Dizzy miss Lizzie - Flying Lizards

A big music collection comes with its own challenges. Over the past few years I have been eliminating certain 7" and 12" singles - most of which are still featured on this blog. I have done so quite carefully: most of the discs I sold or threw out were replaced by CD versions or better copies. After all, who needs sleeves that are written or stickered on? 

Certain 12" singles were only taking up space when there were better versions in smaller formats. This is a good example. I recently sold my 12" single of 'Dizzy miss Lizzie', and the money I got for it went towards finally buying the 7" single! I am pleased to say that the copy I bought is in mint state as well, so I'm quite happy with this particular exchange.

My collection: 7" single no. 7001
Tracks: 'Dizzy miss Lizzie' / 'Dizzy'
Found: Discogs.com, received 17 June 2023

Dizzy miss Lizzie - Flying Lizards

In 1984, the Flying Lizards released an album consisting entirely of covers, called 'Top Ten'. The covers were deliberately done in an emotionless, harsh and robotic style. 'Dizzy miss Lizzie' was one of them, a track originally written by Larry Williams in 1958 and covered many times since, most famously by the Beatles on their 1965 album 'Help!'.

I got to know the single shortly after its release via television. A strange music video accompanied the song, which you can see below. It was this video that made me interested in the song - but I had a heard time finding the single. Instead, I bought the 12" single when I saw it years later. The B-side 'Gyrostatics' is a sonic experiment not too dissimilar from tracks by Art of Noise.



My collection: 12" single no. 180
Found: Record Exchange, London, 1993
Cost: 1 pound
Tracks: 'Dizzy miss Lizzie', 'Dizzy' / 'Gyrostatics'

Money - Flying Lizards

'Money' was first recorded by Barret Strong back in 1959. It was covered by the Beatles and then much later in 1979 by the Flying Lizards. They were a British experimental rock group, making their name with this and other postmodern cover versions of songs.

At a very young age I was confronted with this song and I liked it a lot. I was especially impressed with the fact that the song continued on the B-side, with instrumental improvisations.

My collection: 7" single no. 53

Found: Rapsody, Den Haag, 1979

Cost: 3 guilders

Tracks: 'Money' / 'Money B'

Download: here