hellbound1972 0 Posted August 17, 2012 Report Share Posted August 17, 2012 I was asked for a track by john holt called Help me make it through the night by a wedding guest... me..."hmmm, hold on I'll look on my database.....no sorry I don't seem to have it" her..."why not?, every DJ has that song, it was a huge hit" me..."well i don't but if you give me a minute I can download it (Iphone Technology)...No, sorry it doesn't seem to exist online either, Kris Kristofferson has a version though" her..."nope. thats no good, has to be John holt, why doesn't it exist online?, it was really popular, all dj's carry it, what kind of DJ are you not to have it, why isn't it on the internet?" me...(by now i was a little bored) "I don't know madam, I'll ask the inventers of the web why it isn't there" her..."you do that, it should be online, don't understand why it isn't" Link to post Share on other sites
fester 0 Posted August 17, 2012 Report Share Posted August 17, 2012 To be honest it actually was really popular. I wouldn't agree that every DJ has it though. I have it (Classic cuts vol 56) although I don't recall ever playing it. I totally think she had a bad attitude but she also did have a good point - it is on the internet. Maybe your iphone was having a bad day but search for "john holt Help me make it through the night" and google is full of results. If you jump on itunes and search "John Holt" it's the first result. Craig Dance Sounds Disco http://www.discosheffield.co.uk Link to post Share on other sites
hellbound1972 0 Posted August 20, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2012 I think it was more I couldn't find it due to signal or search engine being stupid as I have since found it. It was just the point that its impossible to carry EVERY piece of music from 50's to present unless you have HAL from space Oddessy as your backup. Link to post Share on other sites
Retrodisco 0 Posted August 20, 2012 Report Share Posted August 20, 2012 I think it was more I couldn't find it due to signal or search engine being stupid as I have since found it. It was just the point that its impossible to carry EVERY piece of music from 50's to present unless you have HAL from space Oddessy as your backup. Just for fun having never really heard of it, I actually DO have it on my system. Link to post Share on other sites
fester 0 Posted August 21, 2012 Report Share Posted August 21, 2012 I think it was more I couldn't find it due to signal or search engine being stupid as I have since found it. It was just the point that its impossible to carry EVERY piece of music from 50's to present unless you have HAL from space Oddessy as your backup. I agree completely with you there. The amount of times a punter asks for something obscure and then looks at you like you've just farted when you say you haven't got it Craig Dance Sounds Disco http://www.discosheffield.co.uk Link to post Share on other sites
qcdiscodynamic 0 Posted August 22, 2012 Report Share Posted August 22, 2012 To be honest it actually was really popular. I wouldn't agree that every DJ has it though... Fester's right - it got to #6 in the UK charts in 1974 and in my experience, quite a few people believe John Holt's version to be the original. The song's writer, Kris 'Whistler from Blade' Kristofferson, was I believe the first to record a version of it though I'm not sure if his version was the first to be released. The differences in what us DJs carry and play/don't play never ceases to amaze me. Holt's 'Help Me Make It Thru' The Night' is a track I'd always try and play if I was asked for reggae. It tends to appear on a lot of commercial reggae compilations and often alongside the other huge reggae hit of 1974, Ken Boothe's 'Everything I Own,' which was also a cover version of a fairly recent hit at the time. If you have a crowd that like their reggae, it's worth trying out. I've always had a good response to both of those tracks fortunately. ... It was just the point that its impossible to carry EVERY piece of music from 50's to present unless you have HAL from space Oddessy as your backup... And even if you did have HAL, he/it'd probably configure your laser/other lighting effects to zap the punter who requested the track as soon as they got up to dance! I agree that even in this age of endless means to store and carry music around without breaking your back that it's not reasonable to expect DJs to have every piece of music from the 50s to the present day. Even if you restricted it to top 30 UK chart hits from that period, there are so many that would be pointless to carry around because you just wouldn't play them. Added to that, what about the fact that a lot of songs have various remixes? Are we expected to carry all of them? We've all had experiences like this one I'm sure! Speaking of John Holt, 'Help Me Make It...' and the original version of 'The Tide is High,' which he wrote and recorded with The Paragons, are the only tracks of his that I carry around. Coincidentally I once had an earbashing from a bloke who couldn't believe that I didn't have much else by Holt on me. I did my research after the event and Holt records quite a lot of reggae covers of songs. I found out that I do have his version of 'Killing Me Softly' but frankly either Roberta's or the Fugees's versions are significantly better. His version of 'Mr. Bojangles' is quite good but I prefer either Sammy Davis Jnr. or even Robbie Williams's versions. Link to post Share on other sites
hellbound1972 0 Posted August 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 30, 2012 His version of 'Mr. Bojangles' is quite good but I prefer either Sammy Davis Jnr. or even Robbie Williams's versions. You mentioned Robbie, That gets a Ehh Ehh noise from family fortunes! He ruined that song (IMO) Link to post Share on other sites
qcdiscodynamic 0 Posted August 31, 2012 Report Share Posted August 31, 2012 You mentioned Robbie, That gets a Ehh Ehh noise from family fortunes! He ruined that song (IMO) I'm not overly fussed on Robbie and indeed the album that it comes from. However, his version of 'Bojangles' is the lesser of the evils for me, which was why I mentioned it. I'm really not keen on the version of 'Beyond the Sea' from that album. Robbie actually copied a live version of Sammy Davis Junior's virtually note for note. Sammy does it better admittedly! I like the arrangement of that version in particular. Link to post Share on other sites
David_001 0 Posted September 5, 2012 Report Share Posted September 5, 2012 I was asked for a track by john holt called Help me make it through the night by a wedding guest... me..."hmmm, hold on I'll look on my database.....no sorry I don't seem to have it" her..."why not?, every DJ has that song, it was a huge hit" me..."well i don't but if you give me a minute I can download it (Iphone Technology)...No, sorry it doesn't seem to exist online either, Kris Kristofferson has a version though" her..."nope. thats no good, has to be John holt, why doesn't it exist online?, it was really popular, all dj's carry it, what kind of DJ are you not to have it, why isn't it on the internet?" me...(by now i was a little bored) "I don't know madam, I'll ask the inventers of the web why it isn't there" her..."you do that, it should be online, don't understand why it isn't" Classic! I love this, but still yet to see someone print it out and take it to gigs ;) i wonder why? http://www.dudelol.com/img/list-of-things-...ask-the-dj.jpeg Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now