Pere Ubu - Oh Catherine - David Letterman

[MrVoyaging]

I love that Paul Shaffer (David Letterman's keyboardist) takes playing with such a historical band seriously. He obviously recognizes their talent and importance.

[willietheraildog]

I used to have MODERN DANCE on Blank Records #001. GREAT American band. Saw them in Chicago back in like '80. Actually met a girl and got laid! Ah, those were the days! PERE UBU RULES!



[helen4garage]

pere ubu trasformazione da cattivi a buoni di cuore......bravi ugualmente...ma vincerà il male.....esso divverrà un maniaco compulsivo.....si legge dai testi......l amore con lui ci ha tentato ma gli ha giocato un brutto giuoco.....il gioco ora è lui....ciao david

[RedMapp1]

@helen4garage cosa vuoi dire helen4? puoi aiutarmi a capire il tuo commento?

[GrippoMarx]

Saw them in Philly at JC Dobbs just prior to this appearance, and yes, they were passing the hat to help pay expenses as Mercury had just cut off promotional support for the band.

[BootyFister]

OMG!!! IN CD FORMAT!!!

[kentonlarsen]

What an awesome find this is...

[drbrichy]

Yes, that's Eric Drew Feldman, who played with Beefheart, Snakefinger, Ubu and others.  Don't miss the fact that Paul is participating here as well. These guys were not just some freaks that hitch hiked to get there. Paul dug them, it's obvious and was probably responsible for getting them on the show in the first place. A rare masterpiece on American TV.

[pithair1]

why was the CBS orchestra backing them up?

[williambenton]

Is that Eric Drew Feldman?

[WheresPoochie]

OK, Pere Ubu are cool and all but...

Did people honestly find this Letterman shit funny back in the day?

[FelixAtrox]

@WheresPoochie

We were quite drunk...

[grahamlaur]

Letterman these days would not have the guts to feature an eclectic underground band like this.

[dave225]

@grahamlaur - he had Grinderman on a few months ago. I'll give him points for that.

[grahamlaur]

@dave225 Yes, that does give him a few points. I wasn't aware of that.

[Alos21]

@dave225 Grinderman is atm the best band in the whole damn world !!!

[momominnosh]

Thank you! Wow, so cool to see these guys! I saw Pere Ubu live many times live in Cleveland, in their early days, and was always both somewhat confused and amazed by them -- Thanks for posting!

[lunhil12]

Great performance.

[twochaudio]

I can't deal with letterman...

[AJtheory]

Dang...these guys are good...I don't know how to describe them...just really distinctive and interesting

[haupper]

"Worlds in Collusion" is actually a superior album title.

[ugmold]

Why the preamble about how god damn cheap CBS is?

Pere Ubu deserves better treatment.

[ShreveportJoe]

When they say "friends" helped pay their way there, I read somewhere that that friend was Michael Stipe.

[dave225]

@ShreveportJoe .. and Elvis Costello

[gilgamess]

A CD in a longbox! How long (sorry) has it been since you seen one of those?

[carlwinslow408]

I hate Paul Shaffer.

[MrSloika]

@carlwinslow408

Shaffer is even more despised than Hitler.

[grandlaketheband]

David Letterman is SUCH an asshole! Wow!

[pureloveracing]

David Thomas, to me, personifies pure love. Of self and the world.

[punkxxxxxrocker]

That was great. I haven't seen Pere Ubu since Max's.

[victorsaint2]

89' - the last year of a great decade....

[technoforbeer]

What a sweet voice Dave sings with!!!

[Clematisian]

Thank you, Professor Schaad, for linking me to this feed & for going to See(r) these Rock & Roll legends @ the Tribeca incarnation of Knitting Factory a couple years ago ~ (•8-D

[thelostislandboy]

I love this record. Still i wonder how the hell didn't make it to the top-ten..

[Eddie1960]

The late Jim Jones on guitar. They opened for the Pixies on tour for this album.

[jgrossnas]

Yeah, that would be 1991 since that's when the album came out and Drew Feldman (keyboards) was in the band. Too bad they had that rule that Paul and the band have to play too- no Tony on bass and Scott is demoted to congas.

[walterroy]

@jgrossnas did Feldman play in Beefheart's band in the 80's?

[jgrossnas]

Yep, he was on Beefheart's last two albums (Doc at the Radar Station, Ice Cream For Crow).

[surfininsf]

One of the most beautiful songs ever written. Wonder what it would sound like with Ravenstine.

[mushroomleg]

whaT a load of bullshit!!!!

i'm from cleveland too...

[mrm86]

is that mayo thompson on guitar?

[echoplus2020]

I know he played with them for a little bit.

You mean the guitarist from Red Krayola right?

[JebusInVegas]

I'm guessing this is from 1991? The year of Pere Ubu's Worlds of Collision and the film The Commitments ...

[Facialcream13]

i think its 1991 too, maybe spring of .

[RUPickman]

OK, it's really "World's In Collision". But Ubu on Letterman is still some kind of victory.

[dave225]

Ha - I mentioned that to David Thomas once. Always gracious, all he would say was that Letterman is a very nice man.

[Facialcream13]

i think it is 1991 not 89.

[donnybrooklads]

Great footage - appreciate this thanks!

[jms6959]

Great band, great song!

[christivsshark]

i don't know. i have to be honest.

my favourite part of this video is letterman's hair.

[eczema1966]

By the way, This letterman, what a big SH*T.

[peregrinusnoctis]

One last thing, here. So many of Pere Ubu's tunes (e.g., "Waiting for Mary," "Breath," "Oh Catherine," etc.) are like central elements of soundtracks-waiting-to-happen, for the most incredible films-that-will-never-be-made. One of the very few bands to deliver on what so very many genres have only promised to deliver. Far too rarefied a beauty for the mainstream, or to BE mainstreamed.

[peregrinusnoctis]

How did it take Letterman, of all people, nearly a decade-and-a-half to book Pere Ubu? Great tune, fantastic execution. Pere Ubu's arrangements, recordings, and performances always reminded me of my favourite elements from Roxy Music, Talking Heads, David Bowie, Adrian Belew, Marshall Crenshaw, Elvis Costello, T-Bone Burnett, and Ron Sexsmith--all together in one package. Thomas's delivery ALWAYS just rips the heart out. 3:24-4:00, the bridge into the verse, is breathtakingly beautiful.

[enriqueroman62]

I'm only going to opine on Pere, he's awesome, the hell with politics.

[ghlysptwld]

I can only guess that it's a nepotism clause since the drummer "Anton Fier" played as a fill in as band leader....for a week who also played in ... PERE UBU

[hironoodles]

using the context clues, my theory is that they coudln't afford to take the whole band to NYC!

hence the figg/lee rhythm section...

[fladnag0]

I have never been more ashamed of an audience after listing to this intro. "maybe we'll pass the hat" - dead silence, you're supposed to say " HELL YEAH, I"LL CHIP IN" what a bunch of douche bags.

[memoe0081]

tom herman is not there, and he was an original member...

[posthumanhero]

they came back strong with 'tenenement year' then tried to make more commercially pallatable music (as original memebers started drifting away), which i don't think worked so well for them......still some ok songs on those lps, like this one.

[DJkevvykev]

Great video but have to disagree about the later albums.

Cloudland / Worlds in Collision / Story of my life are fantastic albums.

Anyone unfamiliar with Pere Ubu should start there.

[posthumanhero]

it would be the equivalent of trying sushi for the first time at bobs big boy.....i mean, after the reunion lp they just weren't fun anymore......very similar to what happened to the stranglers in the 80s....i would reccomend the classic "modern dance lp, "dub housing", "Terminal Tower (the early 45's), "song of a bailing man", "blame the messenger" and "tenement year" ...."picnic time" and "art of walking" are more avante-garde, like the david thomas solo lps (all of which i find challenging).

[MarsVoltaKA]

I find that why I hate woman (and why I remix woman) and raygun suitcase are the best albums by them :)

[MarsVoltaKA]

Did you atleast listen to 'why I hate women' by Pere Ubu, it came out in 06.

[eczema1966]

YOU SHOULD listen to the last five albums posthumanhero

(Nobody will give you an award for not listening to their f**** good new albums)

(from 1994 to 2009) i don't see any weak points They are still making awesome albums.

[posthumanhero]

'They' don't exist anymore. Tony Maimone is Pere Ubus bassist, Scott Krauss is their drummer and Allen (synth God) Ravenstine is their synthesist.....the revolving door of guitarists was, somehow acceptable. Regardless, I'll give Davids new solo Lps a listen if they cross my path as I try not to be a snob. It's just that, well, David scared his band away and us older folkks were attached to that band -- it's even harder when that band started to make lousy overproduced albums we wasted money on.

[wtfwaco]

If you want to see a recent "reunion" of sorts of that group - look up "Home and Garden Laughing" on the YouTube.

[wtfwaco]

Dunno, thought it sounded pretty great. Great to see DT on stage with Krauss/Maimone for first time in nearly 20 years. Didn't like the "Heart of Darkness vid either then?

[freefrench]

Maimone played on Story Of My Life. And the two preceding ones.

[posthumanhero]

actually i was pleasantly surprised, upon sampling them on amazon.......much more inspired sounding than the last few lps made by original group.

[Bassmaster86]

why does Paul Shaffer think he has the liberty to play along with the guest band?...what a shame

[MrPotatoesLatkie]

Becasue he's the musical director of the show.

[Norkusa]

lol, did Dave say "Worlds In Colusion?"

[jblacktree]

Please post again without all the intro blather--I don't want to listen to that every time I play this. PLEASE? just the song?

[elfenbenskusten11]

this song is so "#¤%&// beautiful, especially this version - love ya ubu

[Plazman]

yeah..."cd format" that's funny. i remember when they put them in those big cardboard sleeves to keep people from stealing them. stealing records was tough, but CDs were easy.

[sulphonate]

Great song off of a great album.

[ElectricPineapple79]

CD format! lol!

[finylvinyl66]

Pere Ubu was always a great, if eccentric, band. But this reminds me of the days on Letterman where that over-achieving geek Paul Shaffer insisted on having HIS band play along with any guest musicians. By the time that policy ended, there were a lot fewer interesting musical guests.

[thanatogenous]

Well I definitely spy Jim Jones and Eric Drew Feldman, so most of Pere Ubu if not all of it is definitely there...

As far as Mr. Schaffer goes, he seems to have been pretty respectful and restrained in his interpretation of this particular song, which I'm grateful for.

But he is still a douche.

[enriqueroman62]

Being an Ubu's fan, I think Schaffer did ok and could see the respect towards Ubu.

[DrAss2001]

I broke their "Datapanik in the Year Zero" LP

[pazisad]

punch yourself!

[Timmybear]

Worlds in Collision, as it happens, though I think Worlds in Collusion is a BETTER title. :)

[krezzykrezz]

Dave 225 Thanks for posting! The best of both worlds....Pere Ubu and NBC Letterman! Cleveland Rocks...especially when it doesn't realize it!

[ultramouse]

got to be one of the best tunes of the period... just surreal to see them on letterman though.

[undergrounddaddy9]

these guys we dont see in mtv cribs they deserve to be awsome rich what a talent and the modern dance is one of the best albums ever

[limeginger]

worldslargestego, thanks for posting. btw, this would have to be from 1991-92, because Letterman mentions the movie The Commitments, which didn't hit the US in any bog way until late 1991.

[skylights76]

Awesome song. The fact that these guys weren't big stars is proof that most people are idiots.

[dawncrk23]

Hello tbzeee. I really think you'd have throw my man D Boon and also, just to mix it up a little, Jonathan Winters into that room... Hahahah!

[woodsbike]

Thanks for posting this, Dave225, I love these guys. But isn't Dave L. just about the creepiest? Like a clown? Think about it. . .

[BuckyRossler]

Great! BTW, this was from September 1991.

[ericidle999]

FABULOUS SONG,ONE OF THE BEST

[tbzeee]

beautiful! even david tones the creepiness down a few notches. if you put david thomas, jim jones (i know RIP), frank black and bob mould in one room together, would they get along? or would they just stare at each other

[wtfwaco]

Back in the early '90s a music magazine had a co-interview with Mould and Frank Black - one of the questions was name some of your favorie guitarists - Black named Jim Jones. Also Ubu bassist Tony Maimone used to work with Mould - so the scenario isn't that odd.

[eczema1966]

1-wrong, they still actually sound fucking good.

2- the letterman's band is so bad that they could make sound Captain Beefheart as bad than dires straits .

That's a shame that so few new videos from the actual line up are not on the web . Go to Hearpen there is a nice one from 2007.

[dave225]

I found it on an old video tape while cleaning out my basement! I was happy to find it...

[GrippoMarx]

Thanks for this, I've been waiting for years to see it!

[borcz]

I love that they still carry on, but there has never been anything quite like those first few albums

[sonicsecs]

hey, that may be true, literally, but i dare to think they have made equally nice or nicer albums since. lots of them. why i hate womn is great, i particularly liked st arkansas too.

[GrippoMarx]

I've seen the band dozens of times through various lineups. And their most recent stop in Chicago was the most powerful Ubu show I've ever seen. They were absolutely on fire! And for those of you that may not know, former Ubu guitarist Jim Jones passed away a week ago in Cleveland.