eltonjohnallsongslist: Unforgettable People (XXIX): Larry "Legs" Smith

25-Jul-2008

Unforgettable People (XXIX): Larry "Legs" Smith

"Legs" Larry Smith, AKA Larry Smith, was born on 18th January 1944, in Oxford, Oxfordshire, England. He basically played all percussion: tuba, drums, congas, bushes, tap-dancing, ... and also vocals.

Like many bands in the mid-1960s, the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band formed from a collection of friends at art school. The original line-up included Vivian Stanshall, Neil Innes, Roger Ruskin-Spear, 'Legs' Larry Smith and Rodney Slater. The resultant band of former Goldsmith students started out locally, on the London pub and club scene; they went on to have a short but prolific recording life, mainly between 1967 and 1969. During this period they also featured as the resident band on the TV show "Do Not Adjust Your Set". Before disbanding in 1970 they released four albums and toured extensively.

Larry recorded with Elton doing tap dance on "I Think I'm Going To Kill Myself" and toured with him as a band member. On a 1972 concert, he performed an Elton's rendition of "Singin' In The Rain" while dressed as a bearded bride.

He also toured with Eric Clapton, Yes, John Cale, Rod Stewart & The Faces and George Harrison, among others. In fact, he was a close friend of Harrison for many years and designed the cover for his "Gone Troppo" album. He also sang the theme song of the Harrison-backed film "Bullshot". Harrison wrote and recorded a song about him called "His Name is Legs (Ladies and Gentlemen)" on his album "Extra Texture". Apart from his recording projects, he has exhibited paintings and graphics, designed stage-sets and costumes, appeared in a movie or two and dared to lecture at the Oxford Union.

On 28 January 2006 with other surviving members of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band he played a concert at the London Astoria. Plans are in place to release and publish his autobiography: "LIFE IS LIKE A HORSE'S ARSE - (It Should Always Have A Tale To Tell)" along with a collection of his artworks. Apart from various other commitments, he has created Commotion Pictures in order to produce new, original and innovative works for stage, screen and television.

sources from www.legslarrysmith.com

The Story Behind "AllSongsList"

AllSongsList tries to find the best Elton John ever song, in a multiple points of views. There are 23 categories to evaluate:

US Singles & Albums Music Charts
Canada Singles & Albums Music Charts
UK Singles & Albums Music Charts
Ireland Singles & Albums Music Charts
France Singles & Albums Music Charts
Germany Singles & Albums Music Charts
Austria Singles & Albums Music Charts
Italy Singles & Albums Music Charts
Switzerland Singles & Albums Music Charts
Spain Singles & Albums Music Charts
Norway Singles & Albums Music Charts
Sweden Singles & Albums Music Charts
Japan Singles & Albums Music Charts
Australia Singles & Albums Music Charts
New Zeland Singles & Albums Music Charts
Brazil Singles & Albums Music Charts
Southafrica Singles & Albums Music Charts

There's a table of the positions and points by position of the songs that reach the charts, depending the category of singles, "B" sides of the singles and albums. For example, a Nº 1 means 10.000 points if it was reached as a single, 2.500 points for its "B" side and 5.000 points for the album (Elton's album or another artist album). That is ponderate by the importance of the country in world's music sales terms. That is increased by the award acreditation of platinum, gold or silver albums. 100 points are for the weeks in the number one chart and 50 for times in other positions.

Single Category
The points of that category are for the "A" singles (500 points) and "B" singles (250 points).

Albums Category
The points of that category are for the album tracks: 500 if it is an original album and 750 points for the compilations. Soundtracks and other artist albums are counting as 500 points.

Video (DVD) Category
The points of that category are for the tracks, couting 750 points for the video-clip singles and 500 points for being in a original release.

Cover Category
650 points meant that any artist did a cover of one of Elton's songs. 350 points are for the mixes and remixes.

Live Category
The points of that category are 1.000 if the song was in a Tour Set List. The points are increased by 100 for the times the song is in the set list. 850 points means to be in a guest appearance concert or special show or event (outside the official tour).

Others
Other puntuations depending if the song win an award (grammy, brits, etc.) or for the nomination; for the duets, for Elton's own covers. In addition of other chart lists of magazines, the radio airplay or TV appearance, the ringtones or eltonites' votes.

Example

Your Song has now 1.721.205 points and it is the number two of the list. Is the song most played live with 337.250 points, and has 179.575 points in the category of US Singles & Albums Charts, for example.

That all began in 1985, one year after I became an eltonite. There are three copies of security of allsongslist. AllSongsList has all the chart successes in all the countries I told before, all the set lists since the beginning of Elton's career, most of them validate (others are aproximated); the covers, the duets, the listing albums tracks, etc. It has been a such hard work of documentation through the years.

Your votes will aid your favourite songs to go up and down the allsongslist charts. Help me to find the best Elton's song.