Tongue Tied Goes Digital

DJ-J's 1993 single available for download.

7 June, 2013

Well, this is unusual. We're not sure how long it's been there, but it's come to our attention that you can now buy Danny John-Jules' single version of Tongue Tied in the iTunes and Amazon digital stores.

Red Dwarf's most famous/infamous musical moment, Tongue Tied - of course - first entered the world at the beginning of Parallel Universe, as a dream sequence in which the Cat, Lister and Rimmer (choreographed painstakingly by Charles "Queeg" Augins) danced to the song in question. The song itself had actually begun life as a Son of Cliché sketch, before getting new lyrics (by Rob and Doug) and a new tune (courtesy of Howard Goodall) for use in Red Dwarf. You can find out more about the broadcast version's history in the documentary Settling the Score on the Series VI DVD.

In October 1993, however, Danny released - under the artist moniker "The Cat" - a brand new single version of the track, on record label EMI. According to EMI's press notes of the time, the release came about "due to heavy requests from the 30,000 strong fan club"! Said fans evidently flocked to buy it - on CD, cassette and both 7" and 12" vinyl, as well as a special extended VHS video - in their droves, as despite little in the way of TV or radio publicity it made it to ##17 in the charts.

This digital release, however, marks the first time that the record has been available to buy since then, outside of scouring eBay, collector's marts and car boot sales. For £2.49 (iTunes) or £1.69 (Amazon), you can buy the entire EP, which features no fewer than five alternative mixes of the track (including a "Kateoke", backing-track only version) - or you can just get the single version itself for 99p/89p. The EP doesn't, however, include the original single's other B-side: Danny's recording of the Red Dwarf theme.

Danny's single is actually now one of two versions of Tongue Tied that are available to buy digitally, following Howard Goodall's Piano Fantasies recording, released last year (a version which, speaking from experience, sounds very good played at weddings!) Is it too much to hope that in this social media-driven age, and in Red Dwarf's twenty-fifth anniversary year (not to mention twenty years after the song's initial release), a suitably co-ordinated mass-purchasing-in-the-same-week might see the Cat return to the charts once again...?

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