Thank God We Never Covered "Peace Train"!

Long-time and/or attentive readers are perhaps aware of my fondness for The Tremeloes' 60s classic "Here Comes My Baby," written by The Artist Formerly Known as Cat Stevens. They may also recall that my 80s skinny tie band The Floor Models used to cover it, but that no recording has survived.

However, amongst the artifacts I recently retrieved from a dank storage space in the Bronx was a rehearsal tape -- from 1989 -- of three of the four Flo Mos, plus guitarist extraordinaire Doug Goldberg, having a go at the song. In quite lovely stereo.

And here it is.




Lead singer Gerry Devine flubs the opening lyric, and my chum Glen "Bob" Allen is playing on an electronic drum kit, but I think it sounds pretty good none the less. That's me screwing up on bass and harmony vocals, of course.

In all seriousness, of all the songs I've ever played on stage, this has always been the one I enjoyed the most; I think it's something about the Buddy Holly-ish thing at the end of the choruses that gets me.

Given the year this was recorded, however, I can only assume that the then-current fatwah on Salman Rushdie was somewhere on our minds at the time.