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October 1965 (side A)
117 Plays1 day ago
The Searchers, PJ Proby, The Fortunes, Chris Andrews and a Boy from down in the Boondocks. Our feature looks back at the last year, inlcuding "Help!" on the charts! The Magical Mystery Camp (https://www.magicalmysterycamp.com/toppermost/) once again sponsors Toppermost for the 2026 year! #madeonzencastr. Support this podcast at the $6/month level on patreon to get extra content! Also, Create your own podcast today! #madeonzencastr
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Transcript
Introduction and Sponsor Highlight
00:00:00
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This podcast is being sponsored by the Magical Mystery Camp. Love the Beatles? Ready to kick off your summer right? Music Masters Collective, The Fab Faux, and RPM Music School are delighted to once again bring you Magical Mystery Camp.
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Beatles Anecdotes and Chart Dominance
00:01:46
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 didn't work properly or the amps broke or whatever. i say, where are we going, fellas? And they go, to the top, Johnny.
00:02:10
Speaker
And I say, where's that, fellas? And we say, to the top of most of the pop of most. And say, right. And we'd all sort cheer up.
00:02:19
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Nothing's going to stop us now, lads. We're going straight to the top. The top of most of the pop of most.
00:02:47
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Welcome to October 1965, side A, here on Toppermost of the Poppermost. I'm Ed Chan. I'm Kit O'Toole. And I'm Martin Quibble.
00:02:57
Speaker
Well, it's October, and you know what every October means. What's that, Ed? Well, the show started in October of 1962, the first time the Beatles appeared on the British Sharts. Mm-hmm.
00:03:13
Speaker
Wow, so that means three years later, we're still here. We're still here, we're still doing the show, and every October we look back at the previous year.
00:03:25
Speaker
Yep, and it's been an eventful one, that's for sure. Not quite as Beatles dominated, but they are still definitely the toppermost of the poppermost. Absolutely, and some significant songs, too.
00:03:37
Speaker
Yes, from them and other bands.
Significant LPs and Cultural Impact
00:03:40
Speaker
And we will talk about that toward the end here. So I think first off, we want to start off with the EP charts. And this is only the UK because for reasons that we all know, there were no US EP charts. That's right.
00:03:55
Speaker
Between October of 1964 and October of 1965, the Beatles dominated. They were on the top 10 of the EP charts for 111 Wow. Wow.
00:04:07
Speaker
wow Wow. The Stones were second at 71 weeks and Joan Baez was third at 56 weeks. Very nice.
00:04:20
Speaker
That's interesting that Joan Baez was third. Wow. So some of the EPs that were there, x extracts from the film A Hard Day's Night ended 1964 and went into 1965. The Bachelors with The Bachelors Hits.
00:04:37
Speaker
Yes, we'll be talking about them again later in the show. Yes, we will. The Rolling Stones 5x5. The Kinks, Kink Size Sessions. Cool. Our old buddy Val Dunican with the green shades of Val Dunican.
00:04:51
Speaker
Always bangers. me Then by April, the Beatles for Sale EP shows up in the charts. Yay! More Searchers with Bumblebee. Yeah, they're buzzing.
00:05:06
Speaker
That's right. Manfred Mann with the one in the middle. The Stones with Got Live If You Want It. I wonder if they're all live songs.
00:05:17
Speaker
And then the most recent hit on the EP charts was Mar's favorite Donovan with the Universal Soldier EP. Yay, go on Don.
00:05:28
Speaker
And of course, the Beatles are about to hit with their next EP in the UK as well, because yesterday was not a single in the UK. Which is just amazing to me, but wow.
00:05:41
Speaker
All right, so now we're going to move on to the LP charts, the Billboard LP charts. Marv, you want to read what was in there starting off with A Hard Day's Night at the end of 1964? No arguments with that. Well, no arguments about any of these, I don't think.
00:05:59
Speaker
Maybe. you I'll tell you which one when we get to it. Okay. Teaser. So we've got five weeks for Barbra Streisand with the album People. We've got Beach Boys concert that had four weeks. It's a decent album, but it's cool. My dad had it. I snatched his vinyl from him, so he bought that album. I wonder if that album was a reason why they ended up doing that.
00:06:25
Speaker
Album Beach Boys Party, because that's a live recording as well, isn't it? Live in the studio. Mm-hmm. One Week for Elvis with Roustabout. And there's my objection, and there are no good songs on that album. No.
00:06:39
Speaker
Not one of his best. Then we've got a great album, Beatles 65 had nine weeks. Mm-hmm. Number one Then we've got the superb Mary Poppins soundtrack. Yay. Yeah.
00:06:52
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Of course, it followed by another soundtrack, Goldfinger. Yes, Goldfinger. Yeah, you can't just say Goldfinger. on, you do it better.
00:07:04
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Goldfinger. There we go.
00:07:11
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Then we've got the Beatles,
Top Albums, Films, and Playlist Debate
00:07:12
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Six for Six Weeks. Hey, that's interesting. Six for Six Weeks. Out of Our Heads at Three Weeks. Out of Our Heads. Rolling Stones?
00:07:22
Speaker
Yes. Then at the end, to finish all off, a deserved nine weeks for the Help soundtrack album, or the Help album by Beatles. And we'll come back to it next year, a year from now, but ending the charts, we had the Sound of Music soundtrack, so you know there's a third soundtrack, and then, of course, Whipped Cream and Other Delights.
00:07:45
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It's delightful. All right, Kit, you want to tell us about the UK album chart number ones? Okay. So A Hard Day's Night, number one from July 19th to December 13th, and Beatles for Sale.
00:08:03
Speaker
from December 13th, 64 into 1965, held down the number one album slot. So that's pretty amazing. The 19th of July, 1964 through the 31st of January, 1965. Yeah. That's a long time.
00:08:21
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The Beatles were at number one on the album charts. That's amazing. And Beatles for Sale would come back after a brief interruption by, well, that other band. Yeah. Yeah.
00:08:35
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Okay, so the other top albums of the period we're looking at, so Beals for Sale, number two, The Rolling Stones with The Rolling Stones number two.
00:08:47
Speaker
Very appropriate. And so those two records would fight back and forth and alternate all the way through the 16th of May, 1965. nineteen sixty five Yet another half a year, Beatles, Stones, and Dylan, because we did have a Dylan album in there.
00:09:03
Speaker
We've got a couple of Dylan albums here. At number three, we have the Free Will and Bob Dylan. Number four, we have my personal favorite, Bringing It All Back Home, ye which was such a turning point for him. Number five, The Sound of Music, the original soundtrack, which makes sense.
00:09:24
Speaker
Very popular. ah Number six, The Beatles' Help, which was number one from August 8th until October 10th. wow And Rubber Soul would overtake Sound of Music in December.
00:09:38
Speaker
Help would interrupt Sound of Music's run, and then Rubber Soul would take over, because Sound of Music would overtake Help. Yep. That's kind of cool, yes. It is. And then, of course, the other thing that was going on was the Help film. The Help film was not quite as successful as Hard Day's Night or as the albums. It made a nice profit.
00:10:02
Speaker
Help, despite all that traveling, despite all of the pot on the airplane, only cost them $1.5 million dollars to make. Wow! We talk about United Artists upping the budget and spending more. It's going to be in color.
00:10:17
Speaker
But... just All of that, and with the extras that the Beatles asked for, was only one and a half million dollars. Yeah, they and it looks like they made $12.1 million. So pretty good.
00:10:31
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Pretty good, but not where we might have expected. The top 10 films, we're not going to read all of them, but we will read some of them. The Sound of Music was the big dollar winner for the year 1965, and it would win the Academy Award for Best Picture. That's right.
00:10:50
Speaker
Yes. Next up would be Dr. Zhivago. Then a couple of films you wouldn't expect, including Disney's That Darn Cat.
00:11:02
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That Darn Cat made more money than help. That's insane. Watch out! Ready to go. It's That Darn Cat.
00:11:15
Speaker
That Darn Cat. DC's wearing a wristwatch. Kelso, I want you to set up a surveillance and tail this cat. Tail the cat? That darn cat's got the clue to a crime on his collar, the FBI on his tail, and the whole darn neighborhood up in our in Walt Disney's new comedy mystery motion picture, All About That Darn Cat.
00:11:42
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Starring Hayley Mills and Dean Jones,
Deep Dive into 60s Singles and Motown Influence
00:11:45
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Dorothy Provine, I want my duck! Roddy McDowell, It's comedy. Hot on the track of that undercover cat from the See Walt Disney's new comedy motion picture, That Darn Cat.
00:12:00
Speaker
That Darn Cat. That darn cat. Dang it. Dang it. Well, they haven't remade Thunderball yet, and they did remake That Darn Cat in the 90s. Yeah, that's true.
00:12:14
Speaker
That Darn Cat was followed by The Great Race, Shenandoah, and Help was all the way down at number 10. Wow. wow Let's quickly point out that Von Rheins Express, the Frank Sinatra film, was at number five. And that is a sleeper good film, in my opinion.
00:12:33
Speaker
I haven't seen that. And another film which was up in the charts but not in the top ten was The Yellow Rolls Royce. and We remember talking about that and the song that Frank would take from that film. Yes.
00:12:48
Speaker
Yes. Which is ironic because it didn't have a single song in Von Rheins Express. All right, and so as mentioned, there were lots of singles from lots of really interesting artists, so since we don't have nearly enough time to go back and go through all of them, we kind of decided to do what we do at the end of every month now, and we're going to do a playlist from October 1964 to October of nineteen sixty five yeah we thought it was such an important year and turning point in popular music that it was worth making the point of putting these songs across.
00:13:30
Speaker
So separate from everything, of course, we're going to put the five Beatles singles that hit number one in our playlist. This is going to be a 16 song playlist. And those are, i feel fine ticket to ride help eight days a week. And yesterday, that's a darn good year for them. That darn year.
00:13:50
Speaker
that's hard near All great sides. And let's see, what do we have? We've got four John songs and one Paul song. Yesterday is the only Paul song on there. Eight days a week is sort of half, I guess.
00:14:05
Speaker
Paul says that he helped a bit with Ticket to Ride, apparently. Yes. So those five, of course, are going to make up the majority of side A of our playlist here.
00:14:17
Speaker
We're kind of reversing our usual scheme, and we are going to pick one from the UK, one from the US, and we have each chosen three number ones that we feel are best representative of this past year.
00:14:32
Speaker
Yep. Kit, you start with the UK since you're the one who felt strongest about it. All right. So the UK pick is Yeah Yeah by Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames. I just think this is such a catchy, soulful track. I love Georgie Fame. He's done ska, he's done jazz, he's done soul. And so I really felt like...
00:14:56
Speaker
This was such a strong track and, of course, has, well, a Paul connection. That's the other reason, even if it wasn't our absolute favorite, number one, we would have to put it in this list for the fact that Georgie Fam and the Blue Flames were playing the night that Paul met Linda at the Bag of Nails. And as they have both claimed on several occasions, it was this song they were playing when yes the lovebirds set eyes on each other for the first time.
00:15:25
Speaker
Yeah. The US one, the one that we chose, was Help Me Ronder by the Beach Boys, because I personally think that this song was important in the history of the Beach Boys, because it showed where they were going to go from here with those great harmonies building them up.
00:15:43
Speaker
and they became more than just the sum of their influences. They took that to another level completely with all the harmonies and all the instrumentation, working with each other perfectly in this great production.
00:15:58
Speaker
Yeah, and the songwriting is so fantastic, too. You can practically sing the whole song from memory. It's so catchy. It's just superb pop. This was really Brian Wilson finally growing up and finally getting away from Murray Wilson.
00:16:14
Speaker
Yes, that's right. Pet sounds would not have been possible if he had allowed his dad to dominate him over the oncoming years. And then this was Brian saying, I've had enough of that.
00:16:24
Speaker
Yes, absolutely. And so separate from that, we have each chosen three wild cards, which we've either from the U S or from the UK over the course of that year. My three got to start with. Oh, pretty woman from Roy Orbison. Follow That Up by My Girl by The Temptations and Mr. Tambourine Man by The Birds.
00:16:50
Speaker
Oh Pretty Woman, that is the Roy Orbison song. If you don't know who Roy was, you only have to listen to it once. Yep. The Beatles connection, and it's just such a great pop tune.
00:17:04
Speaker
Yes, it is. Killer riff. Yes. Well, speaking of killer riffs, My Girl, the bass line in there is the epitome of a killer riff.
00:17:17
Speaker
Go back and listen when we discussed My Girl. The lyrics are so clever. The songwriting is just so brilliant all the way through. Props to Smokey. Pure Smokey, yep. And the production. We cannot forget the production.
00:17:32
Speaker
And then Mr. Tambourine Man. Well, spoiler alert, we have no Dylan songs because Dylan had no number one singles during the course of this 12 months. No. But We do have the birds version of Mr. Tambourine Man. It gives us a Dylan song and it gives us that just brilliant bridge between the Beatles pop rock, the hard days night thing and what Dylan was doing. And it really brought Dylan to the masses in a significant way. And it really epitomizes the folk rock movement of that time. And the jangling 12-string guitar. It's just a classic. Absolutely.
00:18:17
Speaker
All right, Kit. Okay. So I'm sure this will surprise nobody that I picked more on the soul side for all three. First is You've Lost That Love and Feeling by the Righteous Brothers. I feel this is... The best example of Phil Spector's Wall of Sound production. We've given it a bit of a hard time with some songs, but this is where it worked.
00:18:39
Speaker
The vocals, the lyrics. It's a timeless song. Look how many times it's been used in films ever since. Top Gun being the best example. It's just a classic soul pop record. And then my next two are Motown.
00:18:57
Speaker
Motown, we've talked about it quite a bit this past year. They had a very, very strong year. So one of them is a Supremes hit Come See About Me. You know, what Holland Dozier Holland did best. Lyrics that you can sing along to but are still clever. You've got the Funk Brothers behind them. And you have Dinah Ross's flirty, seductive vocal. it's it's just a ah Classic, Supremes record. And finally, i Can't Help Myself by The Four Tops. Again, Motown doesn't get any better than this. Levi Stubbs, incredible vocals, the beat. Again, the lyrics, at Sugar Pie Honey Bunch, everybody remembers that. And the Funk Brothers, particularly in the bridge, are just nailing it. So I feel like those two are good examples of how Motown was just on a winning streak at this point.
00:19:55
Speaker
Mar? I've gone for Go Now by the Moody Blues. It's a really good interpretation of the song by the group. And it introduced us to Denny Lane, of course, with that great vocal that he did on the song and the piano on there and everything about it, the backing vocals. It was all just perfect. I've also gone for Satisfaction by the Rolling Stones because it's a classic. It's got a great riff in there, great vocals.
00:20:23
Speaker
One of my favourites from the year is Baby Love, our introduction to the hit Supremes, as they would become, you know, that really nice sensitive intro of the vocal there by Diana Ross herself. And it's just another perfect example of Motown doing their greatest work.
00:20:45
Speaker
So some interesting things about our selections. Beyond the Beatles hits. The only other act which has two songs in here is the Supremes. Mm-hmm. Two hit Supremes.
00:20:57
Speaker
Right. And we have collectively chosen an overwhelming number of American songs in here, which I find really interesting. The only British songs are the two that Marv chose with Go Now and Satisfaction. Mm-hmm.
00:21:14
Speaker
separate from the Beatles songs and of course, Yeah Yeah, which, yeah well, it's the UK charts one. It has to be a UK song. yes I just find that kind of interesting. Not that there wasn't significant amounts of really great British songs. If we take it past here, we would go into some of the kinks and some of the searchers and some of the various other artists. But it's like the invasion had slowed down a little bit and the Americans had almost caught up. And as Kit noted, Motown was hot on The Beatles' Tale.
00:21:45
Speaker
Yes. Trust me, Tired of Waiting would have been my number four if there was a number four. There is a great LP if you're looking for a playlist to make. Yeah, so many classics that are still played today. I'd say that's a solid list. Yep.
00:22:00
Speaker
If a record company wants to contact us and get us to do compilations for each year, we're there. That's right. All right, Marv, I think it's time for our advertising. Yes, you can skip it if you want to, but we will hope you don't.
00:22:14
Speaker
We hope not. So we will just take a moment to tell you about our Patreon page. For just $6 per month, you can get even more toppermost of the poppermost footage.
00:22:26
Speaker
oh Only a man on a flaming pie could get higher than toppermost. What? Like the one who told us to put two O's in our name? I don't know about that. But if you join our Patreon like Kevin Lark and Bevan Lewis for just $6 a month, then you too can find out.
00:22:44
Speaker
And also thanks to George Kondos, David Muldlin, and Mecco Nagata. Thank you so much for your support as well. Cool. We've just completed an interview with the one and only Billy J. Kramer.
00:22:57
Speaker
An abbreviated version was our May feature, but if you want to hear our complete conversations with him and other guests such as Shell Talmy, Jim Birkenstadt and others, then subscribe to our Patreon page now at patreon.com slash toppermost of the poppermost.
Promotion of Exclusive Content and UK Chart Analysis
00:23:16
Speaker
And our extended interview with Rob Leonard is also in preparation. We had a whole lot more than what you hear in our July feature. so Do check it out.
00:23:26
Speaker
Very soon we'll be recording some special episodes in addition to these great interviews. where we'll be looking into the different genres that we're seeing in the 60s, such as Northern Soul and Bluebeats. We've talked about that already. We'll go in depth into those subjects.
00:23:44
Speaker
And we will also see more interviews coming soon for these wonderful friends of the show. Cool. Alright, so on to the charts. We start the UK charts with the first week of October, the 30th of September to the 6th of October. Marv, you want to start us off?
00:24:05
Speaker
Okay. At number one, crikey, for the whole month at number one, we've got Doddy himself, Ken Dodd, with tears. At number three, we've got the already previously mentioned i Can't Get No Satisfaction by the Rolling Stones, which goes from three to eight to ten to number 15, which we've already covered, obviously.
00:24:26
Speaker
At number four, we've got Look Through Any Window by the Hollies, which goes from four to seven to seven to fourteen. At number seven, we've got I Got You Babe by Sonny and Shear, which goes from seven to 14 to five to 20.
00:24:41
Speaker
At number eight, we've got favourite of mine, Like a Rolling Stone by Bob Dylan, goes from eight to 10 16 22. At number 11, we've got The McCoys with Hang On Sloopy, which goes 11 to six to five to five.
00:24:56
Speaker
At 18, we've got Help! By the V-Tools, which goes from 18 to 23 to 23 to 29. Then at 19, we've got What You're Going to Do About It by The Small Faces.
00:25:09
Speaker
which goes from 19 to 15 to 14 and then back down to 19. At number 20, we've got another Bob Dylan cover song, All I Really Want To Do by Cher, which goes from 20 to 26 to 32 to 41.
00:25:25
Speaker
And at 21, we've got Unchained Melody, another Righteous Brothers song, which goes from 21 to 24 to to number All right. Well, at number 28, we have California Girls by the Beach Boys, which stays at number 28 for two weeks, then goes down to 33 and then 37.
00:25:48
Speaker
29, it's all over Now Baby Blue by Joan Baez, which goes from 29 to 27 to and Number 30, All I Really Want to Do by The Birds, which goes from 30 down to 40, down to 48, and then out of the charts. 31, one were my personal favorites, and The Midnight Hour by Wilson Pickett, which is on the way up the charts. It goes from 31 to 22 to and then to we have a good friend of ours, Frank Ifield with Paradise, which goes from 32 to 37 to 47, and then out of the charts. Number 33, the Silkies cover of You've Got to Hide Your Love Away, which goes from 33 to 30 and then stays at 28 for two weeks. And then finally, another classic four-top song. It's the same old song, which goes from 34 to 35, 42, and
00:26:47
Speaker
All right, as we get down toward the bottom of this first week, at number 35 is Ride Away by Roy Orbison, which goes from 35 to 38 to 43, then out of the charts.
00:27:02
Speaker
At number 36, Papa's got a brand new bag by James Brown, which is moving up. from 36 to 33 to 26 to 25 and all the way down at 39 before we get our first new song that we haven't previously covered although it is a doozy good or bad i don't know but it's a doozy right oh it's something yeah as marv would say it's a song It is PJ Proby's cover of That Means A Lot, although I don't know if we can call it a cover since the Beatles chose not to release their version. It would go from 39 to 36 to 37 31.
00:27:40
Speaker
to thirty seven two thirty one Oh boy, the opening of this song has just these terrible quasi-American, and by American I mean American Indian, not Tabla's beat going on.
00:27:58
Speaker
friend says that your love
00:28:14
Speaker
PJ has some decent singing. He's only somewhat in his Elvis mode, but then he's covered up by lukewarm horns and bad backing singers.
00:28:26
Speaker
At times things are so fine, and at times they're not. But when she says she loves you, you.
00:28:43
Speaker
Paul must have been cringing at the end when PJ's there doing, can't you see? It's like, you're not British, PJ. Don't even try you see?
00:28:57
Speaker
When she said...
00:29:07
Speaker
Throughout the course of the song, the vocal gets progressively more cheesy and less rock and roll. This is a perfect example of how you can take a pretty good song and torpedo it with a terrible arrangement and a bad performance. I can't believe George Martin was responsible for this. Meh, go listen to the Beatles version, even though it's not complete. It's a pretty good song. It's not their best, but it's very definitely a solid album track if they had chosen to release it.
00:29:39
Speaker
Yeah, what the heck was that opening? And it's like stereotypical Native American kind of drum. Where did that come from? As always, P.J. Proby oversings it, although, as you pointed out, Ed, not an Elvis impersonation per se, but it's just still so cheesy. I agree. I cannot believe George Martin arranged and conducted this song because the arrangement is just a mess.
00:30:07
Speaker
The horns are so overdone, almost cacophonous at times. It's just a strange arrangement and not very well recorded too. I'll have my first Betty-ism here. She said, 100% terrible.
00:30:24
Speaker
Unlike Help and Rubber Soul, you can hear the strain in George Martin, both on this and the other George Martin production we're going to have a little bit later on. You can hear him leaving EMI at that point in time. Yeah, this was definitely not George Martin at his best. It's a miss for me. I really didn't like this.
00:30:44
Speaker
You know, before I come up with my opinion of this song, Why on earth didn't they just keep the arrangement similar to the version that the Beatles did their version that we got eventually on the anthology and give it to BJ?
00:30:59
Speaker
Yep, exactly. Billy Jay Kramer would have killed this song. It would have been great with Billy doing it and the Decoters. Brilliant. However, dreadful take of the song, his voice is all wrong for it, and really, it should have avoided this altogether and stayed at home with his sewing kit and fixed his trousers.
00:31:23
Speaker
Otherwise, we loved it. yeah It's not the song. We all, to a greater or lesser extent, like the song, particularly the Beatles version of the song. This version is just all wrong. They were writing songs that would have suited him a bit better, you know, when they were writing songs for people like Scylla, if they'd have stayed with that almost more, dare I say, novelty, almost showy type tune style and given something like that to PJ, it would have worked more for the character that PJ is. Yep.
00:31:56
Speaker
At number 42, She Needs Love by Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders, which would go from 42 to 32 to 34 to 33. really cool guitar opening. The lead vocal may be just a tad bit too poppy and syrupy, but I do like much of what they are attempting to do. I would have preferred that they maintained the harder edge, but I like the guitar and the tune enough to rate it a low hit.
00:32:32
Speaker
When she's down and out and feeling the blues, give her a word. No one else can cheer her up except you.
00:32:47
Speaker
And this trouble that you've gone to gives us something to hold on to. That fuzz guitar lick at the beginning.
00:32:57
Speaker
was really interesting, and I thought, oh, this could be a little bit edgier. And then the rest of the song comes in, and it's pretty much just pure pop. And I wish they would have stayed with that edgier guitar to throughout. I didn't really care for the lyrics. I thought just nothing that memorable. The drummer went overboard in the refrain and overplayed. For me, it was just kind of boring, but I think there was a germ of a good idea there.
00:33:25
Speaker
Yes.
00:33:37
Speaker
it was like a rehash of the game of love yes but not a great rehash. So low hit for me, and possibly even going a little bit lower than that to a high mare.
00:33:52
Speaker
Yeah, you and Kit like it a little bit less than I do. And we do have a cash box review. What they would tell us is that Wayne Fontana and the Mind Menders hit recently with, it's just a little bit too late.
00:34:07
Speaker
And this potent follow-up stanza tagged, She Needs Love should also develop into a blockbuster. The tune is an easygoing, rhythmic, blues-tinged affair about a gal who wants a special guy all for herself. Oh, no. Watch it closely. There you go, kid. There's gal and guy together in the same review. Oh, guys and gals. Hey.
00:34:34
Speaker
Yikes. At number 43, Too Many Rivers by Brenda Lee, which we have previously covered. It goes from 43 to 41, down to 50, and then out of the charts. Now for one of Ed's faves.
00:34:51
Speaker
At number 44, it's Good News Week by Hedgehoppers Anonymous, which would go from 44 to 31 to 21 to 10. This wins my vote for WTF song of this month.
00:35:08
Speaker
It was written by the Everybody's Gone to the Moon guy. Jonathan King. Yeah. Tappity tap opening.
Noteworthy Chart Entries and Listener Reactions
00:35:16
Speaker
The percussion continues in that vein.
00:35:19
Speaker
I guess we need to come up with a special category just for this. We had splatter platters. Now we have songs about nuclear annihilation. We've had at least three of them, most notably Eve of Destruction. Yay!
00:35:32
Speaker
a miss, although I can see the point, I guess. Yeah, it's just satire that just falls flat.
00:35:42
Speaker
It's Good News Week! Someone's dropped a bomb somewhere, contaminating atmosphere and blackening the sky. It's Good News Week! Someone's found a way to give the rotting dead a will to live, go on and never die.
00:36:00
Speaker
Have you heard the news? I guess it was supposed to parody the news obsession with bad news. I guess that was one of the points. It's a bit skiffle-ish. in sound, kind of a folky sound, but this just did nothing for me. I just thought if it was supposed to be this commentary on the media's association with bad news, it just falls flat.
00:36:25
Speaker
Miss for me. That percussion sounds like somebody has accidentally left the click track on the recording. Keeping time. When I was a kid and I first heard this, I didn't really pay attention to the lyrics.
00:36:38
Speaker
But when you get older and you pay attention to the lyrics, it's almost as though they're really happy talking about the fact that people are being killed by a nuclear bomb and all of this other bad stuff's going on. But hey, we're still going to be smiley and jolly and happy. And oh here's a nice happy melody to go with it.
00:36:56
Speaker
And you can kind of see what they were trying to do there, juxtaposing the happy, up-tempo sound with these lyrics. But it just doesn't work. So we do have a little bit of information about this band.
00:37:11
Speaker
The band members were all members of the Royal Air Force at this point in time. Hedgehoppers was ah r RAF slang for low-flying aircraft.
00:37:22
Speaker
The group was playing... At the Corn Exchange in Cambridge by Trinity College, when Trinity College student Kenneth King discovered them, Kenneth King was working at DECA as an independent producer under the name Jonathan King Enterprises.
00:37:41
Speaker
So this was before Everybody's Gone to the Moon. ah He approached them, he signed them up, and had them record this song. Big Jim Sullivan was on the guitar.
00:37:52
Speaker
Wow. The other interesting thing about that is the single was recorded and it was released. And well, after it was released, the boys were starting to get into deep water over this record because they had not gone to the ah RAF authority to ask permission to record it.
00:38:12
Speaker
Oops. ah And then it got even worse because fans and newspaper reporters went to the base to get the Hedgehoppers Anonymous comments on the song. And then they were followed by autograph seekers.
00:38:32
Speaker
You can continue that story into ways. places several of them did finally request release and most of them got it, but they had to change members because not all of them were released from the RAF at that point in time. So the, They went out on tour with different members. At number 46, we've got I Lost My Heart in San Francisco by Tony Bennett, a banger of a song.
00:38:56
Speaker
Yeah, there's a palate cleanser on the last song. Yes, we need that. At number 47, another song that I love, the Kinks song, See My Friend. At number 48, In Thoughts of You by Billy Fury.
00:39:09
Speaker
At number 49, We Gotta Get Out of This Place by The Animals. Great song. And number 50, Woolly Bully by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs. I still love saying the name of that band. So all those, except for I Lost My Heart in San Francisco, would be out the next week.
00:39:26
Speaker
Yes. So we move on to the next week, the week of the 7th to the 13th of October. As mentioned, Ken Dodds, Tears, stayed at number one.
00:39:37
Speaker
At number 22, a double A-sided single from the Yardbirds, Evil-Hearted U, backed by Still I'm Sad. The A-side Evil Heart U feels a little bit to me like the Yardbirds are aping the Who. They still sound like themselves, but they seem to be picking up the heavy drums, heavy guitar style.
00:40:01
Speaker
Really cool guitar solo, or should I say solos.
00:40:38
Speaker
Great is slightly inconsequential backing. Interesting use of minor keys. A low hit. And we will talk about the B-side after, the other A-side after. Yeah, ah this was written by Graham Goldman, who also wrote For Your Love and Heartful Soul. I don't think this song is in that category of those two songs, but it's interesting. I do like the crunching guitar riffs and yeah, the solos. Those were probably the highlights of the song for me was the guitar. Otherwise it was pretty downbeat. I mean, judging from the title alone, you can tell it's going to be downbeat. Well, and the minor keys. And the minor keys.
00:41:18
Speaker
For the guitars, I would give it a low hit. I think the the guitar interplay between Jeff Beck and Chris Drazier is fantastic. I love that grungy sounding guitar tone on there. That's amazing. Keith Ralph's lead vocal is okay. The backing vocals are okay. It's another case of Graham Goldman doing a song that's got alternating sections to it that are very obvious as well he's playing with changing of style in between different sections hit said low hit i agree a low hit i go slightly higher maybe bit middling hit so the other one the flip side or the double a of it which is still i'm sad
00:42:26
Speaker
It starts up like a Western film music with the voices, but it's sort of interesting, but that's about it. I don't really know what to say about it.
00:42:38
Speaker
Ah!
00:42:49
Speaker
It's an idea. Gregorian chance. Yeah. What's that? ah You know, I will give them credit here for the experimental nature of the song. It has a very haunting, almost Middle Eastern feel to it. i mean, there were times where I think they were using finger cymbals. don't think so. I picture a belly dancer trying to hypnotize listeners. An unusual chorus in terms of being just sort of harmonized syllables and like a Gregorian chant. I don't know if this is something I would go back and listen to repeatedly, but I do like Keith Ralph's lead vocals. They match the eeriness of
00:43:30
Speaker
of the whole song doesn't sound like anything else from this period so again i'm not saying this is one of my favorites by the yard birds i don't know if i'd go back and listen to it a lot but i will rate it a hit for the experimental nature of it i just found it kind of fascinating yeah i'll go interesting listen to it but i can't go any higher than a high meh Help is at number 23. At number 39, Down in the Boondocks by Billy Joe Royal, which we covered on the U.S. side.
00:44:03
Speaker
At number 44, Yesterday Man by Chris Andrews. Ick.
00:44:23
Speaker
I'm her yesterday, man. Well, my friends, that's what am. I'm her yesterday, man.
00:44:37
Speaker
Cacophonous backing. I really hate those trippy lead vocals and those horns are worse than nails on a chalkboard. I guess the drums are okay, but it's still a pretty big miss for me.
00:44:48
Speaker
I didn't love it, but interestingly, 2014, Spin Magazine included this song in their list of 25 major moments in white reggae history. Chris Martins deemed it the birth of white reggae and highlighted how the song, quote, made Andrew's heart pitter and patter to an island rhythm. And yes, I did pronounce that correctly, it's rhythm. And some have even suggested that this predates obla-di-obla-da in terms of the ska rhythm, which technically is true.
00:45:19
Speaker
I don't know whether the Beatles actually listened to this. I think they were listening more to Desmond Decker, but whatever. This is definitely ska, blue beat influenced. The horns do sound a bit like Oba Di Oba Da, but different melody. I would give it a low hit strictly for the ska connection. Maybe even high max. It wasn't like a great example blue beat, but, no you know, interesting.
00:45:45
Speaker
Yep, I gave it a lower hit as well. They're trying something with the rhythm, but you know the blue beat slash ska that they're trying for here reminds me of John Lennon in the 70s was wanting to do ska with these American musicians and he was explaining that he couldn't quite get them to quite hit the mark.
In-depth Chart Discussions and Musical Styles
00:46:08
Speaker
This tries, but also fails... to quite get what makes the Scar Blue Beat rhythm work. It doesn't quite hit that mark to me.
00:46:22
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. It's definitely not the best execution of it. So lower hit. At number 45, here it comes again by the Fortunes, which would go from 45 to 29 to It's too
00:46:58
Speaker
When I see that girl go walking by I know boys shouldn't cry Here it it It's not a bad tune, but the fortunes are definitely fighting the backing here. The horns come in and they just make matters worse. The tune just meanders to Here It Comes Again Indeed. A miss for me. By the way, it was written by Barry Mason and Les Reed, who also wrote Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes sometime later. And this is definitely not pop on that level. Nice harmonies in the chorus, but overranged with strings, horns,
00:47:44
Speaker
overplayed drums. The very beginning chord changes sound slightly like the songwriters were trying to imitate Bacharach and David, as many were at this point. But otherwise, it just becomes very repetitive of the title phrase, particularly toward the end. It just doesn't really go anywhere.
00:48:03
Speaker
I would probably give it a yeah high, man low hit if I'm being generous. I'm going to base a pun on something that Kit just came out with. and I know I pulled this off because I've just thought of this in my head.
00:48:17
Speaker
So in this case, love goes down the toilet. Lower hit, I'm there. They tried and i quite like the Fortune's voices, but here it's just phoned in. At number 47, until it's time for you to go by the four pennies, which goes from 47 to 41 to
00:48:44
Speaker
I'm not a king. I'm not an angel. I'm a man. You're no queen.
00:48:56
Speaker
You're a woman. Take my hand. We'll make a space alone.
00:49:08
Speaker
And he will stay until it's time for you to go. This is a Buffy St. Marie song. Nice acoustic guitar. A good, if somewhat too sweet, lead vocal. And the same applies to the backing.
00:49:23
Speaker
The song improves a little bit as Lionel Morton goes a tiny bit Gene Pitney Roy Orbison in his vocal. The record never flies, but it's not too bad. high, meh, low hit.
00:49:35
Speaker
The Elvis version is better, even if that is prime 70s Elvis. I didn't love this. There were strange chord changes in the bridge. Very odd. I guess the song itself has never been a favorite of mine, and so this didn't really change my opinion at all. Very boring. Definitely a meh for me. But what's interesting is, and you just alluded to it, Ed, that it's been covered by a number of other singers, including Elvis, and also Michael Nesmith, recording under the moniker Michael Blessing, pre-Monkey's...
00:50:27
Speaker
You're not a queen, you're just woman, hold my hand, we'll make a space. In the lives we both had planned.
00:50:43
Speaker
He recorded a version of the song in 65 that was released on Colpix Records. That's interesting you should say that. If you look for a podcast called Mistakes Were Made, there is an episode all about Mike Nesmith's version of this song, The Session, and goes into the history of the song.
00:51:07
Speaker
And that is a fantastic episode of podcasting for people to check out. But this, ah I swapped the F in four pennies to D and said it's the dour pennies more like. I just found it.
00:51:21
Speaker
boring and bland and Elvis' version is better it cleans up some of those chord problems but I'm still not 100% a fan of this song even then. I'm eh. We move on to the third week in October, the week of the 14th to the 20th of October.
00:51:42
Speaker
As mentioned, Tears by Ken Dodd is still at number one. wow Help is still at number 23. At number 44, When I Get Home by The Searchers, which would move from 44 to 35. It's got a really nice guitar opening.
00:52:01
Speaker
I like the changes, but when the vocals come in, they go slightly awkward. I don't know if it's a mistake or if they just wrote it that way. Once the song gets started, I kind of like this record.
00:52:20
Speaker
There's gonna be good times, baby, just wait and see Music and parties and laughter like it used to be Cause I'm coming back to make us the life of our own
00:52:44
Speaker
There is a slight accent on some of the repeated When I Get Home vocals, which makes it seem almost a little bit sarcastic. And then at the end, you've got the two singers overlapping each other, which is very definitely influenced by John and Paul.
00:53:01
Speaker
When I get home When I get home When I get home
00:53:22
Speaker
Low to medium hit. I like this song. It's not on a level of needles and pins. And in fact, parts of it sound like needles and pins. But I enjoyed it. It's a cover of a Bobby Darin song. I really like the harmonies on this. i mean, The Searchers really had nice tight harmonies this showcases them pretty well the arrangement works well and it's an enjoyable slice of mid-60s pop their harmonies really carry this song through so I'll give it a hit Yeah, upper middling hit for me. Once it gets going, their vocals are really good. I like it a lot. It's upbeat rhythmically. There's positive message here about wanting to show how much his girl means to him. I'm talking about the narrator in the story and how he will make up for it being away so much, I'm guessing, for work.
00:54:11
Speaker
Now, this will be a surprise to kick. I'd heard a few of these songs this month before. The reason for that is a number of years ago, I went to an auction There were all these crates, and one of the crates was a crate of records, and you weren't allowed to know what the records were before you bid for them. It was put down in the lot as mystery, and I won the lot, and surprisingly, there were a lot of us that bid for them, and I won the lot, and a lot of these singles, including this,
00:54:44
Speaker
were inside that crate of, I think, 150, 45-inch singles that I'd got in that crate. Wow, how cool! So now we're going to go to Brad Pitt shouting, Who's in the box? What?
00:55:03
Speaker
At number 45, The Return of the Mersey Beats with I Love You, Yes I Do, which would move to number 34 next week. This is a weird record and actually sounds more like PJ Proby than PJ Proby did. It's an odd combination of Elvis singing over a Mersey beat backing. I was vaguely reminded of Eddie Murphy's Clarence and the Albert Goldman SNL where Elvis came down and met the Beatles in the cavern.
00:56:08
Speaker
It improves drastically in the middle eight because there's a nice little screamy bit, but then it falls back into the same dreck. Still a very, very low hit for me. It was an odd record. The song dates back to 1947.
00:56:25
Speaker
It was a single by, i love this name, Bull Moose Jackson and his Buffalo Bearcats.
00:56:36
Speaker
I love you, yes I do. It was R&B. He actually recorded a new version without his band in 1961.
00:56:49
Speaker
And it hit number 10 on the R&B chart and number 98 on the Billboard Hot 100. So he had two successes with this. Now, as far as the Mersey Beats version, I just felt it was kind of would-be 50s, early 60s doo-wop. Yeah, but the guitars and drums are definitely Mersey Beats. Yeah, I'm talking more of the harmonies. The backing is clearly trying to be something between, say, Please Please Me and With the Beatles. Yeah, the backing, I agree, but the harmonies, wow, this is like out of doo-wop.
00:57:23
Speaker
It's okay. Their vocals were fine, but I just didn't find it particularly interesting and trying to emulate the 50s doo-wop. I just felt it didn't work.
00:57:34
Speaker
You didn't hear quite as much of the Elvis as I did? It sounded to me like it's the bad Elvis. You could probably throw that in as well. I just felt like it was such ripoff harmonically. of 50s. And again, kind of a weird thing to emulate in 1965. I rate it a meh. I just did not connect to this at all.
00:57:54
Speaker
Oh my gosh, the narrator may love her, but I don't love this drab remake. More like the Mersey beaten to a pulp than Mersey Beats.
00:58:05
Speaker
Guys, close the door on your way out. Ta-ra. Well, we aren't going to hear too much more from the Mersey Beats, are we? No. At number 46, Round Every Corner by Petula Clark, which would move to 43 the next week. It's a Tony Hatch song. Surprise, surprise. Big Jim Sullivan is on the record. This disc feels very Broadway musical.
00:58:31
Speaker
Yes. It's Petula. It's a great vocal, but I don't really love the tune. Once again, that chorus, that Round Every Corner gets repetitive awfully quickly.
00:58:45
Speaker
All that waited for him Round every corner Round every corner Round every corner Leave only blue days
00:59:04
Speaker
It does take advantage of the big pretty nicely, and the very busy backing doesn't ever really threaten her vocal, although that tambourine might.
00:59:14
Speaker
Low hit. It definitely sounds like a Broadway tune, for sure. Petula Clark herself described it as an anti-protest song. I would say the theme of this is very similar to downtown. Something wonderful can be just around the corner or... Go downtown and you'll find excitement and that kind of thing. So it's that same kind of optimism.
00:59:36
Speaker
And so maybe it's saying we can sing all these protest songs about nuclear annihilation, as we talked about earlier. But here's an antidote to that. I think the optimistic viewpoint is admirable. But yes, that round every corner phrase becomes very tiresome.
00:59:54
Speaker
It just repeats, repeats. It's just, to me, kind of a would-be Broadway track that just doesn't really go anywhere, although Petula sings it well. It's Petula Clark. Of course she's going to sing it well. So for me, I'd say, hi, meh.
01:00:07
Speaker
So you're asking him what was in the box. This was another one that was in that crate. Wow! But just because I got it doesn't mean that I think that much of it. Our pet does a noble job of trying to give the best that she can to yet another attempt by Tony Hatch to write another downtown.
01:00:26
Speaker
Speeded up middle eight is sort of interesting, but it stands out like Andre the Giant trying to look inconspicuous amidst Terry Gilliam's Time Bandits.
01:00:39
Speaker
And in what will be best Mary Hopkin tradition, Petula would record this in a number of different languages. French? She did a French version. Pas toujours plus loin. Always go farther.
01:00:57
Speaker
She recorded it in Italian as Goci di Mar, or Drops in the Ocean. Goci di sole, goci di mare, sopra me.
01:01:17
Speaker
And even though Petula had been recording in German regularly since 1962, she did not record German version. Leaving that for Israeli singer and actress Carmela Coran, who recorded it as Hoyt oder Morgen, Today or Tomorrow.
01:01:38
Speaker
oh Very good. Now not to be seen, you will see the joy of the day. Today or tomorrow. Today or tomorrow. So we're we're talking foreign languages. At number 49, we've got another foreign language tune, La Yanka by Johnny and Charlie, which would be out of the charts the next week. This is a big children's dance hit in Spain that managed to cross some borders. It's nicely enough sung and the acoustic guitar is well enough played.
01:02:08
Speaker
Pretty good backing, but it's mostly a record about making kids happy. A 60s version of Yeah. meh meh, I'm medium meh.
01:02:30
Speaker
Now, what's interesting is this dance goes even farther back. It was originated in Finland, and it was called, I'm going to spell this, because if I try to pronounce this, I think I'll virtual tomatoes thrown at me. It's L-E-T-K-A-J-E-N-K-K-A. That was the origin, and it was a music and dance genre, kind of like the waltz. But this genre then became a thing in 1963 and up until 1965, actually. And it's based on the idea of performing this music using non-traditional instruments. I guess in the early years of this trend, it was violins and accordions and things like that. Well... They decided in the early 60s we needed to update this, so they used more modern instruments, electric guitars, basses, and drums, to give it a bit more of a rock sound. And so that's what this is, Johnny and Charlie's La Renca. It's version of that. To me, that's all really the song is notable for. It's this trend that was going on at the time, which apparently didn't last very long. it Definitely lends itself to dance with its repetitive rhythm and lyrics.
01:03:46
Speaker
Ideally, you wouldn't just sit down and listen to this. This is for dancing and then there's a specific dance to it. So I would give it a meh for sure, but with the understanding that it is kind of a novelty record.
01:03:58
Speaker
I hated this song, and I don't know why it irritated me for some reason. I'm surprised because it's a kid's style song, so I should like it. As people know, I like some novelty songs or something, but this just grated with me, and I've not got a clue why. i just thought it was dreadful.
01:04:17
Speaker
Yeah, it's definitely not great, that's for sure, but it's really meant for dancing and not just for sitting and listening to it because that's why it's so repetitive. Yeah. So it's a miss from Marv. It's an absolute miss from me.
01:04:30
Speaker
If you're curious about the dance, the lyrics tell you exactly what it is. Left, left, right, right, fourth back, one, two, three.
Conclusion and Monthly Musical Trends Summary
01:04:38
Speaker
Left, left, right, right, fourth back, one, two, three.
01:04:43
Speaker
As I was commenting before to Kit and Marv, it kind of reminds me of that old campfire hymn, Father Abraham. Mm-hmm. Father oh, Father... Anyway, of that. Left, left, right, right. Everybody, let's do it. I'm now imagining drill sergeant metal jacket screaming those orders out. Left, right, right, left, right, left, right, left, left, right, left, left, right, right, right, left, right, left, left, right, left, left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right, right, left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right, right, right, left, right, left, left, right, right, left, right, left, right, right, right, left, right, left, left, left, right, left, right, right, left, right, left, left, left, right, right, right, left, right, right,
01:05:24
Speaker
On to the last week in October, the 21st to the 27th of October. As we promised it the first week, Ken Dodd's Tears is still at number one. Wow.
01:05:37
Speaker
Don't cry. At number 26. Well, the Beatles didn't release it as a single in the UK, but Matt Monroe did. Unfortunately. Unfortunately.
01:05:49
Speaker
his version of Yesterday, which was produced by George Martin. It's our second George Martin Produced That. Oh, I believe in yesterday
01:06:06
Speaker
she had to go I don't know say
01:06:28
Speaker
Matt Monroe is in full-on quasi-Sinatra mode. Despite what I just said, the production is almost tasteful, but George Martin knows the audience, and despite the tasteful arrangement, he lays on the schmaltz very heavily.
01:06:48
Speaker
It's a very odd choice to have Matt Monroe go into that talk-singing bit more than once. Yesterday...
01:06:58
Speaker
Love was such an easy game to play Now I need a place to hide away Oh, believe
01:07:15
Speaker
Cheese, and it's really, to my mind, only charting because, well, the Beatles chose not to release it as a UK single. Meh, but it's worse because it's a Beatles cover.
01:07:27
Speaker
This was the first cover of yesterday, the first of many, many, many. It's definitely not the hippest version, to say the least. As you just said, Ed, George Martin knew his audience for this.
01:07:40
Speaker
the easy listening adult contemporary. And so it's arranged like that. However, i do think Matt Monroe had a nice voice. Frank Sinatra, in fact, was a big fan of his. was very smooth. He interprets most of the lyrics well. And I actually thought the strings were pretty tasteful, again, considering the audience that this was meant for. So I'd read it a little higher, particularly for Matt's voice. I'd give it a low, low hit. It is the exact opposite of what Paul McCartney wanted on this record. Right.
01:08:17
Speaker
That's the first thing I will say. The second thing is Matt Monroe's voice is fine, but as I said, that talky bit, why go there? Why not just keep singing? That part was weird.
01:08:29
Speaker
It's definitely a far from flawless record. That's true. Yeah, I like Matt's voice a lot. I like the From Russia with Love theme tune, which is Matt Monroe, and that's one of yeah favorites. I love that song.
01:08:41
Speaker
But this could have been much better. It wasn't. And other than his voice, when he's not talking, when he's singing, this could have stayed on the cutting room floor for me. So, meh.
01:08:52
Speaker
yeah Help has fallen to number 29, and it's not going to get back up. But there is another Beatles double A side just around the corner.
01:09:03
Speaker
Yes. Yes, indeed. At number 42, the Everly Brothers cover of Love is Strange. This is more of the Everly's trying to sound at least somewhat contemporary. It's interesting.
01:09:17
Speaker
Electric guitars and the acoustic is played in a manner that's almost but not quite sitarish. Another talkie bit, the talkie bit from the Everly's is almost Girl is Mine cringeworthy.
01:09:31
Speaker
Another nice attempt, but it's not quite good enough. A low, low hit that might have been better with more harmony singing in it. Yeah, I agree that it's definitely the Everly Brothers trying to sound contemporary. It's interesting that this was what they chose to record because know the Mickey and Sylvia version, which, by the way, I'm not the biggest fan of this song in general, but you know their version was very playful and flirty, and I just think this is an odd choice for the Everly Brothers to record. And as you said, the dialogue section, yikes.
01:10:07
Speaker
That was cringeworthy. I do like the acoustic guitar, the rhythm guitar, I should say, and the sort of country tinge piano. And they sang it fine, but maybe, as you said, if they'd had more harmonies on it. In general, I just felt the song was not a good fit for them. I guess I'd give it a high meh.
01:10:26
Speaker
Okay. You look at the original by Mickey and Sylvia, and you've got that version there. Then you've got the Buddy Holly version. And I think the Everleys, being big Buddy Holly fans, that might be why they touched this song.
01:10:39
Speaker
Oh, maybe. Because they're such huge fans of Buddy. So... So I've gone from Mickey and Sylvia to the Buddy Ollie version, then to this version by the Everly Brothers. And that playful guitar that's going on there and the rhythm that they're trying here, to me, that almost leads to what you get with the Wings version, with them doing it in a rhythmic style with their reggae, almost blue beat style of it.
01:11:14
Speaker
What, Bill? How would you call your baby home? Well, if I needed her real bad, I guess would call her like this.
01:11:42
Speaker
I think this is an inspiration on Paul and Denny doing Love is Strange for Wings. Interesting. I don't like the back and forth chat. Their voice is really nice otherwise in this. The riff that's going on there with the rhythm, I like a lot. I think that's an interesting idea. Lower hit to me. Very big year for records. Let's welcome Mickey and Sylvia. Here they are.
01:12:09
Speaker
As I understand the story, uh, Mickey, you did not want to record Love is Strange, and Sylvia talked to you into it. What did you say to him to win the argument? I said, come here, lover boy. And here it is, Love is Strange. Love is Strange
01:12:33
Speaker
Love is strange, yeah, yeah, a lot of people take a fucking once you get it, you're in an awful fix.
01:13:28
Speaker
Take it for game
01:14:27
Speaker
Peaches? Yes, Herbie? I want to know, how do you call your lover boy? Come here, lover boy. And if he doesn't answer? Oh, lover boy.
01:14:38
Speaker
And if he still doesn't answer? simply say, baby, whoa, baby.
01:14:48
Speaker
Don't tease me like that. Come here. Baby, you're the one. Now who could resist that?
01:16:41
Speaker
At number 44, Baby I'm Yours by Peter and Gordon, which we have already covered. At number 47, But You're Mine by Sonny and Cher.
01:16:53
Speaker
This was Sonny's response to You've Got Your Troubles by The Fortunes. Apparently, they were driving in the car on the way to a gig and Cher wouldn't stop singing that song. ha.
01:17:05
Speaker
It's a little bit stereotypical, Sonny and Cher, but her vocal is great and Sonny's is good. The backing musicians are the love and spoonful who have already started their career here.
01:17:34
Speaker
When all those people stop and stare
01:17:55
Speaker
I will give it a low hit. Me too. You definitely hear the similarities to You've Got Your Troubles. Oh boy do you ever, particularly in the chorus. Once again, you definitely see how Sonny Bono learned at the feet of Phil Spector.
01:18:11
Speaker
You definitely get that reverb. In fact, it sounds a bit like Phil Spector's girl group productions in terms of the wall of sound effect. Not as catchy as I Got You, Babe, that's for sure.
01:18:23
Speaker
But Sonny and Cher a nice chemistry here. We know what they do, but it shines through here as well. Although at times I felt like Sonny was trying to imitate Bob Dylan's nasal tone. That's what I wanted to imitating Bob! Stop imitating Bob!
01:18:39
Speaker
But I got some real sad news for them, my friend.
01:18:53
Speaker
Even so, the backing is good. It's catchy enough. Sonny and Cher tune about a hippie couple that don't fit into society, but they're still happy because they have each other. Despite the fact that they've travelled that road before, I'd still give a low hit.
01:19:09
Speaker
I didn't particularly like Sonny's voice when he tried to do those bits that you're on about, Kit. That niggled me. It's good. I like the Loving Spoonfuls musicianship on this. The playing is really good. I like the relationship between Sonny and Cher in the way that they sing together.
01:19:27
Speaker
I didn't like the lyrics very much. I thought the lyrics pretty much not great all the way through. Sonny's written better songs than this. And it's the same territory, as I said. Yeah.
01:19:39
Speaker
It's a low hit being nice to it from me. At number 48, Kansas City by Roger Miller, which we covered in September. At number 49, Home of the Brave by Jody Miller, which we covered in August. Well, Phil Spector is happy. His version is charting over the other version in the UK, at least. Yes.
01:20:03
Speaker
All right, so that is the month of October on the UK side. We'll be back with the US side. I think we are going to have three sides on Billboard this month, so it will be a normal four-sided month for us.
01:20:21
Speaker
Talk to you then. see you soon. Take care, everybody.
01:20:54
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.
01:21:06
Speaker
And it's coinciding with their current advertising slogan, Toppermost of the Poppermost. They said, I thought, they got it from somewhere. They saw that, they must have seen that in either the NME or Record Mirror or Disc, Record and Show Mirror as it was then.
01:21:23
Speaker
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.
01:21:37
Speaker
Toppermost of the poppermost.