the hungry and weak
Getting beatin' on (?)
While violence rages on, for no reason.

What's the world coming to?
What's the world coming to?

Take the light from my dreams
Shine it all around the world
Pray for wonderfulness
No more prejudice
When the devil plays his hand
It hurts, but understand
A new days got to dawn
So keep on, keepin' on.

Come on people
What's the world coming to?
What's the world coming to?

When I walk out late at night out over the ocean
I can feel the presence of love around me, I swear
Oh, I wonder why so few of us share this emotion.

Come on now
What's the world coming to?
How much longer can we take it?
What's the world coming to?

Come on people
What's the world coming to?
What's the world coming to?

When I walk out late at night out over the ocean
I can feel the presence of love around me, I swear
But I don't understand why so few of us share this emotion.

Come on now
What's the world coming to?
Can't we cover the eyes of hatred?
What's the world coming to?
How much longer can we take it?
What's the world coming to?
What's the world coming to?
Come on, come on.
What's the world coming to?
Let's cover the eyes of hatred.
What's the world coming to?
What's the world coming to?

Violence rages on...yeah, violence rages on.
Keep on, keepin' on.

Awesome! Thank you so much for doing that Christy. The lyrics are very different! Lindsey's are much darker and more personal sounding I think, but what's funny is that the Mac version is poppier. It's a good contrast.

Fleetwood Mac version:

What's the world coming to?
What they say isn't true
You can't plant no seed
Where there's only greed
I can walk anywhere
I can walk anytime
But the lone highway
Is the only way

What's the world coming to?
What's the world coming to?
Everyone's gone to the moon
What's the world coming to?

Every night, every day
In this house filled with shame
I can say I care
But there's no one there
There's no truth in my lies
There's no light in my eyes
And it's all I guess
That I'll ever miss

What's the world coming to?
What's the world coming to?
Everyone's gone to the moon
What's the world coming to?

I can jump right off and fall right into the ocean
I can come right out mean just what I say
But if I don't call for a reservation
They'll just turn me down turn me inside out

I don't say what they want
I don't do what they say
So I'm on their list
So I'm gone I guess

What's the world coming to?
What's the world coming to?
Everyone's gone to the moon
What's the world coming to?

Thank you so much for sharing this discovery. I love this song! I like the Mac's version...but this one might be even better. Very interesting to see the differences. :D

No problem, Sharon.

It's interesting how Lindsey used the word ocean like Julian did, but in a different way. LB's version is most definitely darker and more personal. Also, there is this "I can't win." theme throughout his, while Julian's is more "Can't we all just get along?" :cool:

Trackaghost - Where did you find this? I want to see if I can get the whole album which I've always loved. If the rest isn't available then I'll get the CD on Amazon. The first song "Hey Daddy Have You Ever Been Arrested" is my favorite on that record.

Wondergirl - The whole album has that 80's L.A. Rock feel to it. Lots of reverb on the drums, guitar and vocals. You know this was considered "hard rock" which obviously listening to it now it is not. But they were a great band to see play and Julian was a good vocalist. He had long bleach blonde hair and wore one of those black bollo hats. And the hair was teased of course as we all did back then.

Is the CD even on Amazon? I looked but couldn't find anything other than the cassette version and a listing for the vinyl (with no sellers).

Btw, I found this photo of the band. Which one is Julian, the blonde guy?

Well THAT was interesting to say the least.... I definitely like FM's version better... I think Lindsey is a genius for taking elements and bits and pieces of the song and turning into his own... It's almost like this version was a demo version someone submitted to him for consideration and he turned around and restructured/rewrote it... Cool find.

Julian is the one on the left.

They do have the CD available on Amazon. Some of course are really expensive and then there are some copies for like $6.50.
Try looking up Julian Raymond on there and it might pop up.

Trackaghost, you're good. Where did you find that picture. I was looking on the internet all night trying to find stuff on this band.
They changed their name to Flesh and Blood after their album came out. But they never went anywhere after that.
Julian produced the latest Cheap Trick record, also.

One more thing,
I looked EXACTLY like that back then. Headband and all. It was good times. :]

tr1 I found the picture in this cool article on the band here:

http://www.sleazegrinder.com/flashme...rPresident.htm

And there's lots of info here too:

http://www.musicmight.com/artist/usa...r+mr+president

Nice, Thanks.

LOL at the fact that Lindsey didn't even really write the one "new" song on SYW.

yes he did. But for a part. we knew that already. Julian Raymond was cowriter.

True, but based on the music and even quite a bit of the lyrics, its pretty clear that Raymond was the primary author of this track.

Huh? Other then the title of the song and the repeating of the two lines in the chorus one right after the other I don't see any other lyrics being the same, it's completely re-written lyric wise. The musical part of it was obviously borrowed.

Whuuut? Seems to me that Lindsey's version is markedly different. Other than the repetition of "Whats the world coming to?"

Thank you for typing out those words Christy. Thank you for the MP3 Sharon.

Michele

I know, but after he adapted the Gift of Screws poem to his own musical needs, nothing surprises me anymore. What a force.

Michele

Oh, come on.

"Take a walk down the street" vs. "I can walk anywhere"

"Take the light from my dreams" vs. "Every night, every day"

"When I walk out late at night out over the ocean" vs. "I can jump right off and fall right into the ocean"

Its obvious that much of the song is the same phonetically- he just reworded it to make it about what was on his mind (how WBR were being meanies). Lindsey just reworked a few stanzas and added the "I don't say what they want" part. The primary songwriter is clearly Raymond- I don't know how any reasonable person could argue otherwise.

Hey Luke, I'm sorry I should've been clearer...i was also referring to the way they sound.

I think, other than the lack of the change in the chorus... Lindsey also made the song seem more about him, his state of mind as a father, etc.

Check this out. This is Bang Bang. Julian and the bass player formed Dear Mr. President after this band. This is the hat I was talking about him wearing. Bang Bang was really good. They were Duran Duran like. But if you like 80's music then this is a mostly unseen treasure.
Now finding the Bang Bang album would be a coup. :laugh:
Enjoy kids. Julian does have a great voice. I wonder how him and Lindsey met.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XolpxuLP4IM

Wow. Lindsey's version is classic, Bang Bang's is very much a product of it's time. Lindsey can also sing circles around that dude.