The Clash: London Calling

Last week, I heard The Clash’s “London Calling” used as a promo bed for the season premier of the CBS show “Elementary.” I watched the show; however, do not remember hearing it during the entire episode as I had expected. Since it brought Holmes back to his beloved London from New York, its use in the spot was more than apropos. It is said that Joe Strummer and Mick Jones wrote this apocalyptic tune in 1979 shortly after the Three Mile Island disaster earlier in the year.

I think its lyrics are brilliant. It is full of gloom and doom – it has everything you would expect from the apocalypse: war, mayhem in the streets, nuclear meltdown, famine, the end of mechanization, population relegated to various habitable zones, mutation of the species, zombies, and of course – “London is drownin’ I . . . live by the river.” Perhaps the song was more of a reflection of the dying punk genre and was being replaced by a number of newer musical styles, as Strummer sings, “Phony Beatlemania has bitten the dust” and “see we ain't got no swing.”

Rolling Stone ranks “London Calling” at #15 on the Top 500 songs of all time. Unfortunately, it never charted on the Hot 100 in the US, but strangely enough, it and its flip side “Train in Vain” made it to #30 on the dance charts.

Lyrics

London calling to the faraway towns,
Now that war is declared and battle come down.
London calling to the underworld,
Come out of the cupboard, you boys and girls.

London calling, now don't look to us –
Phony Beatlemania has bitten the dust.
London calling, see we ain't got no swing,
Except for the ring of that truncheon thing.

The ice age is coming, the sun's zoomin’ in,
Meltdown expected, the wheat is growing thin,
Engines stop running, but I have no fear,
Cause London is drownin', I . . . live by the river.

London calling to the imitation zone,
Forget it brother, you can go it alone.
London calling to the zombies of death,
Quit holding out and draw another breath.

London calling and I don't wanna shout,
But while we were talking, I saw you runnin' out.
London calling; see we ain't got no highs,
Except for that one with the yellowy eyes.

The ice age is coming, the sun's zoomin’ in,
Engines stop running, the wheat is growing thin,
A nuclear error, but I have no fear,
Cause London is drownin', I . . . I live by the river.

The ice age is coming, the sun's zoomin’ in,
Engines stop running, the wheat is growing thin,
A nuclear error, but I have no fear,
Cause London is drownin', I . . . I live by the river.

Now get this – London calling, yes I was there too
And you know what they said - well some of it was true!
London calling, at the top of the dial,
And after all this, won't you give me a smile?
London calling . . .

Parrot Records: Tell Mama

In 1971, a mass exodus of members of Savoy Brown led to the formation of Foghat and left the band’s founder, Kim Simmonds, the only individual remaining. Prior to recording the album “Street Corner Talking,” Simmonds enlisted four new members: Paul Raymond (guitar, keyboards, vocals), Andy Sylvester (bass), Dave Walker (vocals), and Dave Bidwell (drums).

Most of Savoy Brown’s early releases were issued in the US and Canada on Parrot Records and when that label was shut down, they moved to London Records with the release of “Boogie Brothers” in 1974. “Tell Mama,” a Kim Simmonds/Paul Raymond composition, was the band’s single release from “Street Corner Talking.”

Undisputedly, Simmonds plays some excellent slide guitar on this cut. Like most Savoy Brown singles, they were never chart successes in the US with “Tell Mama” peaking at #83 in 1971. With the Tom Joneses, Engelbert Humperdincks, Jonathan Kings, and Lulus of the label, Savoy Brown was one of the more progressive acts in Parrot’s cage of artists.

Parrot Records: It's Good News Week

When we began our look at Parrot Records on Sunday, our first selection was Jonathan King’s “Everyone’s Gone to the Moon.” King returns in part with a UK one hit wonder by Hedgehoppers Anonymous. “It’s Good News Week” was a tongue in cheek tune about social consciousness that King composed and forced on suggested to the band. Actually, it was a good move, as it proved to be a UK hit.

King was thoroughly engaged in this British hit from 1965. Not only was he the songwriter, but he was the band’s producer and promoter of sorts. He even rechristened the band from The Hedgehoppers to become Hedgehoppers Anonymous. A “hedgehopper,” by the way, was British slang for a pilot and the group chose the name as they met while members of the Royal Air Force.

Although “It’s Good News Week” was a Top 5 smash in the UK, Americans simply did not get the dark humor of the song. Add to the trauma of the lyrical content, you had lead vocalist Mike Tinsley’s over-the-top cheerful enunciations regarding verboten topics of nuclear war, reanimating the dead, population control, and experimental brain surgery; consequently, its lack of airplay garnered a US chart position at only #48.

Hedgehoppers Anonymous recorded five singles only two made it to the American charts: “It’s Good News Week” and “Don’t Push Me”; the latter had a dismal showing at #110. It became better known in Australia when the original recording was used as the theme song for the TV show “Good News” week during its first run from 1996 to 2000. During the show’s second leg from 2008 to 2012, a cover version replaced the original. As “It’s Good News Week” really wasn’t an American “hit,” it still manages to be occasionally played on US oldies radio stations – and that is “good news.”

Fourth Anniversary / Post 1300: Parrot Records: Here Comes The Night

Today is the fourth anniversary of Reading Between the Grooves as well as being the 1,300th post. For the last several yearly anniversaries, I’ve been able to time these with a post numbered in one hundred increments. Within a month or two, we’ll also celebrate 200,000 page views – too bad that hadn’t come sooner to join this auspicious occasion.

We’ll get into the details concerning this anniversary after we take care of today’s post from Parrot Records. As we’ve done on another occasion during the Thursdays Repeats and Threepeats during the Fourth Week Label Special, we’ve featured a song that was released by two different artists on the same label. Written by Bert Berns, “Here Comes the Night” was recorded in 1964 by two British Decca artists whose singles were issued on Parrot Records in the US.

 

Lulu’s Version

The first release of “Here Comes the Night” is slower than the eventual hit version and it has a different opening. Of course, it is sung from a female’s perspective. While in comparison to Them’s hit version, it is unusual, but I really like its treatment.

Issued as a non album single, Lulu’s recording was released in November 1964 and peaked only at #50 in the UK. Although marketed in the US on Parrot, it failed to chart. So for my American readers, this may be the first time you’ve heard this particular recording.

 

Them’s Version

The well known version of “Here Comes the Night” was recorded by the Belfast, Northern Ireland band “Them.” In addition, it was recorded before Lulu ever heard the tune. Berns had just written the song and had an idea of a repeating guitar riff.  He brought the song to Them and the band worked on the tune for four days as it evolved.

Berns, who produced the record, utilized Jimmy Page on second guitar, Phil Coulter on second keyboards, Andy White on second drums and backing vocals, and Tommy Scott on backing vocals. Of course, Van Morrison sang lead. Although it was slated to be issued as Them’s next single, Decca held off on its release and brought Lulu into the studio to record her version. It even used the same guitar riff employed by Them.

Although both were on the same label, Decca (and ultimately Parrot in the US) rush released Lulu’s version. Needless to say, Them was not very happy with the decision; however, the band felt some vindication when Lulu’s version tanked. The label waited until March 1965 to release Them’s version and it did quite well in both The UK and Ireland where it charted at #2. Its US showing on Parrot was not as spectacular, as it only peaked at #24.

RBTG’s 1,300th Post / Fourth Anniversary Retrospect

Like I had reported with every other 100th post anniversary, I took a look backward on how we are doing visitor wise. I began this blog on September 26, 2009, but did not start monitoring the visits until October 16, 2009. Currently, we have 70 declared followers of the blog – up from 67 in June. There are many others who have visited frequently without declaring themselves as followers. The statistics are listed below:

Variable	Statistic
Unique Visitors	122,170
Times Visited	135,789
Number of Pages Viewed	197,782
People Visiting 200+ Times	1,952
People Visiting 101-200 Times	844
People Visiting 51-100 Times	801
People Visiting 26-50 Times	784
Number of Visitor Countries Represented	179
Percentage of Visitors Referred from Search Engines	63.4%
Percentage of Visitors Referred from Other Sites	26.6%
Percentage of Visitors via Direct Access	11.0%

The Top Ten Visitor Countries

Since our 1200th post, Spain overtook the Netherlands for the ninth spot. Four new countries and territories were added since June 2013. They include one from Europe (The Faroe Islands), one from the Caribbean (Haiti), and two from Africa (Rwanda and Burundi, which at one time were part of a single nation).

Rank	Country	Visits
1	United States	66,032
2	United Kingdom	11,160
3	Canada	7,428
4	Germany	6,216
5	France	4,189
6	Italy	3,132
7	Australia	2,908
8	Brazil	2,828
9	Spain	2,213
10	Netherlands	2,189

As always, I want to take this time to thank all of you for your support of this site and the encouragement to keep going forward. Thanks again for Reading between the Grooves.

Parrot Records: House Of The Rising Sun

Frijid Pink is one of the few American acts signed to Parrot Records, as most of the label’s artists were British Decca acts licensed to its American arm of London Records. Frijid Pink’s only Top 40 hit was recorded in 1969, and their hit version of “House of the Rising Sun” almost didn’t happen.

According to their collective memories, the band had some studio time remaining, and so they broke into a jam of “House of the Rising Sun,” but they considered it a throwaway track at best. After hearing the cut, WKNR Detroit’s program director Paul Cannon urged the band to use “House” as their single instead of “God Gave Me You,” which was being issued by Parrot.

The label’s execs listened to Cannon’s recommendation and turned their attention to “House of the Rising Son.” So close were the two singles’ release dates, they sported consecutive numbers as Parrot 340 and 341. Both singles sported “Driving Blues” as their flip sides.

Quite a bit different than The Animals’ #1 hit of five years earlier, Frijid Pink’s guitar centric version was much heavier than the previous hit which was organ centric. In addition, Frijid Pink’s versions was recorded in common time while The Animal’s hit was played in 6/8 time. While the time signature was different, Frijid Pink’s version credited The Animals’ Alan Price as the author – even though the arrangement of this traditional tune was different. The song also featured a wah-wah pedal on the guitar – characteristic of the music of the period.

“House of the Rising Sun” peaked on the Hot 100 at #6. In addition, it was a #1 record in Germany and Norway. The song also hit the Top 10 in the following countries: #2 in Switzerland and Poland; #3 in Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Austria; #4 in The UK and Israel; #6 in Sweden and Belgium; and #7 in Greece and Ireland. Not bad for an impromptu jam that the band felt was not worthy of release.

Parrot Records: Tell Her No

While The Zombies released eight singles on the Parrot label, only two charted within the Top 40: 1964's “She’s Not There” at #2 and 1965's “Tell Her No” at #6. A third single, “Time of the Season” issued on Date Records in 1969, peaked at #3. In their native Britain, The Zombies only had one hit and that was their first – “She’s Not There.”

Like their other hits, “Tell Her No” was written by keyboardist Rod Argent. It appears that Argent is playing two keyboard parts on the song. One sounds like a Vox organ and may be double tracked; the other, which may be the Vox as well, sounds like a RMI Electra Piano or Hohner Pianet.

 I’m just speculating on the instrumentation, as I haven’t found any documentation on it as of yet. In the only vintage live performance that I could find (which is an obvious lip-synch version from Shindig), Argent has only one keyboard on stage – a Vox Continental.

Of course, Colin Blunstone sings the lead with the other band members providing the backup.

Parrot Records: Thunderball

I hadn’t originally planned the theme from “Thunderball” to be the Tom Jones song I would feature this week, but two recent events inspired me to choose it instead of my original selection, “Detroit City.” About three weeks ago, I watched the movie on one of the cable networks during their Bond weekend. I hadn’t seen the movie in years and remembered seeing it on the big screen in 1965.

The other reason is that last week, I found out that I am not too distantly related to Anthony Dawson who played the body (but not the voice) of Ernst Stravo Blofeld in “From Russia with Love” and “Thunderball.” His face is never seen in these two films as he strokes his white angora cat. Dawson actually had a much larger role in “Dr. No” as Professor Dent. He appeared in numerous movies and TV shows during his long illustrious career from 1940 to 1991.

But I digress; let’s talk about Tom Jones’ illustrious career on Parrot Records. Jones had 10 Top 20 hits on Parrot between 1965 and 1971; he recorded for the label from 1965 to 1975. “Thunderball” was not one of them, as it peaked at 25 on the Hot 100. Fortunately, it did better on the Adult Contemporary chart where it reached #5. John Barry and Don Black wrote the theme song; however, its appearance in the film was not without incident.

Barry originally composed a theme song titled “Mr. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang” based on a statement made by an Italian journalist. Shirley Bassey, who sang the “Goldfinger” theme, initially recorded the song. Barry apparently was not satisfied with Bassey’s performance and asked Dionne Warwick to also record the tune. Two events nixed the song from the film – Bassey sued when she heard that Warwick’s version was planned to be used and not her treatment.

In addition, EON Productions wanted a song that featured “Thunderball” in the title and lyrics. Barry and Black quickly wrote a new piece and enlisted Tom Jones to sing the theme. His voice is perfect for this tune; however, singing it was stressful on Jones. He passed out after holding the high note at the end of the recording – now that’s an artist putting his all into the song.