#1 for the Rockin' Berries, but it was a long time before the band got to join the Knees Club.

(Click on the photo sleeve, right, to purchase a double CD containing all their FF hits)

Dylan's going down, but Donovan's back in at #35 with Colours. Johnny Cash's version of It Ain't Me Babe creeps up two places, while a new US Dylan cover, Walkin' Down The Line, arrives at #40.

The Paramounts were formed in 1959 when the band members were still Southend schoolboys. They built a reputation as an r 'n' b outfit and as was common at the time, their early recordings were covers of US r 'n' b hits. Appearances on the two major promotional vehicles being broadcast on commercial TV in 1963, Associated Rediffusion's Ready! Steady! Go! and ABC's Thank Your Lucky Stars, assisted in pushing the band's Coasters cover Poison Ivy into the Top Forty. Subsequent singles, however, flopped.

Blue Ribbons, written by Jackie De Shannon and Sharon Sheeley was the band's fifth release and a complete departure from their previous r 'n' b covers. The (now discontinued) EMI CD 496 4362 – The Paramounts at Abbey Road 1963 to 1970, lists the line-up for Blue Ribbons as: Gary Brooker (vcls, piano), Barry J Wilson (drms), Robin Trower (gtr) and Diz Derrick (bs). However, other sources cite Phil Wainman as the drummer on the session. The CD contains two versions of the song – with and without strings.

Blue Ribbons is also available on a 16-track CD, Whiter Shade of R 'n' B and can be found (if you can track it down) on Sharon Sheeley: Songwriter (RPM206), a CD of demos of songs written, or co-written by the late songwriter. On this compilation, the track, which has been described as having a country flavour, is sung by Glen Campbell.

NME's reviewer regarded the single as the Paramounts' best release to date, which implies the writer was not an r 'n' b fan. The reviewer apparently found Blue Ribbons "toe-tapping and stimulating, with a cute lyric and a gay feel".

The Paramounts may have made little impact on the music scene, but you just can't help wondering if the 'cute lyric and a gay feel' of Gary Brooker's A Whiter Shade of Pale was what led to Radio London playing the promo as an exclusive in May 1967. Rather unlikely! As everyone knows, it became a massive hit and the formation of Procol Harum swiftly followed.