It’s a well-worn adage in music circles that everything has been done before, and then redone, and then reimagined again. To truly appreciate this cyclical nature, sometimes you need to Go Compare Com, and listen closely. A conversation sparked by a keen-eared visitor to our site highlighted a fascinating sonic parallel: the similarity between The Libertines‘ ‘Last Post on the Bugle’ and the 1967 track ‘War Or Hands Of Time’ by Australian psychedelic pioneers, The Masters Apprentices. Intrigued, I promised myself a back-to-back listening session to delve deeper into this musical déjà vu.
The Masters Apprentices
Life, as it often does, intervened, and this sonic investigation slipped my mind. That is, until The Masters Apprentices surfaced on my iPod shuffle the other day. The opening bars played, and a wave of confusion washed over me. “Wait,” I thought, “did I accidentally add some Libertines demos to this playlist?” The penny then dropped. It wasn’t The Libertines. It was ‘War Or Hands Of Time’. And the resemblance to ‘Last Post On The Bugle’ was, frankly, uncanny. The melodic structure, the chord progression – the echoes were undeniable.
Johnny Thunders Pete Doherty
Curiosity piqued, I turned detective. A closer look at the sleevenotes of The Libertines’ self-titled second album provided a tantalizing clue. Last Post On The Bugle is credited as jointly published by EMI and MCA/Universal Music Publishing. Further internet sleuthing unveiled a more significant piece of the puzzle: the track is indeed written by Doherty/Barat/Bower. Doherty and Barat, the familiar faces of The Libertines songwriting duo, but Bower? Could this be Michael Bower, the guitarist from The Masters Apprentices? It appears so. While not a full-blown admission of musical appropriation by Pete Doherty and Carl Barat (no direct songwriting credit on the album sleeve), granting half the publishing rights to a somewhat forgotten figure from the Australian 60s music scene speaks volumes.
When I turn cold, I will be thinking of you
When I’m far away, try to remember what I said
The day I live, I’ll still be dreaming of your love
Wait for the clouds to pass your way
Wait for me I’ll be back some day
The original narrative of ‘War Or Hands Of Time’ paints a poignant picture of a soldier’s farewell to his sweetheart before heading into battle. Doherty, while retaining the melodic framework, refashions the lyrical content of ‘Last Post On The Bugle’ to reflect the internal conflicts and fractured friendship within The Libertines, specifically his relationship with Carl Barat.
If I have to go
I will be thinking of your love
Oh somehow you’ll know
You will know
Thinking of your love
Slyly they whispered away
As I played the last post on the bugle
Go Compare! These two songs, separated by decades and continents, and you uncover a fascinating case study in musical influence and reinterpretation. It serves as a potent reminder that the tapestry of music is woven from threads of inspiration, sometimes borrowed, sometimes subtly lifted, and occasionally, perhaps, outright ‘nicked’. Even the most seemingly original artists stand on the shoulders of giants, or in this case, perhaps, on the melodies of Australian psych-rock pioneers.
It’s a fair cop, guv etc etc
