FIRST HOUR
The 'In' Crowd (Dobie Gray)
(1965)... . chart hit which became a Northern Soul classic and was later successfully covered by Bryan Ferry (1974, # 13)
Ice In The Sun (Status Quo)
(1968) ...one of Quo's earliest hits in a hugely successful, long-lasting career which would span the next few decades
Tell Me What He Said (Helen Shapiro)
... terrific performance from Britain's top teen star in the year we are featuring across both hours of today's show. After hitting the ground running with two consecutive chart toppers the previous year, Helen had to settle for # 2 this time out. It was the year a dance hall scene in the classic northern comedy Billy Liar was filmed on our doorstep, right here in Ashton-under-Lyne. ... but before we go there...
Singing Billys...
Do You Want To Know A Secret (Billy J Kramer & The Dakotas)
(1963) ... Lennon-McCartney song which appeared on the Fab Four's debut album Please Please Me with 20-year-old George Harrison, the youngest of the four stepping up to sing lead vocal. Billy J & co topped the singles chart with their version
Wondrous Place (Billy Fury)
(1960) .... stripped back raw emotion ~ in complete contrast to the 'big production' sound of most of his best known songs
Billy Liar on Location: 60 years ago ~ 1962 including, during the show, the memories of Beryl Birchall (neé Heathcote), one of the local 'extras' who appeared in the film's dance hall scene
Speak To Me Pretty (Brenda Lee)
... highest placed of three UK Top 10-ers in '62 - and ultimately the best showing of her chart career
Let's Twist Again (Chubby Checker)
... guaranteed to fill any available dance floor, often seen in archive black and white footage of the pre-Beatles era. Let's Twist Again - which returned to the Top 10 as a reissue in 1975 - is a rare example of a follow up song very similar to the original * achieving a higher chart placing and profile - at least, here in the UK. (* on the playlist in the second hour of the show)
Return To Sender (Elvis Presley)
... Elvis covered many classic Christmas songs and seasonal standards, but this was his only UK Christmas # 1 single
Starlight Starbright (Maureen Evans)
... tucked away on the B side of her Top 3 single Like I Do, ~ but definitely deserving a life of its own as a top-billing 'A' side
Twistin' The Night Away (Sam Cooke)
... self-penned song which became his highest placed UK hit (#6), although it would eventually be overtaken by the 1986 reissue of Wonderful World (#2)
The Locomotion (Little Eva)
... looking for someone to sing the surefire hit you have just written? Why not ask the baby-sitter?! That's how Little Eva got her lucky break with Gerry Goffin and Carole King. Returned to the Top 20 as a reissue 10 years later
Billy Liar main theme (Acker Bilk) ... light orchestral music, fairly typical of that era, from the original film score by the prolific composer Richard Rodney Bennett. The famous clarinetist 'Mr' Acker Bilk had 1962's biggest selling single Stranger On The Shore ~ the first instrumental to out-sell every other single in a given year, an achievement which would be matched a decade later by Amazing Grace, played by The Pipes and Drums and Military Band of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards
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SECOND HOUR
Nowhere To Run (Martha Reeves & The Vandellas)
(1965) ... one of the early Motown hits from the US to break through on to the UK chart
Our Day Will Come (Ruby & The Romantics)
(1963) .... #1 in America, but did nothing at all over here - a much loved, much covered song with as many as 60 different versions over the years . Frankie Valli made it a US hit all over again in the mid '70s, - but, like Ruby & co, missed out completely this side of the pond. Cher, The Supremes and Cliff Richard are just a few of the many other artists who have recorded it. Probably the most recent was Amy Winehouse - Our Day Will Come appears on her posthumous 2011 album Lioness: Hidden Treasures
A Picture of You (Joe Brown and The Bruvvers)
(1962)... biggest hit and signature song of one of our homegrown stars of the early '60s, still active in recent years
Absolutely Lyricless ~ the instrumental break
... super hero, sci-fi / spy connections
Shazam! (Duane Eddy)
(1960) ... Shazam! was the the magic word by which Billy Batson turned himself into the super hero Captain Marvel in the heyday of American comic books. A new generation of fans have become acquainted with the character following the 2019 film of the same name. A sequel Shazam! Fury of the Gods is due for release in 2023 [W]
Joe 90 (Barry Gray Orchestra)
(1968) ... theme from the then latest Gerry Anderson 'super-marionation' puppet adventure series, following the likes of Stingray, Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet and The Mysterons. Joe 90 was a nine-year schoolboy super-spy.
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You Don't Own Me (Lesley Gore) (1964) . ... a hit in America, which never made over it here ~ at least not until late 2015 / early 2016, when a new version by Australian singer Grace leaped up the chart after featuring in a House of Fraser Christmas TV ad. Amazingly, despite a time lapse of more than 50 years, the recordings of the song by Lesley Gore and Grace were both produced by Quincy Jones
More memories of 60 years ago ~ 1962
The Twist (Chubby Checker)
... here it is, as promised earlier, the original Twist song which stalled at # 44 in the UK first time out and was totally outflanked by Let's Twist Again which reached # 2. As a reissue in '62, The Twist finally reached the Top 20 this side of the Atlantic. In the US, it was the only song of the rock era to reach No. 1 twice in two different years (1960 and 1961) [W]
Speedy Gonzales (Pat Boone)
... most of his hits were in the previous decade – but Speedy came along unashamedly as a bit of a novelty a few years later. A spoken intro sets the scene... there's a bit of a tale to tell....
The Young Ones (Cliff Richard & The Shadows)
... # 1 song from the film of the same name, featuring some particularly fine guitar work from Hank Marvin of the 'Shads'
Everybody's Twistin' (Frank Sinatra)
... Ol' Blue Eyes speaking on behalf of the older generation wanting to take up the Twist with all that "squirming and a worming and a twisting around"
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Just A Little Lovin' (Dusty Springfield)
(1969) ... song from the highly acclaimed Dusty In Memphis album
Surfin' USA (The Beach Boys)
(1963) .... their biggest hit to date in America and first time on the chart in the UK
Any Time At All (The Beatles)
(1964) ... from A Hard Day's Night (film and album), Any Time At All was mainly composed by John Lennon (who sings lead) with an instrumental middle eight by Paul McCartney. [W]
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SHOW THEME:
Rhapsody In Blue (Rick Wakeman)
written by George Gershwin, arranged by Tony Visconti
from the album Rhapsodies (A&M Records, 1979)
[W]: Source: Wikipedia
If you missed any of the show, you can catch up online after 15:00 on Sunday 27/11/2022:
https://www.questmedianetwork.co.uk/on-demand/
