A performance of "Chocolate Cake" on Late Night with David Letterman. This was broadcast July 12, 1991 and features Paul Schaeffer and the World's Most Dangerous Band.
I saw this when it initially aired...people need to just have a sense of humor about this song...great performance! RIP Paul Hester...you were one of a kind....we miss you!
I stayed 3 months in California in summer 1991 and this was the first time I heard Crowded House. Loved the line "the excess of fat on your American bones will cushion the impact as you sink like a stone" :)
I love the Finn brothers and Crowed House and Split Enz! Lighten up and have another piece of chocolate cake and have a laugh! They have put out some great songs.
I am a Midwestern American and I used to play this song for my kids while warning them of the excesses of our USA lifestyle. We would take road-trips up north and sing along LOFA off as we sank like a stone...
One of the best bands ever: seen them on the Royal Court in Liverpool many years ago, they where great and the memory will stay with me and my wife forever. Love to all who played with the band. Kev&Jude
+Kev Brown I was there at one of the Liverpool shows in the 1990s, 20th June 1992 ! Great music playlist on my channel if anyone wants to check it out after :)
I remember those costumes from when I saw them twice in Australia, Aug 1991. Byron Bay and Tweed Heads. The Byron Bay show, in particular, was amazing.
My brother stole woodface off me when he was four and it was the only thing he listened to for ages. Even now it's still the only CD he ever wants to play, good taste bro 😉
I think it did for them with regards to their career in the States. They always operated on the periphery of wide acclaim over there and after this song, and this wonderfully spirited performance, the Americans would never fully take them to their heart. Who cares, right? In New Zealand, Australia and here in the UK they were universally adored. Still one of my favourite tracks.
+JonnyContagious Unfortunately I don't think enough Americans heard this song for it to affect their perception of CH one way or the other. The charts were full of dance/pop like Madonna and Janet Jackson. CH was played mainly on college and indie radio. Too bad. "Woodface" is an amazing record.
The Finn brothers are the best!¡ I've met them through my old drum teacher ĥe was an original before Noel Crombie took over Lol I had 2 tutor's?? Gary Haines & Malcolm Green!!😅😅😅
I was born in 1991 that is the year my mom graduated from high school I love myself I love there music even "Don't Dream Its Over" classic song from the 80's.
i still believe that this song is why Crowded House didn't make it popular in the States, sad but true. they are spot on, as far as i'm concerned. i went to a local record store last weekend looking for some CH or Split Enz and the manager said, "we don't keep those albums in stock because they don't sell", so i asked, "well you have Hall and Oates vinyl", to which the manager said, "THEY sell!" UGH!! pissed me off because CH's "Chocolate Cake" speaks of much of America's eating it all up
After Trump's asinine "most beautiful piece of chocolate cake you ever saw" statement the other day, I had to post this to my FB. Thank you so much for uploading one of my favourite CH songs & a stellar performance :)
Whoever greenlit this song as the first single off Woodface made a colossal error. Insulting America to their face was never going to regain the ground lost by Temple of Low Men. Woodface is a spectacular album packed full of great singles - Chocolate Cake is probably the 5th or 6th best song, maybe even lower. If America had bought Woodface in the quantities it deserved they wouldn't have had to push so hard on Together Alone & Paul Hester might have stayed in the band. This one decision probably robbed the world of at least two peak era Crowded House Albums. A real "Sliding Doors" moment
I read that some people in the US didn't like, or at least, were confused by this song and whether it was attacking the US or not, and that this contributed to lower airplay and ultimately to Woodface being a financial failure
The same thing happened when EMF were on the show, there was session musicians doing a lot of the work, why is that? I don't get why the bassist is playing guitar and some random is playing the bass?
It's Will Lee on bass. He was the house bass player on the Letterman show. That is Nick Seymour playing guitar and yes, Neil usually plays guitar Looks like they were just having fun and making us of the talents of Paul Shaffer and the Letterman house band.
Bold move singing "the excess of fat on your American bones will cushion the impact when you fall like a stone..." to an American audience. Apparently, this song lost Crowded House the American Audience.
That was the record company position too. Crowded a House stood their ground. It really summed up the 80’s manifesto of ‘Greed is Good’ and History has shown that it was on the money. Is it dated? I don’t think so. Look at the America now. Not much has changed. So much fakeness now.
awesome. digging the trippy karaoke vibe. paul hester... the man was a showman. May he rest in peace with some bizarre bongo drums buried next to him. I can't say the same for that guy's blonde mullet. I hope it is in hell.(not the bassplayer - just his hairstyle obv.) hmmm...
Surely, only a fat american could take offence at this? And only then if they didn't have a sense of humour!! Anyway, I don't think Neil Finn is terribly bothered about his status as the world's greatest diplomat being under threat... The New Zealand government nominated him (and Tim), for an OBE for services to music in New Zealand in 1993. He commented that apparently there hadn't been a music industry in New Zealand before he came along. The suggestion being that his government was getting on the bandwagon.
Extremely good live version. Wonder if any Republican Americans in the audience were offended? ... Tim looks like he's got some real beef on his shoulders here... I always thought he was skinny - but NOT here.
They were wearing the same garb (leisure suits) as on the album cover. This song is from the point of view of lounge lizards, which their decor' mocks perfectly.
