I'm ashamed to admit that as big of a music geek as I am, and as big of a Lemonheads fan as I am, it was only in the last few months that I became aware that some of my favorite Lemonheads songs (post Ben Deily) weren't written by Evan Dando. It turns out Mr Dando had the equivalent of a song writing factory down Down Under. Tom Morgan of Smudge co-wrote many of the songs on It's A Shame About Ray and Come On Feel The Lemonheads. Alison's Starting To Happen was written about Smudge's drummer. Down About It was originally a Smudge song as was Tenderfoot. The biggest surprise (letdown?) was that The Outdoor Type, a song that over the years has become my favorite Lemonheads song, was a Tom Morgan/Smudge original. How did I not know about this?! This seems like a huge thing to be kept secret, kind of like how people still sometimes think that The White Stripes are siblings or that Sean Tillman and Har Mar are brothers (I haven't checked in awhile, but I hope writers still aren't in the dark on this second one).
I know the rule. The original's always better. And Smudge's version is still a good song, but Evan Dando kills it. Maybe I'm just a sucker for those blonde locks and those Tigerbeat covers of my youth or maybe I'm still under the influence of a teen Juliana Hatfield crush. What I do know is that being stuck in a town where all anyone wants to do on their weekends is go camping, hiking, or mountain biking, this song has become my anthem. I even stumbled across a guy covering Lemonheads covers at a local cafe who played it for me.
The Lemonheads' The Outdoor Type
Smudge's The Outdoor Type
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