It's a Shame About Ray

History

The title track was inspired partially by a club owner who called everyone 'Ray'. Band leader Evan Dando later saw the actual line, "It's a shame about Ray" in a Sydney newspaper article about something that happened to a child named Ray. "It's a Shame about Ray" was a big international hit for the band, as well as a #5 hit on the Modern Rock Tracks chart in America. The music video features Johnny Depp. The song was later included at #138 on Pitchfork Media's Top 200 Tracks of the 90s.

"Alison's Starting to Happen" refers to Alison Galloway, the drummer for Smudge. The album also includes a cover of the song "Frank Mills" from the musical Hair.

Pressure from the record label caused the title of the song "Drug Buddy" to be reduced to the less-provocative title "Buddy" when the album was reissued, only to be changed to "My Drug Buddy" on later releases.

"Confetti" and the title track were also released as singles in the UK.

Actress Polly Noonan and her car appear on the cover of the album.

Re-Releases

After its initial release, the album was re-issued with a cover of the song "Mrs. Robinson", originally by Simon & Garfunkel. This version was released as a single, recorded to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the release of the movie The Graduate, for which the song and video appeared in the DVD release. The song had been recorded after the other tracks, with a different bass player.

The album was re-issued as a collector's edition by Rhino in 2008. This edition includes several bonus demo versions of album tracks, along with the B-side "Shaky Ground" plus a DVD containing the previous VHS release Two Weeks in Australia.

Performances

The band performed the album in its entirety at London's Shepherds Bush Empire on September 14 and 15, 2005, as part of the All Tomorrow's Parties-curated Don't Look Back concert series. The cover of "Mrs. Robinson", a song that Dando grew tired of after its popularity, was missing from the setlist. However "Mrs. Robinson" was not on the original, first pressings of the album.

The Lemonheads announced an Australian tour for November and December 2010, where they would play the album, It's A Shame About Ray in its entirety, along with other select songs from their other albums.

Track listing

All songs by Evan Dando unless otherwise stated.

1. "Rockin Stroll"
2. "Confetti"
3. "It's a Shame About Ray" (Words by Dando/Tom Morgan, music by Dando)
4. "Rudderless"
5. "My Drug Buddy"
6. "The Turnpike Down"
7. "Bit Part" (Words by Dando/Morgan, music by Dando)
8. "Alison's Starting to Happen"
9. "Hannah & Gabi"
10. "Kitchen" (Nic Dalton)
11. "Ceiling Fan in My Spoon"
12. "Frank Mills" (James Rado, Gerome Ragni, Galt MacDermot)

13. "Mrs. Robinson" (Paul Simon)

Personnel

The song "Hannah & Gabi" features slide guitar by Jeff "Skunk" Baxter

Charts

Album – Billboard (North America)

Singles – Billboard (North America)