Last |
This |
Presented
by Ed Stewart – on his 26th birthday! |
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Week |
Week |
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6 |
1 |
Birds And Bees | Warm Sounds |
10 |
2 |
Purple Haze | Jimi Hendrix Experience |
5 |
3 |
I Can Hear The Grass Grow | Move |
7 |
4 |
Travelin' Man | Stevie Wonder |
12 |
5 |
What'll I Do | Peddlers |
|
6 |
Pictures Of Lily | Who |
21 |
7 |
New York Mining Disaster 1941 | Bee Gees |
11 |
8 |
The Boat That I Row | Lulu |
19 |
9 |
It's Wonderful (To Be In Love) | Cash McCall |
17 |
10 |
Gonna Give Her All The Love I've Got | Jimmy Ruffin |
3 |
11 |
Funny Familiar Forgotten Feelings | Tom Jones |
14 |
12 |
Come Back Girl | Jackie Edwards |
9 |
13 |
I'm Gonna Get Me A Gun | Cat Stevens |
1 |
14 |
Ha! Ha! Said The Clown | Manfred Mann |
|
15 |
Little Games | Yardbirds |
39 |
16 |
The First Cut Is The Deepest | P P Arnold |
2 |
17 |
A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You | Monkees |
35 |
18 |
Show Me | Joe Tex |
|
19 |
I Got Rhythm | Happenings |
40 |
20 |
I Can Fly | Herd |
28 |
21 |
Nick Knack | Zoot Money's Big Roll Band |
25 |
22 |
Sometimes | Rockin' Berries |
29 |
23 |
A Girl Without A Boy | Sheila Southern |
|
24 |
Western Union | Searchers / Five Americans |
36 |
25 |
Don't Go Home (My Little Darlin') | Susan Maughan |
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26 |
Maroc 7/Bombay Duck | Shadows |
|
27 |
I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You) | Aretha Franklin |
15 |
28 |
Seven Drunken Nights | Dubliners |
33 |
29 |
Town of Tuxley Toymaker | Billy J Kramer |
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30 |
Silence Is Golden | Tremeloes |
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31 |
Say You Don't Mind | Denny Laine |
37 |
32 |
The Magic Book | Gibsons |
|
33 |
Bless My Soul (I've Been And Gone And Done It) | Studio Six |
16 |
34 |
Bernadette | Four Tops |
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35 |
Time Will Tell | West Point Supernatural |
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36 |
Let's Live For Today | Living Daylights/Rokes |
31 |
37 |
I Know You Love Me Not | Julie Driscoll |
|
38 |
Get Me To The World On Time | Electric Prunes |
|
39 |
Peanuts And Chewy Macs | Cymbaline |
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40 |
Girl I Need You | Artistics |
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6 |
Pictures Of Lily | Who | Track 604 002 |
According to Pete Townshend, Pictures Of Lily was, "Merely a ditty about masturbation and the importance of it to a young
man". This sexual allusion was lost
on most of us naive and youthful Big L listeners, and apparently
on Big L management too, as it bounded straight into the Fab Forty at
#6, reaching #1 two weeks later. It also hit #4 in the Nationals. However, in
the USA, radio stations sussed that Townshend's lyrics weren't merely about
appreciation of the art of photography and this resulted in a lack of airplay that
kept 'Lily' at a lowly #51 in the Hot Hundred.
|
36 |
Let's Live For Today | Rokes (RCA 1587) | Living Daylights (Philips BF 1561) |
The Rokes were Norman
David (Shel) Shapiro, Johnny Charlton, Bobby Posner and Mike
Shepstone. Originally called the Shel Carson
Combo, they took a stab at the big time early in 1963 with a Top
Ten Club residency in Hamburg. Later that year, the band transferred to Italy
to back Tommy Steele's brother, Colin
Hicks, who was very popular in that country. The 'Combo' was obliged
to change its name to the Cabin Boys, as
they were replacing a previous backing group of that name. When the unfortunate
Hicks lost his voice, the Cabin Boys took over the show. They were soon signed
by Teddy Reno, already manager of Italy's
successful singer Rita Pavone, (who achieved
two UK national entries) and were rechristened the Rokes when they supported
Rita on her countrywide tour.
The Rokes were to remain hugely successful in Italy for around eight years.
How popular were they? On July 23rd, 1966, they entered the Italian Top Ten
with their single Che colpa abbiamo noi (Cheryl's Going Home -
the b-side of Bob Lind's Elusive Butterfly).
It remained in the Top Ten till October 15th, an amazing thirteen-week run,
which included a week occupying the #1 slot on August 20th. Only two weeks later,
the band was back in the Ten again with their follow-up E' la pioggia che
va! In the 1966 Top 100, the Rokes held positions #11, #12 and #77, outselling numerous Beatles and Stones singles as well as recordings
by international stars the Kinks, Tom Jones, Pet Clark,
the Animals and the Beach
Boys! The press dubbed the Rokes 'The Italian Beatles' and their
photos appeared on merchandise such as keyrings, a la Fab Four. Their
many hits included covers of Jackie De Shannon's When You Walk In the Room and The Hollies' I'm Alive.
Let's Live For Today began life as the Italian-language Piangi Con Me, the B-side of previously-mentioned mega-hit Che colpa
abbiamo noi. Shel Shapiro penned the
song with Mogol (Giulio Rapetti) and a third
writer, Julien.
The US English-lyric version, by P F Sloan's
group, Grass Roots, entered the Hot Hundred
in May '67 and carried them to the #8 slot, their second-highest placing out
of 21 entries. The single sold around two million copies, but Shapiro, Mogol and Julien allegedly never received any royalties.
To quote a Japanese site, verbatim: "After Grass loots made hit, Rokes released
English version too."
Now Fred Clemens has written from the USA to fill some of the gaps regarding the song:
GREAT SITE! Just what I'd been looking for! And then some!!
I do have some data input for your Chart W/O April 23, 1967, regarding the song, "Let's Live For Today".
The song DID indeed start out in Italian by the Rokes as "Piangi Con Me" in 1966. The song was THEN issued in its first English language form by the Skope, from Heerlen in the Netherlands, as "Be Mine Again". This was near the end of 1966. The song made the Dutch Charts on January 28, 1967, peaking at #36 during a 4-week Chart run. This version was apparently unknown to the Rokes, since they re-wrote their own English version as the familiar "Let's Live For Today". They recorded it and had it sent to England for release. But a more local Newcastle band, the Living Daylights, was given the song instead. I've been unable to pinpoint a release date on their single, but I'll accept your Chart debut week (4-16-67) as being close enough for now. It was this single that Grass Roots member, Warren Entner, supposedly heard while on a visit. He brought the song home for the Grass Roots to record.
The earliest US Charting I could find on the Grass Roots version was when it was chosen as a Station "Long Shot" on April 19, 1967. on WMCA-AM Radio in New York. The Rokes single in the UK, on RCA 1587, shows a release date of "21-4-67" (April 21, 1967). Based on how the Grass Roots perform the song, it sounds like they copied the Living Daylights single, as well as the Rokes Italian original (since their English version was yet unreleased). It might be they never had a copy of the actual records and relied on taped versions, which might explain, and/or excuse(?), the lack of writer's credits on the Grass Roots Dunhill single.
Of note is that when the Living Daylights' version was brought Stateside, it was issued on the Buddah label (#2). Also of note is that 5-8 seconds was chopped off at the end of the song! Their song did make some noise in the US, being played exclusively of the Grass Roots version over WOR-FM, also in New York. On that Station, it even made it into the Top 10!
As far as I've been able to find out, the Rokes version received virtually no airplay in the US. I know of no Station that played it, anyway. When their version made the trip out of the UK, the song also befell the same fate as the Living Daylights, in that it lost time at the ending in the transfer. It also lost some character, in that it was remixed, losing the familiar build-up contrast of what makes the song likeable. Some critics claim the song is more subdued than the Grass Roots version, but it seems obvious they never heard the UK version. Comparing the two is like day and night.
It was the Living Daylights' version that inspired the song to be re-made in Japan by the Tempters, their version as a Stereo single on the Philips label. The popularity even saw re-issue of the Living Daylights' single in Japan (also on the Philips label) in Stereo, but rechanneled. This was in October, 1967. By then, the Living Daylights had re-formed to a quintet (from a quartet), with only brothers Garth and Norman Watt-Roy as common members.
Many thanks to Fred for this comprehensive input. Berton Averre, of the (US) Knack observes:
I found it curious that in this otherwise comprehensive rundown of any and all versions of the tune there wasn't mention of the gallingly blatant ripoff of a hit from an earlier era, to wit, I Count The Tears by the Drifters (lead singer Ben E. King). The absolute signature of the Grass Roots song is the "Na Na Na Na Na Na live for today". The chorus of the Drifters song is "Na Na Na Na Na Na late at night", same melody, same chords.
Berton is right, of course and we appreciate his input. (Berton's bio on The Knack's website is here)
There is clip on Youtube of the Rokes performing Let's Live For Today live, in a medley starting with a song called Che Mondo Strano (Let's Live For Today starts around 3 minutes in). The band recorded their last album in 1968 and in August 1970, performed a farewell concert for 12,000 Italian fans. In recent years there have been Roke reunions. Bob Posner's Rokes Site contains some great pictures, old and new, including one of those photo-keyrings!
Newcastle's Living Daylights were Curt
Cresswell, gtr, Roy Heather,
drms, Garth Watt-Roy, gtr, vcls and his
brother Norman Watt-Roy, bs, vcls. They
released two singles in 1967, both produced by Caleb
Quaye.
Curt and Roy had begun their musical careers in a Harlow band called the Cossacks. By 1964,
the band was called the Naturals, and they
became one-hit-wonders with their cover of the Beatles' I Should Have Known Better.
In 1968 the Watt-Roy brothers formed a nine-piece
soul band called The Greatest Show On Earth and toured US bases in Germany, backing American soul singers. Norman may be best-known in Anorak circles as a member of Ronan
O'Rahilly's mid-Seventies Loving Awareness band. He later became one of Ian Dury's Blockheads.
Let's Live For Today was also successful
for Sixties Japanese band the Tempters,
and was covered by Dutch group the Skopes,
who changed the lyrics and retitled the song Be Mine Again.
In late 2006, Priscilla Hallare wrote with more information regarding Japanese covers of Let's Live For Today.
Hello! Awesome site!
I ran into the Radio London site as I was searching for information about the song "Let's Live For Today" which I first heard recently as a Japanese language cover (Date: 01.10.1981, Code: CMA-2015, by Hironobu Kageyama (who later became known for songs in the animation and live action hero genres) and as a more recent Japanese cover with different lyrics by HAKUEI. After looking up several other sites, including the Japanese one quoted, your site finally cleared up questions on the origins of that song and the route it took.
Kudos to you and keep on rockin'!!
Many thanks to Priscilla for this update. She did include the title of the version by Hironobu Kageyama, but sadly we don't have any Japanese fonts available to reproduce it on the website.
Webmaster note: Italian chart information was researched from HitParadeItalia Amazingly, the Rokes also have a musical connection to Aylesbury's Micro-Star John Otway.
DJ Climbers: | ||
A Certain Misunderstanding | David Garrick | Tony Blackburn |
Funny 'Cos Neither Could I | Shotgun Express | Chuck Blair |
Bowling Green | Everly Brothers | Tony Brandon |
The Wind Cries Mary | Jimi Hendrix Experience | Pete Drummond |
Tears Tears Tears | Ben E King | Paul Kaye |
Children | Pretty Things | Lorne King |
Sunshine Girl | Parade | John Peel |
The Moving Finger Writes | Len Barry | Mark Roman |
24 Sycamore | Wayne Fontana | Keith Skues |
Shake A Tail Feather | James & Bobby Purify | Ed Stewart |
April 28th
I remarked in my diary that Tony Blackburn had 'done a broadcasting marathon from 5.30am to 9.30pm'. Nine hours of this
was news duty and the rest was presenting shows. Perhaps there was a bug going
around, as Mark Roman was already off the
ship on sick-leave. Illness amongst those left behind was clearly causing severe
staff shortages.
Climbers: | |
The Magic Bus | Pudding |
Take Me In Your Arms And Love Me | Gladys Knight & the Pips |
Samantha's Mine | Spectrum |
Euston Station | Barbara Ruskin |
Jonathan Wotsit | Vic Richards |
Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon | Neil Diamond |
Rhyme Boy, Rhyme | Roulettes |
Things Get Better | Johnny Carr |
Music To Watch Girls By | Andy Williams (*) |
I'm Under The Influence Of Love | Felice Taylor |
Mama Come On Home | Tony Kingston |
Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat | Bob Dylan |
The Laughing Gnome | David Bowie |
Oh! That's Bad; No That's Good | Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs |
The Happening | Supremes (+) |
All The Children Sleep | Force West |
Disc of the Week: | |
Then I Kissed Her | Beach Boys |
Album of the Week: | |
The Jimmy Ruffin Way | Jimmy Ruffin |
Green additions to the climbers indicate singles sourced from 'Monty's Diary'. (See Fab Forty for 010167). Monty has noted that I'm Under The Influence Of Love, Laughing Gnome and Mama Come On Home continue to be played as climbers, as per the previous week.
(+) On a recording of the Tony Blackburn show from Wednesday 26th April 1967, Tony announces The Happening as a 'Radio London Exclusive.' Although not released until May 5th, it had appeared as a climber the previous week, 16/04/67, as observed by Hans Evers.
Alan Field did not hear the records sourced from Monty's Diary played or announced as climbers.
(*) Brian Long does not have a comprehensive climber list for 23rd April. Alan's notes do not include the Andy Williams record, but Wolfgang Buchholz recorded hearing it played as a climber this week. Music to Watch Girls By was certainly undergoing a change of status around this time: it was in the Ballad Box last week, and next week (April 30th) would be listed by Brian Long as a climber.
The Caroline 'Countdown Sixty' chart (south ship) for this week is here
Tune in next week for another Field's Fab Forty