I'd love to know if there are any split enz songbooks available, especially if one was done for the best of or spellbound.
A true colours/waita songbook is currently going for over $60 on ebay so there must be a demand.
thanks
frank

Yes, the True Colours/Waiata book is quite rare -- my local library's copy has gone AWOL

There is also a more recent sheet-music book called "Split Enz By Request". I think it was only available through the Fan Club. Check out the pix here:

http://www.kiakaha.net/nifty/Enz/Books.html

Edit: heh heh, I've just noticed that the True Colours songbook has the album cover printed upside-down.

Hmm the problem with the By Request book was that they're simplified versions of the songs and some are just plain wrong, inc I Got You and I Hope I Never from the top of my head. They aren't hard songs to work out esp if you're a trained musician, I don't understand how these errors crept in. And why was I see Red in there? It's not exactly a mind blowingly complex song, for the most part it has three chords. Much more interesting to have Late Last Night in there, which has an excellent chord progression.

Yeah but then some poor copyist is going to have to sit there and annotate it. I think I'd rather annotate "Louie Louie" than "Late Last Night".

Paul.

I'd have to disagree Paul, it took me about half an hour to transcribe late last night. As I say, if you are a professional with high aural skills, Late Last Night doesn't present a problem.

Joe

Felt the need to edit, didn't mean that to sound rude or anything towards you Paul, we've yakked before and I presume you won't take it that way. I will admit that Late Last Night was one of the hardest to work out, as is The Woman Who Loves You.

Joe, check your PMs for a long winded obnoxious and threatening barrage of abuse.

Yes True Colours/Corroboree song books sold out quickly. The club had 200 and all went. We were selling them for a massive $10.00 in those days. The suggested retail price was $11.75 (pre evil ol' GST).
I true fashion Mushroom Music managed to mess up the cover and print the album upside down (True Colours side) in a strange way it kind of works.

Hmm Enz by Request, strangely enough I thought this was checked by Tim & Neil....I could be wrong. Not sure if this is still available as stocks were running low last year, so if you see it, want it, grab it.

I See Red was available on individual sheet music originally, and sold out 3 pressing runs,
and was available in Australia and New Zealand....and yep had a red print cover.
Same for My Mistake, I Got You, I Hope I Never, Six Months and I think Message.....all individual sheet music releases, possible one or two more that I have forgotten about.

The By Request was limited with pages (costs etc) so they did what they could.... to be honest it was lucky that it came out at all, as the idea had been shelled a few times.

Peter

Hi Peter (Gryphon),

I didn't mean it to be a whinge against the book, I think it's great it was released, and I can understand why I See Red is there rather than Late Last Night, a lot more people know I see Red It's really that some chords I felt were over simplified, it's fairly standard in pvg sheet music though, and the melody lines are certainly all correct, it just isn't exactly the chords played on the studio recordings. Pretty minor, maybe I'm being too predantic

Hi Paul, obnoxiousness and long windedness noted, abuse a bit on the lame side, threat rating confidently high. look forward to more

Btw, like your signature.

So... there's no Split Enz sheet music or songbook in print?

A couple of years ago I read an interview w/ Iva Davies of Iceshouse where he said that in the early 80s he paid the rent by transcribing a lot of music to sheet music and listed Split Enz as one of the bands he did. So maybe he's to blame. I never realized I Hope I Never was wrong - you're putting me to shame Camus; I'm gonna have to go give it a listen now. But Iris ALWAYS bugged the hell out of me - it would be great to see it with the open tuning chords that Neil actually uses.

Hi John,

I Hope I Never isn't exactly wrong, it's minor things like a D7 instead of Cdim. As I said, maybe I'm being pedantic and I haven't seen the by request book for a while, maybe I'm not remembering correctly. I Got You was really minor as well, but it's the famous bit at the beginning, the chords had it as D to Bb, and the guitar chord boxes had full barre chords AFAIR, which isn't what's played. Technically you could argue it is D to Bb, yet the voicing Neil Finn plays it in has it going from an open fifth, to a minor sixth, basically D with no third (no F#) to Bb without a fifth (no F) big difference, but again, it's a minor quibble.

funny you should talk about by request found that 2 days ago got it for 39.50 at one of the local music stores but been to busy to try it out

Going through the files for this Enz book on the weekend and I also found a USA sheet music release for I GOT YOU.
It was via Columbia Pictures Publications (via Enz Music Ltd) and catalogue number was 20151SMX, I'm sure it's not available anymore but there must be a few copies floating about in the States.
Cheers
Gryph.

This is now in print again. I bought one recently.

quote:

Originally posted by gph:
This is now in print again. I bought one recently.

Hey - I've just been searching the net for this book and can't find it - does it have a name? did you buy it online?
I would love to know



http://www.mychordspace.com/

I bought the Split Enz by Request book from Allans Music in the city (Melbourne) last year. As others have said, it is over simplified, although useful for a couple of songs (and the version for Time for a Change was nice). I went in there a couple of months ago and it was still there. It's also listed on their website - www.allansmusic.com.au - go to the print music/dvd section and type 'split enz by request' into the title area of the search engine.

(edited because I'm a bit thick)

My uni library has the Message To My Girl sheet music, must check it out some time

I purchased Split Enz By Request last year over Ebay. It's a great book, and although I can't comment on the arrangements from a pianist's or a guitarist's viewpoint (i primarily brought it so people could play it for me and I could sing it), I do know that the arrangement of History Never Repeats is quite unlike the original, and Six Months in a Leaky Boat is in a slightly different key.

I agree with Alana about "History Never Repeats" in "Split Enz By Request", because I have attempted to play it for her but it did not sound right so I quit on it straight away. Hahaha. :]