Metal Sludge Gossip Board

I live to go down the YouTube rabbit hole looking for popular songs that have live versions form around the time of their official release. It's especially interesting to see how "one-hit-wonder" bands pulled off their hits live.

So...this is NOT new, but I don't recall seeing anyone post or talk about it here (how???). If you haven't seen it before, you'll thank me. Maybe it's a "classic" but I'd never seen it.

I was looking for a live version of "C'mon Eileen" and found this. Obviously, the singer was having serious problems following a cold and fans said he didn't want to let the band down so went ahead with the performance.

The song started and I was like "WOW, this sounds spot-on"...then the vocals start. I almost immediately paused the video and started looking at the comment section. I was just about pissing myself laughing (seriously, my sides hurt).

Now, before anyone calls me a meanie, let me just say that the singer gets HUGE props from me because this is from THEIR OFFICIAL CHANNEL, haha. yes, HE approved and/or posted it for all the world to see. Gotta love a guy who can laugh at himself and a situation like this. There are also several other videos through the years showing him nailing the tune and he is quite capable of pulling it off, which is why I love this so much. I am official a fan of the guy now. Kevin Rowland is a fucking LEGEND in my book for this. BRAVO!

The comments are priceless and hilariously good-natured. Having a bad day/week? Check out the comment section and you will see the sun shining once again.

Dexie's Midnight Runner's "Come On Eileen" (live 1983)

YOUTUBE:
https://youtu.be/C3rg4psdHxw?si=qGSI_OT8HcgJmHFm
image forum upload

Your "long winded" post absolutely ruined any potential comedic value of the actual video and related comments.

Somewhat related, and I don’t know who originally posted this, but it’s my favorite tweet of all time:

“yes, but, where on Eileen?”

Wild Obsession wrote: ↑Thu Aug 21, 2025 4:19 pm Your "long winded" post absolutely ruined any potential comedic value of the actual video and related comments.

Waaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh

I did the long-winded post to ruin it for crybabies.

Kevin Rowland is actually quite a serious guy, or at least serious about his music, but he is prone to some strange decisions. Dexys had 3 big hits and several lesser ones here, but they changed their image drastically between albums, e.g. they went from looking like 19 century farmers on ...Eileen (and associated album) to sults and ties on the next. Obviously it confused their fans. Then in the late 90s Kevin tried a solo career where on the album cover (My Beauty) he was wearing a black dress that had slipped down below his chest, and he was lifting it to show black panties and suspenders. He was deadly serious and didn’t understand why it bombed.

A killer song, and a very good album... which I bought 40+ years ago when they were all over MTV!

Never saw them live, or followed much of their career... but I always find it interesting the amount of "arm chair quarterbacks" in entertainment, and sports the same.

I recall Butch Walker talking about this song at some point and talking about the various time changes, random parts of the song, and unique use of instruments not normally found in a huge pop radio hit. In short... his take was, and I agree... this song is absolute GENIUS!

$tEvil

Very professional of him to do the show anyway. I didn't watch the whole video, but it seems after that "squeaky" start, the singer quickly figured out what his range was going to be for that performance and seemed to just make it work for the rest of the song. Being able to adapt on the spot like that is quite the skill indeed!

Also very cool to see the rest of the band play their instruments on stage just like they sound on the radio!

Kevin always had an "interesting" voice. Just unique but worked. Of course, this was way off, but it's still a fun watch.

Here is a version from 2023. Better: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqUrhvnj0t8