It was the age of miniskirts and hot pants when Scottish band Middle Of The Road with lead singer Sally Carr had a string of pop hits in 1971 and 1972, including “Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep”, “Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum”, “Soley Soley” and “Samson and Delilah”.
For some reason the lines
“Last night I heard my mama singing a song
Woke up this morning and my mama was gone”
came to mind, and the music was in my head.
I then discovered a few other songs I remember from the time were also by Middle Of The Road, so here they are…
“Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep” was a number one hit in the UK in 1971, here it is on Top Of The Pops:
Later that year, “Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum” reached number 2 in the UK:
Also in 1971, “Soley Soley” made it to No. 5 in the UK:
In 1972 “Samson and Delilah” only got to No. 26 in the UK, but it was No. 2 in Germany and No. 1 in the Netherlands:
Watching these old clips, there’s a lot to be said for hot pants and miniskirts…
For some reason I just recalled “Spiders And Snakes” by comedian and musician Jim Stafford, which reached Number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in March 1974.
Not that I remembered that, but a little research goes a long way….
In fact at first I just remembered the line “I don’t like spiders and snakes but that ain’t what it takes to love me like I wanna be loved by you”.
Some things just stick in your mind :-).
Then I found that it was sung by Jim Stafford, and the name was instantly familiar.
So here’s “Spiders And Snakes”:
The previous year, i.e. 1973, he had a chart hit with “Swamp Witch”, another familiar title, which was produced by his friend Kent LaVoie, otherwise known as Lobo:
And in 1975 “Wildwood Weed” peaked at Number 7:
A year later Jim Stafford reached the Top 40 with a song in a similar vein, “I Got Stoned And I Missed It”:
One song I remember from 1979 was “My Sharona” by The Knack.
It was apparently the biggest hit of the year and spent six consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart as well as five weeks at No. 1 in Australia.
The followup single “Good Girls Don’t”, from the same album “Get The Knack”, peaked at No. 11. The album itself went to No. 1.
Here’s “My Sharona”:
This is the “cleaned up” version of “Good Girls Don’t”:
And here is “Good Girls Don’t” in the the original, “unexpurgated” version:
I nearly fell off my chair when I heard this version the first time. (Especially on New Zealand radio, I was surprised it wasn’t censored.)
Incidentally, while preparing this I read that lead singer Doug Fieger passed away just three months ago, on February 14, 2010. Drummer Bruce Gary, who had not participated in more recent reunions, died in 2006. Both were in their mid Fifties.
Hard to believe when you watch the lively videos, and all the more reason to be thankful that we can.
Another New Zealand band in the Seventies I remember was a young outfit called Golden Harvest with their single “I Need Your Love”.
I don’t recall whether they had any other successes, but this one sticks in my mind.
In any case the chorus is definitely catchy and I found myself singing it this evening, having located the video a couple of days ago, so I thought I’d just put it up today.
I also have no idea whether the track ever got any airplay outside New Zealand, so this may be completely new to you.
For some reason the name Golden Harvest makes me think of a commercial fishing boat down the bottom of New Zealand’s South Island. I’m pretty sure it was a boat that I saw down there once.
In this video of Golden Harvest playing “I Need Your Love” on New Zealand TV show Ready To Roll (of which I also have fond memories, as with Radio With Pictures, that used to come on at about 11 o’clock at night) you can see a bit of fancy guitar work – the guy plays it with his teeth…
And now for something completely different… In 1972 Vicky Leandros had a European hit with “Après Toi” (After You), and I went on my first overseas trip from New Zealand, to the French Pacific colony of New Caledonia.
All the time we were in Nouméa, its capital, we heard the song “Après Toi” again and again, and it came to be the theme song of our two week visit – and always reminds me of that time.
Of course I bought the single (see above), although unlike New Zealand singles it had a huge hole in the middle, so I had to find an adapter to be able to play it!
The reason the song was so big in Europe was she had just won the Eurovision song contest with it, on behalf of Luxembourg.
This is “Après Toi”, in French:
And here are the French lyrics:
Tu t’en vas, l’amour a pour toi le sourire d’une autre,
Je voudrais, mais ne peux t’en vouloir
Désormais, tu vas m’oublier
Ce n’est pas de ta faute, et pourtant tu dois savoir
Qu’après toi, je ne pourrai plus vivre,
Non plus vivre qu’en souvenir de toi
Après toi, j’aurai les yeux humides,
Les mains vides, le coeur sans joie
Avec toi, j’avais appris a rire,
Et mes rires ne viennent que par toi
Après toi, je ne serai que l’ombre
De ton ombre, après toi
Même un jour, si je fais ma vie
Si je tiens la promesse qui unit deux êtres pour toujours
Àpres toi, je pourrai peut-être donner de ma tendresse
Mais plus rien de mon amour
Après toi, je ne pourrai plus vivre,
Non plus vivre qu’en souvenir de toi
Après toi, j’aurai les yeux humides,
Les mains vides, le coeur sans joie
Avec toi, j’avais appris a rire,
Et mes rires ne viennent que par toi
Après toi, je ne serai que l’ombre
De ton ombre, après toi
Vicky Leandros is actually Greek, and having spent much of her early life in Germany with her musician father (Leandros is actually his first name), Vicky Leandros sings in numerous languages and apparently she sang “Après Toi” in seven languages.
The English version, which reached No. 2 in the UK, is called “Come What May”:
Think I prefer the French version… for the words and the memories…
Paul
P.S. Vicky Leandros earlier came 4th at Eurovision in 1967 with “L’amour est bleu”, also known as “Love is blue”, which became very popular in the late Sixties in the version by French orchestra leader Paul Mauriat.
