for Sunday 19th March 1967
The week when Radio London bid a sad farewell to Kenny Everett

The Week of the Missin' G, with no less than eight of them: Somethin' Stupid, #14, The Lovin' Spoonful, #17, Beggin', #35, Movin' Man, #38, Goin' Out Of My Head, #39, Goin' Where The Lovin' Is, #40 and climber, No Time For Lovin'.

Pay You Back With Interest is a Clark, Hicks and Nash song, taken from the Hollies' 1966 album For Certain Because.

Extraordinary pop formation of with influences jazz that in comparison with their talent, their sales and popularity are certainly contemplated ridiculous. the Zombies became of the best groups than it has known and it will know the orb the pop one. they are manjares paladar of the good fan to the popero world, as much for the initiate as for the experimented one and demanding.

With the leadership of their composer and teclista Rod Argent (been born the 14 of June of 1945 in St. Albans), the exquisite voice of Colin Blunstone (been born the 24 of June of 1945 in St. Albans), the gift compositivo of the other main one and underestimated melodico author, Chris White (been born the 7 of March of 1943 in Burnett) and the careful rythmical conjuccion of their music, the Zombies became of the best groups than it has known and it will know the orb the pop one.

After its rupture with the Decca (of recorded for them last simple "the Goin' out my head" and "I love you") they signed with the CBS to record its following great disc in where they experimentarian with the Mellotron, a very rare instrument then.

Although "Odessey And Oracle" did not sell much yes would make the simple "Time of the season", everything a classic one that arrived until number one in the American lists. Sadly, the group already had dissolved and some espabilados took advantage of the conjuncture to be made happen through the Zombies and act in their name by American earth.

As Tony Hancock says in The Radio Ham, "It is are raining here also"! As for the song titles, we can guess the meaning of "Tell to her not". "Butcher's Of course destroy" would be The Butcher's Story. The multi-talented Alan Field managed to work out the meaning of "What dwell dog I do". He says:

"What Dwell Dog I Do" by the Zombies is "What More Can I Do". The problem comes from Google trying to translate the words 'More Can', which are in English, as though they were part of the Spanish text. The verb "morar" means to dwell: the Spanish word "more" is the imperative form. The Spanish word "can" is an affectionate/slang word for a dog, roughly equivalent to the English 'mutt'.

The beautifully mistranslated text is... how you say in English... with exquisite hilarity... Adios, Alan

So now you know! Presumably translations of the notes for the band's Japanese releases (Picture sleeve for Going Out of My Head, left) would be just as amusing.

But seriously, folks... Rod Argent and Colin Blunstone have revived the Zombies name and continue to record, tour and sound brilliant. See our own photos and reviews of a couple of their concerts and our report of the memorable 2008 'Odessey and Oracle' revival here. Both musicians have personal websites at colinblunstone.net and rodargent.com which give details of their current CD releases and tour dates.

Record Mirror review by Peter Jones, 25/03/67:

This is Mr King's personal viewpoint on the drug-taking scene and should earn him plaudits from many sections. That apart, it's a darned commercial sound all round and could easily click. (Awarded 4 stars.)

Aboard the Galaxy this week

March 19th:
A new Big L competition, Swinging Sound of Silver launched, with the aim of competing with Radio Caroline's highly-successful Cash Casino. Listeners had to guess the total of coins being dropped into a winners' pot, with daily totals adding up to a jackpot. The contest was sponsored by Nescafé and Weetabix and each entry had to be accompanied by a proof of purchase, such as a label from a Nescafé jar. The Pirate Radio Hall of Fame has a recording from the second day of the competition. During the Ed Stewart Show of 20/03/67, Stewpot and Paul Kaye are attempting to explain the competition rules, which they really don't seem to have grasped themselves!

March 21st:
I'm Gonna Get Me A Gun was Kenny Everett's last climber, as this was the week he caught the tender from the Galaxy for the final time. Says Ken (*1):

The jolly days aboard the Pirate ships couldn't last forever. Everyone was having too much fun... The government had realised that, as the law stood, Radio London and all the others were legal in as much as they were situated three miles from land and were therefore in Anybody's Space and unputintojailable. We were still annoying them though and their great Bureaucrat Plan cranked into gear and came up with the ideal solution: change the law.

Alan Keen did his utmost to persuade Ken to stay, after he astonished everyone at a dinner arranged for Radio London staff, by announcing his resignation. At the time, the general belief amongst employees was that there was every chance of moving the Galaxy to the South of France and of Radio London continuing.

Convinced that the end was in sight for watery wireless, Ken figured that the Beeb would have to come up with something to replace it. He believed that if he jumped ship before all the other jocks, he would be the first of them to find a new job at Broadcasting House. Unfortunately, this plan was thwarted by Ken's tendency to put both feet in his mouth.

Invited by Chief Light Programme Producer, (and Head of Radio One designate), Derek Chinnery, to sit-in and observe the Saturday-night Pete Murray Show, Ken recalled (*2):

There was Derek with a stop-watch, organising the whole thing. There was a couple of people twiddling knobs... a girl on the tape machines and a guy on the gramophones. There was somebody else ushering people to the interview table and Pete Murray just sitting there with no knobs or switches at all, behind the glass, just talking.

Used to the innovative pirate style of do-it-yourself broadcasting, Ken unwisely uttered the immortal words, "Derek, you're doing this all wrong". The Gorgon-like stare he received from Chinnery conveyed to him that he had lost any opportunity for early employment with the Beeb.

Fortunately for Ken, he had an ally in BBC producer Johnny Beerling, who had visited the Galaxy in February to uncover the workings of the slick format of Radio London, in preparation for the launch of Radio 1. Beerling employed Kenny to work on the Light Programme's 'Where it's At', which was hosted by another former Big L DJ, Chris Denning.

*1 From The Custard Stops at Hatfield, by Kenny Everett and Simon Booker, 1982. *2 From The London Sound, by Brian Long, 1994.

Besides climbers that were played at the time of the broadcast of the Sunday Fab Forty, Alan kept a note of others he heard later in the week and incorporated them into his list.

Record Mirror review by Peter Jones, 25/03/67

A Cat Stevens song, which will help Jackie considerably. A fine performance on a building song – very glossy backing and vocal. I liked it.

A great week for Cat, who not only had his own current single picked as Kenny Everett's climber, but wrote the Fab #9, Baby Get Your Head Screwed On, which like Humming Bird was from his Matthew & Son album. Cat also penned Paul and Barry Ryan's #25, Keep It Out of Sight, but did not record it himself. Having FOUR songs on the station playlist in one week can't be bad going!

Humming Bird may well have been inspired by writer and poet and playwright, Eleanor Farjeon, who wrote the words to the hymn Morning Has Broken, which Cat turned into a Top Ten hit in 1972. Eleanor Farjeon published a novel in 1936 called Humming Bird.

The 1967 Fab Forties had already included a record called Humming Bird. The track by Herbie's People left the Radio London chart only a week ago and was penned by band member Bill Bates.

Record Mirror review by Peter Jones, 25/03/67

A Monkee song and it suits the group well. They are one of my favourite less-known outfits. Hope it goes. (Awarded 4 stars.)

The track is from the More of the Monkees LP, where it was called YOUR Auntie Grizelda. It was "Originally intended as a protest number, (but) the song ended up providing the comic relief on the LP." Lyrics here.