The Acid Drag counterculture of The Cockettes is brought into the 21st Century by Midnight at the Palace, the musical by Brando James Gwinn and Rae Binstock. Led by Hibiscus and Sylvester, The Cockettes are an under-referenced avant-garde act who were integral to the 1960s/70s ‘flower power’ scene in San Francisco. Here, the show’s co-creator curates a playlist of songs that influenced them, and others which they, in turn, inspired.
Honky Tonk Woman – The Rolling Stones
Ask two Cockettes what song was playing when they performed that first infamous kick line and you’ll get two different answers. But the most agreed-upon version is this cowbell-drenched, bluesy rock anthem from the Stones. Played at midnight on New Year’s Eve 1970, it marked the chaotic, glitter-drenched birth of the Cockettes’ legacy.
A Crab on Uranus – Scrumbly Koldewyn and Martin Worman
Arguably the most iconic original song from the Cockettes’ catalog. Famously debuted by Divine – drag superstar and muse of John Waters – in Journey to the Center of Uranus (1972), this number captures the group’s irreverent wit and boundary-pushing creativity.
We’re in the Money – Ginger Rogers
The Cockettes often drew from the Great American Songbook and the kaleidoscopic visuals of Busby Berkeley. This jazzy gem from Gold Diggers of 1933, with lyrics by Al Dubin and music by Harry Warren, is a prime example of the vintage musical glamour they adored and lovingly reimagined.
Anything Goes – Cole Porter
And speaking of Great American Songbook, what could be more emblematic of queer coding inside that body of work than the songs of the great Cole Porter? Name checked multiple times in the show, here’s a rare recording of the composer himself singing perhaps his best known song; the title song from the 1934 musical of the same name originally starring a 26-year-old Ethel Merman.
Happy Together – The Turtles
With its quintessentially late-60’s layers of “bap bah” background vocals, this song inspires a big moment in the original score of Midnight at the Palace; Sweet Pam’s dreamlike arrival in San Francisco after thumbing her way west (you could hitchhike in 1968 and not get murdered).
You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) – by Sylvester
Before becoming a global disco icon, Sylvester was a Cockette. Midnight at the Palace gives us a glimpse of his future stardom. ‘You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)’, his most enduring hit, hit No. 1 on the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart and remains a queer anthem for the ages.
Stormy Weather – Billie Holiday
When Sylvester joined the group, he had a blues singer alter ego referred to as “Miss Ruby Blue” who was described by Sylvester as “Billie Holiday’s cousin once-removed”. He frequently appeared in Cockette’s shows singing covers of torch songs like this popular hit from 1933 written by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler.
Crimson and Clover – Tommy James and the Shondells
This sexy mid-tempo tune with its distant, lazy background vocals behind tremolo laced lead and its mysterious-verging-on-nonsense lyrics (Seriously what the hell does “Crimson and Clover” mean in this context? …. Oh it means that? Groovy!) is the perfect inspiration for the musical’s slower, hazy, sensual moments.
Time of the Season – The Zombies
All you need to hear are those tom tom drums, that blues scale bass line, the instantly recognisable vocal percussion and you know you’re listening to this 1968 hit by British rock band The Zombies. Never falling off Rolling Stone’s list of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time,” could there be a track that is MORE 1968 than this?
Mr. Blue Sky – Electric Light Orchestra
The hardrock-shuffle, the orchestral strings, layered vocals, and poetic lyrics of ELO are a big influence on all of my work and Midnight at the Palace is no different. Though slightly post-Cockettes chronologically, this 1977 track has been called a “Beatles pastiche.” The song also includes elements popularised by the Beach Boys, The Kinks, and the Gibbs brothers ,and truly represents a beautiful blend of many of the sounds and idioms that have come to be known as touch tones of the radio landscape of the ’60s and ’70s.
Midnight at the Palace, Gilded Balloon Patter House, 30 Jul-24 Aug (not 12, 19), 9.30pm