IAN WHITCOMB sings "This Sporting Life"

Spring of 1965: Ian's first appearance on television in Hollywood. This song was currently in the top ten on Los Angeles radio. It greatly influenced Bob Dylan's subsequent, "Like A Rolling Stone".
Guess which Go-Go dancer became Ian's girlfriend that very day?

Category:

Music

Tags:

• British
• Invasion
• Leather
• Jacket
• Bob
• Dylan

[ukebum]

Sporting Life Blues -- no one really knows who wrote the old song....but here's a skiffle group doing it too -- just plug in Ken Colyer - Skiffle Group - Sporting Life...and then there's Clapton and Cale, of course.....oh my goodness....the darn song is all over the place, likely thanks to Brownie McGhee......gotta love the blues, and Ian was a major blues fan -- and now plinks his ukulele....on and on it goes...

[mmeditatio]

@KaptSonic22 I doubt it was intentional on MP's part, but you're dead-on with the comparison. It's like listening to Sex and Candy through a dying walkman with busted headphones.

[jasonpfinch]

C'mon I'!

[KaptSonic22]

The songs tempo and the unique vocal delivery here seem to have influenced that big Marcy Playground hit back in the late 1990's imo

[jasonpfinch]

@nutsaboutclara cheers, friend.

[jasonpfinch]

Sorry, I get a bit over-enthusiastic at times

[jasonpfinch]

Ian, that's fucking brilliant, man. As the man @80sVideoLord says a brilliant brilliant performance. Can't believe I never heard it before. Such a fan of mid-60s British invasion stuff (although born in Britain in 1970). Nice one. Peace.

[80sVideoLord]

Not for nothing but that's really some chord progression there... don't tell me you wrote it cause I think my head will explode! ( I'm gonna wiki that in a second.) I remember thinking to myself that this song's chords go through a pattern as another great song with a similar sentiment - Lynyrd Skynyrd's Ain't no good iife. I really didn't think the chords were even cohesive at first, it felt lost... I wasn't feeling it deep enough - kept wondering when (or how) it would resolve. KUDOS

[80sVideoLord]

Hey Ian. I just heard this for the first time yesterday and I was really touched. Such a cool song and a brilliant performance, sir - it pulled me in and really have a critical ear - being a garage band type guy who grew up in the early 60s. I gotta pick this song apart and try to figure out why it hits home for me. Cool sentiment, I can relate. Glad your sporting life hasn't caught up with you. Still in the biz?. thanks

[indifferentdrummer2]

Great! Thanks for posting!