Folk

460. Don McLean – Crying (1980)

/ robbarker1979

The Intro

US singer-songwriter Don McLean’s commercial appeal in the UK had fallen after American Pie and his 1972 number one Vincent. So it’s surprising to discover he returned to the top of the pops eight years later with a cover of Roy Orbison’s classic ballad Crying.

Before

McLean had followed up the LP American Pie with his eponymous third, but there were no charting singles. In fact, only a live version of Buddy Holly’s Everyday, from fourth album Playin’ Favorites, made it to the charts for the rest of the 70s – and that only scraped in at 38 in 1973.

That same year, Killing Me Softly with His Song by Roberta Flack became a number six hit in the UK. It’s mentioned here because the song’s lyrics, credited to Norman Gimbel, were co-written by Lori Lieberman, who was inspired by witnessing a 1971 concert by McLean. 23 years later, the Fugees took Killing Me Softly to number 1 in the UK.

McLean’s fortunes weren’t helped by record label politics. After one more album for United Artists (1974’s Homeless Brother), he signed with Arista Records for four albums. However, he only recorded one – Prime Time – in 1977. 

In 1978 McLean set to work on the next. Chain Lightning saw McLean record in Nashville with noted session players and also featured Elvis Presley’s old backing group, The Jordanaires. However, he and Arista founder Clive Davis didn’t get on, and the deal broke down. McLean was left without a recording contact in the US, but the LP was released through EMI in Europe.

Considering the roll call of veteran Nashville musicians on Chain Lightning, a cover of Roy Orbison’s Crying fitted in nicely. This song had been written by the ‘Big O’ with his regular collaborator Joe Melson, and was the title track of Orbison’s third album. Amazingly, the original version only managed to reach 25 in the UK in 1961. 

Review

McLean’s version starts promising with just his acoustic strum and voice. And what a voice – it hits home here much more than on his previous UK hits what a great singer McLean is. It bodes well for a great cover of a classic break-up song. The trouble is, as impressive as McLean’s singing is, you can’t help compare it to one of the greatest singers of all time in Orbison. Few people can get that wounded heartbreak across quite like the Big O. And this version gets worse as it goes on. Had it stayed sparse, with those nice steel guitar sounds that creep in, I’d have liked Crying more.

The problem is Larry Butler’s production. Butler was a country music producer, responsible for huge hits including Kenny Rogers’ two number 1s – Lucille and Coward of the County. I’m not a fan of the dry, bland production of either of those, and this is worse. He overeggs the pudding way too much, smothering it in sickly strings and the Jordanaires wailing. It’s boring and totally ruins the sadness at the heart of Crying. Orbison’s original may sound old-fashioned in the 21st century, but it’s still more authentic than McLean’s.

The best version I’ve heard is Orbison’s duet with Canadian singer-songwriter kd lang. Originally recorded in 1987 for the film soundtrack to Hiding Out, it was released as a single four years after the Big O’s death, climbing to 13 in 1992.

I also feel I need to mention my bafflement at the sleeve for this single. Either a giant McLean is looking to the sky in terror as a plane appears to be heading for his mouth, or McLean is normal-sized and the plane is tiny. Either way… what’s that all about? I hope it’s not some kind of reference to ‘The Day the Music Died’.

Actually, no, the best version of Crying, as we all know, is from an episode of Only Fools and Horses in 1991. ‘Stage Fright‘ features Philip Pope as Tony Angelino, a club singer with a speech impairment.

After

Arriving hot on the heels of What’s Another Year and Theme from M*A*S*H (Suicide Is Painless), this was the third sad number 1 in a row during the spring/summer of 1980. McLean’s European success with Crying resulted in a US deal with Millennium Records, who released the single and its album to success in America – Crying peaked there at five in 1981. However, chart fame has mostly eluded him ever since. In 1981, a cover of Since I Don’t Have You reached 23 in the US, and a new version of his debut, Castles in the Air, scraped in at 36 later that year. You could argue that he didn’t help matters by making his releases few and far between. In the 80s he only released two LPs, and his next and to date final chart news took place thanks to a re-release of American Pie, which climbed to 12 in 1991. He continues to release albums, albeit sporadically. The last to date was Still Playin’ Favorites in 2020.

The Outro

McLean has received many plaudits over the years, including a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His music has influenced many, including, perhaps unexpectedly, rappers. Tupac Shakur’s favourite song was Vincent and it was played to him when he was in a coma after his shooting. He’s also received songwriting credits on two songs by Drake.

Stories have surfaced in recent years of abusive and controlling behaviour towards family members. In 2016 he was arrested for domestic violence towards his then-wife Patrisha Shnier McLean, which he pled guilty to. His daughter Jackie told Rolling Stone in 2021 that he was emotionally abusive to. McLean admitted aspects of her account were true, but denied emotional abuse.

The Info

Written by

Roy Orbison & Joe Melson

Producer

Larry Butler

Weeks at number 1

3 (21 June-11 July)

Trivia

Births

22 June: TV presenter Charlene White
23 June: Liberty X singer Jessica Taylor
29 June: Mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins
1 July: Actor Ricky Champ
7 July: Labour and Co-operative Party MP Jim McMahon
8 July: Author Nikesh Shukla

Deaths

21 June: Physiologist WAH Rushton
22 June: Solicitor Joseph Cohen
23 June: Scottish actor John Laurie
27 June: Scottish physicist Sir Gordon Sutherland
1 July: Novelist CP Snow
3 July: Cricketer Charles Benstead
4 July: Anthropologist Gregory Bateson
6 July: Composer Frank Cordell/Engineer Jeanie Dicks/Lawyer Sir Ralph Windham
7 July: Actor Reginald Gardiner

Meanwhile…

23 June: New company law makes insider trading in shares illegal. 

24 June: Unemployment reaches 1,600,000 and becomes the post-war record.

26 June: The Glasgow Central by-election results in a Labour hold despite a swing of 14% to the Scottish National Party.

30 June: Circulation of the pre-decimal sixpence coin is withdrawn.

1 July: Aston Martin fails to raise the funds necessary to buy MG’s Abingdon car factory – putting it under risk of closure.

8 July: Despite Prime Minster Margaret Thatcher’s pleas, miners who are threatening to strike demand a 37% payrise.

10 July: An accidental fire during maintenance destroys Alexandra Palace’s Great Hall, Banqueting Suite, Dressing Rooms and Ice Rink.

436. Art Garfunkel – Bright Eyes (1979)

/ robbarker1979

The Intro

Art Garfunkel’s second solo UK number 1, reigning over the charts as Margaret Thatcher entered Downing Street (see ‘Meanwhile…’), is this haunting ballad. It originally featured on the soundtrack to Watership Down, an animated film that traumatised many children – including me. And this chart-topper and I are forever connected, as it was number 1 the day I was born. A melancholy tune about death, at number 1 when I entered the world. That’s very me.

Before

Watership Down was written, directed and produced by Martin Rosen and was an adaptation of a 1972 novel by Richard Adams. Featuring the voices of John Hurt, Richard Briers and Zero Mostel, it concerns a group of rabbits who escape the destruction of their warren and try to establish a new home.

Although Adams’ novel was for children, it was visceral and bleak. It was more concerned with teaching kids about the harsh realities of nature than entertaining them with lickle fluffy bunnies. Rosen later claimed, despite his movie being animated, that he never intended it for children at all. He wanted the main promo art, of Bigwig in a snare, to be used as a warning to parents to keep their young ones away from the cinema. But the British Board of Classification decided the film was closer to a U than a 15 (there was no PG certificate at the time).

The soundtrack mostly instrumental orchestration by Angela Morley and Malcolm Williamson. Singer-songwriter and producer Mike Batt was asked to contribute. Batt was the man behind novelty band The Wombles, who notched pop a number of hits in the mid-70s, and also helped Steeleye Span and Elkie Brooke score hits. Batt contributed three songs to the Watership Down soundtrack that featured vocals by Art Garfunkel.

Garfunkel’s first number 1, a lovely cover of I Only Have Eyes for You, had been released in 1975. The album, Breakaway, didn’t feature any other hits. He worked with other singers including James Taylor, and then began work on his next LP in December 1976. Watermark hit the shops in 1977 and didn’t sell well. It was re-released in 1978 with a cover of Sam Cooke’s Wonderful World, which featured Paul Simon and Taylor on backing vocals. Perhaps due to the record label choosing not to market it as a new Simon & Garfunkel product, it didn’t chart in the UK.

Which brings us to Bright Eyes. Batt had been asked to write a song about death by original Watership Down director John Hubley (later fired by Rosen when he found out he was working on another project on the side). The song was to be used in the scene where Fiver is led to his wounded brother Hazel by the Black Rabbit of Inlé, the disturbing Grim Reaper of the rabbit world.

Batt struggled at first with the concept. How could he write about death without sounding mawkish? After several days of struggling, he sat at the piano and wrote Bright Eyes in about an hour. Contemplating the mystery of the great unknown, Batt decided to begin by questioning the concept.

‘Is it a kind of dream?
Floating out on the tide,
Following the river of death downstream,
Oh is it a dream?’

Special mention goes out to that third line – what horrible yet beautiful imagery!

The lyrics continue to question what happens not only when we die, but goes deeper and as we all know, the chorus questions why it has to happen at all. It’s my belief that the reason this became the best-selling single of the year was because everyone at some point in their life has lost someone special and identified with the chorus lyrics ‘How can the light that burned so brightly/Suddenly burn so pale?’

Rosen visited Batt and loved what he heard. When he asked who Batt had in mind to sing Bright Eyes, Garfunkel was the instant reply. And why wouldn’t it be? Garfunkel, blessed with one of the most beautiful and ethereal voices in pop, was the ideal choice. Within a day of receiving the demo, Garfunkel had accepted.

Less of a pop song and more film score at the point, Batt described the recording session to the soundtrack version as one of the most difficult of his career. Nonetheless, it paid off, and that scene is one of the highlights of the film. Clearly, they knew they had something special here and decided to turn it into a pop song. The line-up featured session supremo Chris Spedding (who had been in The Wombles) on acoustic guitar, Roland Harker on lute guitar, Les Hurdle on bass, Roy J Morgan on drums, Edwin Roxburgh on oboe and Ray Cooper on percussion.

Review

I think critics of Bright Eyes hear the orchestral opening and Garfunkel’s spectral wailing and think it’s a soppy song about dying cartoon rabbits. But to me and other fans, it’s a deep and bleak song about death that can really hit hard at the right (or wrong times). Garfunkel is blessed with one of the most beautiful voices of all time in pop but occasionally I can find it too twee (I hate The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’Groovy)) so I’m not totally dismissing the voices of concern.

However I think this is my favourite vocal I’ve heard by the curly-haired crooner. It’s not as powerful as Bridge over Troubled Water – but it’s sometimes as moving. Batt deserves lots of credit too, for a great song, well-produced and expertly arranged. A long way from the novelty upbeat pop of The Wombles. And before you ask, I felt like this about Bright Eyes before I discovered it was number 1 the day I was born (apparently I entered the word trying to hang myself on my umbilical cord). I’m pretty chuffed I was born to such a good song at the top, though.

After

A timely release in more ways than one, Bright Eyes became top of the pops on the biggest rabbit-related weekend of the year – Easter. Although I consider it deeper than your average number 1, ultimately it could be the masses simply found it a sweet song about cute animals after all, as it was 1979’s biggest seller. It was a huge hit across Europe too, however, Bright Eyes didn’t even reach the Billboard Hot 100. The album Fate for Breakfast was also a flop in the US.

The 70s ended with tragedy for Garfunkel when his girlfriend, actress Laurie Bird, committed suicide in June 1979, leaving him in a deep depression. He dedicated his 1981 album Scissors Cut to her. This album also fared poorly, but Simon & Garfunkel reunited for a concert in Central Park that year, in front of 500,000 people. The duo embarked on a world tour, but their old rivalry soon returned and a predicted Simon & Garfunkel album, Hearts and Bones was eventually released as a Paul Simon solo LP in 1983 with Garfunkel’s voice wiped. They split again.

Garfunkel releases were few and far between in the mid-80s, save for the festive album The Animals’ Christmas in 1986, written by Jimmy Webb and also featuring Christian singer Amy Grant. He left the music business again when his father died, but resurfaced in 1988 with the LP Lefty, the same year he married Kathryn Cermak.

He disappeared from the public eye yet again and has only returned sporadically since. The 1997 album Songs from a Parent to a Child was his first since Lefty and it spawned the single Daydream, which was his first charting single in the UK since Bright Eyes. It peaked at 17. The romantic comedy As Good as It Gets, also released that year, features Garfunkel singing Always Look on the Bright Side of Life over the closing credits.

Five years later came Garfunkel’s ninth solo album Everything Waits to be Noticed. Featuring poems he had written set to music, it was the first time he was credited as a songwriter.

Simon & Garfunkel reunited again in 2003 for a world tour, which went so well, they made it to the end a year later without killing each other. Three years later Garfunkel released his last album to date – Some Enchanted Evening, a collection of standards from his youth.

Another Simon & Garfunkel tour began in 2009 but was cut short due to the latter’s ongoing vocal problems after choking on lobster. Their last performance to date and likely forever due to Simon’s retirement was at the American Film Institute Life Achievement Award tribute to Mike Nichols, who directed The Graduate. They performed Mrs Robinson.

The Outro

Garfunkel’s vocal issues remained until 2014, when he was finally able to tour properly again. He released his memoir What Is It All But Luminous: Notes From An Underground Man in 2017. He’s gone quiet again and, at the age of 79, may never record or tour again. If not, he’ll always be remembered as one half of one of the most famous folk and pop duos of the 60s, with a beautiful voice that can move the stoniest of hearts.

The Info

Written & produced by:

Mike Batt

Weeks at number 1

6 (14 April-25 May) *BEST-SELLING SINGLE OF THE YEAR*

Trivia

Births

14 April: English rugby player Iain Balshaw

19 April: Me

21 April: Actor James McAvoy

12 May: Gymnast Karin Szymko/Cricketer Robert Key

15 May: Field hockey player Rachel Walker

25 May: Rugby union player Jonny Wilkinson

Deaths

11 May: Geneticist Bernard Kettlewell

Meanwhile…

1 May: The London Underground Jubilee Line is inaugurated. 

4 May: Life in the UK changes forever when the Conservatives win the General Election with a 43-seat majority and Margaret Thatcher becomes the first female UK Prime Minister. Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe becomes the most notable MP to lose his seat in the election. Among the new members of parliament is John Major, 36-year-old MP for Huntingdon.

8 May: Former Liberal Party leader and MP Jeremy Thorpe’s problems continue when his trial for the attempted murder of Norman Scott begins at the Old Bailey.

9 May: Liverpool win the Football League First Division title for the 12th time.

12 May: Arsenal achieve a 3-2 defeat over Manchester United in the FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium.

15 May: The new Tory government abolishes the Price Commission. 

21 May: Elton John becomes the first musician from the west to perform live in the Soviet Union. 
Also on this day, Conservative MPs back Margaret Thatcher’s proposals to sell off parts of nationalised industries.

24 May: The theme park Thorpe Park opens in Chertsey, Surrey. 

25 May: The price of milk increases more than 10% to 15 pence a pint.

421. Brian and Michael – Matchstalk Men and Matchstalk Cats and Dogs (Lowry’s Song) (1978)

/ robbarker1979

The Intro

One-hit wonders Brian and Michael, aka Michael Coleman and Kevin Parrott (I’ll explain) toppled Kate Bush from her deservedly lofty perch with this tribute to Lancashire artist LS Lowry’s depictions of the industrial north west. Yes, Don McLean wasn’t the only singer to immortalise a painter in a number 1 song.

Before

Brian and Michael started out as members of a Stax-style soul band called The Big Sound who toured Europe in the 60s. In 1976, the comedy musical duo Berk & Jerk began, consisting of Coleman and Brian Burke, who had both been part of The Big Sound. Parrott, who had also been in the band, had become lead guitarist with Manchester rock band Oscar. The trio remained friends.

Coleman and Burke penned Matchstalk Men and Matchstalk Cats and Dogs (Lowry’s Song) as a tribute to the artist, who had died in 1976. Lowry painted matchstick men and matchstick cats and dogs, offering a unique view of life in the working class north. His paintings were very stylised, casting no shadows and featuring little personal detail, using only five colours. Why this song refers to them as being ‘matchstalk’ rather than ‘matchstick’, I have no idea.

At some point Burke & Jerk decided to become Brian and Michael instead (though they also used their old name on the record sleeve). They took this song to Parrott, who borrowed around £1,000 to record the song at Pluto Studios in Stockport. The studio, owned by former Herman’s Hermits rhythm guitarist Keith Hopwood, was in the same building as 10 cc’s Strawberry Studios. Matchstalk Men and Matchstalk Cats and Dogs was recorded over three sessions, beginning on 25 September 1977. Brian and Michael were backed by Tintwistle Brass Band, from the Derbyshire village where Parrott lived at the time and St Winifred’s School Choir.

Parrott tried and failed several times over to get the single released but eventually he managed a deal with Pye Records. It was released on 25 September but within weeks Burke decided to quit. As the record slowly but surely gained traction, Parrott found himself cast as ‘Brian’. Back in the 70s, singles could take ages to climb the charts. Here’s a very good example – this took five months to top the charts.

Review

Matchstalk Men and Matchstalk Cats and Dogs, not to be confused with the one Status Quo song that doesn’t sound like all their others, is one of those strange chart-toppers that could only have happened in the 70s or early 80s. Fair play to the duo/trio for writing a song about a surrealist northern artist as it’s certainly an unusual subject matter for a hit. But they overdo the ‘Ay up love, it’s grim up north, t’int it?’ image too much. To me, Lowry’s work shows the north in a realistic way, cold and grey, and by giving the figures little in the way of personality, he portrays the working class the way many saw them – as unimportant, identical figures. Brian and Michael go overboard, turning the north into one big caricature. ‘He painted Salford’s smoky tops/On cardboard boxes from the shops’ is true, but there’s no need to sound so happy about it, that’s a pretty grim lyric really!

The use of the choir is also too much. They join the duo on the chorus, which is fine, but there’s no need for them to also sing the children’s song The Big Ship Sails on the Alley-Alley-O towards the end. It’s sickly. And we know there was more to come from St Winifred’s School Choir. Though a spin-off LP, The Matchstalk Children, sank, they returned to delight and horrify the nation in equal measure with the 1980 Christmas number 1 There’s No One Quite Like Grandma.

After

Brian and Michael’s follow-up Evensong was a failure and so was the album The Matchstalk Men and second album I Can Count My Friends on One Hand. Coleman did however win an Ivor Novello for the Lowry tribute however, for The Outstanding Lyric of the Year.

Both Coleman and Parrott remained in the music business. Most notably, the former wrote and latter produced It’s ‘Orrible Being in Love (When You’re 8½), a number 13 hit in 1986 for Claire and Friends, a young schoolgirl and her mates from, you guessed it, St Winifred’s School Choir.

The Outro

In 2002, Coleman and Parrott became Brian and Michael once more, performing a reunion concert with the original St Winifred’s choir at Manchester’s Lowry Centre. 10 years later they formed The Matchstalk Men with Parrott’s brother Nigel on drums and Coleman’s brother Tim as lead vocalist. The line-up has changed since but the one-hit wonders remain, performing material from their two albums and hits from other acts from the 50s and 60s.

The Info

Written by

Michael Coleman & Brian Burke

Producer

Kevin Parrott

Weeks at number 1

3 (8-28 April)

Trivia

Births

9 April: S Club 7 singer Rachel Stevens
21 April: Cricketer Carl Greenidge
24 April: Field hockey goalkeeper Beth Storry

Deaths

9 April: Architect Sir Clough Williams-Ellis
21 April: Fairport Convention singer Sandy Denny

Meanwhile…

23 April: Nottingham Forest won the Football League First Division title for the first time. Their manager Brian Clough, who guided their East Midlands rivals Derby County to the title six years previous. He became only the third manager in history to lead two different clubs to top division title glory.

416. Wings – Mull of Kintyre/Girls School (1977)

/ robbarker1979

The Intro

Eight years after The Beatles had their last number 1 with The Ballad of John and Yoko, Paul McCartney hit big with his next band Wings. Mull of Kintyre/Girls School became the 1977 Christmas number 1 and the first single to sell more than two million units. It is the biggest selling record of the 70s and remains the bestselling non-charity single of all time.

Before

Following his departure from the Fab Four, McCartney had struggled to recapture the magic of the greatest group of all time. Two albums, McCartney (1970) and Ram (1971) – the latter co-credited to wife Linda, were ill-received, although both have enjoyed improved re-evaluation since.

He decided to begin a new band and invited session drummer Denny Seiwell and guitarist Hugh McCracken, both of whom had worked on Ram, to join him. Seiwell agreed but McCaracken didn’t, so McCartney asked Denny Laine instead. Laine, formerly of The Moody Blues, was working on a solo album when he received the call from McCartney. The album was abandoned straight away.

In August 1971 the McCartneys, Laine and Seiwell assembled to record the album Wild Life. McCartney reverted back to his Beatles days, on bass primarily once more. On 13 September Linda was giving birth to their second child together, Stella. Due to complications, there was a danger that both mother and daughter could die. McCartney was praying for them when the name ‘Wings’ came to mind.

Wild Life was released that December and was slated. Most tracks were recorded in one take, and it showed. Linda was ridiculed by the music press for her role as backing vocalist and keyboardist. Undaunted, Wings continued with the addition of second guitarist Henry McCullough, who had been in Joe Cocker’s Grease Band, in January 1972. They went on their first tour playing universities in the back of a van together. Attempting to recapture the early days of The Beatles, Wings didn’t perform a single track by McCartney’s previous band.

The debut Wings single, Give Ireland Back to the Irish was a controversial response to the events of Bloody Sunday. Banned by the BBC it nonetheless reached 16 on the singles chart. In what was understandably seen by many as a sarcastic response, their next single was a simple cover of children’s song Mary Had a Little Lamb. It went to nine. Hi Hi Hi‘s drugs references saw them banned by the Beeb again but it peaked at five.

McCartney decided to change their name to Paul McCartney and Wings for the 1973 LP Red Rose Speedway, perhaps deciding they needed more star power to improve sales. My Love, one of their best singles, took them to the top in the US and reached nine here. Then came Live and Let Die. Their theme to Roger Moore’s debut as James Bond reunited McCartney with Martin and was brilliant. A deserved number one, it could only reach nine.

Following another tour, Paul McCartney and Wings set to work on another album but soon McCullough and Seiwell left. Both were unhappy with Linda’s inclusion and felt Paul was too domineering. Reduced to a trio, the McCartneys and Laine decamped to Lagos in Nigeria and recorded one of their best albums. The title track to Band on the Run (1973) was a brilliant mini-medley, reaching three. Again, it deserved better. Jet, released beforehand, was a superior rock tune.

Former Thunderclap Newman guitarist Jimmy McCulloch and drummer Geoff Britton joined the ranks soon after. After recording an album with Paul’s brother Mike McGear and The Scaffold they released the single Junior’s Farm, which became their final release on Apple Records. As The Country Hams they released a single with Chet Atkins and Floyd Cramer. Walking in the Park with Eloise was a song written years before by Paul’s father James.

Known as just Wings once more, Britton left the band during the recording of their first album for Capitol Records. He was replaced with US musician Joe English. The first fruits of the sessions for Venus and Mars to be released was the beautifully upbeat Listen to What the Man Said, which peaked at six in 1975. Next album Wings at the Speed of Sound boasted their most commercially successful songs to date, Silly Love Songs and Let ‘Em In, which both soared to two. The latter is perhaps the most quintessentially McCartney 70s tune – a very catchy song about a very mundane subject matter. Someone is knocking at the door and ringing the bell. McCartney suggests someone let them in. Hmm.

Sessions for the next Wings album were interrupted when Linda became pregnant. On 9 August the McCartneys and Laine entered Spirit of Ranachan Studio at High Park Farm in the Mull of Kintyre and set to work on a song he had first laid down in 1974.

McCartney had bought the farm in 1966 and eight years later a piano-led demo had him tinkering with a simple song in which he sang of his love for the area. To give the finished version a suitably folksy feel, McCartney recorded his vocals and acoustic guitar outside. Laine, who is credited on the track, added backing vocals and acoustic and electric guitars and the heavily pregnant Linda sang backing vocal and also added percussion. Wanting an authentic rousing Scottish ending, Wings added Campbeltown Pipe Band on bagpipes and drums. Mull of Kintyre was wrapped up in a day.

Reviews

It was inevitable that eventually McCartney would join George Harrison in the ranks of former Beatles achieving a number 1. Little did anyone know that this would be the one to do it, let alone for nine weeks, toppling She Loves You as bestselling song. I get that Mull of Kintyre has a simplistic charm, extolling the virtues of natural beauty. That, like McCartney songs at their best, it has an inclusive quality, building to a big singalong ending like Hey Jude. That And releasing it in time for the Christmas market, when the older generation like to buy a nice tune, was a great move.

Also, clearly, for some unknown reason, bagpipes did well in pop during the 70s. Remember that an instrumental version of Amazing Grace was the biggest song of 1972?! But I cannot get my head around the mammoth success of Mull of Kintyre. It’s a bit of a dirge to my ears, too simple to leave that much of a mark. But it’s McCartney isn’t it? I can’t deny one of the greatest songwriters of all time a number 1, even if he’s made far better over the decades.

The video to Mull of Kintyre is suitably wistful, featuring Paul strumming on a fence at his farm, Linda in the background. They and Laine stride towards a place overlooking the beach, where Campbeltown Pipe Band are performing. Eventually Wings are joined by locals for a nighttime fire sing-song. Lovely.

One reason I suspect nobody was expecting Mull of Kintyre to do so well was the fact it was promoted as a double A-side with Girls School. Nobody remembers this. Before Mull of Kintyre was recorded, Wings had begun making a new LP in the Virgin Islands. Among the tracks recorded for what eventually became London Town was this track. But Linda’s pregnancy had stopped the sessions. Wings must have decided Girls School deserved equal billing.

It didn’t. Girls School is an average McCartney rocker, akin but inferior to Jet. It’s album filler or B-side material. It also has rather dodgy lyrics, telling of a boarding school where the head nurse runs a massage parlour in the school hall and when the PE teacher puts the students to bed, ‘She gives them pills in a paper cup/And she knocks them on the head’. The soaring backing vocals from the much-maligned Linda are nice, but it’s understandable why it’s been forgotten.

After

Mull of Kintyre/Girls School was released in November and was at number 1 for an incredible two months, from 3 December 1978 until 3 February 1979. It also reached number 1 elsewhere, but not in the US, where Girls School got most of the airplay. That same month sessions for London Town resumed but once again Wings were reduced to a trio as McCulloch and English left. The next single With a Little Luck, a nice little ballad, went to five. But Wings were in trouble.

Later in 1979, with new members Laurence Juber on lead guitar and Steve Holley on drums, they recorded the single Goodnight Tonight, which was their last top 10 hit (five). One last album, Back to the Egg, followed. Produced by Chris Thomas, it featured a more ragged sound and showed a new wave influence. One track, Rockestra Theme, featured members of Led Zeppelin, The Who and Pink Floyd and won a Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.

McCartney annoyed the other members of the band by deciding to focus on a solo album, McCartney II, but the band resumed for a tour at the end of the year. Unfortunately when the McCartneys arrived in Japan in January 1980, Paul was arrested for marijuana possession. The tour was cancelled and all Paul McCartney and Wings music was banned from TV and radio across the country. Laine formed the Denny Laine Band with Holley and released a solo album, Japanese Tears in December 1980. That title was clearly a dig at McCartney’s arrest.

McCartney reunited again with Martin for the album Tug of War but Holley and Juber were told they were not needed. Laine stayed on board but was having a tough time with his marriage and angry at the flat fee he received for Mull of Kintyre. He announced he was leaving Wings in April 1981. By the time McCartney came round to promoting Tug of War, he admitted Wings were no more.

Although Wings are considered to be just the McCartneys and revolving session musicians, this is unfair, particularly on Laine, who contributed a lot over the years. Years later, Laine would occasionally perform as Wings with other members for one-off events. Laine released another album with a pointed title reference to McCartney – Anyone Can Fly – in 1982. He did however contribute to McCartney’s Pipes of Peace in 1983. He continued to release solo albums through the 80s. In 2018 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his work with The Moody Blues.

Seiwell went on to drum for artists including Billy Joel and Liza Minnelli and worked on film scores including Grease II. McCullough’s voice featured on one of the bestselling albums ever. It’s him you can hear on Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon saying ‘I don’t know I was really drunk at the time’. McCullough continued to record and perform, dying in 2016. McCulloch left Wings to join the reformed Small Faces and formed both Wild Horses and The Dukes. But in 1979 he was found dead from heart failure, aged only 26. Britton joined power pop group The Keys in the early-80s and set up a kickboxing school. Juber continued to work in music, recording with Ringo Starr, Belinda Carlisle and featuring on She’s Like the Wind from the Dirty Dancing soundtrack. Holley collaborated with Julian Lennon and Mott the Hoople’s Ian Hunter.

Linda remained with Paul for the rest of her life, and despite her critics remained in his backing band for tours until 1993. She became an animal rights activist and founded the Linda McCartney Foods company with Paul. In 1995 she was diagnosed with breast cancer and died in 1998 aged 56.

Paul McCartney of course continues with a very successful solo career. His next number 1, with another musical giant, was also very popular but not considered to be among his best work.

The Outro

So that’s 1977 rounded up. A year that was better than the dizzying lows of the year previous. But despite the impact of punk, it made little effect on the year’s number 1s. It would take a few more years for its influence to creep in, in the form of new wave.

The Info

Written by

Mull of Kintyre: Paul McCartney & Denny Laine/Girls School: Paul McCartney

Producer

Paul McCartney

Weeks at number 1

9 (3 December 1978-3 February 1978) *BEST-SELLING SINGLE OF THE DECADE*

Trivia

Births

6 December 1977: Footballer Paul McVeigh
23 December: TV presenter Matt Baker
1 January 1978: Model Alex Leigh/Footballer Phillip Mulryne
17 January: Footballer Warren Feeney

Deaths

20 December 1977: First World War soldier Henry Tandey
25 December: Actor Charlie Chaplin
14 January 1978: Athlete Harold Abrahams
22 January: Cricketer Herbert Sutcliffe

Meanwhile…

3 December 1977: For the second tournament in succession, the England football team fails to qualify for the World Cup.

12 December: Ron Greenwood signs a permanent contract as England manager. The appointment proved controversial, as there had been widespread support for Brian Clough of Nottingham Forest.

14 December: 25-year-old Leeds prostitute Marilyn Moore is injured in an attack believed to have been committed by the Yorkshire Ripper.

16 December: The Queen opens a £71,000,000 extension of the London Underground’s Piccadilly line.

21 December: Four children die at a house fire in Wednesbury in the West Midlands. Due to the firefighter strike, Green Goddess fire appliances are sent to deal with the blaze. 119 people have now died as a result of fires since the strike began, but this is the first fire during the strike to result in more than two deaths.

25 December: The Morecambe & Wise Christmas Show on BBC One attracts an audience of more than 28,000,000 viewers, one of the highest ever in UK television history.

27 December: Star Wars is screened in British cinemas for the first time.

1 January 1978: Otters become a protected species.

11 January: A storm surge in the North Sea ruins piers in Herne Bay, Margate, Hunstanton and Skegness.

16 January: After three months, the firefighter strike ends when fire crews accept an offer of a 10% pay rise and reduced working hours.

18 January: The European Court of Human Rights finds the UK government guilty of mistreating prisoners in Northern Ireland but not guilty of torture. 

30 January: Conservative leader Margaret Thatcher says many Britons fear being ‘swamped by people with a different culture’.

31 January: 18-year-old prostitute Helen Rytka is murdered in Huddersfield. She is believed to be the eighth victim of the Yorkshire Ripper. 

410. Brotherhood of Man – Angelo (1977)

/ robbarker1979 / 1 Comment

The Intro

This must surely win the award for most unoriginal number 1. Not content with a two-man, two-woman line-up and a Eurovision victory, Brotherhood of Man aped ABBA even further with this blatant Fernando rip-off.

Before

Following the huge success of Save Your Kisses for Me, the group released their second album with this line-up. Love and Kisses from Brotherhood of Man did OK, but couldn’t match the incredible sales of their Eurovision single. Nor did their follow-up single My Sweet Rosalie. It didn’t deserve to though, as it was almost a carbon copy of what came before. This time, the lyrical conceit was that they were singing about their love for a dog, rather than their three-year-old child. Eugh. It only managed a number 30 placing.

They fared better in 1977 with their cover of Oh Boy (The Mood I’m In), peaking at eight. They shook things up this time around as it was the women, Nicky Stevens and Sandra Stevens (no relation) taking the lead. And they did so again on Angelo.

So, yes, this song. Clearly at some point in 1976 when Fernando was storming the charts, singers Martin Lee and Lee Sheriden must have said to co-songwriter and producer Tony Hiller, ‘shall we copy that?’. Perhaps at some point in the process, one of them even said ‘This is too similar, should we at least make the lead character’s name end with a different letter?’. And was then ignored.

Er, why run away, avoid peril and then commit suicide? Doesn’t matter, does it, it sounds like ABBA. And not only is it a dead ringer for Fernando, the cheeky fuckers even add some piano reminiscent of Dancing Queen. Utterly shameless!

Review

They did at least manage to change the story of Angelo. But they forgot to add much detail. Fernando was about two former revolutionaries reminiscing over the war in Mexico. Angelo was a death disc about a shepherd boy in the mountains of, yes, Mexico. He and a girl from a rich family fell in love and so ‘They ran away to their destiny’. Despite avoiding danger, and strangers, their destiny was for them to kill themselves. For some reason.

‘They took their lives at night
And in the morning light
They found them on the sand
They saw them lying there, hand-in-hand.’

The Outro

And so the British public, who should be commended for keeping I Feel Love at number 1 for a month, showed how stupid they can also be. How could Angelo top anything, let alone one of the best songs of all time? Not as irritating as Save Your Kisses for Me, but come on! This belongs on some cheap and nasty light entertainment show, not at number 1.

The Info

Written by

Tony Hiller, Lee Sheridan & Martin Lee

Producer

Tony Hiller

Weeks at number 1

1 (20-26 August)

Meanwhile…

23 August: A new, smaller, £1 note was introduced.

388. ABBA – Fernando (1976)

/ robbarker1979

The Intro

It may have seemed a little bold for ABBA to release a Greatest Hits in March 1976. However, their label Polar decided to due to the many cash-in compilations labels scattered around the globe were releasing in an attempt to cash-in on the fact that they were becoming huge. And with two UK number 1 singles to their name and plenty of hits elsewhere featured, it proved a wise move. It became their first number 1 album on these shores.

Before

As well as a mix of their early hits and lesser-known tracks in the UK, there was a new song, released as a single. Although it wasn’t strictly speaking, ‘new’. Fernando had first featured on band member Anni-Frid Lyngstad’s debut solo LP Frida ensam in 1975. Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus had originally called it Tango but at the last minute they renamed it Fernando after a bartender working at a club in Stockholm, Sweden, allegedly.

This Swedish version had lyrics penned by ABBA’s manager Stig Anderson and Lyngstad is singing to a heartbroken Fernando, attempting to console him after he has lost the love of his life. The chorus translated as:

‘Long live love, our best friend, Fernando.
Raise your glass and propose a toast to it; to love, Fernando.
Play the melody and sing a song of happiness.
Long live love, Fernando’

When it came to ABBA recording the song, Ulvaeus decided to take a different tack. He was lying outside one summer night and gazing at the stars when he hit upon a brainwave. Fernando became about two old freedom fighters who fought in the Texas Revolution of 1836, who reminisced about days of old one night in Mexico.

Review

Fernando is one of ABBA’s best-known and biggest-selling singles, but it’s my least favourite of their number 1s. I find it leaden and overwrought and I’m not really interested in hearing about what two 19th-century soldiers have to say. Give me their relationship drama and we’ve something to work with. It also suffers coming straight after Save Your Kisses For Me, which meant 10 weeks of tedium at number 1 on repeats of Top of the Pops and again, it makes me relieved I wasn’t a pop fan in 1976. Having said all this, I’d be a liar if I didn’t say the chorus was very memorable.

ABBA starred in a memorable, suitably dramatic video for Fernando, sat around a campfire looking very serious and gazing into each other’s eyes, as you can see above. ABBA made lots of videos – I’m not sure if they ever actually promoted on Top of the Pops in person? As well as a month as UK number 1, Fernando topped the charts across the globe. It became the longest-running number 1 in Australian history (14 weeks) for more than 40 years until Ed Sheeran’s Shape of You went one better in 2017.

After

ABBA made a Spanish-language album, Gracias Por La Música, in 1980 and Fernando was a natural choice for an LP aimed at Latin American countries.

The Outro

So, ABBA had scored two number 1s before we even reach the half-way mark of 1976, and the best was yet to come.

The Info

Written by

Benny Andersson, Stig Anderson & Björn Ulvaeus

Producers

Benny Andersson & Björn Ulvaeus

Weeks at number 1

4 (8 May-4 June)

Trivia

Births

8 May: Steps singer Ian ‘H’ Watkins
14 May: Actress Martine McCutcheon

Deaths

14 May: Yardbirds singer Keith Relf

Meanwhile…

9 May: 20-year-old prostitute Marcella Claxton is badly injured in a hammer attack in Leeds.

10 May: Following months of rumours of his involvement in a plot to murder his ex-lover Norman Scott, Jeremy Thorpe resigns as leader of the Liberal Party.

19 May: Liverpool win the UEFA Cup for the second time by completing a 4-3 aggregate win over Belgian side Club Brugge KV at the Olympiastadion in Brugge.

27 May: Harold Wilson’s Resignation Honours List is published. It becomes known satirically as the ‘Lavender List’ due to the number of wealthy businessmen awarded honours.

1 June: UK and Iceland end the third and final Cod War. The UK abandoned the ‘open seas’ international fisheries policy it had previously promoted.

381. Billy Connolly – D.I.V.O.R.C.E. (1975)

/ robbarker1979 / 2 Comments

The Intro

‘The Big Yin’ had a number 1? Really? Yes, Glaswegian giant of comedy Sir Billy Connolly covered country icon Tammy Wynette’s break-up song, turned it into a ditty about his dog and topped the charts. How very 1975.

Before

To say Connolly came from humble beginnings is rather an understatement. William Connolly was born at home in Anderston, Glasgow on 24 November 1942. This home had no hot water, and he was bathed in the sink. His father was in Burma during the Second World War and afterwards, in 1946, his teenage mother abandoned him and his older sister Florence for a new man. Considering the circumstances at the time, he has never felt ill will towards his mother and said he would have done the same. They were raised by two aunts, but not happily, as they resented the children. His father eventually returned, and physically and sexually abused his son until he was 15.

Connolly did at least take solace in discovering the joy of being able to make people laugh while a young schoolboy of seven, and at 14 he fell in love with the music of Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry. He left school a year later with two engineering qualifications – one belonging to a boy named Connell. Taking up odd jobs until he was old enough to be an engineer, he was ruled overqualified and so he became a boilermaker at a shipyard. Shooting up in height as a teen, he soon towered over his father and earned the ‘Big Yin’ nickname.

In his late-teens during the early-60s Connolly attended the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and began modelling himself on the folk singers that performed there. Following jobs including building an oil platform in Nigeria, he decided to become a folk musician and bought a banjo. In 1965 he and guitarist Tam Harvey became The Humblebums and they began touring the pubs. In 1969 they were approached by a singer named Gerry Rafferty and they became a trio. After recording one album that year (First Collection of Merry Melodies), Harvey left. Connolly and Rafferty released two more albums before they split in 1971, with Rafferty going on to release, among others, Stuck in the Middle with You (with Stealers Wheel) and Baker Street.

So, Connolly was a folk singer on his own now, and he became known for his charismatic stage performances, where the introductions to the songs were as lengthy and entertaining as the music. In 1972 he made his comic debut with a revue called Connolly’s Glasgow Flourish. The Edinburgh Festival Fringe then beckoned, and his first solo album, Billy Connolly Live! was released, a mix of comedy and songs. But it was the 1973 double album Solo Concert that propelled Connolly to the mainstream. Sell-out gigs followed, and in 1975 came the first of a record 15 appearances on Parkinson, in which an edgy joke about bikes changed his life forever.

Connolly was by then signed with Polydor Records and had released The Welly Boot Song. Next up was a timely rewrite of Wynette’s 1968 hit D.I.V.O.R.C.E. Timely because she had just divorced George Jones and had been number 1 with Stand by Your Man, also from 1968. In the original, Wynette is heartbroken and determined not to tell her four-year-old-son that his dad will soon be elsewhere, so she spells out the word, and several others, including ‘C.U.S.T.O.D.Y’. It’s all very maudlin, so ripe for spoofing.

Review

Connolly made it about a dog that was going into ‘Q.U.A.R.A.N.T.I.N.E’ because it’s bitten him, caused he and his wife to have an argument, in which she bit his arse, and then the dog bit the vet too. As a result of which, Connolly has decided to get a D.I.V.O.R.C.E. Yes, all a bit silly really, and it hasn’t aged well at all. Held in by the need to make it family-friendly, Connolly doesn’t get the chance to be let off the leash. Although, there is the line ‘She sank her teeth in my B.U.M. and called me an effin C’. I’m guessing he’d say ‘cunt’ when performing this live. So without the shock element, it’s not very funny.

Also, why would you need to avoid saying ‘quarantine’ in front of a dog anyway? I mean, I know this isn’t meant to be realistic, but the whole thing is rather pointless, and isn’t helped by Connolly constantly bursting into laughter. You can’t deny Connolly has bucketloads of charm, but I don’t like to think of him seeming so smug about something so unfunny. I doubt you’d get away with the closing line of ‘Oh I must admit that dog is acting Q.U.E.R. queer’ these days either, but that’s with 45 years of hindsight.

After

Further similarly tame spoofs followed, including No Chance (the awful No Charge, originally) in 1976 and In the Brownies (yep, In the Navy) in 1979. He served as Elton John’s warm-up man on a US tour in 1976, but he bombed. By then he was living like a rock star himself, using cocaine and alcohol in large doses, and collapsed in a studio, and shocked comedian Pamela Stephenson with his self-destructive ways backstage in 1979. They fell in love and began an affair. That same year, Connolly became the first non-Oxbridge member of The Secret Policeman’s Ball.

As the 80s began Connolly was now concentrating almost solely on comedy. 1985 was to be an eventful year. He went teetotal, starred in the British film Water, sang the rollicking theme to Children’s ITV series Super Gran (released as a single) and divorced his first wife after four years separated. He also introduced Elton John at Live Aid. In 1989, Connolly and Stephenson married.

After several false starts, the Big Yin finally conquered the Big Apple and the rest of the US in the 90s. He starred in stand-up TV specials and landed a part in the sitcom Head of the Class and spin-off Billy. In 1994 World Tour of Scotland, for the BBC, followed the comedian around his home country, and spawned Billy Connolly’s World Tour of Australia a year later. He even provided his voice to a character in Disney’s Pocahontas (1995). Connolly was fast becoming a jack of all trades, and won critical acclaim and BAFTA nominations for his role in 1997 historical drama Queen Victoria, alongside Dame Judi Dench.

Further ‘World Tour’ series followed in the 00s, and roles in Hollywood films The Last Samurai (2003), Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004). He also voiced a character in Brave (2012) and starred in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies in 2014.

The Outro

In 2013 Connolly announced that he had undergone minor surgery for prostate cancer, and was also in the early stages of Parkinson’s. Since then, the disease has progressed and has caused Connolly to retire from live stand-up, aged 78. Connolly has been a singer, artist, actor, playwright and boilermaker, but it his outrageous comedy for which he will be remembered mostly. Let’s hope he has many years left to enjoy his retirement.

Trivia

Written by

Billy Connolly

Producer

Phil Coulter

Weeks at number 1

1 (22-28 November)

Trivia

Deaths

25 November: Actress Moyna Macgill
27 November: Co-founder of the Guinness Book of Records Ross McWhirter (see below)

Meanwhile…

27 November: The Provisional IRA assassinated Ross McWhirter, co-founder with twin brother Norris of the Guinness Book of Records. He was shot dead for offering reward money to IRA informers.

357. John Denver – Annie’s Song (1974)

/ robbarker1979

The Intro

The unassuming US singer-songwriter and activist John Denver wrote some of folk and country’s biggest hits, but was a one-hit wonder in the UK, where he scored the number 1 spot with this tender tribute to his first wife.

Before

Born Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. on New Year’s Eve 1943 in Roswell, New Mexico, his father was a stern US Army Air Forces pilot who had difficulty showing his children emotion, and it made his eldest son introverted, as did the constant moving around due to his father’s job. Deutschendorf Jr. was shy to mix with others, but loved music and became a member of Tuscon Arizona Boys Chorus. However, that was cut short when forced to move once more and he disliked ending up in a segregated school in Montgomery, Alabama.

At college he began playing the guitar at local clubs, having been bought one by his grandmother when he was 11. When it was pointed out to him that his surname was rather unwieldy for showbiz purposes, he became John Denver, paying tribute the capital of Colorado, his favourite state. Denver joined a folk group called The Alpine Trio but dropped out of the Texas Tech School of Engineering in 1963 and moved to Los Angeles. In 1965 he joined The Mitchell Trio when founder Chad Mitchell left. A year later he recorded a demo tape of his own material for friends as a Christmas present called John Denver Sings. Among the songs was Babe, I Hate to Go. Producer Milt Okun was impressed and took it to Peter, Paul and Mary, who recorded it for an album but changed the name to Leaving on a Jet Plane.

In 1969 Denver signed with RCA Records and recorded his debut solo LP, Rhymes & Reasons. Peter, Paul and Mary’s cover of Leaving on a Jet Plane was released as a single and it topped the Billboard Hot 100 and reached number two in the UK in 1970. That year he released two albums, Take Me to Tomorrow and Whose Garden Was This.

1971 brought Denver’s breakthrough when his album Poems, Prayers & Promises contained the track Take Me Home, Country Roads. This country classic narrowly missed out on the US top spot, but Denver was on the road to fame, and the hits increased in America. Rocky Mountain High reached the top 10 in 1973, and between 1974-75 Denver had four number 1s there – Sunshine on My Shoulders, Annie’s Song, Thank God I’m a Country Boy and I’m Sorry. Despite his shyness, the image of his embroidered shirts, long hair and granny glasses stood out, making him resemble a more polite, American version of John Lennon.

Annie’s Song was written, according to Denver himself, in 10-and-a-half minutes one day on a ski lift to the top of Ajax Mountain in Aspen, Colorado in July 1973. Exhilarated after skiing a difficult run, Denver’s senses came alive with the immersion of the colours and sounds around him, and they inspired him to think of his then-wife, Annie. He got home and wrote it all down, then later presented it to Okun, who pointed out the tune was similar to Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony. An hour later all that remained the same were the first five notes.

Review

Sure, Annie’s Song is a very pretty melody, and Denver’s voice has a charm, but it’s never done much for me. Rather like Don McLean’s Vincent, the intro is very strong, but it’s downhill from there. ‘You fill up my senses’ is a great lyric, but the subsequent outpouring of comparisons doesn’t hold the attention. Denver would have been better off spending more time on the words – they’re cliched and ultimately lack a personal touch, but such Hallmark-style writing was popular among the more conservative, old-fashioned singles buyers of the mid-70s, so it was perhaps inevitable this would reach number 1 in the same year as She.

After

Denver’s manager Jerry Weintraub insisted the singer appear on as many TV shows as possible, despite his reticence, particularly in the UK, where he was much less well-known. Back home though, he won an Emmy for a live concert special in 1975. That December, Rocky Mountain Christmas became ABC’s highest-rated programme up to that point, with an astounding 60 million viewers. He is also remembered fondly for his appearance on The Muppet Show, even here in the UK. He also acted, starring in the film Oh, Boy! (1977) alongside comedian George Burns, hosted the Grammy Awards five times and appeared on The Tonight Show numerous times.

Denver’s music may not have been to everyone’s tastes, but his political leanings were sound. In the mid-70s he supported Jimmy Carter and they became close friends when he became president, even appointing Denver to serve on the President’s Commission on World Hunger. He founded the Windstar Foundation in 1976 to promote sustainable living, and did work for the poor, the homeless and African AIDS charities over the years.

As the hits dried up towards the end of the 70s, Denver spent much of the next decade becoming more heavily involved in politics. Despite being a critic of Ronald Reagan’s administration, Reagan awarded him the Presidential World Without Hunger Award in 1987. Five years earlier, he had finally had enough of Weintrauub’s interference and sacked him. His ex-manager accused him of being a Nazi. Little bit over-the-top and very wrong by all accounts. Despite all his charity work, he was turned down when he asked to appear on 1985 chart-topper on both sides of the Atlantic, We Are the World. According to its producer Ken Kragen, this was because many involved, but not he, believed Denver’s image would harm the song’s credibility.

In the mid-70s Dever reconciled with his father, and he helped him learn to fly, beginning his obsession that would ultimately be the death of him. Spookily, he would have potentially died even sooner had he got his wish of being the first citizen to go into space courtesy of the Space Shuttle Challenger. Despite the tragic explosion, Denver continued to support NASA and obsessed about space, even reportedly entering discussions with the Soviet Union (where he had been the first US musician to perform in more than 10 years) with the hope of buying a place on one of their flights. Once the talks reached a possible $20 million price tag, Denver backed down.

Denver released his autobiography, Take Me Home, in 1994, in which he revealed some facts that went totally against his nice guy image, including drug use, drunk driving and domestic violence. After divorcing Annie in 1982, the woman who had filled up his senses, he found out she’d cut down some trees he liked. As revenge, he showed up at her place, shredded her furniture with a power saw, then proceeded to choke her. Pretty terrible stuff. His second marriage only lasted five years, ending in 1993.

The Outro

On 12 October 1997 Denver died from multiple blunt force trauma when his experimental Rutan Long-EZ plane crashed into Monterey Bay near Pacific Grove, California. He wasn’t legally allowed to fly due to his drunk driving arrests, but his autopsy found no drugs or drink in his body. Denver was 53.

In 1978, four years after Denver had his only UK number 1, the Belfast-born flute player James Galway scored his only chart hit with his cover of Annie’s Song.

The Info

Written by

John Denver

Producer

Milt Okun

Weeks at number 1

1 (12-18 October)

Trivia

Births

17 October: Actor Matthew Macfadyen

Meanwhile…

16 October: Rioting prisoners set fire to Belfast’s Maze Prison.

347. Terry Jacks – Seasons in the Sun (1974)

/ robbarker1979

The Intro

It’s another death disc! And one of the most famous, and controversial, as Canadian singer Terry Jacks’ loose cover of Jacques Brel’s Le Moribond (The Dying Man) has as many critics as it does fans.

Before

Terrence Ross Jacks was born 29 March 1944 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The family moved to Vancouver in the early-60s, around the time Jacks first took up the guitar. He formed his first group, The Chessmen, when he was 18, and they gained quite a following in the area. He then formed, with future wife Susan Pesklevits, psychedelic pop group The Poppy Family, who had a big Canadian (number 1) and US (number two) hit with Which Way You Goin’ Billy?, written and produced by Jacks, in 1969.

Jacks didn’t enjoy performing live, and the pressures of fame resulted in him disbanding the group in 1972. He wanted to concentrate on production, and was honoured when his friends The Beach Boys asked him to work with them. The song he chose was singer-poet Rod McKuen’s reworking of Brel’s Le Moribond.

The Belgian songwriter’s theatrical songs were becoming influential among the counterculture, and singers including Scott Walker and David Bowie. Le Moribond was substantially different to Jacks’ number 1, musically and lyrically. The similarity in the chorus is clear, but Brel’s song is faster-paced, like a march. Jacks later recalled that Brel told him over dinner how he had written Le Moribond in a Tangiers brothel, and that it was about an old man dying of a broken heart, after learning his best friend was having sex with his wife. Brel had retired shortly before Jacks’ song came out, and six years later it became apparent he had been fighting cancer, which he succumbed to in 1978.

Jacks liked McKuen’s translation of Brel’s song, and it struck a chord with him, as he was losing one of his best friends to leukaemia. He flew to Brian Wilson’s house to work on it, with an idea of getting his brother Dennis to perform the lead. But Brian was in a fragile state still, and tried to take over the sessions. In the end, Jacks felt he had no choice but to walk out, and he chose to record it himself instead.

Review

The first thing you hear in Seasons in the Sun is a guitar that sounds like it’s from a grunge or indie tune several decades later (which might explain why Nirvana eventually covered this), and Jacks’ vocal is unusual too. Combine these, and the cheesy organ, with the morbid subject matter, and you can understand why this song is so divisive. In fact, I can’t decide what I think of it myself. I used to like it, finding the lyrics, in which the dying singer says goodbye to an old friend, his father and daughter, rather moving, and of course, whatever your opinion, you can’t deny that’s a great commercial chorus. But listening to it again for this blog, I found the production offputting and a bit nauseous, truth be told. I preferred Brel’s original arrangement.

Having said that, it still has a curious appeal, is a better death disc than the number 1 that directly preceded it, and is better than the awful Westlife version, a double-A-side with a cover of ABBA’s I Have a Dream, which somehow became the final number 1 of the 20th century. I voted it the worst Christmas number 1 of all time here.

After

Jacks was as surprised as anyone at his number 1. It became the biggest-selling Canadian song in history at the time and has sold several millions worldwide. Despite the arrangement being his own, as well as the last verse, he missed out on royalties by not bothering with a songwriting credit. But he bought a boat and named it after the song. Jacks had another Brel/McKuen cover hit in the UK with If You Go Away, but that was his last success here.

The Outro

As the 70s went on, Jacks withdrew from the public eye, and found religion while travelling around on his boat. He would occasionally produce other artists, however. He’s only recorded three other albums since the 1974 one named after his number 1 – in 1975, 1983 and 1987. His private life has occasionally made headlines – his first marriage dissolved, and in 2001 he was accused of spousal abuse by second wife Maggi Zittier, and the police cautioned him for improper storage of a firearm while they were there. Jacks has been a strong campaigner for environmental issues for decades and has won several awards.

The Info

Written by

Jacques Brel & Rod McKuen

Producer

Terry Jacks

Weeks at number 1

4 (6 April-3 May)

Trivia

Births

17 April: Spice Girl singer Victoria Beckham

Meanwhile…

6 April: A Swedish pop quartet called ABBA win the 19th Eurovision Song Contest at the Dome in Brighton with a song called Waterloo. More on that next time.

24 April: Leeds United win their second Football League First Division title.

27 April: Manchester United are relegated from the First Division of the Football League, where they have played continuously since 1938. Their relegation is confirmed when they lose 1-0 at home to Manchester City in the penultimate game of the season. The only goal of the game comes from former United striker Denis Law.

1 May: Sir Alf Ramsey, the man who led the England football team to victory in the 1966 World Cup, is dismissed by the Football Association after 11 years. 

2 May: The National Front gains more than 10% of the vote in several parts of London’s council elections, but fails to net any councillors.

283. Simon & Garfunkel – Bridge over Troubled Water (1970)

/ robbarker1979 / 1 Comment

The Intro

The first classic number 1 of the 70s, Bridge over Troubled Water‘s message of the importance of friendship in times of emotional pain made it one of the most famous songs of all time, and yet it did further damage to Simon & Garfunkel’s already strained relationship, and helped quicken their disintegration.

Before

Paul Frederic Simon was born on 13 October 1941 in Newark, New Jersey. Arthur Ira Garfunkel was born 5 November in New York City, also 1941. They grew up three blocks from each other in Queens, New York and attended the same schools and admired The Everly Brothers. They became friends in 1953 when appearing in a sixth grade production of Alice in Wonderland. In addition to forming a street corner doo-wop quintet called The Peptones, Simon and Garfunkel began performing as a duo at school dances. In 1956 they wrote their first song, The Girl for Me and signed with independent label Big Records aged only 15.

As Tom & Jerry (Garfunkel was Tom Graph, Simon was Jerry Landis) the duo had some success with 1957 single Hey Schoolgirl, but were unable to follow it up. While both at university, and still officially a duo, Simon released a single under the name True Taylor. This can be seen as the first crack in their relationship, as it caused some resentment with Garfunkel.

They went their separate ways for some time, recording under a variety of names and working with other acts. Then in 1963, they both graduated from university and began to work together again. By now they had moved on from rock’n’roll and were both enjoying the burgeoning folk scene in Greenwich, and billed themselves as Kane & Garr. One of the songs they would perform was The Sound of Silence. Columbia Records producer Tom Wilson, who later helped Bob Dylan in his transition to electric, was impressed by the duo, and helped get them signed to the label.

In 1964, as Simon & Garfunkel, they recorded their debut LP, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. Featuring compositions by Simon and covers, it bombed, and Simon decided to move to the UK soon after, going solo once more.

Fast forward to 1965, and Simon had released solo album The Paul Simon Songbook, which hadn’t done too well. Garfunkel, who had been to visit his friend in the UK, was at Columbia University. Then everything changed.

The Sound of Silence was gaining in popularity with colleges on the radio, and Wilson decided to make a remix featuring electric instruments and drums, without telling either of them. Simon was horrified when he found out, but then the new folk-rock version hit number 1 in the US in January 1966. He hastily returned to the US, and they reunited to quickly record a new album, Sounds of Silence. Featuring remade versions of tracks from Simon’s solo LP, including I Am a Rock, it was a rush-job, but extremely popular, and they were famous at last.

They decided to take time over their third album, and became more interested in production, while making Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme, released that October. With their version of Scarborough Fair/Canticle, and a remade Homeward Bound among the included material, it was one of their best collections.

Simon developed writer’s block while working on the next album, but managed to pen material for Mike Nichols’ smash romantic comedy The Graduate in 1967, including Mrs. Robinson. Fourth album Bookends eventually surfaced in 1968, and included the title track, America and Hazy Shade of Winter.

By now huge recording and touring stars, their partnership began to suffer, thanks in part to Garfunkel’s acting career. Simon was to join him in Nichols’ Catch-22 (1970) but found his part written out. Matters were exacerbated by the filming taking longer than expected. Eventually they began work, with members of The Wrecking Crew and producer Roy Halee on their fifth and final album, turning down an invitation to perform at Woodstock Festival while doing so.

What was to become the title track began originally as a gentle two-verse guitar number that had been inspired in part by a line from 1958 song Mary Don’t You Weep, a gospel track by the Swan Silvertones: ‘I’ll be your bridge over deep water if you trust in me”. Simon later presented singer-songwriter Claude Jetter with a cheque to acknowledge his inspiration. The civil rights unrest and political assassinations in the stormy years leading up to this time also helped Simon come up with a message of hope.

Over the years, the duo have both given different stories over what happened next. Simon claimed he thought it would be perfect as a solo spot for Garfunkel’s angelic voice, but that he didn’t want to do it, and Simon felt hurt. Garfunkel says Simon was gracious when Garfunkel told him politely that he felt Simon should do it as it sounded lovely performed by him. Who knows – but I do know from reading and seeing interviews that both men can be oversensitive and precious.

Simon & Garfunkel, musicians and production crew assembled at CBS studios to work Bridge over Troubled Water out in November 1969. The final track to be recorded for the album, but the first to be completed, it was felt that, as nice as it was, the song should feature an extra verse, and open out to become a real epic in the style of a Phil Spector number. And so Simon wrote the ‘silver girl’ verse at Garfunkel’s suggestion, but wasn’t too keen. While some say it’s a reference to a drug user’s needle, it’s apparently an in-joke – Simon’s wife Peggy Harper had noticed she was turning grey. Simon seems to regret ever adding a third verse, and he’s not alone in that.

Review

Bridge over Troubled Water has been criticised for being calculated and manipulative – a glossy exercise in tugging the heartstrings, and that it’s too epic, too, that it would have been better in its original incarnation. I understand all these points, and it’s certainly been used since in countless covers as the go-to song to make people emotional, but I think it’s simply a beautiful song and that no amount of stories of two stars whose egos were incompatible can spoilt it for me.

Simon is right in that the first verse, in particular, is the most moving. Garfunkel’s always beautiful voice is perfect here, and I admire the technical brilliance of being able to wring every bit of emotion out of each syllable. Garfunkel later claimed this verse took the most amount of takes, whereas the finale was the easiest. Wonderful support on the piano by Larry Knetchel, too. The performance makes me imagine that the person Garfunkel is singing to is so fragile, his almost hushed tones are all they can take.

He/they grow in strength in the second verse, adding meaning to Simon’s already powerful words, and the cymbal crashes from Hal Blaine suggest the message is getting through. Then the strings come in, courtesy of Jimmy Haskell, who had misheard the name of the song and labelled his arrangement Like a Pitcher of Troubled Water. Bass enters the fray, and Blaine gets on the drum kit. Its unclear whether that’s double-tracked singing from Garfunkel or Simon finally getting his voice heard, but I think it’s the former. Yes, the lyrics don’t match what came before, but the music picks up the slack, and then the epic rousing finale, in which Garfunkel gives it his all, leaving the darkness behind, with Blaine creating that unique drum sound by slapping the chains from his snow tyres on to his snare drum (used again on The Boxer). If this track hasn’t at least once made you want to cry when your defences are down (or just very pissed), are you even human?

After

The song was complete, and despite being over five minutes in length, label boss Clive Davis insisted it was too good to be anything but the first single from the album. He was totally correct, of course. It went to number 1 in the US in February, then the UK a month later, and like Wand’rin’ Star before it, it kept The Beatles’ swansong single, Let It Be, from number 1. Clearly, the mood of the time was for gospel-influenced, big message songs. The Beatles may be the greatest band of all time, but Bridge over Troubled Water was the better song here. It rightfully went on to be one of the biggest-selling singles of all time.

And the album named after the song was also huge. It was the bestseller of 1970, 71 and 72, and until Michael Jackson’s Thriller it was the biggest of all time. But Simon & Garfunkel had had enough of each other for the forseeable. In 1971, the same year their final LP won six awards at the Grammys, they split.

Simon would confess to Bridge over Troubled Water causing him to feel jealous – he resented sitting in the wings watching Garfunkel getting adulation for performing his song. You’d be forgiven for thinking he needed to get over himself. But it’s also proof that you can be an incredible songwriting talent and still be as petty as any other human, I suppose.

The duo got back together in 1972 for a benefit concert for Democrat hopeful George McGovern, but it was another three years before they spoke to each other when they visited a recording session by John Lennon and Harry Nilsson. They collaborated in the studio once more, and came up with a new single, My Little Town, which was a hit. For the rest of the 70s they would occasionally make rare TV and live appearances. Garfunkel would have two UK number 1s, most notably the beautiful Bright Eyes from animated movie Watership Down (1978) – it was number 1 on the day I was born, 19 April 1979.

The 80s began with both Simon and Garfunkel’s solo careers in decline, until they were persuaded to perform at a free concert in Central Park, New York City in 1981. An incredible 500,000 attended the show – the largest ever at the time. They tried to capitalise on the renewed interest with a world tour in 1982, but old tensions rose and they barely spoke to each other throughout. Warner Bros. pushed for a tour extension and reunion album, but after early recording attempts, Simon opted for a new solo LP instead, with Garfunkel’s refusal to give up cannabis among the reasons given. Simon would go on to be very popular for the rest of the decade, particularly for his crossover world music album Graceland in 1986.

Simon & Garfunkel were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990, and managed to perform three songs together, despite Simon being pretty snide in his speech, and the duo refusing to speak to each other afterwards. A year later Simon did his own Central Park show, pointedly refusing an offer from his former partner to join him there. However in 1993 they were touring once more. Guess what? They fell out again for the rest of the decade.

In 2001 Simon was inducted into the Hall of Fame as a solo artist. He thanked Garfunkel, but ended up saying he wasn’t in a rush to make peace with him, either. Nice. A lifetime achievement Grammy for the old friends/sworn enemies in 2003 resulted in another halt to their Cold War. They toured the US and Europe for a year, and performed at a Hurricane Katrina benefit in 2005. Their final performance as Simon & Garfunkel took place at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in 2010, with the latter struggling with vocal cord paresis. Further dates were postponed indefinitely, and it would be four years before his voice was back to full strength.

The Outro

Simon announced his retirement from touring in 2018. Does that mean we’ll never see them on stage ever again? Who knows. They’re both approaching 80, and it seems Simon in particular is unlikely to want to do so, but it would be nice to think they could end their days as friends once more. Hopefully it would be for genuine reasons, rather than the money.

If it doesn’t happen, best to take comfort in the fact the duo were able to produce some brilliant songs, had real alchemy together, and that despite the result it had on their relationship, Bridge over Troubled Water has helped so many people for 50 years.

Among the multitude of covers, it’s been number 1 twice since, for great causes – making up part of A Bridge over You, the 2015 Christmas number 1 by Lewisham & Greenwich NHS Choir, and in its own right in 2017, when stars including Robbie Williams, Rita Ora, Roger Daltrey and Stoemzy united under the banner Artists for Grenfell.

The Info

Written by

Paul Simon

Producers

Roy Halee, Paul Simon & Art Garfunkel

Weeks at number 1

3 (28 March-17 April)

Meanwhile…

April Fool’s Day: Everton won the Football League First Division title.

10 April: Paul McCartney announces that he has left The Beatles, marking the end of the Fab Four.

11 April: Chelsea and Leeds United drew 2–2 in the FA Cup final at Wembley Stadium, making it the first to require a replay since 1912.

16 April: The controversial Dr. Ian Paisley entered the Parliament of Northern Ireland after winning the Bannside By-election.