I found this on twitter
https://twitter.com/PeteOlshansky/statu ... 0905873408

Blimey charley. It's there in the lists: http://thegardenforum.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2047&p=19186&hilit=mars#p19186.

Where on earth did this come from? And who's going to ask?

PS., I neglected to say, well done for finding it. I'm just boggling a bit.

This is difficult to untangle. Without the 'Teledubgnosis' tag you'd probably ascribe it to the Is This Desire period or, given the Millennium reference in the lyrics, to the pieces linked to The Book of Life. The orchestration certainly sounds like the 'ambient metal' favoured by Teledubgnosis, and they were certainly producing music in 2000 (see herehttps://wirerecordings.bandcamp.com/album/teledubgnosis-unreleased-1st-ep), so it's possible PJH could have got together with them in New York over 1998-9. Too many questions!

Dr Dark, does the BMI listing give any clue when the song was written?

Last of these tracks could be considered an early version of "A Girl Like Me" from "Desert Sessions".

On a side note, I'm not a fan of such a messy sound, and can totally see why it wasn't officially released.

"Life on Mars" is in both the BMI and ASCAP lists. Its numeric order in the BMI list would appear to put it somewhere near the Stories era songwriting:

182 SLOW DRUG 4575274
218 WAR 4575384
2 30 4579595
89 I 4799382
148 ONE LINE 4807493
191 STONED 4815792
194 SUPERHUMAN 4815800
201 THINGS I AM NOT ALLOWED TO DO 4822188
221 WATER IN THE WEB 4825297
10 ANYWHERE BUT HERE 4930452
56 EYES 4995772
109 LIFE ON MARS 4997673
91 IDEA OF YOU 5001507
204 THIS MESS WE RE IN 5001866
114 LONELY PLACE 5045977
153 PAIR OF WINGS 5046024
18 BIG EXIT 5051228
68 GOOD FORTUNE 5054266

Its numeric position in the ASCAP list is less clear:

52 LIFE AND DEATH OF MR. BADMOUTH, THE 421091830
51 LIES 421128694
53 LIFE ON MARS 421128710
54 LIKE THE GUN 421128738
55 LITTLE MAN 421128756
56 LIVERPOOL TIDE 421128774
57 LONELY PLACE, A 421128792
63 MYSTERY OF LOVE, THE 431242292
62 MY FRIENDS HAVE 431242318
59 MAGNIFICENT RAY, THE 431280894
61 MEETING, THE 431280910
66 NO CHILD OF MINE 440660279

However notice that the ASCAP list is still alphabetic so I suspect it was created from the BMI list at some point and thus its numeric sorted version isn't a good indicator of when it was written. I believe she registered with BMI first.

I remember thinking it was interesting that she would choose to name a song of hers the same as a famous David Bowie song.

Are there 3 different songs there (Life on Mars, "# 3" and "1"), with different lyrics?

Maybe someone can attempt a transcription of the lyrics (tough with all the 'noise').

_________________
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JelqPcoaAB8"

56 EYES 4995772 --> 1
109 LIFE ON MARS 4997673 --> Life on Mars
91 IDEA OF YOU 5001507 --> #3

I've only just realised there are! How stupid of me.



I can have a go - though it may not be quick, life is interfering with art at the moment. I quite like noise : )

Smart! So, "Eyes" has a lot of similarities to "A Girl Like Me" in the lyrics.

Yes, that's exactly what they are! This is quite something, I think.

In fact this wasn’t as time-consuming as I thought. Most of the lyrics are clear and there are only a couple of places where I can’t work them out (I think).

‘Eyes’ is fascinating because as Kuk points out, the best lines were re-used in ‘A Girl Like Me’, a far superior piece. It’s an insight into how Polly works: we knew that there were preliminary versions of songs that were later worked into something else, but I don’t think we’ve ever had an example before (I wonder what she makes of this, if she knows? Interesting for us, but perhaps not welcome for her).

EYES
Her eyes
Her violent, magnificent eyes
He told me the story
How he could never forget those eyes
Between skin and the night [?]
The hours when crimes of passion are committed
Into the morning light
Talking, confessing,
He and I, talking of this girl who had changed his life
“A girl, her name was Lola,
She’s changed my life, she took my heart from me”
And now I can’t forget her –
Or his stories of – and the image of - and of her eyes [?]
Trying to tie the threads of failed romance,
They made love in silence,
And I thought of her eyes, her magnificent eyes,
Just thought of her eyes, her magnificent eyes,
Of her lying there in the morning light –
I might never leave this room again,
Now we have shared –
I’ll just remain in this cold air
This cold air is killing me
I thought of her eyes, just thought of her eyes
She’s lying there in your arms

IDEA OF YOU
It’s not you any more, it’s just my idea of you (x 4)
If I could find somebody else to love me as fiercely
I would not hear your voice saying, ‘Come quickly’
And I would not run, pulled like a magnet
To be with you again
To take you on again (x 7)
It’s not you any more, it’s just my idea of you (x 4)
If I could find somebody else to love me completely
To be my angel of light among so many enemies
I would not hear your voice say ‘Come to me’
To take you on again (x 7)

LIFE ON MARS
This is a time for silence
This is a time for men
Welcome my friends
To the new millennium
I’m caught in the telephones
And I’m caught in cars
Caught in computers
And underneath the stars

Under my skin
Gets under my skin

I look back through centuries
I flashback to [a -------------ries]
Truth I have to face my friend
Looks nothing like this
The future could be up there
On another plane
The future could be under
My friend’s skin

Under my skin
Gets under my skin (x 4)

A time for silence
This is a time for men
And at thirty-five
I’m single again
I think I’ve found the answer
For our troubled past
I think I’ve found the answer
Is life on Mars (x 4)
Amen

Unsurprisingly it’s ‘Life on Mars’ which causes the most trouble. I can’t work out the two or more words after ‘I flashback to’; my first guess was ‘alien’ something, but the more I listen the less sure I am. As well as the generally muddy sound, PJ sings some words very peculiarly, pronouncing what is clearly ‘friend’ almost as two syllables, ‘freh-ohn’. That makes it hard to be quite sure about the word which seems to be ‘men’, pronounced in the same way. That very last word I think is ‘Amen’ with ‘A’ as in ‘gate’.

I'm already very fond of ‘Life on Mars’ - it's just a shame that it's a muffled mono recording. It reminds me of the album version of 'Joy', which I know not everyone warms to.

Maybe it's "ancient peace"?

On a side note, I think "Joy" is SO much more powerful. I mean this song sounds like a very simple pop to me, whereas an album version of "Joy" is a dark electronic hardcore with tremendous vocals, one of my favourite songs ever.

Yes! I thought I heard an 'r', but 'ancient peace' even makes sense! Of course once you suggest those words I can hear them very clearly.



Glad you feel that way about it, too. Yes, unsurprisingly 'Joy' is the stronger, but I think this is musically interesting too (the other two tracks are comparatively slight pieces, to my thinking, though interesting just for the fact they exist).

Glad to be of help!

Don't know why, but the overall FEEL of her vocals on "Life on Mars" reminds me "This Wicked Tongue", so I think it is pre-"Stories" time.

I'm hearing:

"I look back through centuries
I flashback to our ancient peace
the Truth as close, my friend
And looks nothing like this"

It's got to be - from her New York sojourn. That seems to have been when Teledubgnosis were getting going.