My record collection
#098: Cagney & Lacee - Six Feet of Chain

Cagney & Lacee was Dean Wareham’s first foray into releasing a record full of covers with his wife (ok… so his next foray, with a different wife, was only half full of covers). Like with the first Cagney & Lacee release it doesn’t bother mentioning on the sleeve who Cagney or Lacee is.

Cagney & Lacee - Six Feet of Chain

The sleeve was however augmented with an orange sticker that declared that it was “an album of cover versions lovingly performed by Dean Wareham and Claudia Silver”.

Cagney is credited with instruments and is Dean (who also produced the album); Lacee, credited with vocals, is Claudia Silver, Dean’s wife (at the time).

I wrote about all the covers in my Originals series a few years ago - you’ll probably find mp3s of most tracks too. But, if you can’t be arsed reading those posts here are a few snippets:

• It says Be Mine on the sleeve, but is actually a cover of a different track called Yours Tonight - both tracks are from Martin Rev’s solo album See Me Ridin’.
• Lovin’ You - a cover of the wonderful Minnie Riperton song. Minnie had previously been in the Rotary Connection, and before that a receptionist at Chess Records.
• Six Feet of Chain - the first of two Lee Hazlewood songs and leaves off Lee’s pre-song preamble that tells the story of two brothers who steal from each other and get each other arrested and jailed.
• It says The Last Goodbye on the sleeve, but is actually a song called The Beginning of Goodbye by Marty Robbins - so… two mistakes in song titles on the album!?
• By The Way (I Still Love You) has the parenthesised part of the title left off on the sleeve - it is included on the single so we’ll call this an aesthetic decision rather than another mistake! This is the second Lee Hazlewood song.
• Greyhound Goin’ Somewhere - was written for the wonderful Bobbie Gentry by Michael Martin Murph(e)y and Bill Dorsey and is on her 1969 album Touch ‘Em With Love.
• For The Sake of The Children is the first of two songs from the great Robert Altman film Nashville and was originally sung by Laugh-in poet, and leader of the Illinois Nazis Henry Gibson… I hate Illinois Nazis.
• Memphis - also from Nashville and written and sung by, sadly missed, Karen Black. Cagney & Lacee’s version opens with a bit of dialogue lifted from the film.
• I’m Not Sayin’ was written and first recorded by Gordon Lightfoot - and then covered by Nico before she got entangled in the VU.

The sleeve was designed by Laurie Henzel and has some uncredited comic art that I have never managed to track down the source of.

• Catalogue Number: AHFOW 10/128
• Artist: Cagney & Lacee
• Title: Six Feet of Chain
• Packaging: Digipack
• Format: CD
• Bought around the time of release.

Previously in my record collection:

• #023: Cagney & Lacee - Time / By The Way…