@ianRobinson Thank you. Whiskey in the Jar is one of my favourites. What was Radio Luxembourg like? Were the programmes good? Was the sound quality good?
When the qualifying process is complete, on Mastodon we will start voting on our top twenty favourite records of the 1950s/1960s, placing them in order. Through 190 match-ups, we will create a unique chart, every song a classic.
Here is some background on one of the qualifiers, I Want to Hold Your Hand by The Beatles.
I Want to Hold Your Hand was written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. The song was recorded on 17 October 1963 and released on 29 November 1963. It was the first Beatles record made using four-track recording equipment.
With advance orders exceeding one million copies in Britain, I Want to Hold Your Hand should have gone straight to number one, only there was a problem: The Beatles’ She Loves You occupied that position. After two weeks, I Want to Hold Your Hand dislodged She Loves You and remained at number one for five weeks.
When the qualifying process is complete, in about a month, on Mastodon we will start voting on our top twenty favourite records of the 1950s/1960s, placing them in order. Through 190 match-ups, we will create a unique chart, every song a classic.
Here is some background on one of the qualifiers, Respect by Aretha Franklin.
Respect was originally recorded by Otis Redding and released in 1965. In 1967 Aretha Franklin rearranged the song, which resulted in a bigger hit. The music in the two versions is significantly different, while the lyrics, centred on dignity, also display changes.
Initially a ballad, Respect is shrouded in mystery in that no one is certain who wrote the song. Bandleader Percy Welch said it was written by a guitarist at Bobby Smith's recording studio in Macon. The record label credits Otis Redding, but it seems he adapted a song brought to him by Earl "Speedo" Sims, who obtained it from the mystery guitarist.
Clara Bow’s fifty-fourth movie was No Limit, produced between September and October, 1930, with location filming in New York between 17 - 30 October. The movie was released on January 24, 1931. Clara played Helen “Bunny” O’Day. Gloria Jacobson stood in as Clara’s double.
It’s an “Ashes Summer”, one of sport’s great rivalries, Australia v England at cricket, which dates back to the late 1800s. Here’s Boris Karloff playing cricket for the Hollywood Cricket Club. Other team members included Ronald Colman, Clive Brook and C. Aubrey Smith.
I can relate to this story, because I had an encounter with a huge spider this week.
When making Fu Manchu, the script called for Karloff to crush a huge hairy spider beneath his heel. He refused. “I can’t,” he said. “I simply can’t. Even that ugly thing has a right to live.”