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August 1965 (side A)
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August 1965. Steve Matteo drops in for a feature on film in 1965 (including Help!), and we go through the UK charts in August. Dylan, Stones, Beatles, the Everly Brothers and Sonny (?1). #madeonzencastr
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Transcript
The Beatles' Charm and Resilience
00:00:00
Speaker
The Beatles had this charm, John Paul and George and probably then Stuart and Pete, had this charm when things weren't going well, which in their world wasn't very often because mostly it was an upward trajectory, but nonetheless, sometimes you they would have a bad night or the gig would you know it didn't work properly or the amps broke or whatever. i say, where are we going, fellas? And they'd go, to the top, Johnny. And I'd say, where's that, fellas? they'd say, to the toppermost or the poppermost. And I'd right. And we'd all sort of,
00:00:29
Speaker
Cheer up. Where are we going, Johnny? Straight to the top, boys. Oh, yeah? Where's that? The top of most of the popper.
Introduction and Focus on 'Help'
00:00:59
Speaker
Welcome to Toppermost of the Poppermost for August of 1965, the UK side. I'm Ed Chan. I'm Kit O'Toole. And now I'm Martin Cabell.
00:01:10
Speaker
Last year, we spoke about A Hard Day's Night. This year, we're going to be talking about Help. We have with us Steve Mateo, the author of Act Naturally, The Beatles on Film.
00:01:23
Speaker
He is certainly one of the most knowledgeable folks on the background and making of The Beatles films. Hey, Steve. Hi, how are you? It's great to be here. His book we'll be referring to quite a bit throughout this is Act Naturally, which is about the Beatles in
Steve Mateo on The Beatles' Films and 60s British Cinema
00:01:40
Speaker
film. And it's a fascinating book because it not only talks about the actual details of the filming, but to really put it into context of what was going on in British film.
00:01:55
Speaker
at the time. And I think that really helps us understand the different things that were happening. So just quote here, late 1964 and 65 would prove to be a period when the fortunes of the British movie scene would expand with current releases reflecting the new British cinema aesthetic and the international film scene.
00:02:15
Speaker
What was the new British cinema aesthetic? After World War II, there's a whole explosion around the world in film. The center of film in the world has always been Hollywood since the very beginning of film, particularly once the big movies came along and then the talkies in the late twenty s But after World War ii there started to be other places in the world that became the center for film.
00:02:39
Speaker
I mean, there was always film being made all around the world, in Europe, you know, in Asia, all over the place. But what happened is ah French and Italian films started to becoming critically acclaimed and in some cases very popular. You had the French New Wave, you have Italian neorealism, and Hollywood is still been making movies and is still the center of film.
00:03:01
Speaker
And so what happens in the sixty s is even though there have always been good British films, The Third Man, whatever the case may be, always great British movies, it suddenly became the center of film. And a lot of this had to do with the fact that the first James Bond movie comes out in 1962, and you get what's called these kitchen sink films, which which are sort of a reflection of the British culture coming out of World War II, coming out of the recovery, getting away from rationing, cleaning up the bomb sites. And suddenly now you have all these young people and they have disposable income and you have this new generation. And so you have these films reflecting it. But what really happens in the timeframe that...
00:03:51
Speaker
you were alluding to that I wrote about in the book, these films suddenly become really popular, not just in England, but around the world.
Rise of British Cinema and Cultural Shifts
00:03:59
Speaker
And Tom Jones is sort of the movie that really breaks it wide open with Albert Finney. yeah It's not the first film to become an important film, but it's a blockbuster movie.
00:04:12
Speaker
It's popular. And this really is the moment. And it becomes sort of the beginning of what comes to be called later as swinging London.
00:04:23
Speaker
And this encompasses everything in terms of art and culture, film, ah music, fashion, photography, art, art. Everything. The Beatles are at the center of everything. There's no question about it. But there's all this other stuff that has already been going on before the Beatles ever signed to EMI.
00:04:45
Speaker
You know, these films and the different people who are creating the style of... London of swinging 60s. I get into this in great detail. You know, some people have picked up the book and it's like, oh, great, this book, The Beatles about their films. Wait a minute. What is all this other stuff that's here?
00:05:04
Speaker
But I just felt like, you know, it was important to create context. I wanted people to understand that The Beatles films, it didn't just come out of nothing. The Beatles were obviously always influencing everyone, particularly in music and then culturally, but they were also absorbing a lot of musical and cultural influences themselves. It was kind of going back and forth.
The Beatles as Cultural Influencers
00:05:27
Speaker
So it's no coincidence that suddenly now at this time, 64, 65, we're where the center of film is England, London. These films are the films to see.
00:05:42
Speaker
And you know one of the things that's interesting, you know i I have to go back sometimes and I have to look back at my book because there's so much information in there. This book is not a critic's book. It's not an analysis book.
00:05:55
Speaker
I'm more of a journalist. So the book has a lot of cultural history in it, which is out there. It's just research. And between A Hard Day's Night and Help, Richard Lester, who is the director of both of those films, he makes a movie called The Knack and How to Get It, which is an extremely important film, not just in terms of British cinema, but in terms of cinema all around the world. It becomes the first film to win Best Picture at the Cannes Film Festival, and in like forever.
00:06:26
Speaker
It's sort of the coming out party for Julie Christie, where she becomes this international star. You can't quite understand how popular she was, how iconic she was at this point. There's a phrase that was thrown around the cult of Julie Christie. And so this point here is really critical and help, you know, at the time, and maybe just a little after people were sort of like, oh yeah, that was okay. But, you know, A Hard Day's Night was so important. it was such an important film in terms of launching the Beatles, in terms of British cinema, in terms of movies about pop music groups.
00:07:05
Speaker
It's a groundbreaking film. But in retrospect, Help becomes a very important film, too. Richard Lester has always said that he prefers Help. to a hard day's night. This is what I do. I kind of answer these questions in the very stream of consciousness.
00:07:21
Speaker
This is what the book is. It is not yeah a music book. It is a film book and it is about the main five films. But I talk a lot about other movies so people understand where the Beatles films fit in. And I'll say one last thing before the next question. The people who work on A Hard Day's Night and Help in particular, these folks are working on all kinds of other really important British films at the time.
00:07:49
Speaker
And so that's significant. And I wanted to give them their due because they are the main people making these films, not the Beatles. It's very easy for me to use a cliche in saying that Cateau Garçon were four people that communicated without speaking.
00:08:07
Speaker
And this is a film of four people that speak without communicating. Tell us what you think about The Knack as the intermediate between a Hard Day's Night and Help.
00:08:19
Speaker
Well, it's interesting because i I don't remember who the director's name was, but another director was actually supposed to do this film. i Lindsay Anderson. And Richard Lester was asked at like the last minute. And he was kind of like in between these two movies. And he was just going to kind of relax and take it easy and hang out with his family. And he's like, oh, sure, I'll do it. You know, meanwhile, it becomes this incredibly important movie.
00:08:41
Speaker
He is such an underrated film director. and especially in terms of comedy. I mean, I don't think the knack is really a comedy. That would not be the right thing to call it. But just in general, you know, Lester is considered an important director in this period in terms of making comedies and then going into the 70s.
00:09:01
Speaker
He is a very influential film director. a lot of film directors who are very influenced by him. And I mean today. i don't mean just back then. I mean today. So this movie becomes a phenomenon. And Lester, it it's almost like he's just killing time in between these two Beatle movies, but he makes this really interesting movie. I think it still holds up very well.
00:09:25
Speaker
I don't remember the last time I saw it, but I don't think it was that long ago. And um it does hold up very well. And this is a very difficult role, the role that Julie Christie has. I mean, it's not a frothy kind of role. I mean, she has to play a very complicated person in this film. I wouldn't call it a feminist role specifically, but I mean, I think there's some elements of that in it.
00:09:50
Speaker
So I recommend anybody that's never seen it and really wants to see a ah slice of swinging London, this is one of the films
'Help' as a Parody and Its Cultural Context
00:09:59
Speaker
to see. Another another important film genre you mentioned that had a huge impact on Help, which we will get to the actual film in just a second. But as you talk about in your book, it's important to paint the picture of the influences. and You talk quite a bit about the spy films that were popular at the time, James Bond being obvious. We've talked about James Bond themes on our show quite a bit since they they made the charts. How do you think the British spy films of the 60s influenced Help?
00:10:31
Speaker
Once they did A Hard Day's Night, they sort of did that kind of movie. You know, the sort of pseudo-documentary, we're sort of the Beatles but we're not kind of movie. And so what are we going to do next?
00:10:42
Speaker
And there was a lot of different ideas thrown around. And I get into this in detail in the book. And one of the ideas that they had, Ringo fakes his own death, fakes a kidnapping kind of thing.
00:10:55
Speaker
But there was another movie that they found out was already in production and was close to being finished that had almost the exact same premise.
00:11:06
Speaker
It was a Philip DeBrocka film. And there was also somewhat of an influence where they went back to the Wilkie Collins novel, The Moonstone, and kind of borrowed elements from that.
00:11:20
Speaker
But it just made sense. We're going to do a spoof here. I mean, that's basically what it is. It's a comedy. It's a spoof. And so... British spy movies.
00:11:31
Speaker
So it was a natural. i mean you didn't just have the James Bond movies. you know You had so many other serious spy movies, like The Spy Who Came In From the Cold or The Ipcris File, you know really serious spy thrillers. And for some reason, the Brits seemed to know how to do this well. I mean, maybe because they have MI6. Ian Fleming didn't invent the spy genre. The spy genre goes back decades.
00:11:56
Speaker
But he just seemed to capture it. And then the the Bond films were perfect. Obviously, you know, some of the elements of some of the villains in there, there's a certain sort of maybe political incorrectness to it. I think it's harmless.
00:12:12
Speaker
in some ways In some ways, maybe not so. I wasn't going to get into a debate about that. I mean, I brought this up in the book and talked about it because I think it was necessary. And by the way, I think that's one of the reasons why you don't see help shown on television and why you really don't see it shown in movies. You can buy the DVD. You can buy the Blu-ray. But I think there is a sense of the Beatles, Apple, they have a sensitivity to this.
00:12:40
Speaker
And they're kind of wary of it. Apple shares the rights to the film with the Karsh family, who actually own all the rights to a Hard Day's Night. oh So, you know, maybe the Karsh family, I believe I'm saying their name right. Maybe they also feel this is not the right tone.
00:12:57
Speaker
i mean, it's a fun film. I'm a big fan of spy movies, particularly British spy movies of the 60s. So this is catnip for me. I just love it. And it's the Beatles. So I mean, how can you go wrong? And the music in the help period is just second to none. It's the greatest.
00:13:14
Speaker
So It's this loose spy story. It's more like these evil villains, Clang and his group. It's fun to me. It's just a fun movie. David Watkin was the cinematographer, and he really felt that the way that he filmed the color, because it's a color film, the way that he filmed the color was a real breakthrough in color cinematography. Yeah.
00:13:38
Speaker
I mean, for us, when we watch it now, maybe we don't see that. We've been watching movies in color since forever. you know, we're all different ages here. So, but obviously you can almost just slot it right in the spy spoof genre if you wanted to.
00:13:54
Speaker
i mean, I think it's one of the things that it is. It's it's many things. And for some people that's part of what the problem with the film is, is it is kind of like, well, what is it?
00:14:06
Speaker
Is it a music film? Is it a chase movie? Is it a crime? movie You know, what is it? you know Yeah, it's got some science fiction, not really science fiction but has like science elements in it. You know, the Victor Spinetti character. yep So this is a movie, you just put it on and you just check your brain at the door.
00:14:27
Speaker
And you just enjoy it is what you do. And you just have
The Complex Legacy of 'Help'
00:14:30
Speaker
fun. You know, another thing that I did point out that maybe makes people a little uncomfortable is the kind of the end of the film is somewhat violent. I wouldn't say they're giving the military a break here or war a break, but it is a little incongruent with how important later peace and love would be to the Beatles and everything that they stood for. So I think that's another area that I think, even though it's an exciting finish at the end, I think for some people it is kind of like, yeah, I don't know about this. Yeah. But you see how you can overthink this stuff too, you know?
00:15:03
Speaker
Well, it certainly was a very different era. But one of the things we saw recently was the fact that that darn cat was much bigger box office than help.
00:15:16
Speaker
And well, it's like we're sitting out there going, huh? I mean, you know, some of the other films, The Sound of Music and Dr. Zhivago, we certainly understand the box office success of those films, but that darn cat?
00:15:30
Speaker
Because there's so much happening and coming out of England and just in general, you know, the 60s explosion of everything, music, movies, art, photography, fashion, television, whatever it is, that now you have help.
00:15:46
Speaker
And it kind of seems almost frivolous. It gets a little bypassed. It gets a little left out. Once the summer is over and all the kids are back in school and they've already seen it two or three times, It doesn't have legs. You know, where A Hard Day's Night really had legs because it was being talked about critically within the film community. You know, this is at a time when film criticism is becoming, you know, really important. People like Andrew Sarris and various people.
00:16:15
Speaker
Film is being treated as a real art form rather than just a night out at the movies eating popcorn. Help, it's going backwards. Think of the albums that Bob Dylan is making 1965. These are just groundbreaking albums that the Beatles are like, what are we doing?
00:16:35
Speaker
And Brian Wilson is working on Pet Sounds. It's not out yet, but birds are quickly progressing. You have sort of the American answer to the British invasion in a big way happening, particularly in New York.
00:16:52
Speaker
You know, with groups like the Blues Project and the Love and Spoonful, you have the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. You have things really changing. a lot of it is on the underground.
00:17:04
Speaker
So help, it's fluff. That's how it's viewed. We can look at it now in a very different way. But at the time where culture is so rapidly evolving and changing, i mean, think of how quick the Beatles change from 64 to 67. Yeah. Just in that short period of time.
00:17:26
Speaker
Nowadays, there is no real cultural evolution. There's no thing that anybody's talking about that's like, oh, have you heard that album?
00:17:37
Speaker
It's like nothing we've ever heard. I think there's some certainly there's some great filmmakers around. i don't think there's any question about that. But I don't know if anybody's. really breaking ground the way you would see things happen, particularly with music, particularly with groups, I think, in the 60s and then in the seventy s even more.
00:18:02
Speaker
So help is kind of viewed when the film comes out. It's like, okay, whatever. It's like, know that I know I'm kind of some people saying, what are you saying? It's the Beatles, their second movie, it's Richard Lester, it's funny, it's great.
00:18:13
Speaker
Some of it is psychedelic. Yeah. But I'm talking about what the sort of perspective is at the time, what the perception is at the time.
Restoration and Modern Perception of Beatles Films
00:18:24
Speaker
Like we can look at it now and, you know, I don't know about the two of you, but I have, you know, the the big television. I went out and bought the most yeah expensive big TV I could find. And I have the 5.1 set up with the speakers and the subwoofer and the fancy Blu-ray player and the whole shooting match. And, you know, you turn all the lights out and it's just unbelievable. It's like you're in a movie theater. And, you know, these films have been restored and they look fantastic.
00:18:50
Speaker
you're not watching some crummy print that's been played for 10 years in some art house at the midnight cult movie, you know? So yeah it's all perspective and all, it's all perception, you know, or if somebody once said it's all in the mind, you know, nicely played, sir. i' Actually the saying of his now is nothing is real.
00:19:13
Speaker
Yep. That is the one because nothing is now with ai nothing is real. Yep, that's a whole other can of worms for sure. Just to comment on what you were saying, when you were talking about how help was seen as fluff at the time, when the Beatles put out Hard Day's Night, nobody went into that saying, we're going to make the Citizen Kane of jukebox musicals.
00:19:36
Speaker
Jerry and the Pacemakers had a film, Dave Clark Five had a film, and I'm sure i Cliff Richard in England was making movies. Yeah, Hamlet's Hamlet's, I mean... Yep. It was a thing you did that goes back to Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley.
00:19:52
Speaker
If you reached a certain level of popularity, the personality became not just the music anymore. You suddenly were doing television and radio and concerts and movies, but they were always kind of just fluff or, you know, some of these folks did progress on, you know, Frank Sinatra became a serious actor. He won an Academy Award. Right.
00:20:15
Speaker
But Elvis Presley didn't. He made fluffy movies. I mean, that's kind of what he did. And he was very controlled by Colonel Tom. And I think it's timing, too, with the Beatles, is you have this timing.
00:20:28
Speaker
And Richard Lester was this really smart, precocious guy who went to UPenn and studied philosophy. And he was really smart.
00:20:39
Speaker
And he was an American in England. And he was a musician. He could play jazz. He could play piano. He worked with the goons. He worked with Peter Sellers. He was the right guy.
00:20:50
Speaker
It was just perfect. I mean, he was the perfect person. There's no question about it. He liked them and they liked him. They liked all things American. He wasn't going to be overly impressed by them, too. I think he respected them.
00:21:06
Speaker
And he liked them, but i it wasn't like the emperor has no clothes. they They very much had a good relationship, and it was just perfect. Now, he was one of these people who was an American who just happened to be there at the right time. Stanley Kubrick, another...
00:21:22
Speaker
American film director who was making movies in England. And there was plenty of other people. Tony Visconti, the record producer, he was involved with Apple early on. And then, of course, he went on to produce David Bowie and T-Rex. And, yeah you know, he was another American who just happened to be there, the you know, the right place at the right time.
00:21:44
Speaker
One more question about the films, or in particular, the costumes. You know, the Beatles were wearing those tan military jackets. Did they bring those in themselves, or was that something arranged for them by the film folks?
00:21:59
Speaker
It's never been really clear to me where those outfits came from. I suppose this may be a question better for Deirdre Kelly of fashioning the Beatles, but there's no question the Beatles love those outfits, and they ended up being very crucial to the style of the film.
00:22:18
Speaker
I think they were wearing some kind of variation of that on stage already. Doogie Millings was there. Wasn't he there? Dougie, Dougie, Dougie. And so, you know, he was always coming up with kind of something a little different for them.
00:22:35
Speaker
So I think they were already wearing something that was kind of like that. But my guess is that Dougie and whoever was the costume designer for help helped out.
00:22:47
Speaker
coming up with what they actually wore in the film. So that's a good question, though. you know, I tried to cover all of these aspects and give due to all the people that were involved with the films, especially the ones that continued on through the films. I thought that that was important to do.
00:23:08
Speaker
especially with Yellow Submarine. I mean, I really did a very deep dive and I had a lot of help from Dr. Bob Hieronymus and his team. um His two books on Yellow Submarine. Yeah, those are fantastic books. Absolutely, just incredible. He wanted to give the people who worked on those films their due.
00:23:30
Speaker
And I think that he really did that. And he helped me with that section, him and his team, and passed on a few people in terms of contact information that I could interview. So I wanted to let people know that these were movies. Movies are very collaborative. And when the Beatles, when they were making their records, it was basically George Martin and whoever the engineer was or two or the tape op, you know, and that was basically it. It was really the Beatles and George Martin.
00:23:59
Speaker
I mean, Jeff Emmerich became really important to them as an engineer. There's no question about it. And then ah the other folks you know who came along after him. But a film is director, screenwriter, cinematographer, the set design. ken Thorne was another person who was involved with the music. And so for each film in the book, act naturally the Beatles on film.
00:24:22
Speaker
It's the usual rubbish, but it doesn't cost much. Buy it now. Yeah. Makes a great Christmas gift. I tried to really give a lot of depth in each chapter on the people that worked on the films and talked about what movies did they work on before, during, and after whichever Beatle movie they worked on.
00:24:43
Speaker
You know, I wanted to get across that to the people. I always forget his name, but the person who was the cinematographer for A Hard Day's Night, had worked on Dr. Strangelove to show you how significant a person he is. Wow. and I mean, you talk about two totally different film directors.
00:25:01
Speaker
so Kubrick, you know, storyboards everything, the meticulous detail to what everything looks like. He's such a visual stylist. And Lester is guerrilla filmmaking.
00:25:15
Speaker
Let's do the scene and we move on to the next one and we'll improvise here. And I mean, he's brilliant. You need that improvisation when you're doing comedy. There needs to be that spontaneity when you're directing a comedy.
Notable Film Contributions and Visual Storytelling
00:25:27
Speaker
But with Kubrick, it's the detail. There's a great documentary about the making of The Shining. Yeah, absolutely. I highly recommend which really reflects how detailed he was. but anyway, the point I'm just trying to make is this person who is a cinematographer to show you how brilliant he is.
00:25:44
Speaker
He can do Dr. Strangelove, but also do a Hard Day's Night. So I really wanted to give the due to the people that worked on these films, give them the props and the respect that they deserve.
00:25:58
Speaker
Gilbert Taylor is the gentleman who you are. thinking of, you know, not only did he do Strange Love and Hard Day's Night, but he also did star Wars. Wow. There you go.
00:26:11
Speaker
Well, that's another important point because there's a lot of people who worked on the films that would go on to work on either the Star Wars films, the Lord of the Rings films, or the Harry Potter films. And even some of the people who worked with the Beatles at Abbey Road, and i'm I'm forgetting the gentleman's name, and I interviewed him for my Let It Be book, but he worked with them on Abbey Road and Get Back, I believe, and then would later go on to work on, i believe it was the Harry Potter films or the Lord of the Rings film.
00:26:42
Speaker
I mean, think about that that. The number of years that that is. Okay. Amazing. Well, Kit, do you want to close us out here?
Musical Transition in 'Help'
00:26:52
Speaker
Yeah, I love how you say that Help was right at home with the tone, subject matter and style of British films of 1965. So to further comment on that, what was so special about Help that made it stand out then and stand out now?
00:27:15
Speaker
It's the same thing with the music. We're past the sort of fluff of Beatlemania, even though I know some people will think it's a fluff film, but we're not quite into the too far outness of psychedelia.
00:27:29
Speaker
So we have something a little more hip and cool. and different and looks a little different, but it's just right. It isn't too slick or too weird.
00:27:40
Speaker
The music in it is just really sensational. It's just, you can love every period of the music of the Beatles, but I just love that middle period in there. It's just really wonderful. And the singles that they wrote and recorded around that time,
00:27:56
Speaker
And it's the entry point. It's just the last step that you take before maybe the best three album run in pop music history, Robesole, Revolver, and Sgt. Pepper. Even though it's filmed in three different locations. it really gives you that swinging London vibe. You know, it opens up and it's London, it's Piccadilly Circus, and there's the double-decker red bus goes by when all the guys are in really cool mod suits and the girls are all in go-go boots and mini skirts. you know, it's just so cool. You can't replicate that. Right. You know, and it's dated.
00:28:33
Speaker
Look at an 80s music video. I mean, you're cringing, okay? Yeah! Look at a Flock of Seagulls video. and They're unwatchable. The horrible synthesizers that they were using at that point.
00:28:45
Speaker
But you go and you put on help and it's just fresh and exciting. It still sounds wonderful. And look at movies from that period. I mean, the James Bond movies just play in a loop.
00:29:00
Speaker
Yeah. And you can watch them and they just never seem dated. Yes, some of it is politically incorrect or some of the jokes are a little stale or fall a little flat. But I mean, movies from the 60s that Michael Caine is in. There are so many great British actors in this period.
00:29:19
Speaker
Tom Courtney, who has continued to make movies. You have Peter O'Toole. We don't know if you're related or not. Oh, Uncle Pete! He's another wonderful actor in this period. yeah Incredible actors you have. we just lost Terrence Stamp.
00:29:36
Speaker
And I write a lot about this aspect of it in the book. And I know for some people who are just huge Beatle fans and that's what they're looking for, i would hope they would just... get through these parts, not so much just get through them, but just understand how important this is, this period in in movies and these films. And I'm always reading books and I'm like, oh, I didn't know about that movie.
00:30:00
Speaker
I didn't know about that book. I didn't know about that. I'm always jotting things down. And then because everything is streaming or on DVD or Blu-ray or whatever the case may be, it's so easy to catch up with these things and to see them.
00:30:14
Speaker
And even on YouTube, there's so much stuff that's in the public domain, I imagine, that is just full-length, uncut movies on YouTube where you can catch some of these oddities or the more underground or more obscure things.
00:30:31
Speaker
Some of these are just fun. you want to watch serious movies from that period, you can watch Fellini or Truffaut Godard. I mean, there's certainly plenty of that to watch. Imar Bergman.
00:30:43
Speaker
The 60s and the 70s are just a great period for pop culture, for movies, for books, art, whatever the case may
Personal Connections and Musician Transitions to Film
00:30:52
Speaker
be. We'll close out with ah one of our favorite bits of Peter O'Toole trivia. He was at RADA with Brian Epstein.
00:30:59
Speaker
Okay, very cool. Well, thank you, Steve, for taking us through this really transformational period in The Beals' life, not just for the film, but for their music and all of the events going on around this time that influenced the making of the film. It's just been a pleasure. Tell us where people can buy your books, how to reach you. I'm on various social media, either as my name or some of them I have as Matteo Media, M-A-T-T-E-O Media. I've started a sub stack.
00:31:33
Speaker
which is under my name, but it's also called Media Free New York, but it's actually Media Free NY. I've been actually posting there a lot of non-music stuff, film, photography, books, interviews with authors, that sort of thing.
00:31:50
Speaker
The book is on Amazon. You can buy it. I've seen it in Barnes & Noble bookstores. Right now, Barnes & Noble, in at least my local store, they have a display of Beatle books.
00:32:01
Speaker
Wow. And my book is there, or it was the last time I was there, which was not too long ago. My Let It Be book, which came out in 2004, is still in print. I still get royalties. It's been translated into many languages, Greek, Italian, Chinese, Mandarin,
00:32:20
Speaker
Japanese, part of the 33 and a Third series, which is a great series of books about individual albums. These are out there. They look wonderful under the Christmas tree, wrapped or unwrapped. There's 12 days of Hanukkah, I believe, so that's 12 opportunities.
00:32:37
Speaker
There you go. My book, they make lovely gifts. Great reading for the winter, especially Act Naturally the Beatles on film, because it is a long book. So it may take you all winter to read it. Yep.
00:32:49
Speaker
All right, so on to the UK charts. There are actually relatively few new songs in the UK for the month of August. That's true, but there is a Beatles one, so... Yeah, there are a couple of bangers, and yet we probably will get this into one side, fingers crossed.
00:33:08
Speaker
Well, we shall see. All right, so at number one is Mr. Tamarine Man by The Birds, which goes from number one to number two to number four to number eight.
00:33:20
Speaker
At number two, Heartful of Soul by The Yardbirds, which goes from two to six to 11 to 20. At number three, you've got your troubles by the fortunes, which stays at number three for three weeks, then moves to number two.
00:33:35
Speaker
At number four, tossing and turning by the Ivy Leagues, which goes from four to five to six to 13. I'm sure Kit wants to remind us this is tossing and turning, not tossing and turning.
00:33:46
Speaker
That's right. Yes. Big difference. And our new song is our Beatles song. At number five is Help, the premiere of Help, the song at number five, and it would spend the next three weeks at number one.
00:34:05
Speaker
Cool. o So, you know Help is a marvelous song. Help is another one of those songs which they gave John Lennon the title and he just went off and wrote it because, well, he wasn't going to write a song called Eight Arms to Hold You.
00:34:19
Speaker
That might have been interesting. Yeah. And we still don't quite know what that the whole story was really all about. A few more years and we would have a song about an octopus.
00:34:31
Speaker
The film, of course, is is a pastiche of James Bond films, but the tune has more than a touch of James Bond theme music to it.
00:34:43
Speaker
You can see why it worked on the American version where they threw in just that little bit of the James Bond theme in front of the beginning of Help. I've been commissioned to write a song for the movie, and i came out with help.
00:34:57
Speaker
I was trying for help. It was like that was... The Fat Elvis period, you see the movie, he's very fond very insecure and completely lost of self. And I'm saying about when I was younger, all the rest of it. I think it was because he felt he was a bit... he I think he called her his Elvis, Fat Elvis period, you know, when he was... you know hes He got a bit podgy or something in his own eyes, you know, and that was depressing him a bit, you But I think John has he's done interviews and articles about that. you know I mean, I go into these troughs every few years. It was less noticeable in the Beatles because the Beatles' image and thing would carry you through it. you know I mean, ah I was in the middle of a trough in Help, you know, but you can't see it. really I mean, i'm saying I'm singing Help for a kickoff, you know. But it was less noticeable because you you're protected by the the image of the power of the Beatles.
00:35:52
Speaker
That's true. That's right. ah But I mean, beyond that, this is the Beatles mastering the studio. You know, this very easily could have been just a simple, fairly conventional rock song, and they turned it into something much more sophisticated. I love the counter melody. And starting with that counter melody is pretty amazing.
00:36:13
Speaker
Yep, that's what i was about to say. that The very beginning of Help, you know, from that moment, you know that this is going to be something fresh, different, abruptly starting with the counter melody. it's not typical of the time to not have some kind of an introduction.
00:36:29
Speaker
Well, it's Mr. Moonlight, but compressed down into two seconds. Right. Then the other bit musically, which I find really stunning, is that walking bass that Paul plays.
00:36:40
Speaker
Yes. What else is there to say? It's a great rock tune. And we've got a story about John writing it from his cousin Stanley Parks. Right. Right.
00:36:51
Speaker
Cool. So what Stanley tells us is Lennon came in from the studio one night and he said, they've changed the title of the film. It's going to be called help now. So now I've got to write a bloody new song with the title called help.
00:37:08
Speaker
And boy, did he. Yes, he did. It worked in Hard Day's Night, and it worked for help as well. A tremendous rocker. It's an amazing piece of work.
00:37:34
Speaker
But now these days are gone I'm not so insecure Now find a change my mind Open up the door Help Help me if you care not
00:37:58
Speaker
I don't care how you want to sing it, dear I'm singing it myself at the moment I can definitely see this as a ballad, but I do think it works better, certainly commercially as a up-tempo rocker. And what a rocker this is. i mean, George Harrison... doing his Chet Atkins-style guitar. I like that little bit of an echo on parts that really emphasize the power of the drums on this, right before it gets to the chorus when Ringo ups the tempo.
00:38:30
Speaker
It's so fun, so powerful. It's just them mastering the pop and rock form. yeah absolute banger, straight in with the chorus for the whole package. And then the the whole thing's done within two minutes and 20 seconds. And it doesn't allow for anything that's unnecessary to be in there. It's just really tight in and out with all that incredible power that they've got in the song. It's just amazing how they've been able to be so concise with what's there.
00:39:04
Speaker
That's a good point, because it is. It is such ah a short song. So, you know not a moment can be wasted, and they don't. And those harmonies are on point. I mean, from as we've talked about, the moment the song opens, but even that part of, won't you please, please help me. Great, great harmonics there.
00:39:21
Speaker
yeah And then you've got George's arpeggio as well when they go from one section to the other as well after that. you That's amazing as well. And then the way it starts out the film, you got the baddies watching the Beatles and then those darts start coming in. Yeah.
00:39:38
Speaker
Really fun stuff. We've got a cash box review. The fabulous foursome are sure of garnering instantaneous sales acceptance with this new release, Hell, which also happens to be the tag tune of the group's soon-to-be-released new flick.
00:39:54
Speaker
Side A is a hard-driving, rollicking ode about a poor lad who loses some of his independence after he becomes involved with a new gal. No?
00:40:06
Speaker
No, not really. Not really either, but... No. I'm Down is a raunchy blues-drenched rocker with an infectious, repeating, danceable riff. Interesting that they don't even mention the little Richardness of I'm Down at all. Yeah, that's interesting. But at least that description's closer to what it is.
00:40:24
Speaker
Yeah. And no lads and gals. Yeah.
00:40:29
Speaker
At number six, we got to get out of this place by the animals, which moves from number six to number four to number two to number three. all right, Kit. All right. So at number seven, we have I'm Alive by the Hollies, which goes from seven to 10 to 18 and finally to 30. Number eight in the middle of nowhere by Dusty Springfield, which goes from eight to nine to 16 and then down to 23. Number nine.
00:40:57
Speaker
number nine To Know You Is To Love You by Peter and Gordon, which starts at 9, then goes down to 16, 21, and 32.
60s Music Trends and Chart Movements
00:41:07
Speaker
Number 19, frequent member of this show in a way, Let the Water Run Down by PJ Proby, which goes from 19 to 25 to 27 and then 33.
00:41:20
Speaker
And finally, number 20, The Price of Love by the Everly Brothers, which goes from 20 to 32 to And finally, 49. Take it away, Marv. So then we've got number 21. She's About to Move Her by the Sir Douglas Quintet, which goes from 21 to 28 to 40 to 46.
00:41:41
Speaker
At 24, we've got Summer Nights by Marianne Faithfull, which goes from 24 to 15 to to At 25, we've got the fabulous I Can't Help Myself by The Four Tops, which goes from 25 to 27 to 36.
00:41:57
Speaker
And then again, next week after that, the last final week at 36. And then 26, we've got Colours by Donovan, which goes from 26 30 to 45 to 43. And back to Ed.
00:42:10
Speaker
At number 27, we've got Any Way, Any How, Any Where by The Who, which goes from 27 to 31 to 44, then out of the charts. At number 28, Walk in the Black Forest by Horst Jankowski, which goes from 28 to 19 to 14 to 5.
00:42:29
Speaker
Well, now we know where on hold music comes from. I almost expected the piano part to be interrupted with, your call is very important to us. Stay on the line and the next operator will will be with you as soon as possible. It's not the four seasons, is it?
00:42:47
Speaker
I do almost like the piano. It is performed and recorded well, but the whole song is just not very good. The recording is also not very good. I can't give it any more than a very low max.
00:43:02
Speaker
Yep, we're in complete agreement here. The piano is okay. And of course, that's what first played. But the strings were so syrupy. I mean, that's where the music feel comes in.
00:43:33
Speaker
Oh
00:43:41
Speaker
Maybe if the strings had been removed and this had been stripped down, maybe this could have been rescued. But as it is, it's just too close to elevator music. Now, in a way, i guess we should be fair that the song was originally written for a series of German travel programs, specifically one about the Black Forest region.
00:44:06
Speaker
So maybe it was meant to be kind of background, but still, meh. But then why you release it as a record? You got me.
00:44:17
Speaker
Mr. Jankowski, I wanted to get that correct there. I want to welcome you here to the United States in America. Thank you, Rhett. Thank you very much that you're flying me over here just to appear on your program. Oh, don't thank me. Mr. Paley has a lot of money, you know. um Tell me, how long have you been playing a piano?
00:44:34
Speaker
Ever since I was three years old. Oh, your fingers must be tired by now. Would you like to play for us now? You care for any of these jokes, just write in and I'll
00:44:52
Speaker
send them. You're not going to play like that, are you? What's wrong with this? Well, where's your, where's your, your, your tails? You know, going to a concert, that's half of the fun, you know. The, uh... Excuse me, I left mine and in Europe, but if you want, I go beg and can get it No, no, no. We're on a very low budget ourself. Mr. Paley has the money. We're on a low budget. the The greatest thrill of seeing any concert pianist is to watch him flip those tails up in the air. Wait, I got something for you. Yeah, I'll it.
00:45:22
Speaker
How's that? That's it, boy. That's it. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr.
00:45:35
Speaker
It became a hit in America as well. Yes. I'm a fool for it in some ways, the English whimsy and the almost music-hauling style, but not in this case.
00:45:46
Speaker
No. This one, I don't know whether this will travel well over to America, but for those English listeners, I'm sure that the old dears would have loved this while they're busy drinking their port and lemon and watching Crown Green Bowling. Bland, bland, bland. Although saying that in about 15 years, when I'm coming on to 70 years old, I'll probably start to like this a bit more.
00:46:12
Speaker
i was going to say, you're going to be like, oh, this is a banger. What was I thinking? Yes. yep Marv, you're not going believe this. A Walk in the Black Forest would be number one on the US Easy Listening chart. That's not so hard to believe. Easy Listening. And number 12 on the Hot 100. Oh, dear.
00:46:30
Speaker
oh dear It hasn't aged well. Let's put it that way. That's for sure. At number 29, In Thoughts of You by Billy Fury, which moves from 29 to 20 to 9 to 10.
00:46:43
Speaker
At number 30, Say You're My Girl by Roy Orbison, which moves from 30 to 26 to 23 and back to 26. Kit. and back to twenty six get All right, at number 31, we have Cry to Me by Pretty Things, which goes from 31 34 32 and then to 37. Number 36, Too Many Rivers by Brenda Lee, my girl, my gal, which goes from 36 to to and then
00:47:15
Speaker
Number 37, that's the way love goes by Charles Dickens. No, not that Charles Dickens, which goes from 37 down to 45, then up to 43 and then down again to 47. And finally, 38, the excellent help me Rhonda by the Beach Boys, which stays at 38, then goes to 36 and then out of charts.
00:47:37
Speaker
At number 39, This Strange Effect by Dave Barry, which goes from 39 to 38 to 37 and then back to 39. At number 40, another WTF record, Everyone's Gone to the Moon by Jonathan King, which moves from 40 to 18, up spots so number seven two number six The lead vocal on this record is okay, but it almost feels artificial.
00:48:08
Speaker
Indeed, the whole record feels like something that might have come out of generative AI. The strings are just adequate enough. The drums are fine, but unsubstantial. And what's with those lyrics?
00:48:21
Speaker
I don't get it. um Miss. I liked some of the chord changes in the ballad, but otherwise, i agree, vocals did not impress me, strings were way too much, particularly at the end, and yes, WTF on those lyrics.
00:48:37
Speaker
Hearts full of motors, painted green, mouths full of chocolate.
00:49:10
Speaker
Everyone's gone to the moon
00:49:18
Speaker
It's like they're trying to sound profound, but they just make no sense. Hearts full of motors painted green. Mouths full of chocolate covered cream. Arms that can only lift a spoon.
00:49:32
Speaker
Everyone's gone to the moon. What?
00:49:37
Speaker
What? This is a mess. Yeah. yeah I wish that I could absolutely hate this song because this guy is dodgy, but I don't absolutely hate the song.
00:49:51
Speaker
Musically, aren't half bad. There's some really nice musical twist in there. I suppose makes sense considering that he'd end up signing Genesis. The music is wistful in a way and the lyrics is trying to be surreal, but I don't think it really pulls it off.
00:50:08
Speaker
I agree. They're trying to sound profound or something, or as you said, surreal, and yeah, it doesn't work. And oddly enough, these lyrics are some of the more sensible lyrics we would get from Jonathan King through the years. He had a number of other top 30 songs under a number of different names.
00:50:29
Speaker
Some of those songs include Una Paloma Blanca. Lick a smurp for Christmas. Loop the love by Shag, him under another name.
00:50:40
Speaker
And leap up and down and wave your knickers in the air by Saint Cecilia, which is also him under another name. He did Una Paloma Blanca? Yes, he did.
00:50:51
Speaker
oh my. Just wait till that one comes. I'm using sarcasm here. You will love that song.
00:50:59
Speaker
Oh, can't wait. I'm trying to figure out what a smurp is. Yeah. And who do we apparently have to blame for the career of Jonathan King? It's a Beatles connection. oh no.
00:51:13
Speaker
What Jonathan King said was that I had a chance encounter while on round-the-world trip during my gap year, which was the key inspiration. I bumped into the Beatles on tour and turned not to John Paul George or Ringo for advice, but instead to their genius manager, Brian Epstein. By the time I returned to Cambridge to read English, I was convinced that I was destined to be a chart-topping songwriter. Oh, bless his heart.
00:51:43
Speaker
Now, the Beatles never played in Hawaii. um Now, John and George did visit Hawaii in 1964 during a break from the U.S. tour, and they were accompanied by Cynthia and Patty. But Brian was nowhere to be seen on that tour. Right.
00:52:02
Speaker
So, I don't know. You think Jonathan King may have been inhaling some substances? Yeah. Yeah. There's a lot of his stories that have become unsubstantiated over the years. Let's just put it that way.
00:52:18
Speaker
Yes. And I will mention that even though the Beatles were only there briefly, and yes, George did live in Hawaii, but to commemorate their brief vacation, there is a Beatles museum on Kauai.
00:52:32
Speaker
Oh, really? Wow. Wow. Moving on, at number 41, I Want Candy by Brian Poole the Tremelos, which moves from 41 to 33 to 38 to 25. Marv?
00:52:45
Speaker
At number 42, we've got From the Bottom of My Heart by The Moody Blues, which goes from 42 to 46 and then out of the charts. Then we've got Trains and Boats and Planes by Burt Bacharach. It's last week on the charts. It goes out of the charts after this.
00:52:59
Speaker
At 45, we've got the absolutely incredible Maggie's Farm by Bob Dylan, which goes from 45 to 44 to back out of the charts. And back to Ed.
00:53:10
Speaker
At number 46, Set Me Free by The Kinks, which moves from 46 to 50 to 24 to out of the charts. So it goes down and up and then out. o At number 47, Like We Used To Be by Georgie Fame. 47 to 47 to 33 to 35.
00:53:29
Speaker
Good vocal, horns and drums. The organ is used very well, and there's a really nice solo. It's not the greatest tune. It's ever so slightly too busy, but I like it enough to declare it a hit.
00:53:40
Speaker
I didn't like it quite as much, and I wanted to. I love Georgie Fame. I love his combination of R&B and jazz, um but this just was not one of his best.
00:53:51
Speaker
Music I'm telling you, the baby will stand by me. Yeah. I promise you we're going to be happy like we used to be.
00:54:02
Speaker
Yes, indeed. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I thought some of the drumming was a bit over the top with the fills.
00:54:17
Speaker
thought some of the drumming was a bit over the top with the phils Lyrics were kind of uninspired. i think even Georgie sounds bored singing some of them at points. The organ solo does rescue it. That's the best part of the track.
00:54:33
Speaker
But overall, to me, it was just kind of a disappointing song. I'd say, yeah, maybe high meh. Fairly standard soul progression. It almost sounds like a quick write. We need a new song.
00:54:47
Speaker
Can you quickly go out the room and bring us a new song in 10 minutes to record? Everybody's trying the best. The horns are doing okay. I like the sound of the baritone sax on there. George's jazz styled organ on there is fabulous.
00:55:00
Speaker
The bass and drums, it's almost like they're trying to find what they should be doing. i like George's vocal, but it's sort of lower hit we all like it at least a little bit but none of us love it right okay so we move on to the second week the week of the 5th to the 11th of august help has moved up to number one as we said at number 39 the new one from the kinks See My Friends, which moves from 39 to 24 to 16. It's the return of Raga Rock.
00:55:37
Speaker
So, you know, we had a little bit of that on For Your Love. And once again, we're back with more droney guitar and even some more tamboura. It's an interesting arrangement that takes something that might have otherwise been just a mid-level rocker and makes it a better record. I'll give it a hit even though I don't really love the songwriting. I give it a hit for the significance of the song as an early example of Rock
Influence of Indian Music and The Beatles' Inspirations
00:56:06
Speaker
a Rack. And there have been debates about did this influence the the Beatles and other artists to incorporate Indian styles into their songs, but well but what came first, the chicken or the egg? But obviously the style was growing, but I found it kind of repetitive. I get it. It's a chant, but it got kind of annoying after a time. And I thought the backing track sometimes overpowered Ray Davies' lead vocals. and I'll agree with that.
00:56:37
Speaker
sounded like it needed some polishing, but I will give them points for the experimental aspect of the track, but definitely not a favourite Kinks song for me.
00:56:49
Speaker
Shel Tamby, when we spoke to him, was telling us that initially he found this recording of Indian music and he passed it to Ray to have a listen to ah something that he could maybe have a try with and see if it would inspire him to do something new.
00:57:04
Speaker
Ray Davies basically took it away as an experiment to see if he could do something a bit different to try and expand on his songwriting. See My Friends, with the song was inspired by my first world tour.
00:57:16
Speaker
We stopped in Bombay overnight and I woke up really early with jet lag and heard these people chanting that these fishermen were going to work, know, carrying their nets. It's like a movie.
00:57:29
Speaker
So I like the idea of something of continuing, sort of meditative. meditative And then I came back to Muswell and put the song together.
00:57:42
Speaker
My brother and McAvery had a house in Connacht Gardens, a house of Elroy Pute. So I went in their house and wrote the song there.
00:57:54
Speaker
The Kinks recording was interesting because when we recorded it, I was using an old bat 12 string guitar plugged into an amp that was feeding back all the time. So it gave it a droning sound throughout the whole track.
00:58:07
Speaker
And it gave it a really good eerie quality to it. So it's quite a weird tune. It was weird then and it's weird now. So we weirded out. That's what we called the album, See My Friends.
00:58:18
Speaker
I like the musical aspect of it, particularly what Dave's doing on on the electric guitars, where he's got the two electric guitars and he's doubling them in such a way that rather than having the Indian instruments there, one of the electric guitars is using to pretend to be the drone instrument, almost like tambour in Indian music,
00:58:39
Speaker
And the other one is doing a melody like you would do it on a sitar in Indian music as well, which I think really works nicely. And credit to Dave for doing it. I think i doing he does a good job.
00:58:49
Speaker
But yeah, I can see how some people might think that goes over everything else that's there at times and might. crowd it in some ways but i like it for that whole experimental side to it but we're going to go to a clip now where shell explains that story in more detail and the lyrics are really interesting what ray davies told to our old friend maureen cleave was that see my friends was actually a song about homosexuality
00:59:23
Speaker
What he said to Cleve was that it was about being a youth who is not sure of his identity and that he himself had had many of the same feelings and experiences. Apparently, one time he said to his wife, Raza, well, if it wasn't for you, I'd be, pardon the language, queer.
00:59:42
Speaker
Hmm. Interesting. And we know that this song would both impress and influence the Beatles. We do. Barry Fantoni, who was a friend of Davies, would have a pre-release copy of the record and play it for the Beatles.
01:00:00
Speaker
Apparently this would, at least to John Lennon's mind, become the inspiration for part of the drone in Norwegian Wood. Hmm. Cool. Paul McCartney would run into Dave Davies at the Scotch of St. James a bit later and say, you bastards, how dare you? I should have made that record. That sounds so much like a McCartney quote.
01:00:26
Speaker
Oh, that's funny.
01:00:54
Speaker
At number 40, Don't Make My Baby Blue by the Shadows, which moved from 40 to 20 to 17.
Evolution of 60s Music Styles and Critiques
01:01:02
Speaker
This is a cover of a Frankie Lane tune.
01:01:06
Speaker
Another early instance of the Fuzz bass. An interesting change for the Shadows, but the performance is a bit better than either the tune or the record.
01:01:25
Speaker
You can't be true, but I'll be standing by, so you just better try and don't make my baby look.
01:01:35
Speaker
That little girl in the day, that I'm not sweet.
01:01:46
Speaker
It still feels a little bit old-fashioned, rendering the song just a little bit more than listenable. A low hit. Yeah, I thought this was so-so. At least it doesn't sound like a typical Shadows record. Not that typical Shadows records sound bad or anything, but the lead guitar on this almost has a bit of a country twang to it, which I appreciated. But otherwise, I thought it was a fairly nondescript ballad, but I give them credit for trying a new sound.
01:02:20
Speaker
So, I don't know. I might give it a high map, possibly, possibly low hit, if I'm generous. Yep, credit work's due. Ankh Marvin does a relatively serviceable ah lead vocal on this.
01:02:35
Speaker
And I do like Bruce Welch's Harmonising on there. But it's a cover version of a is it Frankie Lane song? Yeah, Frankie Lane, yeah. It's them trying something new and carrying on with singing, as well as the instrumentals that they do, and as well as the backing up Cliff Richard, which brings the question, you know, and I'm going to say it's a lower hit to me, but my question is, why is it Hank singing this and not Cliff?
01:03:03
Speaker
Good question. That's a very good question. And we will have a Beatles connection to the fact that the Shadows are doing something that's not an instrumental. But we do have some reviews, not a cash box review, but we do have some British reviews. The Record Mirror described this as having a solid heavy sound with some atmospheric old rock style guitar work backing things up.
01:03:28
Speaker
Ultra commercial, usual pop format, but well produced and presented. A lot better than most vocal group discs. ah Again, what are they listening to? yeah Oh no. The New Musical Express writer Derek Johnson described the song as, get ready, this is one of those cash box style language uses, a melodic rock-a-ballad with a hummable, easy to remember tune that has thumping beat, some resonant Marvin guitar work, and added piano.
01:04:02
Speaker
Extremely good of its kind and quite unlike anything the Shads have done before. Oh, he's hip. Hepcad. Derek's trying to get a job abroad, isn't he?
01:04:14
Speaker
He wants to get on at Cashbox, and so... He does. Rock a ballad, I love it. This single would peak at number 10, as we will see, and this would become their last top 10 hit until Don't Cry For Me, Argentina, in 1978.
01:04:32
Speaker
Wow. So to Marv's point, George Harrison took notice of the Shadows doing... vocal tunes. During the Rubber Soul sessions, George took a break, walked out and into the other studio where the shadows were and told them that he really liked Don't Make My Baby Blue and he thought that they should do more vocal tracks as opposed to just instrumentals.
01:04:56
Speaker
o Wow. At number 41, That's the Way by the Honeycombs, which moves from 41 to 34 to 24. A Joe Meek production.
01:05:06
Speaker
What is this? The rattling tambourine is overdone and way too far up front. The vocals are performed fine, but another instance of not a good tune. ah Written and produced to be disposable, but memorable in that it sounds like a chewing gum commercial.
01:05:26
Speaker
Don Draper might have loved it. Miss. Bring out your wrigglies. Yeah, that tambourine really got on my nerves. It was way up front the mix, way over done. Oh, my gosh. And then there was that weird transition to almost like a Latin sound or something. Like I was waiting for mariachis to show up.
01:05:47
Speaker
And in your eyes, I see that that's the way you'll fall in love.
01:05:59
Speaker
Tell me. Tell me. That you really love me. I love you. Tell me. And then it goes back to the regular pop beat. Awkward transition. Cliché-ridden lyrics. I love Honey Lantry. I root for her. She was one of the few female drummers at the time. and But I thought her vocals were a little shaky on this.
01:06:24
Speaker
as if she even recognized how silly the lyrics were. And by the way, it was written by the British songwriter duo Ken Howard and Alan Blakely, who wrote hits for Lulu. And we had Dave D, Dozy, Beaky, Mick, and Tick. Tish. Tish, excuse me. I think we've had that before, right? Yeah. We sound they do. Yep, that's right. So they were responsible for this.
01:06:53
Speaker
Hmm. There's some elements that I like, but there's no power in this. I mean, where the heck are honey's drums in this? that Those really powerful drums. It's sort of forgettable.
01:07:04
Speaker
The stupid tambourine really overtakes the drums. It's ridiculous. It's a production problem. Again, how did Joe Meek let this happen? Yeah, I mean, this is Joe Meek we're talking about. Yep.
01:07:16
Speaker
This is the Telstar Man. That's right. At number 49, I Put a Spell on You by Nina Simone, which would only be in the chart for this one week. It would be out the next. No.
01:07:27
Speaker
Wow. I Put a Spell on You is a 1956 song originally recorded by Screamin' Jay Hawkins and co-written with Herb Slotkin. This record, i love the brass. Of course, it's a great vocal. Nina Simone can do no wrong. Slinky piano and great strings.
01:07:45
Speaker
There's a lot to like about this record. It's a hit, but I think I like the CCR version better. Yeah, this isn't my favorite version of the song, but Nina really leans into the blues on this record.
01:07:59
Speaker
can't stand it cause you put me down. Yeah, yeah.
01:08:12
Speaker
Because you're not me.
01:08:33
Speaker
One of my favorite parts is when the sax player and Nina are kind of going back and forth singing and scatting. You know, they're mimicking each other. i thought that was fascinating.
01:08:58
Speaker
I love that part. Great solo, i'm almost spitting those notes. As I said, not my favorite cover, but a hit nonetheless, because, know, it's Nina Simone.
01:09:09
Speaker
Yep. Louise says about this, first of all, she said, it's one of those songs that has a great introduction to it. And going into more detail with that myself, I'd say i liken it to almost an introduction to a great story. You know how you get this great introduction to a good film, so you know what you're prepared for. You're prepared for something special. And then you're given that something special when suddenly she starts singing.
01:09:32
Speaker
I actually do like this version a lot. I like the orchestration. I love Nina's piano playing and that saxophone and their voice is amazing. The scatting is superb. The last thing that Louise says, and I agree with this, is you know that you're always going to get something special when Nina Simone is singing it.
01:09:51
Speaker
Absolutely. So a hit. no no a hit Maybe not the biggest and baddest of hits, but a hit. Yes. We also have a super cut of this tune. Some of the versions you are going to hear the original screaming Jay Hawkins version, which we all know by heart anyway, yeah Manfred man covered it. Them covered it.
01:10:15
Speaker
We animals covered it. The CCR version, which I mentioned, Fevertree covered it. Get ready, Marv. Tim Curry covered it. I've heard that before.
01:10:27
Speaker
Shocker. Tab Benoit covered it. MC5 covered it. MC5. Marilyn Manson covered it. Oh, dear. Joe Cocker covered it. Oh, okay.
01:10:38
Speaker
And Queen Latifah covered it. Yeah, I have heard that version. Wow.
01:10:52
Speaker
I put a spell on you. Because
01:11:00
Speaker
you're mine. You better stop the thing that you do.
01:11:16
Speaker
No! No! Don't listen to him! Been 300 years, right down to the day. Now the witch is back! And there's hell to pay.
01:11:32
Speaker
I just on you. Good joke. Happy Halloween. Thanks lot. No, man, I'm serious. You got to hand me a lot. I'm kidding.
01:11:48
Speaker
My name's Willowbred. What's yours?
01:12:15
Speaker
lying
01:12:24
Speaker
I just can't stand it, babe The way you're always running around I can't stand it Cause you're putting me down I put a spell on you around
01:13:03
Speaker
Can you hear me, baby?
01:13:13
Speaker
You better stop the things Stop the things that you do Go on
01:13:37
Speaker
Oh, no, no. Well, well, well, you know, I ain't gonna take none of yours. None of your fool around.
01:13:49
Speaker
I ain't gonna take none of yours.
01:14:52
Speaker
I'm taking it right now. But it just fell on
01:15:00
Speaker
you.
01:15:14
Speaker
mine. Because you're mine. Because baby, you're mine.
01:15:26
Speaker
I'll put a spell on you Hey I'm about to hurt you
01:16:00
Speaker
I don't love you I don't care if you don't want me I've really spent on you
01:16:48
Speaker
All right, we move on to the third week in August, the week of the 12th to the 18th of August. At number one still is Help. Kit? All right, at number 26, we have All I Really Want to Do by The Birds, which stays at 26 and then goes down to 14. Number 30, The Big Hit I Got You, Babe by Sunny and Cher, which stays at 30 and then goes up to number four.
01:17:14
Speaker
Number 38, the classic Unchained Melody by the Righteous Brothers, which goes from 38 to 29. And another classic, 47, What's New Pussycat by Tom Jones. which ah goes from 47 to 21.
01:17:31
Speaker
So all four of those records we have covered in the U.S. in the recent past. Yes, indeed. At number 49, You Better Come Home by Petula Clark, which moved from 49 to 48, which we covered in the U.S. side in July of this year.
01:17:47
Speaker
At number 50, another WTF record that, Marv, I'm sorry, you're going to have to explain to us poor Americans. Dr. Finley by Andy Stewart, which was only in the charts for this week at number 50. This is apparently a live recording.
01:18:03
Speaker
What is this song? It's a weird jig sung in a borderline offensive parody Scottish accent. Oh, may that Dr. Finley, he's a stickler for the truth.
01:18:17
Speaker
He thinks his practice makes him perfect and he's the confidence of you. He insists on modern methods in the medical dominion, but as the man with the wooden legs it's a matter of opinion.
01:18:38
Speaker
Oh, Dr. Finley, we must all agree, is without a doubt, let's shout it out, the finest EGP. Jimmy doing Scotty on Star Trek has a better Scottish accent.
01:18:49
Speaker
I suppose it's a comedy record, but it isn't all that funny. Marv, is this somehow related to the Dr. Finley TV series and novel series? Do you have any idea?
01:19:00
Speaker
I don't have a clue, which is funny because Louise said, has this got anything to do with it? And I should really have looked it up to find out. So Dr. Finley was a Scottish doctor in a series of stories by a j Cronin, which was then turned into a series on the BBC called Dr. Finley's Casebook. And further...
01:19:23
Speaker
turned into a series on other regions of the UK during the 80s and 90s. But this record, I couldn't find any connection between the two. you know Obviously, it's about the same character, but huh?
01:19:39
Speaker
Miss. Yeah, a big huh for me. i mean, it was sort of trying to do a music hall kind of thing. Being a live recording, it certainly adds to that. But, you know there's just too big a cultural barrier here. I mean, his accent is hard to understand. not being familiar with the original character. It just became a miss for me. But again, it may be just a big part of it
Cultural Humor Differences and Music Styles
01:20:02
Speaker
is cultural. But I looked up a little bit about Andy Stewart. He was a Scottish singer, and he was the host of the BBC variety show The White Heather Club throughout the 1960s.
01:20:14
Speaker
And I love this part. His song, Donald, Where's Your Trousers, was a hit in both 1960 and
01:20:24
Speaker
And when he sings it, it's actually pronounced trusers. Oh, excuse me. Truzers, sorry. Yes. Now I went down to London town and I had some fun in the underground.
01:20:40
Speaker
The ladies turned their heads around saying, Donald, where are you? It adds to the humor, kid, allegedly. Cultural barrier, that's what I'm telling you.
01:20:50
Speaker
But how or why is bad Scottish accent sung by an actual Scot any funny? Yeah, it's weird. it adds to the u aki allegedly cultural barrier that's what i'm telling you but why how how or why is a bad scottish accent sung by an actual scott in funny yeah weirdd I've not got a clue. and um Oh, great. From one of the greatest artists of all time in Nina Simone to this song.
01:21:19
Speaker
I don't know if it's just me, but I got sick of this song really quickly. Me too. Children used to be able to go with their parents to social clubs and pub events back in the old days.
01:21:34
Speaker
And that was still going on when I was really young. So I remember our acts playing in social clubs, as they were called, and pubs. And they were very similar to this, where they do an act that isn't really funny, but the adults don't care because they've already drunk too much to know what's actually on the stage.
01:21:56
Speaker
Please take it off. don't tell me they were too drunk to say this song sucks. yeah yeah if if All right. We move on to the final week in August, the 19th to the 25th of August. Help is still at number one.
01:22:15
Speaker
Yay. At number 31, our old friends the Walker Brothers are back with Make It Easy on Yourself. This is Bacharach David song, and it's more Faux Righteous Brothers. and me
01:22:56
Speaker
The strings are overbearing. i kind of like the first half of the record, but the back half, the wall of sound or the fake wall of sound takes over, just ruining whatever forward momentum the record may have Missed.
01:23:11
Speaker
This is really funny. i did not look at your comments. The Wall of Sound ripoff production is overdone. Sounds like they're trying to be the Righteous Brothers. So we're on the same page there. and It's just swallowed an echo. Jerry Butler.
01:23:28
Speaker
performed the song originally check out his version skip this one you know his vocal was so emotional and rich the groups trying to channel soul in their vocal harmonies but the bad wolf sound production the trying to imitate the righteous brothers yeah miss wow we're gonna have rarity here big epic song that works for me i like scott walker's lead vocal the backing vocals are okay the the instrumentation is okay I get what you mean with the Wall of Sand production. That might be a bit, well, quite a lot more.
01:24:02
Speaker
But I do like Scott's vocal a lot. His performance on it is really nice. Upper middling hit to me. Okay. Okay, well. There you go. Wow. At number 40, All I Really Want to Do by Cher, which we covered on the U.S. side.
01:24:17
Speaker
At number 42, Like a Rolling Stone by Bob Dylan, which we covered on the U.S. side. At number 44, The Shadows are back, this time backing Cliff Richard on The Time in Between.
01:24:31
Speaker
The interesting thing is that Cliff's lead is fine, but that's not what drives this record. It's the backing vocals which really make this record go as much as it does. The organ, well, that feels like the basis of the Casio keyboard preset.
01:24:49
Speaker
It makes me die, it makes me die I watch the sun every morning I see the wind and
01:25:08
Speaker
The whole record is a little more than, hey ho, I'm Nick the Lounge Singer. The guitar is good, but other than that solo, there's not enough of it.
01:25:34
Speaker
Almost enough to be a man, but a miss. You know it has a little bit of a Latin flair and closely vocal. He sings it well, but boy, can we talk about the crocheted lyrics? You can almost predict each line. way you use my love, it makes me cry. It makes me cry.
01:25:53
Speaker
the way you threw me up, it makes me die. it makes me die. i'm assuming threw me up means tossed him aside, abandoned him. As opposed to vomiting, yeah. It's a different turn of phrase back then. But anyway, i would say maybe a meh for just rescuing it from being a total mess with Cliff's vocal. But other than that, yeah, very unremarkable song. The Shadows backing Cliff, I actually really like Hank and Bruce's backing vocals on this. I think they're really good.
01:26:26
Speaker
I like Hank's guitar solo. But other than that, I actually thought that some of the transitions were messy. Yes. And it just wasn't very tight and could have been a darn sight better.
01:26:40
Speaker
Maybe a met up to a lower hit, but somewhere in between there. At number 45, Laugh at Me by Sonny. It's a Sonny Bono song.
01:26:51
Speaker
It's Sonny playing off of his image, and we'll tell you a little bit more about how and why he came to write this song. If that's not fair, I have to beg to be free.
01:27:08
Speaker
Then, baby, laugh at me.
01:27:13
Speaker
And I'll cry for you, and I'll pray for you, and I'll do all the things that the man upstairs says to do.
01:27:31
Speaker
On this record, he's very definitely trying to do a Dylan vocal, as opposed to, I got you, babe, where it's not Sonny really trying to go that way. This is not a bad record, but there's really nothing notable about it. The label must have really not been sure about Sonny and Cher as a duo because, well, they issued not only the Sonny and Cher record, but a Sonny record and a Cher record.
01:27:56
Speaker
The drums here end up going just a little bit too clattery. Hi, man, from me. Oh, boy. This was, as you mentioned, written, arranged, and produced by Sonny Bono. You can definitely hear the Phil Spector influence there, which makes sense because he worked with them. I love how he even mentioned Cher at the beginning. Normally I do this with Cher, but I've got something to say. and thought I'd cut a record by myself, but I got something I want to say.
01:28:28
Speaker
I want to say it for sure.
01:28:41
Speaker
Way too busy an arrangement, particularly in the percussion, as you just mentioned, Ed. And once again, i didn't look at your notes, but I said, it's like he's trying to imitate Bob Dylan in his vocal style. I just think stick to singing harmonies and performing with Cher. I did not like the lyrics here. I thought they were preachy.
01:29:02
Speaker
No subtlety there, kind of hitting you over the head. Why can't I be like any guy? Why do they try to make me run? Son of a gun. Now, what do they care about the clothes I wear? Why get their kicks for making fun? Yeah, the world's got a lot of space, and if they don't like my face, it ain't me that's going anywhere. no let them laugh at me. If that's the fare I have to pay to be free. Oh, dear.
01:29:31
Speaker
This was a mess for me. I'm sorry. The musical backing is good, but then you'd expect that with Sonny, especially with the percussion, because, you know, him being a percussionist, so the rhythm's nice. Other than that, the lyrics, there's simplicity to the lyrics, and i think it's trying to make it Scan like a Dylan song, but he fails with that lyrically. And his voice... Cher said something about Sonny talking badly about Bob Dylan's voice.
01:30:01
Speaker
And then Cher said in the autobiography, Yeah, he had nothing on Bob's voice. So technically, she didn't think that his voice was up to snuff comparing it to Bob's either.
01:30:14
Speaker
She's right. Would this have worked as a Cher song? I don't know because it's too personal. It's specifically him. And you don't ever have to listen to it ever again, people. There go. Yes.
01:30:28
Speaker
As we had mentioned, Laugh At Me would be Sonny Bono's only hit song as a solo artist under his own name. The... story behind this record laugh at me was written after sonny was refused entrance to montoni's restaurant in hollywood because of his so-called hippie attire and you know sonny rest in peace would not agree but it's like no in retrospect you just look stupid in those clothes sonny
01:31:04
Speaker
Interesting one that you said, Ed, that oh they did a Sonny and Cher album, then they did a Sonny album and a Cher album. That makes me think of Kiss when they'd release a Kiss album and a solo album by all four members of Kiss as well at the same time.
01:31:19
Speaker
hey So Sonny would only ever release one single under his own name, The Revolution Kind. But that record would only scratch the top 100 before disappearing from the charts, only getting as high as number 70.
01:31:35
Speaker
He also released an album in 1967, Interviews, I-N-N-E-R, Views, which failed to chart. Oh, hush. and quite possibly the British Sonny Bono at number 50, Paradise from our old friend Frank Ifeel. Frank's back! He's back!
01:31:52
Speaker
Good old Frank. This record was arranged and conducted by Nori Paramore. Yes, it's the full-fledged Yodel again. Yodel lady? Who? Other than Frank's vocal, there's really no reason to listen to this record.
01:32:09
Speaker
And then she holds me tight
01:32:18
Speaker
Each kiss and sweet caress will lead the way to happiness.
01:32:36
Speaker
The bells in the backing are dull and badly mixed. Another almost mad, which very definitely falls into mist territory. For sure. This song actually goes back to 1931. It was originally recorded by Leo Reisman and his orchestra.
01:32:53
Speaker
Boy, this had a really corny, sort of almost country arrangement, and that yodeling really got on my nerves. Miss, pass, take it off, whatever you want to say. Bells, whistles, yodels, no.
01:33:10
Speaker
Meh.
Wrap-up of British Music Charts and Transition to Billboard
01:33:11
Speaker
Meh. All right, so that closes out the British side, and Marv was correct. We did get it all done in one side this time. We will be back soon with the Billboard charts for August of 1965. Talk to you then.
01:33:30
Speaker
See you soon. Take care.
01:33:46
Speaker
There was a piece in the NME, a news piece, that said the top rank records, remember when top rank had a record label? and They introduced an LP series next week that will be called Toppermost.
01:33:58
Speaker
And it's coinciding with their current advertising slogan, Toppermost of the Poppermost. I thought, they got it from somewhere. They saw that, they must have seen that in either the NME or Record Mirror or Disc.
01:34:12
Speaker
Record and Show Mirror, as it was then. And they've taken it from there. They've obviously thought, how stupid that is. How stupid is is one of those phrases that someone, an older person who doesn't understand teenagers, comes up with a slogan that they think is going to be the hip slogan of the month.
01:34:29
Speaker
Toppermost of the poppermost.