Beautiful Delilah

During the encore of the December 16, 1982 Stray Cats show at The Metro in Boston, Brian announces "this next song we recorded for our next album" before they launch into a blistering version of Chuck Berry's 'Beautiful Delilah'.

Has anyone ever heard a studio take of this wild rocker? It's too bad they didn't put it on Rant 'n' Rave - (along with the 3 b-sides). Imagine how great the original version of Rant 'n' Rave would have been with those 4 songs included. Both Hot Rod Gang and Dig Dirty Doggie could have easily been dropped to make room.

The same thing with Blast Off. The Dave Edmunds' produced version of 'I Fought The Law' should never have been left off that album.

Maybe it was just intended for Rant N Rave but then they left it out and... well, they decided to include it for Rock Therapy as they had played it for a while, so, they didn't have to rehearse or to think a lot about what songs to include there.

I Fought The Law and Two Of A Kind would have been great as Japanese bonus tracks for Blast Off, don't you think??

Now I'm wondering if the version of 'Beautiful Delilah' on "Rock Therapy" was a finished outtake left-over from the "Rant 'n' Rave" sessions.

And, could there be any other tracks on "Rock Therapy" which are outtakes from earlier sessions? Isn't 'I Wanna Cry' a Phantom Rocker & Slick outtake? I bet there are others....

Judging by the sound of BDelilah, I would say it's from the Rock Therapy sessions, and yes, I Wanna Cry was recorded by PR&Slick!!

I also wonder whether a bootleg with more outtakes, Let's Go Faster Demos-like, will ever be released! That would be cool! Still hoping for a DVD with Brian Setzer's clips, though

Just wanted to add that this song has been played in France (Clermont-Ferrand) on 8th february 1982, at the Roxy (28th april 1982) too. On 15th july 1982, Brian introduced Beautiful Delilah by saying the same thing (song from the new album). The question is: when did the Cats go in studio for that new album, certainly Rant & Rave? I mean did they begin to record before the 15 of july? Don't forget Rant & Rave was released more than a year after (25th august 1983) with 10 original songs...
Anyway, it seems to me that Beautiful Delilah was recorded at that time and they probably decided not to include it...

[quote="FrenchyCat"]Just wanted to add that this song has been played in France (Clermont-Ferrand) on 8th february 1982, at the Roxy (28th april 1982) too. On 15th july 1982, Brian introduced Beautiful Delilah by saying the same thing (song from the new album). The question is: when did the Cats go in studio for that new album, certainly Rant & Rave? I mean did they begin to record before the 15 of july? Don't forget Rant & Rave was released more than a year after (25th august 1983) with 10 original songs...
Anyway, it seems to me that Beautiful Delilah was recorded at that time and they probably decided not to include it... [/quote]

Good questions. According to Scatman's Timeline, the Cats were signed to EMI America in April of 82. Built For Speed was released on EMI in the US on July 5, 1982. They then toured straight through from July - September. After taking October off from the road, they went back out from mid-November until almost Christmas. In 1983 the Cats were pretty much on the road from February 18 through December 19. Plus New Year's Eve on MTV. (Then, again from mid-January '84 through the end of February!)

So that leaves either October/early November '82 or January/early February '83. I say it's October. EMI had no idea Built For Speed would sell double platinum. I don't think EMI was even planning to release a single at first - Rock This Town was not released as a single until September 18, 1982 - 10 weeks after the album release date. Back then the first single was often released before the album.

EMI most likely booked studio time with Edmunds in October '82, and kept the sessions in the can until the sales for Built for Speed cooled. (And that would explain Brian talking about Beautiful Delilah on-stage in mid-July - they would have been thinking about and writing for the new sessions by then).

However, Built For Speed was a surprise smash hit and was certified Gold on November 5, 1982. Less than a month later, on December 1, 1982, BFS was certified Platinum. That's 500,000 units sold in the US alone in just 26 days (Nov 5 - Dec 1). Not bad for a little Rockabilly band from Long Island. And it kept selling well into 1983. Stray Cat Strut hit #3 on the singles chart on January 8.

Anyway, after Built For Speed finally slowed down in the middle of '83, EMI finally scheduled Rant & Rave for release. That's my take on it, at least....

Thank you Scatman.

Very good analysis, really. You may be right for the recording dates. I also think it'd be interesting to have a look in the press of that era: maybe we'll find some indication about that recording session...
So everybody's go to the archives....!

And now it would be even better if we could get a listening of these two studio recordings:

"Rock Around With Ollie Vee": according to an interview in 1982 with Brian, he says the Cats recorded this cut when Built For Speed was recorded.

and "Can't Keep A Secret", from Blast Off. The initial press release came with this song and Two of A Kind on it, with Sli Slip Slippin In out of it... this makes 11 tracks. I'll get it posted on my blog in a few days!!

How cool is that??