Transcript for the Piece Audio version of Simon Jeffes and the Penguin Cafe Orchestra

Music Sid Vicious "My Way"

:10
WHEN MALCOLM MACLAREN DECIDED THAT SEX PISTOLS BASSIST SID VICIOUS SHOULD COVER THE FRANK SINATRA HIT, "MY WAY," HE GOT SIMON JEFFES TO WRITE THE STRING ARRANGEMENTS.

:18
SJ: ....his singing was grotesque, but at the same time there was something moving about it. And it wasn't a send up when I did the arrangement. I actually got quite touched by it. Because
although it sounded totally moronic in a way, it was full of
kind of anger and despair and yet life, there was really life
in the piece.

MUSIC BITE

:11
THIS MIGHT BE SIMON JEFFES' MOST INFAMOUS WORK, BUT IT'S NOT THE MUSIC FOR WHICH HE'S BEST KNOWN. THAT WOULD BE THE QUIRKY CHAMBER MUSIC GROUP, THE PENGUIN CAF? ORCHESTRA.

music

:26
THE PENGUIN CAF? ORCHESTRA WAS AN AD HOC ASSEMBLAGE OF MUSICIANS HEADED UP BY JEFFES FROM 1973 UNTIL HIS UNTIMELY DEATH 24 YEARS LATER. THEY RECORDED THEIR FIRST album for ROCK AND NEW MUSIC AUTEUR BRIAN ENO'S LABEL CALLED OBSCURE RECORDS. THE ROSTER INCLUDED JOHN ADAMS, HAROLD BUDD AND MICHAEL NYMAN, BUT EVEN MORE THAN THEM, THE PENGUIN CAF? ORCHESTRA WAS UNCLASSIFIABLE.
MUSIC

:21
YOU'VE HEARD THE PENGUIN CAF? ORCHESTRA ON NPR SHOWS, IBM COMMERCIALS AND EVEN THE NAPOLEON DYNAMITE SOUNDTRACK. THEY WERE AN INFLUENCE ON MODERN CHAMBER ROCK AND TREY ANASTASIO, GUITARIST FROM THE JAM BAND, PHISH, WAS LOOKING TO THE PENGUIN CAF? ORCHESTRA WHEN HE COMPOSED HIS INSTRUMENTAL ALBUM, "SEIS DE MAYO."

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TA: If there was a sound that was in my head, interestingly, it was probably the Penguin Caf? Orchestra. I don?t know how many albums they had but I had one of them, and I use to always play that album while I was cooking. So when I sequenced and mixed this album I literally sequenced it in the kitchen while cooking, and I use to think I want to have an album that you can cook to, like the Penguin Cafe Orchestra.

MUSIC

:05
I THINK SIMON JEFFE'S WOULD'VE APPRECIATED THE MUSIC FOR COOKING SCENARIO.

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SJ: It was whole idea of an orchestra playing Beethoven in a smokey atmosphere, I think was very exciting. People with a sparkle in their eye and sort of maybe a cigarette in the corner of their mouth.

Music bite

:15
SEVERAL ALBUMS FROM THE PENGUIN CAF? ORCHESTRA HAVE JUST BEEN RE-RELEASED . I'M JOHN DILIBERTO AND THIS HAS BEEN AN ECHO LOCATION, SOUNDINGS FOR NEW MUSIC.

MUSIC OUT