1972
SUMMER TIME * DOMINO JOHNSON * GREEN DOOR 4045 * UK
Based loosely on the George Gershwin song, Domino Johnson, who is another of those mystery figures for me, sings in what I would describe as an 'adult' voice, I don't wish to imply that the lyrics are in any salacious, their not, but his voice lends itself to the kind of straight forward gimmick-less singing more associated with an older generation at that time. On this cut he has shaped his own lyrics to such an extent that the whole tenour of the song has been reversed from one of a celebration of life (even if there is a touch of irony in those original lyrics) to one of bewilderment and confusion with his own existence. Johnson immediately parts from the regular opening stanza by introducing a less positive concept thus: "Summertime and the living is easy, Winter time and the living is strong" then, "Summertime is a time for things to go right, but, all the time I get this yearning to be blue" then he brings in a questioning narrative, almost as if he is musing to himself, with the following lines: "I don't know what I'm trying to do , oh if I could only see my own way through" from here the lyrics become more incoherent and, at times, extraordinary. There's a girl group backing at times when the song resembles the original, and a tantalizing melodica can just be heard way down in the mix. The next side Grazing by the Swans, is unfortunately not a dub as I am sure this would have been, certainly with the melodica mixed up, a top double sider.