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Muskrats’ music: then and now In the early days, before they had a singer, the Muskrats were entirely instrumental and played numbers by, amongst others, Duane Eddy (Peter Gunn, Forty Miles of Bad Road, Rebel Rouser), the Ventures (Walk Don’t Run, Perfidia) and the Shadows (Apache, The Savage, FBI, Quartermaster’s Stores). When the singer came along the instrumental numbers still formed quite a large part of the programme. Later on, they added Hava Nagila, a part of which Tony played behind his head (alas, no longer possible), Hall of the Mountain King and something resembling the theme from Swan Lake (Saturday Night at the Duck Pond!). They copied the Shadow’s jives for the Shadows numbers and one or two others as best they could. They had a sort of signature tune which they called ‘Muskrat Stomp’ with which they usually opened a gig. In the early days their repertoire was probably only an hour’s worth but by the end they could go for three hours (or even more!). Most gigs had an interval, after which they usually started with a fairly dramatic Everly Brothers style Lucille: long guitar intro then Tony Mitchell would appear in his gold lamé suit! Towards the end, there would be the need for a couple of smoochy, slow numbers, one of which was the Shadows’ Midnight. The gig would close with a rock and roll number followed by a sort of signature outtro, borrowed (stolen?) from the Shadows. Nowadays, the Muskrats’ play list includes Eddie Cochran, Dire Straits, Elton John, some Elvis, Robert Palmer, Rod Stewart, Beatles, Lynyrd Skynnyrd, Gerry Rafferty, Pretenders and Cliff and the Shadows and is being added to all of the time. A typical programme might include the following (with those played back in the 60s in bold italics):
The original band cut a disc at Hayton Manor recording studio, near Ashford, a 7” 45 rpm EP with Foot Tapper, Teenager in Love, Hog for You Baby and an instrumental of their own composition (C-E-Am-F – a revolutionary chord sequence in those days, which required hours of study!). Since reforming another record was cut in the summer of 2007, this time a CD with seven tracks, Teenager in Love, Ain't Misbehavin', Lucille (playing now), Summertime Blues/Somethin' Else, Sweet Little Sixteen, Let's Stick Together and Sultans of Swing. |
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