by Donald Jefferes

Most bands, when measuring their success, will refer to critical plateaus within their careers to see how far they've gone. With the Beatles it was an incremental climb to greatness... one might argue their first was their success before most people knew who they were - when they achieved showmanship muscle and stamina during their early Hamburg days - playing long and grueling sets for drunken patrons with short-attention spans between strip tease acts. Others might point towards their first record as the Beatles - "Love Me Do" which at the time climbed to #17 on the British charts. Others would say record success didn't happen until their second single, "Please Please Me", as their producer historically exclaimed through the control room monitor "Boys, I've just heard your first #1 record!" - which it did achieve in the UK. But die-hard music historians (and even the Beatles themselves) will tell you that The Beatles always had their collective eye on the US - and their first #1 single here was "I Want To Hold Your Hand". But the Beatles were to achieve and surpass many, many plateaus... breaking crowd size records with their unprecedented concerts at Shea... album sales throughout the years, critical milestones in creativity, their movies, their enduring far-reaching influence throughout space and time...

The Out Of Bodies had none of this.

But they CAN say one thing for themselves... they were interesting enough to SOMEONE who noticed their music and decided to record covers of not just one, but TWO of their songs!

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Imagine my shock when Dan informed me that a Folk/Rock band from Long Beach California who call themselves "Daisy House" were interested in doing a cover of "Willow", a trippy whimsical song of Dan's reminiscent of something The Beatles might've written in Rishikesh while visiting the Maharishi - and then a few months after that, learning that they had once again returned to our website to discover ANOTHER tune that caught their attention, a 2 minute and 22 second snippet we call "(Like A) Superman"! The first thing I thought (well, after just "Wow!") was... "Well, that's it! That's OUR measurement of success - when you're influential enough for another band to want to cover two of your songs! I admit, though, I was a little disappointed they passed up "Doggy Poo" (...and no, I'm not being serious!)

Daisy House

Daisy House primarily consists of multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Doug Hammond, his daughter Tatiana (Angel) Hammond on vocals, and occasionally his longtime friend Christ Stiles on citten (which is an ancient, lute-like instrument). The two OOB covers appear on their album "Western Man" (2016), and "Willow" makes a re-appearance on their more recent "Say Goodbye To All That - The Best Of Daisy House" (2020). To coincide with their Western Man album release they also did this amusing "Superman" video.

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...would you believe THIS...

...came from THIS?

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On their Band Camp pages Daisy House's Doug Hammond wrote about the two songs.

Willow, "This was co-written by me and Dan Banic and is what happens when two Beatle freaks get together (over the internet) to write a song. The production is my imagining of what might have happened had Mary Hopkin (the lovely miss Tatiana) gone along with the Beatles to see the Maharishi! Absolutely charming song."

(Like A) Superman, "also co-written with Dan Banic, this time with a decidedly Mamas and Papas vibe!"

Perhaps the most refreshing thing about Daisy House is that neither of these songs sound like straight covers - and rightfully so - they're not. Daisy House built upon, embellished and added layers to these admittedly unrefined 4-track tunes - while yet retaining the heart and fun-loving spirit of the originals. Both songs include added lyrics which are simultaneously accessibly innocent and endearingly cryptic. It's a notable mixture of both experience and innocence that one discovers the deeper they wade through the Daisy House oeuvre - a point not missed by Hammond during an interview he gave once when he talked about "the dynamic of a (then) 50-year-old's thoughts being channelled by a 20-year-old-girl. It makes for an interesting frisson!"

When "Willow" made it's debut I wrote on the Band Camp page, "A brilliant cover! You've managed to embellish upon, complete and generally breath new life into one of my favorite and perhaps most obscure Out Of Bodies tunes! This might be the happiest tune I've ever heard - honestly!" Little did I know they were going to knock me out again in a few months with Superman!

In case you were looking to sing along - here are the lyrics...

Willow Everyplace is free, free enough to live I just saw the lightning on the willow Roses are so green, green enough to give All I want's my blanket and a pillow Morning is the eve, painted up for free Have you heard the singing of the willow? Haunted is the wind weeping thru the trees Wind is for the singing of my Willow willow willow willow willow Everybody lives inside a Willow Children up the street sleep through all their years Dreamers should be up to push the pillow ...or to kiss the girl laughing is so free Little kisses for the baby Willow Fly across the sea skip across the lakes Tinderboat desire all a'billow multi-colored sand mountains over deep they just want their baby colored willow willow willow willow willow everybody lives inside a Willow		(Like A) Superman Like a song from long ago like a love letter Like a swan the summer goes like a superman Life's a song that can't go wrong Do you remember when you'd go wherever you'd want to go my friend Superman The life you know is on the go like no other Like a lovely summer ghost like a superman Life's a song that don't last long there's no time to pretend so go wherever you want to go my friend Superman Like a robin on the wing with no master plan just go wherever you want to go again Superman, Superman. Life's a song that don't last long la la la laaa life's a song that don't last long life's a song that don't last long life's a song that don't last long

Daisy House's future plans? Doug answered "...crush the pop world, make it bend to our will and install Tatiana as the new un-spoilable, folk-rock, high priestess of pop. She could do it too. She's pretty, she's smart, she's NICE, she has a voice like an angel, AND she's COOL! Failing that I will continue to write "wicker man" songs about woodsmen, witches, leeches, love and death that will bring joy to hundreds!

We couldn't agree more, Daisy House - we are BIG FANS and look forward to hearing much more from you!

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Aknowledgements to Elizabeth Klisiewicz for the article bits we nicked from Big Take Over Magazine - Please check out Daisy House at the links provided above and tell 'em the Out Of Bodies sent ya!

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