The Unmade Podcast - EXCLUSIVE: The Sofa Shop Interviews

Episode Date: October 30, 2020

EPISODE SPOILERS BELOW We secure sit-down interviews with the men behind The Sofa Shop jingle - Carmine Scalzi (singer) and Quentin Eyers (writer/producer/instrumentalist). Go to Storyblocks for stock video, pictures and audio at storyblocks.com/unmade - it's a creative fountain - https://www.storyblocks.com/unmade Support us on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/unmadeFM Join the discussion of this episode on our subreddit - https://redd.it/jl0ku5 USEFUL LINKS The YouTube version of this episode - with pics and some video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJ_rk0Kdwxo Photos from the interviews - https://www.unmade.fm/sofa-shop-interview-pictures Quentin's business - Q the Music - http://qthemusic.com.au/About.html Here's a retro video of Carmine singing Tears in Heaven - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gan107Q7s2c Patrons - check out some of the original Sofa Shop recording material from Quentin's archive - https://www.patreon.com/posts/43327150

What did you have for breakfast this morning, Quentin? Actually, I've yet to have breakfast. Oh, you should have let me buy you breakfast before we get... Yeah, well, you know. That was the idea, to buy you... Yeah, I know, but I... Well, let's do this quickly so I can buy you some food. A bit of background that a lot of people are already going to be familiar with.

The Sofa Shop. Indeed. This is a store in Adelaide that only just recently closed. They had an advertising jingle in the 80s and 90s, even in the 2000s and well beyond, that was played over and over again in Adelaide. And it's been kind of like a running joke or a running theme here on the show. How would you describe it?

Oh, wash out your mouth. It's a masterpiece. It hasn't been played enough in my view. I'm not saying the piece itself isn's a masterpiece. It hasn't been played enough in my view. I'm not saying the piece itself isn't a masterpiece. I'm just saying, anyway, for people who haven't heard it before, do such people exist? I don't know. need. The sofa shop, yeah, come and drop in. We have a sofa designed for you. Choose your fabric, match your curtains too. The sofa shop ain't gonna cost what you think it will. Don't you do a thing until you see the sofa shop. Friends, if you're hearing that for the first time, you're never going to forget it, that's for sure.

And, of course, what has been happening since is many civilians have been recording their own versions. We've had everything. We've had country versions. We've had bagpipes. Guitars. Instrumentals, orchestrations, we've had all sorts and we feature them on the show quite a bit just lately.

And I'll tell you, they've been impressive. these are not just quick rip-offs people have put a lot of work in a craftwork version sufjan stevens version lounge really rich stuff yeah it's been fantastic so i've taken things to the next level, Tim. Yes. Bit of investigative reporting, bit of research, bit of travel. I've gone deep and I think some of you may know what's coming. I have managed to track down the original singer of The Sofa Shop. Carmen Scalzi is his name.

Wow. I mean, wow. That's the interview. That's the one. That's my Frost Nixon. The white whale who found him. I did. I did.

So I sat down with Carmen at a cafe in Adelaide by the beach. I'm just explaining that because you're going to hear a lot of ocean and cafe background noise because we were sitting at a cafe outdoors on another lovely Adelaide day. And I started off by playing to Carmen a whole bunch of the covers that people had been making. I played loads of them. Let's hear how that went.

Don't you do a thing until you see the sofa shop. It's the chord progressions that are not common, but shall we say catchy. There's certain chord progressions that are not common, but shall we say catchy. Yeah. There's certain chord progressions or certain, you know when you listen to a certain hook of a song, it just stays with you all the time. There's something about it. I don't know what it is.

It's got something that has just lasted forever. I'll play you some more. Wow. Wow. They're good, aren't they? Yeah. There's so many talented people out there. Oh, yeah. That goes without saying. Yeah. What have we got next? So he's changed a little bit of the arrangement.

The melody is still quite relative to what the original was. So he's changed a little bit of the arrangement. The melody is still quite relative to what the original was. Oh, wow, that's cool. That's really cool. Wow, that's really cool. Oh, wow. cool Wow amazing isn't it? Yeah. We got us all the design for you. Wow. Choose your fabrics matching curtains too.

What's it like for you hearing these people singing at home? It's bizarre. I really didn't know what to expect. Is it better than you expected? Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. Like I said, they familiarise themselves with the act because it's a nice blend of chordal movement. Yeah.

The melody line's quite catchy. You could probably make a song out of it. Yeah. Yeah. Well, as people would have done. Wow. Who would have thought, hey? No, who would have thought exactly, huh?

Wow. Who knew, all these years later, mate. Wow. I like what he's done there. Needs a singer wow Wow Wow once again that's done in a minor progression right as opposed to a major Right and it still works brilliantly and look see that style there could have worked say for example today. They were selling Say the sofa shop was going a little bit more upmarket going into the real And look, see, that style there could have worked. Say, for example, today they were selling, say the sofa shop was going a little bit more upmarket,

going into the real high-end leather. I'm assuming they're doing that. That would be a different approach. They're closed. They're closed down now. They got taken over. Yeah, they got taken over. Yeah. But if they were selling sofas today, you can imagine,

or they were selling that really slick outdoor furniture. Now, you can imagine that jingle there working perfectly. You know, having the beer, sipping the cocktail, having the chardonnay on the... Or having a few guests over. So, you know... The original one that you sang, what genre would you call that? You remember in those days that the sofas were something new,

about 35, 36 years ago, and I think the emphasis was on everybody being able to afford one. So they simplified it. Don't you do a thing until you see the sofa shop. So tell me, Brady, how do you invite someone to a cafe for an interview like that? I mean, how did you? I have to say, like, Carmen was a bit cagey at first because obviously he's getting a phone call from some guy saying, I'm from England. I'm in quarantine in a hotel in Adelaide.

I'm really into a jingle that you recorded 35 years ago. Loads of people have been making covers of it. Will you meet me in person for an interview? Like that is begging for some kind of setup or stitch up, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll be lying if I said he wasn't a bit cagey, but he was up for it. He came along and like we sat down and, I mean, I obviously didn't start recording until we'd been talking for a while, what you've heard there.

So basically what happened at first, we were just having, like, a coffee and having a bit of a get to know you and talking about him and his career and stuff. Yeah. And he was really nice, but I could tell there was a kind of, oh, what's going on? There was a reserve. And then I said, I want to play you some stuff.

And I pulled out the laptop and I put it there on the table and just started playing the covers. And that's when everything changed. Yeah. Not because he was impressed by them. I mean, you can hear he was quite impressed by them. But also just like he realised this was the real deal and this wasn't like Mickey Mouse.

These were like proper productions and people had been getting really into it and like this was like Mickey Mouse. These were like proper productions and people had been getting really into it and like this was like a real thing now. And then he completely opened up. We'll hear more from Carmen shortly, but there you go. What did you think hearing him listening to them, Tim? Oh, it's sheer joy really, isn't it? It's just delightful to hear something like that.

Just to put it back in front of you, it's a bit like, here, this is your life or this is one little small moment of your life from years ago, you know, out of context. Yeah, it's glorious. I think he must have felt a bit like a bit of a rock star too, now having all these fans. Oh, yeah, for sure. It's like, wow, this guy's during COVID flown out, you know,

gone to all the trouble of isolation. Yeah. It's pretty awesome. I wonder if he thought it was leading towards an I work for EMI Records and would like to offer you a deal. I'd like you to be my new co-host. I've been wanting to give Tim the arse for years now. Yeah.

He'd be like, I listen to your podcast. I've been waiting for your call. What took you so long? I mean, Tim, like, you know, you're very dear to me, but I have to say if Carmen Scalzi, singer of The Sofa Shop, said to me, Brady, I want to be your new co-host, what am I supposed to do? I have to say yes.

I feel like every second episode we hear from someone that you just tout as being a far better co-host. Tom Hanks' son writes a letter and Katrina, the lawyer, gets involved. You know what I mean? Goodness gracious. Now Carmen, I'm running out of reasons for having to reapply for my job every week. So, look, as if Carmen wasn't enough, I tracked down someone else, Tim.

I tracked down a guy named Quentin Ayres. Quentin Ayres is the writer, producer, composer, played almost all the instruments. He is the genius, the brains, the talent behind the song itself. The George Martin behind the Beatles. Or is he the Beatles and the George Martin? He was the man. And I went to his

studio. It's called Cue the Music, very cleverly named for a chap named Quentin. I went to his studio and I also played him some of the covers to hear what he thought about what people had made of his masterpiece. So I'll start you off with a sofa shop lounge mix The sofa shop is the only stop for the sofa you need. Level of sophistication there, above and beyond. Oh, yeah. You like a bit of country music? Yee-haw. Ha!

So, too bad the sofa shop's closed now, because otherwise they'd be wanting to use these. Yeah. What does the creator think of these new creations? Well, I think it's interesting that the singer has emphasised the scooping nature of the vocal performance in the original. What do you mean by scooping? The sofa shop starting underneath the note and coming up. Won't do-do-do-do-do-do-do.

And it's interesting that they've focused on that and really lent into it. But there's a level of creativity in these arrangements above and beyond the original possibly. Oh, you haven't heard nothing yet. Oh, right. Let's go. Let's hear some more.

This is such a privilege to get to see you hear these. Well, here we go this is i think this actually uses some of the original some of carmen's original but in a new way so see what you think this is a bit more modern A sofa shop, yeah, come and drop in. We have a sofa pizza. There's a whole world out there you'd never guess. Alright. Did you ever imagine never guess. All right. Did you ever imagine?

No. All these years of work and it's the sofa shop. What are your feelings towards the jingle after all these years? What do you remember of making it and things like that? Do you remember a brief or anything like that or what you were trying to achieve? No. I had a business partner at the time called Les Kazmarek and he was the original bass player for a band called Cold Chisel.

Yeah. Which possibly isn't known too much outside of Australia. Big deal. Yeah, huge deal. Very famous band in Australia. And he left the band just about when they're about to get famous which interesting decision but part of it was that he actually had a job and so he didn't have time to rehearse and couldn't understand why these guys just wanted to sit around all day playing music

and rehearsing because they're already good enough to enjoy the rock and roll lifestyle anyway he was my business partner in the studio so his job was to go out and find the work and then he would bring it back and i would actually create the music and work well for a long time and he would typically go out to lunch with these advertising clients and come back at the end of the day crawl back in you know after you know. After a liquid lunch. After a liquid lunch and hand me a few lines of scrawled instructions. And there was just something magic about that process that he was able to extract from the clients in just a few words what they really wanted and communicate that to me.

And so the next day or whenever I would put that together and it would be exactly what they had imagined. So there was a fabulous synergy at the time and we were churning out a few jingles a week, you know, and it was a very productive period about that time. Were the jingles like on spec and you then play them to the client and say, do you want to go with this or had the deal already been done or was it kind of how you were pitching them oh it was kind of neither of those so les would go and meet with the clients and find out what they wanted and

convince them that this was a good way to go generally by the time the job came to me the client was ready to go to air with a concept of some sort so it's just a matter of whether they liked what we came up with and if they briefed a couple of different studios to come up with the concept then we'd charge them what's called a demo fee and we'd put a concept together and if they liked ours then that we'd go ahead and produce the's called the final version. But in fact, it never really worked like that because in order for them to like your work, you'd put a lot of effort in and make it sound really good. And so it would sound like it was ready to go to air.

So if they decided to go with you, you would have already done the work for what we'd call the finished budget. If they decided to go with someone else's idea, then you might be able to get to charge them the demo fee as agreed. But in fact, I always had a problem charging people money for something I didn't like. So if they didn't like the concept, I would rather them come back to me to come up with a new concept. With The Sofa Shop, though, I think the brief was just we need a jingle. Yeah.

And if you listen, if you look at the words. Did you write the words? I wrote the words, yeah. You did, right? Yeah, yeah. You know, I know it's not Shakespeare, but where were the words coming from? Look, I never know. Yeah.

You know, there's a creative fountain and if you ask too many questions, it stops. So the process for me of songwriting, jingle writing and writing music in general is just to sit down and listen to the music that turns up in my head. Yeah. And if you try and force it, then you come up with something that no one likes.

So I guess the question would be how original is something that just happens to be in your head at the time? And so far I haven't been busted. So, look, I don't know. I can imagine where the words came from, right, because you just want to make people, you know, our sofas are cheap, come and buy our sofas. Pretty much.

We've got what you want. Yeah. But then you actually have to have like, I don't know, like chords and a melody and things like that. Are they attached to the words? Like do you have the words and then think what sounds good or is the melody like an independent, like you've got like a little bank of melodies you can...

Very, very good question. No bank of melodies. I have to assume that every time I sit down to come up with a tune for a song or a jingle, it's going to be something new. And in fact, the times I've come up with tunes that I've thought have been fantastic and filed them away for later and then tried to retrofit them to some new project, it's never worked out. I don't know why, but never had success doing that so you sit down and

in the moment you imagine how this melody might go and it might start with the words often the client would write the words for you and you'd have this little poem that you have to turn into to music and you read the words and you get the rhythm of the words and that rhythm suggests a melody because poetic rhythm is quite similar to musical rhythm. In this case, though, with the sofa shot, I came up with the words and I couldn't tell you which came first, the words or, after all this time, I mean, that was, what, 35 years ago? 1985 years ago.

1985. Do you remember the day recording it with Carmen? Do you remember, like, him? Carmen? Do you remember like him? Oh, yeah. Yeah? Yeah. Yeah, because... Did it take a long time?

Oh, not really. No, but he probably sang it a dozen times or more. I'd started going into the studio from time to time to do pitch for various things for Quentin Ayres and Les Kazmarek, who were the owners of Adelaide Recording Studio. Do you remember recording the Sofa Shop Jingle? Absolutely, yeah. I still drive past the... It's no longer a studio now.

It used to be opposite the Tivoli Hotel, Moga Lane. That's where Adelaide Recording Studio was. And, yeah, I remember. I remember the booth. I remember having the big control room, the big mixing desk. And in those days of course we were recording on analog tape so unlike today

we keep every take and then you can go back after the fact and edit together your favorite bits from any of the takes. Back then we had a 24 track recorder in fact we'd only just migrated up from an eight track recorder which means you could only record eight sounds side by side and then you need to get rid of some or you know to put some more so we had a 24 track recorder but we had probably eight tracks just for the drums right and then guitar and then bass and there's piano and I forget what else is in there. So most of the tracks would have already been used up by the time it was time to do the singing.

Right. So we could keep a couple of takes of Carmen but not really. So he pretty much had to get it pretty well right. Yeah. If the start was good, we would play back the first, say, couple of lines and then maybe the third line needed to go again, we'd do what's called drop in. We'd start record from that point and then if what came

after that was good, we would drop out and stop recording before the next bit came out. I mean, that's a fairly hairy process. You know, mistakes can be made. Yeah. So he would have sung it a dozen, maybe 20 times, and each time, as the director, I would be making comments about what I thought about how he had gone

and how he was phrasing the words. When you're doing something like that, were you in the booth thinking, oh, I can't believe I'm singing about sofas, or is it something like you're giving it your heart and soul uh you know you've still got to give it your heart and soul you've got to remember that you're selling something so um you've got to put a little bit of emphasis more emphasis on certain words and you've got to obviously listen to the producer and then you'd also have to make sure that you you pitched correctly because we didn't have the facilities of what we do today

with the software mostly. It wasn't the era of computers back then. It was the era of reel-to-reel. So it was a totally different ballgame. And if you didn't have the greatest day, the voice didn't work as well, you had to work that little bit harder. How many run-throughs would you get? on the sofa shop how many times do you think you would have sung that we may have sung it in different stages like in chunks in chunks we may

have sung the first couple of lines and then we may have in those days doubled the voice what they call the doubling of the voice so i would have sung it in unison again to give the voice a different effect yeah because once again in those days we didn't have the effects that they have today then we would uh probably do a harmony line a harmony line being another melody but it was sung at the end when we had the final result of the story itself, then we would start adding. Right. So we'd add another voice. In this case, I did the harmonies as well. Do you remember some of the things you may have been saying to Carmen at the time?

Is that too long ago for you to remember how you were guiding that process? Ah. I know this is the time. Of the many thousands. Yeah. I know this is a tough one. Of the many thousands. Yeah.

What I do remember is Carmen has a very endearing habit of scooping up to the notes. Right. So he'd start below the note and then arrive at the note and... Is that a good thing or a bad thing or just a...? Oh, it's just a thing. Yeah. You know, it's a very endearing thing. You know, it's lovely and it's interesting to me to hear

some of the cover versions you've played. It's a very endearing thing, you know. It's lovely and it's interesting to me to hear some of the cover versions you've played, they have had that same phrasing. It wasn't my favourite thing at the time and I seem to remember trying to direct him to be a bit more straight on with the notes rather than rising up to them. But in the end, a lot of those scoops are still in there and that has become part of the signature of the tune. Can I play it to you?

Do you want to hear it again? I've got it here. This isn't the very, very first version, but it's an early version. So here we go. The sofa shop is your only stop for the sofa you need. The sofa shop, yeah, come and drop in. Now, that has an interesting little hole Don't you do a thing until you see the sofa shop Now, that has an interesting little hole in the singing. That used to say on Halifax Street.

Indeed, I have been told this. And then they moved. And so I had a job at one stage to remove... On Halifax Street. Yeah, to remove that. The sofa shop, yeah, come and drop in On Halifax Street. Yeah, to remove that. The business of Sofa Shop actually changed premises. So they went from Halifax Street in Adelaide to maybe an Angus Street.

Yeah. That part of the jingle was not required, not relative anymore. There was a line, was there? How did that go? It used to go... Yeah, come and drop in on Halifax Street. Right. So they just snipped out the Halifax Street.

They snipped that out. Yeah. How do you feel the song is without it? I felt like you were wincing when you were listening to it, but I don't know if it's just because you were concentrating or you were... No, well, I was wondering if it was going to be there, if that was the original version. We need to find a Halifax Street original version.

That's going to become like the first edition priceless one that people want to hear. I have it here somewhere. Oh! Somewhere. The original session probably took between two and three hours from start to finish. And then it just became... I mean, it's sort of become like

it's followed you through life, surely, because you live in Adelaide, so you must have heard it many times. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. I've heard it many, many times and people relate you to something. I relate certain people that I've worked with to certain jingles as well. Only because I know them. So, yeah, so people do relate it to that. Is that you or that is you?

Do you think it still sounds like you or do you listen to that and think that's a young man? Oh, that's a young man, definitely a young man. Is it a big earner for you? Like did you get a lot of money? No, it wasn't. Well, perhaps it was. I think in those days it was $100 less tax.

Yeah. So it was possibly the total sum of $70. $70. I still remember the check. Yeah. Because we used to get paid by check in those days. You know, it would take a month to get paid or once the jingle had gone through. Yeah.

And everything would be approved. And as a singer, you don't't get royalties over the years? No, the jingle writer, in this case being Quentin Ayres, he wrote the music he would have gotten a royalty over the years. I get a small performance royalty every time it's played as the composer, but that wouldn't be more than 100 bucks a year for that particular jingle, probably less. Carmen tells me after tax he made 70 bucks.

Oh, really? Well, that would have been what the going rate was at the time. Yeah, no, he's completely happy about it. He's got no problem with it. The sofa shop ain't gonna cost what you think it will Don't you do a thing until you see the sofa shop. 70 bucks. 70 bucks for Carmen.

Oh, bargain of the century. That's almost as much as Tim earns for an episode of Unmade. Incredible. But what I don't do, I don't do scooping in the way I speak, though. I want to, from now on on go the unmade podcast. I've heard some feedback saying you can get a bit scoopy from time to time. I had a slump, but not a scoop. No.

Anyway, let's not get into any spoon talk here. Look, this is like a documentary. It's like a song exploder episode, you know, and it's fantastic just getting inside and hearing all that stuff man who would have thought i'd be such a good music journalist i didn't it's i mean only i found out 30 years later that you interviewed radiohead without telling me and i i mean now this i'm really quite amazed. This ranks way above Radiohead for me. I'm not even joking.

That's it. We haven't had a Radiohead cover actually. That would be interesting to hear. But, no, fantastic. Really, really interesting to hear the work that goes on. And it was lovely hearing him talk about the creative fountain, you know, that you just have to draw from. And obviously the sofa, it just comes from the universe or from God or from creativity. And then he just draws from that fountain.

And so it was with the sofa shop. Wow. Just think there was that huge fountain at the centre of the universe full of songs. And it was Quentin who pulled the sofa shop out. That's right. The Beatles came with their big bucket and took away something. You know, Bob Dylan, he took a fair share. Slipped through his fingers, the sofa shop.

John Williams, all that he's taken from the fountain, and yet still he missed it. It was like Excalibur. There was just one man who could pull the sofa shop from the fountain and it was Quentin. I love how he goes, yeah, no, I wrote the words. Yeah, yeah. No, I just wrote the words.

But the melody. Oh, the melody. You know, he goes, I just sit down and it comes. It's just like, oh, magic. I also like Carmen talking about like, you know, no, even when you're singing a jingle, you know, heart and soul. I'm selling those sofas, man. Yes.

I'm selling it with my heart, with my voice, with my scoop. With his scoop. He brought his scoop, his trademark scoop. That's 70 bucks worth of scooping there. Look, he sings it well. I tell you what I loved also is I love to hear your enthusiastic giggling in the background while it's playing. What, the covers and stuff?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, like with his reaction and you're just like giggling along. It's fantastic. I took a few photos and a little bit of video of both of them listening to the covers just to capture the moment. So keep an eye out for that in all the kind of usual places we put video. But yeah, it was certainly really special. But we've got a bit more to come and a bit more talk to come but before we do it's time for tim and i to do a little bit of selling of our own and that's because this episode

has been brought to you by storyblocks storyblocks is no no sorry man storyblocks has been a fantastic sponsor this is an incredible online library of video audio stock images that you can use royalty free in your own creations if you are a bit of a quentin ayers mastermind making your own sort of creations one of the things you need if you haven't got a carmen scalzi at your, you might actually need to use some archive and stock material. And Storyblocks is incredible for that. I use it all the time. I use their video. I use their audio. Sometimes I use images in my own creations. It's just such a handy resource. It is the creative fountain at the heart of the universe. Is that overselling it a little bit? Well, no, I think in this case maybe that's warranted. So if you would like to subscribe to the creative fountain

at the heart of the universe, that is Storyblocks. Bring your bucket, scoop, take home. You can fill your bucket till your heart's content with incredible, useful, high-quality, royalty royalty free stock material go to storyblocks.com slash unmade storyblocks.com slash unmade join up look at all that stuff use it enhance what you're making the creative fountain the heart of the universe the creative fountain at the heart of the universe you can use that line story blocks you can be your new strap line if you like i'd be willing to sing it for them you're just gonna scoop it all right

thank you story blocks for uh supporting our podcast we really appreciate you check them out people now tim the other thing that's emerging here and i think this is the real piece of investigative journalism and that is if you listen carefully, and we'd never really thought about it before, but when you make a TV ad or a jingle, you really want to use every second. You want to cram it with selling and words and things like that. And there was always this strange gap in the song. This sort of, it goes, the sofa shop, yeah, come and drop in. And then there's a sort of like awkward break. And then the singing starts again. Oh, I don't think it's awkward. I think it's a lovely creative choice. It's a beautiful creative

choice. Well, it is a gap, isn't it? Yeah. Yes. It wasn't a creative choice, was it? And this is what we've uncovered. It was actually one of the first things that both Quentin and Carmen brought up with me. And that was the version that we have been using for all this time. And everyone's been covering that I found on YouTube is actually a slightly later version. It wasn't the very first version. And that's because the very first version told people to come and drop in on Halifax Street when the shop was on Halifax Street in the city. The shop moved several times after that, so the Halifax Street line was extracted by the musical genius that is Quentin Ayres

and not replaced, and we were left with this gap. So this is kind of a, you know, this has created a search, hasn't it, and a mystery and intrigue. This is journalism at its finest. So anyway, let's hear more from the guys. The original tape doesn't exist. I ended up inheriting all of the master tapes, not only from my studio, but from a studio called Grapevine where I subsequently worked.

And they came to my house and I had quite a long hallway. It was a three-bedroom, single-fronted villa, which means that there's a passageway that goes from the front of the house past three bedrooms down to the back section, quite long. And on one side of that passageway all the way down were shelves of tapes. Right. And tapes don't last very long. No.

If they're going to last a lifetime, they need to be kept in very specific constant humidity, constant temperature, and my house was far from that. And so a lot of the tapes were fast becoming unplayable. So at one stage I and a couple of people I hired sat down with the tape machines and converted them all to digital tape and then we got a big I don't know if you have them any anywhere but Australia we call them a skip yeah and it's like this big tray that's delivered from the back of a truck and you fill it with rubbish

and they take it away we pretty much filled one oh to go back in time and get that sofa shop tape oh well who would have known that's the one you'd want? You know, the last one you would have picked. Not the last. There are some jingles that really make me cringe, and that's not one of them. Yeah. Do you think it's catchy?

For some reason, everyone who hears it can't get that out of their head. And I thought, oh, maybe it's because I heard it a million times when I was a kid. But we've had people who listen to the podcast just a few times and will be, I cannot get that tune out of my head. And interestingly enough, I think that that is because Carmen did what I was trying to get him not to do. Right. And that is he's bent up to the sofa note.

The sofa shop, sofa shop, the sofa shop. He's bent up to that note, which draws you in. Yeah. So, Carmen, if you're listening, mate, you were right. It's a catchy group of chords that Quentin put together. It's a very catchy tune and the melody is still catchy. And it's really interesting to see what people have done with it. Do you want to hear a couple more?

Okay, let's go. This one, for some reason, this one is one of my favourites. I can't explain why. I just love the guy singing it. It's not the most elaborate one, but this one appeals to me. Now, he's not scooping up to the sofa note, is he? I didn't really notice. He's doing... He's what you wanted up to the sofa note, is he? I didn't really notice. He's doing. He's what you wanted all those years ago.

Well, I had an idea in my head, and it was my job, I thought, to try and recreate that. He's musically trained, by the way, that guy, interestingly enough. Funnily enough. So I think what Carmen did on the day ended up giving it that magic spice. Yeah. So he slid up to the sofa note. This guy's hit it straight on.

Yeah. And somehow, to me anyway, and maybe it's just because for those of you out there who might not know, it has been on air all the time since 1985 until recently, until very recently. Yeah so I got quite a few opportunities to hear it over the years. Yeah. And I think that just the way Carmen interpreted the melody took it a little bit beyond the way it was written. You're still a musician, aren't you? Yes. Maybe we should get the band back together with Quentin and do another 40-year anniversary recording. Well you'll have to together with Quentin and do another 40 year anniversary recording. Well, you'll have to speak to Quentin Ayres about that. I'm in. You're in? Alright, you're in. We got one. We just need to get Quentin now.

Yeah, and you'll find that Quentin played all the instruments on it. Okay. That's very talented. I'll ask him, but if Quentin says he'll do it, you'll come to the studio and... Yes, yep, yep. We'll go to the studio and we'll redo it. Alright. I'm halfway to the studio and we'll redo it. I'm halfway to getting the band back together. I spoke to Carmen the other day, as you know,

and I said to him, if I can persuade Quentin, would you come back in and sing it one more time for him in the studio? Sure. He said he'd do it. Yeah, yeah. Would you be up for that? So how long are you here for? I'm here until next Tuesday.

But he's up for it. He said he'd be there so we'll see if we can persuade you. I mean you could do it after I leave but I would love to be in the room when I haven't. Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, no, I think you need to be. Alright, we'll do something. I have to tell you, like coming to meet, like I meet lots of people in my job, I was a bit nervous coming to meet you today because you've become almost this mythical figure to us, like you almost like royalty the guy singing the song so there you go It's nice to see you're such a down-to-earth guy despite your huge fame from the safe. Oh, no, no, no Thanks very much for having me. It's been Like I said, it's been very interesting from that first phone call that I received not really knowing how to how to take it

Well, I mean there's a lot of there's a lot of affection for it, so I hope it continues. I hope one day we can get you in the studio. That's now my mission. Absolutely. All right, nice one. I was so nervous having to play these to you, Quentin. Oh, really? But to see the smile on your face warms my heart.

Like, at least you're amused by it. There's a lot of people with not much to do and too much time on their hands, clearly. Yes. And, look, it also makes me a little bit sad in one way. Yeah? And that is because I've been a professional pretty much all my life, I would almost never, in fact, possibly never, open up the music program, create music just for fun.

To me, it's a job. And it's been the best job you could possibly imagine and it's been fantastic. But, again, I do it for a job. The people that have created these, I love all you guys, by the way. You know, it is so fantastic. You've created this thing just to make yourselves and make other people happy and good on you.

Fantastic. Well, they couldn't have done it without you. You wrote it first. Yeah, I know, but someone paid me to do it. What do you think of that one? Doesn't look like it's your speed, that one. Oh, look, I may well have done one that sounded like that if that asked me to at the time. Whatever it takes.

Whatever it takes, yeah. MUSIC PLAYS Is that too much? Bagpipes? Oh, I love it. All right. Look, thank you so much for your time. Brady, it's been great. I had no idea.

Yeah. You know, there's this whole other world out there that... Yeah. It's kind of like when they first realised there's galaxies beyond our galaxy. There's all this stuff beyond their comprehension. Thank you so much to everyone who has brightened my day by doing your own versions.

Wow. Well, they're going to be so happy to hear from you because you're kind of our John Williams. So to have met you in person, you kind of are my John Williams because I now realise half the stuff I listened to as a kid, like Humphrey, Bee Bear and all that sort of stuff, you were involved in all that too. So you probably are the soundtrack of my childhood

and Tim's childhood and my co-host. But for all these other people around the world, this has brought us a lot of delight. Thanks to you. Well, yes, but it was, well, thanks to you. You planted the seed. It was your words and your chords and your melody. So it's going to be with me till my dying day.

So it was a real pleasure to meet you. And we will try, we will try to get you and Carmen back together, get the band back together for one last... See how we go. All right. All right. Okay. Magic Spice.

I love the idea of Carmen bringing the Magic Spice. That should be his stage name. I love that. Well, if he was in the Spice Girls, he would be Magic Spice. Posh Spice. Scary Spice. It's Magic Spice. Posh Spice, Scary Spice. It's Magic Spice. Carmen just walks out and starts giving it at the sofa shop.

If they can't get Posh Spice to join them again on one of these reunion tours, they should definitely give Carmen a call. That'd be fantastic. They need a bit more scooping in the Spice Girls. That's always been their weakness. That's right. That's true. Yes.

I also thought that final section did get a little bit more like you know meaningful when quentin talked about you know making music for fun that was really quite moving it was fantastic for him to share that way and magnificent for all those who have created versions to hear it as well yeah taking absolute joy he loved the fact that we're taking absolute joy in the music and it was yeah that was marvellous of him to share that way. And I like how he described hearing them all as realising there was like galaxies beyond our galaxy. I like the idea that making sofa shop covers is like a galaxy in itself.

Yes, yes. Like there exists a galaxy where everyone who inhabits it just sits around making sofa shop covers. That's right. We've tapped into that galaxy. Imagine if that golden record that they attach to the Voyager probe is found by aliens and they play it and they get really disappointed because there's no sofa shop on it.

They're like, this clearly isn't an intelligent species. They haven't evolved as a civilisation yet, obviously, because they haven't discovered the sofa civilization yet obviously because they haven't discovered the sofa shop from the creative fountain spaceships all through the galaxy with massive sofas beautiful so remember in the movie contact the aliens find like human tv transmissions and they send them back to us to show that they're listening and it happens to be like from the german olympics so they send back like a picture of Hitler. Imagine if what they actually sent back was like versions of the sofa shop.

That's their way of saying, we've heard you. Well, maybe that's what they've done. I mean, how else would it have found its way onto YouTube? You found it on YouTube again. I'm like, who put it on there? Maybe Quentin's not telling us, but he was directly given the song by an alien. That would explain a lot.

He was the chosen one. When he talks about the creative fountain that you go to, he's actually talking about a spaceship. Big satellite dish he's got out the back of his house receiving transmissions. Love it. Yeah. It's built to something of a climax, man.

Like left us hanging. Here comes the payoff, right? Because Quentin and I did have a look through all his old tapes and couldn't find what we were looking for. But after I got back to my hotel, I had an email from Quentin saying, look what I found. And he sent to me the original from the 19th of February, 1985, the original master recording of the first ever sofa shop version

sung by Carmen, studio quality. I've never heard the song at such quality. And most importantly, it includes the line, the Halifax street line. Wow. This is like finding the first ever recording of, oh, I can't think what, some Michael Bolton song. How can we be lovers? I thought you were going to say Sgt. Pepper's, but no, upgrade it again, Michael Bolton's How Can We Be Lovers. Absolutely. This is

very, very special. And now I'm going to play it for the first time since 1985, the original. I don't know how the quality will stand up here on the podcast, but I'll do my best. Here it is, people. Three, two, one. This tape contains mixes of a 30-second jingle for The Sofa Shop recorded at Adelaide Recording Studios, February 1985.

The first track is a full sung version key number SOFA oblique 01 commencing five seconds from now. Sofa shop, yeah, come and drop in on Halifax Street We have a sofa designed for you Choose your fabric, match your curtains too The sofa shop ain't gonna cost what you think it will Don't you do a thing until you see the sofa shop Do you know what the best thing about that is? What?

The little official recording thing at the start where the guy says like the code number and all that. It just makes it seem so authentic. It's like hearing the crackle on an LP before it begins or, you know, just you know it's happening. Can I just say, I just think it's one of the great edits of history and now that we've found it, the song is complete. But I'm just wondering, maybe it's something that's been missing

from a whole other songs. Like I'd love to know was On Halifax Street originally part of With a Little Help From My Friends by The Beatles? Like was it? With a Little Help From My Friends On Halifax Street. What's the best song you can put on Halifax Street? How can we be lovers if we can't be friends on Halifax Street? Every song is improved if you reinsert back into it that line.

It just improves everything, I'm sure. I haven't realised it before. Penny Lane on Halifax Street. The streets of Philadelphia on Halifax Street. It's like a whole other street they mentioned straight away. Or maybe the songs, they start with Halifax Street and then they get changed later. Like Prince's song was originally going to be, instead of Alphabet Street, it was going to be Halifax Street, and then they get changed later. Like Prince's song was originally going to be,

instead of Alphabet Street, it was going to be Halifax Street, and then he just changes it later on. You know how Paul McCartney says he woke up and he wrote the song yesterday and originally it was something like Scrambled Eggs, but then you find the proper lyrics. Everything, the fountain, the creative fountain is the Halifax line and you build songs around it. Maybe the creative fountain itself is on Halifax line And you build songs around it Maybe the creative fountain itself is on Halifax Street

You need to look, man, you live not far from there Tim, where are you getting all these great podcast ideas from? Just a little place I found on Halifax Street I'm going to drive faster on the way home I'm going to drive up Halifax Street and have a look All these struggling musicians and authors are suddenly seen congregating on Halifax Street. Everyone's going to Abbey Road.

Forget Abbey Road. It's Halifax Street. People need to come to Halifax Street and get their photo taken crossing over the road instead of Abbey Road. Knowing Adelaide City Council, they probably demolished the creative fountain to build a tram line. City Council, they'd probably demolish the creative fountain to build a tram line. I cannot wait for all the song lines to have on Halifax Street inserted in them.

Go on to the subreddit, people. Let us know you're a, let us know. By the way, that special recording that Quentin sent to me with the original version had two other original versions of the sofa shop on it too one that's called a bed with tag and one that's just a 30 second bed and that's just the music they can use to play on the radio with people talking under it and stuff so i'll include them as bonus material for uh patreon supporters so go along to our patreon page and you can have a listen to that extra original material from Quentin's archive. Like it's just the music without the lyrics. Is that what you're saying? Yeah, because, you know, say the sofa shop was wanting to do a radio ad saying, oh, we've got, you know,

20% off sofa beds this week. They'd get some voiceover guy to, you know, say the line and this would be just a bed of music that would play underneath. So we've even got the beds and a bed with tag is a bed where just the instrumental music plays. But at the end you hear him go, Don't you do a thing until you see the sofa shop. Oh, that is perfect for karaoke night.

Do you think we should change the name of our podcast to The Unmade Podcast on Halifax Street? On Halifax Street. Everything is better on Halifax Street. Everything sounds better on Halifax Street. Everything sounds better on Halifax Street. Oh, gosh. One final thank you to both Carmen Scalzi and Quentin Ayres, who I want to point out both these guys are like proper,

legit musicians that have had these incredible careers and done all sorts of amazing things. Both of them regaled me with all sorts of fascinating stories about their careers that I didn't record. But I just want to get across, you know, these guys are the real deal. They were fantastic sports and they really got into the whole sofa shop thing and they really embraced it and were really welcome about it. So our thanks to them for being part of this. They have a proud legacy, a legacy from the creative fountain at the heart of the universe. Are you ever going to look at Halifax Street the same way again?

You must drive past Halifax Street every day. I walk it. I don't live too far from there. I'm several blocks away and I've walked the dog up there and get a coffee around there. Do you feel more creative when you're there? I don't know, but maybe I am, but I'm not tapping into it. You know what I mean?

I'm not in the zone. You've got to be open to it. You have to be open to it. You do have to be open to it. Like Quentin was. I haven't seen a fountain. Check it out. I will.

I will. I seriously will. It's where I'm going to get my ideas from now on, on Halifax Street. All right. Good work, man. Great investigative work. You should be a journalist. Really impressive stuff. Well, one day when I grow up, I would like to be one. That's on Halifax Street. On Halifax. And I think it's probably only fitting that we let Carmen and Quentin see us out with the original 1985 version. On Halifax Street, we have a sofa designed for you. Choose your fabric, match your curtains too.

The sofa shop ain't gonna cost what you think it will. Don't you do a thing until you see the sofa shop.