New left field soul music offering from Sir Viv Richards
One of the greatest cricketers of all time, Sir Vivian Richards, has teamed up with INXS drummer Jon Farriss for his first venture into songwriting.
Long after his retirement from the game one of the greatest cricketers of all time, Sir Vivian Richards, has teamed up with rock band INXS drummer Jon Farriss for his first venture into songwriting. ’Smokin Joe’ is a brag-a-docious self parody that sounds like a caramel seventies soul throwback, with a little pinch of ‘Shaft’ and West Indian cool runnings thrown in.
“Come and take a ride with me, nice to meet you, I’m Smokin’ Joe, ooooohhhhh yeeaaaahh”, he says invitingly in his best Barry White impersonation. Clearly playing to the strengths in his deep and warm voice Viv ‘bigs up’ his own cricket legend with a poetic reminder of his effortless ability to smash boundaries and create elation with stroke after stroke.
As the chorus exhalts, “here comes Viv, what a show, crack that bat, whatch it go, here come’s Viv, don’tcha know, smack that bat watch it go”, drummer Farriss keeps the lazy funk groove. "Viv was such a charismatic and affable guy," Fariss said. "We hit it off straight away and it wasn't hard to recognise his love of music."
The video features classic footage of the West Indies cricket legend in full swing. Watch it below.