The Early Radio London Fab Forties

Sunday 1st August 1965

Both Fame and Fortune in the Fab Forty this week. Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames leaping up from #40 to #16, 'There But for Fortune' down from #4 to #13 and the Fortunes down from #2 to #3. We also have wildlife in the form of Byrds, Animals, Pussycats and of course, Beatles.

A big leap from #17 to #5 for Roy Orbison, but the single stalled at #23 in the Nationals. '(Say) You're My Girl' is a rock 'n' roll version of the Italian classic, 'Santa Lucia'.

Last
This
  
Week
Week
1
1
 Help! Beatles
3
2
 We've Gotta Get Out Of This Place Animals
2
3
 You've Got Your Troubles Fortunes
10
4
 Catch Us If You Can Dave Clark Five
17
5
 (Say) You're My Girl Roy Orbison
6
6
 He's Got No Love Searchers
20
7
 Summer Nights Marianne Faithfull
19
8
 I Want Candy Brian Poole & the Tremeloes
15
9
 I Can't Help Myself Four Tops
14
10
 Everyone's Gone To The Moon Jonathan King
23
11
 Too Many Rivers Brenda Lee
16
12
 Cry To Me Pretty Things
4
13
 There But For Fortune Joan Baez
24
14
 That's The Way Honeycombs
5
15
 With These Hands Tom Jones
40
16
 Like We Used To Be Georgie Fame & the Blue Flames
7
17
 In Thoughts Of You Billy Fury
9
18
 Mr Tambourine Man Byrds
8
19
 Tossing And Turning Ivy League
11
20
 Heart Full Of Soul Yardbirds
13
21
 Let The Water Run Down P J Proby
39
22
 Zorba's Dance Marcello Minerbi
30
23
 Shakin' All Over Guess Who
32
24
 Unchained Melody Righteous Brothers
–
25
 All I Really Want To Do Byrds / Cher
18
26
 Sunshine Lollipops And Rainbows Lesley Gore
–
27
 Don't Make My Baby Blue Shadows
36
28
 Baby Never Say Goodbye Bo Street Runners
29
29
 Show Me Around Mike Hurst
–
30
 See My Friend Kinks
22
31
 Seventh Son Johnny Rivers
21
32
 Woolly Bully Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs
–
33
 The Secret Of My Success Chantelles
12
34
 In The Middle Of Nowhere Dusty Springfield
–
35
 Day By Day Julie Rogers
26
36
 Leave A Little Love Lulu
25
37
 The One In The Middle (EP) Manfred Mann
28
38
 She's About A Mover Sir Douglas Quintet
–
39
 Darlin' Jill Hugo Montenegro Orchestra
33
39
 A Walk In The Black Forest Horst Jankowski
–
40
 Make It Easy On Yourself Walker Brothers

Two appearances in this week's Fab Forty for the Byrds, with a brace of Bob Dylan songs. Mr Tambourine Man falls nine places to #18 and almost collides with All I Really Want To Do, which jumps in to 'Cher' the #25 slot with Mrs Bono.

As the (apparently now-defunct) Byrds Online Appreciation Society pointed out:

"It is interesting that in 1965, Columbia Records' roster only had four youth-oriented acts: The Byrds, Bob Dylan, Paul Revere and the Raiders, and Simon & Garfunkel."

The magazine Teenbeat, reporting in their 1967 annual on the Byrds' UK tour, went for a sensationalist stance, claiming that fans on this side of the pond treated them unfairly.

"Many of the fans didn't like what they saw and growled 'copycats' and 'stop aping the Beatles' and even 'Go home, Yanks'", exclaimed Teenbeat in horror, but went on to modify this by admitting that only a minority behaved with hostility, while most gave the band a warm welcome. There were, unfortunately, numerous problems with the tour itself. Poor venues with stages too small to accommodate a five-piece outfit and its equipment and trials with inadequate amplification, doomed the Byrds never to be seen at their best.

Teenbeat has the bizarre policy of failing to list individual band members in its features or to identify them in photos. In fact, the annual virtually goes out of its way to avoid taking the trouble of naming anyone, somewhat dismissively describing Scottish group the Karlins as, "Two boys, unrelated and the only set of girl triplets in showbusiness, so far as we know anyway."!

Raoul Verolleman in Belgium has kindly identified the Byrds as (l to r) Mike Clarke, Gene Clark, Jim McGuinn, Chris Hillman and David Crosby. Visit Raoul's Byrds website Byrds Flyght

Alan Field adds a few Fab notes:

The Kinks' record at #30 is called "See My Friend" (singular) according to all the usual sources – Guinness, Tony Jasper's Top Twenty Book, the Record Collector Rare Record Price Guide, and (last and definitely least) my own recollection! Many later Kinks' hits CDs now list it as "See My Friends" (plural), which is probably what Ray Davies sings on the record.

The Chantelles' new entry at #33 is something of a "sleeper", certainly in Big L terms – it was a climber four weeks earlier.

This chart sees the start of a 7-week period where Brian Long has updated or corrected the Fab 40 lists he originally published in The London Sound. Sharp-eyed readers will spot the inclusion of Cher's version of All I Really Want To Do, alongside the Byrds' version throughout its chart run. And hold on to your hats, there's a few switched chart placings and a handful of additional climbers all a-coming in September!

And finally.... I think I'm right in saying this week's #39 is the first instance of two unrelated records sharing a chart position on the Fab 40. It became common practice later on, and there were always occasions when two versions of the same song were bracketed together, but I think Hugo Montenegro and Horst Jankowski joined forces to make Fab 40 history on 1st August 1965 as Darlin' Jill went for A Walk In The Black Forest!

Click on the picture for an Amazon link to more information about the Record Collector Rare Record Price Guide

DJ Climber:    
Nothing Comes Easy Rey Anton & the Peppermint Men Duncan Johnson•

Disc of the Week:  
What's New Pussycat? Tom Jones

Tom Jones, already in the Top Twenty with With These Hands, comes crashing in with the Disc of the Week, the title song from the Peter Sellers comedy. The song (and indeed, the entire film score) was composed by Burt Bacharach.

• Frank van Heerde kindly supplied the DJ climber information



Tune in next week for another Big L Fab 40!
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