So, it finally happened; I missed a week. I’ve managed to stick to my discipline of posting a recording each week this year, but as I hit the halfway point of 2025, I dropped the ball. We have been travelling around the UK for the past three weeks, visiting family and friends, and so I had an enforced rest week last week. And then, even worse, I missed another. This wasn’t my fault, as our Wi-Fi was (and still is) down. However, I’ve managed to get back on track for this week.
Anyway, I wrote Holyfield vs Tyson II back in 2020 as part of the Orange Peel project. One of the limitations of this project was that I could only use instruments with four strings. This piece was written for a baritone ukulele, although it was later recorded on a six-string electric. I performed a solo acoustic version of this song at some gigs in Italy and Spain, but this version is the full-band version. I’d love to say that I’d played the drums, but this dazzling drumming is Stella Mozgawa of Warpaint and was recorded by Butch Vig (yes, that Butch Vig) at Rancho de la Luna in the Californian desert. Now, it’s a dream of mine to record at that studio and with those people, but for now, I just bought some drum parts they recorded and cut my guitars and basses over the top of their session. I’m quite pleased with the results. While there are limitations in working this way (again), you certainly waste less time waiting around for the drummer to finish their cigarette break.
Obviously, Mike Tyson is a hugely controversial figure, but his famous quote about boxing (or possibly life in general), “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face,” resonated with me1 and has found its way into the lyrics. The song is named after the infamous fight where Tyson took a chunk out of reigning champion Evander Holyfield’s ear with his teeth, which isn’t a legal move in boxing. The fight is now, perhaps inevitably, known as The Bite Fight, but to me there’s something interesting in the two names: Holyfield (meaning, well, holy field) and Tyson, which apparently derives from an old French word “tison” meaning ember or firebrand. A combustible combination, for sure.
Lyrics:
Skeleton key.
A skull ring.
A magpie
collecting shiny things.
A lifetime
told in trinkets,
brass knuckles
and gold teeth.
All my best findings
were once someone else’s.
Sifting through detritus
and diving for pearls.
Everyone has a plan
until they get punched in the face.
Everyone has got time
until their time runs out.
Telling
other people’s stories
like they’re your own
oh no.
Funny Ha-Ha.
Funny Peculiar.
Did that tickle
your funny bone?
It’s not the size
of the dog
in the fight;
it’s the size
of the fight
in the dog.
Everyone has a plan
till they get their ear chewed off
Everyone has got time
until their time runs out.
No hair
No eyes
No lips
No skin
But my skull
will be grinning.
My skull
will be grinning.
Etc.
Thanks for sticking with me during the radio silence. Normal service should, I hope, resume from next week. JCV
It’s probably still resonating with Daniel Dubois, too, after last night’s defeat to the indomitable Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk. BTW, I’m not a big boxing fan, but I keep half an eye on it for my uncle, who is.
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