Brian's Weekly Sleevenotes 8 August 15

More fun facts and figures about the songs in today's playlist...

Wonderboy - The Kinks (1968)

As with all The Kinks singles, this was written by Ray Davies and although one of the favourites of the group, ‘Wonderboy’ became their first single not to make the top twenty since the beginning of their chart career. One of the lines from the song, ‘I See You And You See Me’ was borrowed by Oasis for their song ‘She’s Electric’ on their 1995 album, “(What’s The Story) Morning Glory.”

There’s Never Been A Girl - Kenny Lynch (1962)

Brian Spiro wrote ‘There’s Never Been A Girl’ for Kenny Lynch with Tony Hiller who would later compose the 1976 winning Eurovision song, ‘Save Your Kisses For Me’ for Brotherhood of Man with group members Martin Lee and Lee Sheridan. The song was actually placed joint sixth in the finals of the 1962 ‘Song For Europe’ contest along with ‘Johnny Angel’s ‘Look, Look Little Angel’ but was won by Ronnie Carroll’s ‘Ring-A-Ding Gir’ also beating other artists including The Brook Brothers, Karl Denver, Doug Sheldon and Frank Ifield who was the runner up.

I’m Gonna Be Strong - Gene Pitney (1964)

Written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, and from the originally titled American album release, ‘It Hurts To Be In Love And Eleven More Hit Songs’ that became one of his biggest sellers in America but was less popular here in the UK but after the success of the single the album was re-named ‘I’m Gonna Be Strong’ for the British market.

No Matter What Sign You Are - Diana Ross & The Supremes (1969)

Released in America as a double ‘A’ side with ‘The Young Folks’, this became the penultimate Supremes single before the departure of Diana Ross. Prior to settling on its final title, the songs composers, Berry Gordy Junior and Henry Cosby had working titles of ‘Don’t Destroy Me’, then ‘The Paper Said Rain’. The track was the third single to be taken from their album, ‘Let The Sunshine In’ with a sleeve design by Kittyhawk Graphics, the company formed in 1966 by former art student Dean Torrence who was one half of the duo, Jan & Dean.

I’m In Love With Your Daughter - The Enchantments (1965)

This incredibly rare Northern Soul collectable was released in America on the Faro Productions label and due to the favourable response from clubs around the New York area, the record was subsequently bootlegged in the UK but as far as we can tell was never given an official release. An original American pressing was sold in 2008 for just over £400.00 although the bootleg versions go for considerably less. The Enchantments were a Latino band from East Los Angeles with lead vocalist Eddie Serrano who went on to join Cannibal & The Headhunters and the song, ‘I’m In Love With Your Daughter’ was written by Chic Carlton a former member of The Atlantics.

No Face, No Name, No Number - Traffic (1968)

The final top forty hit single for Traffic was written by Steve Winwood and Jim Capaldi and was included on the band’s debut album, ‘Mr Fantasy’ but by the time it was released at the end of December, 1967, guitar and bass player Dave Mason had quit the band due to disagreements over the material they recorded. Mason’s song writing talents were sorely missed and was persuaded to re-join just a few months after his departure , however in the ever twisting and turning world of Traffic, Mason was fired just after the commencement of an American tour soon after which Winwood announced the band were to break up.

Groupie (Superstar) - Delaney & Bonnie (1969)

Delaney Bramlett was born in Mississippi and Bonnie Lynn O’ Farrell in Illinois, their whirlwind romance resulted in the formation of a partnership that produced a number of brilliant albums over the coming years. ‘Groupie (Superstar)’, was written by Bonnie and Leon Russell about a group of youngsters that would follow them from one gig to another and released as a single in 1969. Richard Carpenter heard Bette Midler sing the song on Johnny Carson’s American TV show and quickly realising its potential, re-wrote a couple of the lines and recorded it with his sister Karen, giving The Carpenters a 1971 top twenty hit.

Ode To Billie Joe - Bobbie Gentry (1967)

The single topped the American charts for four weeks and gave Bobbie Gentry her first worldwide hit. She was born Roberta Lee Streeter to Portuguese parents in Mississippi. Her parents divorced when she was still in nappies and it was left to her grandparents to raise her on a farm without electricity. She taught herself guitar and after seeing the King Vidir movie, ‘Ruby Gentry’ starring Jennifer Jones, decided to change her name. In 1967, she was signed to Capitol Records who were taken with her song, ‘Ode To Billie Joe’, but the problem was that it was over seven minutes long. Deciding to cut it down to around four minutes, it was put on the ‘B’ side of her first single “Mississippi Delta,” but DJ’s almost immediately picked up on the ‘B’ side and two weeks later, ‘Ode To Billie Joe’ was in the top ten.

Lady Madonna - The Beatles (1968)

This became The Beatles fourteenth UK number one topping our charts for two weeks it was also their last release on the Parlophone label as all subsequent material was issued on their own Apple imprint. After completing the song, Paul wrote out the words for as cue sheet for an American TV show on which The Beatles were appearing suddenly noticed that although his intention was to mention every day of the week in the song, he had mistakenly left out Saturday by which time it was too late to change. The recording of ‘Lady Madonna’ contained a saxophone solo by the late Ronnie Scott but most of it was removed or lost in the mix and the piano part was inspired by Humphrey Littleton’s fifties hit, ‘Bad Penny Blues’.

My Little Girl - The Crickets (1963)

The song was written by Sonny Curtis and the group performed it in the movie, ‘Just For Fun’. They were just one of the many acts that had little in common apart from having recently achieved hit singles at the time and were invited to make a cameo appearance in the film. Other guests included Dusty Springfield, Bobby Vee, Brian Poole & The Tremeloes and Freddy Cannon alongside Mark Wynter’s starring role.