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The
Story
of the Knees
Club Song
David Cummings, who co-wrote our Club Song "Knees' for Kenny and Cash, from reveals the answers to questions that have persisted since 1965. |
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There has always
been a bit of mystery surrounding our Club Song, Knees/The 'B' Side (Decca
F12283) recorded by Kenny and Cash. Why didn't it get in the Fab Forty? Why did it appear to have been released with the eponymous B-side as the A-side? (For years, we suspected a mistake in the catalogue numbering system.) And who was 'Cumming' whose name appears as co-writer of both sides? After 42 years, the questions were answered when David Cumming contacted the Knees Club Founder to reveal all. |
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On March 26th 2007, a knee-mail
arrived from David Cummings in Australia.
I'm glad to know the Knees concept is still alive and kicking. Some news about your theme song - I co-wrote and co-produced
the Kenny and Cash Knees single. Yes, I am real. And believe it or not,
still alive! I wrote the lyrics, Peter Lee Stirling wrote the music. The label says, Stirling-Cumming. Since then I have added an "s" to my
name and Peter has become Daniel Boone. It happened like this... Not knowing what to put on the B-side I wrote a piece called, brilliantly, the B-side – the side nobody listens to. The backing music was the Kenny-Cash theme. Peter Lee composed it and played guitar. The most exciting thing for me about this whole episode was not the writing or producing but the fact that I played tambourine on the B-side. A big thrill for a non-musician. Kenny, as I remember, sulked a bit through the recording session with a What the hell have I got myself into? attitude. Dave Cash was cheerful and seemed to really enjoy it.
The Sonny and Cher parody was a last-minute idea by Peter and co-producer Bernard as we did over-dubs. I was against it on the theory that comedy records should keep the music straight and the words and performances funny, but I was outvoted. There, after over 40 years I get to tell somebody how p****d off I was! So we sold the tape to Decca. You are not going to believe this next bit but Decca turned it over. They made the B-Side the A-side. Why? I have never understood. How could anybody understand? They neither asked us nor told us why. So it is not a catalogue error. It is for real. Around that time I was also a TV writer doing a lot of what we called special material for TV shows. I wrote the Val Doonican Show for years and the Rolf Harris Show for a couple of seasons. I wrote specials for Lulu and Sandie Shaw and a bunch of other of 60s stars. I was also involved in straight comedy. I now live in Australia, still working as a performer
on the corporate circuit. "Your legs would be pegs from your thigh to your
heel, Thrilled that the Knees world is still proceeding in
an otherwise dull universe, David's website not only contains more 'pretty' pictures, but explains how he has made a very successful business out of appearing as a spoof lecturer. He has an amazing comedy-writing CV, having penned for the likes of top talents Dave Allen, Stanley Baxter, Kenneth Horne and Dick Emery. David was head writer for the Dick Emery Show, for whom he created the famous 'street interview' scenes featuring Dick as 'randy Mandy' and 'Hello honky-tonk Clarence', etc. The Knees Club was kneelighted to hear from David and we thank him very much for taking the trouble to get in touch. We shall naturally be awarding him honorary membership. ![]() |