I was very much saddened by the news of Brian Wilson’s death. As the musical driving force behind the Beach Boys he was one of the most influential figures in popular music of the mid to late twentieth century: right up there with Lennon and McCartney.
But there are so many more. Too many to be confined to one post.
This track was the main follow up to Good Vibrations (the release of Then I Kissed Her was a stopgap.) Many people were disappointed with it but it has all the Wilson hallmarks.
The Beach Boys: Heroes and Villains
Then there’s this track, striking a more melancholy note. The title song from the Surf’s Up album.
The Beach Boys: Surf’s Up
Brian Wilson’s star continues to shine long after his heyday. His songs leave a legacy to be revered.
Brian Douglas Wilson: 20/6/1942 – 11/6/2025. So it goes.
During the week came the news that Denny Laine, first singer with The Moody Blues, the voice of number 1 hit Go Now, has gone.
The Moody Blues: Go Now
Laine later became a founder member of Wings, As co-writer of Mull of Kintyre (with Paul McCartney) he had a bigger selling single than any the Beatles had.
In between The Moody Blues and his stint with Wings he was briefly in various other bands and found time to release two singles under his own name of which the song below was one I liked from first hearing his version. It wasn’t a hit for Denny but in 1972 became one for Colin Blunstone.
Denny Laine: Say You Don’t Mind
Brian Frederick Arthur Hines (Denny Laine) 29/10/ 1944 – 5/12/2023. So it goes.
A piece of one-off absurdism from 1968. One-off in the sense that the Bonzo Dog (Doo-Dah) Band didn’t trouble the charts again. The brackets I put in the name are because the band changed it – dropping the Doo-Dah (which had originally been Dada) – at around the time Urban Spaceman was released.
Yes, they were bonkers, but in a Monty Pythonish way. There was something in the air in Britain in the late sixties.
The Beatles song about Penny Lane in Liverpool makes it sound quite urban but at the end where the famous street sign is it’s leafy. (That’s our tour bus parked at the side of the road):-
Street name sign. (Not original. They keep getting nicked):-
More leafiness but beginnng to get built-up:-
Still more buildings:-
Mostly residential but a few workplaces. Some of the workers wave at the tour bus:-
There’s a barber shop in this one (but I didn’t see a banker waiting for a trim):-
End of Penny Lane. The white-painted building is the Penny Lane Hotel:-
Not Penny Lane but instead the road where Paul McCartney was brought up. (The bus isn’t allowed to go along it as there’s no suitable turning place):-
This is me breaking the (self-imposed) rules of my category – again.
And how does it break the rules?
It’s a Beatles song. (There have been none so far.)
Well, I say a Beatles song but they never released it in the 60s – and the main item isn’t performed by the Beatles.
The song was, though, written by George Harrison for the White Album sessions but not used on the release. Instead it’s notable as the only track on which three members of the Beatles recorded together for an artist other than themselves during the band’s lifetime; the artist being Jackie Lomax. The line-up contained Lomax on vocals, George Harrison and Eric Clapton on guitars, Nicky Hopkins on piano, Paul McCartney on bass, and Ringo Starr on drums, although McCartney’s contribution was actually overdubbed later.
I include a “Beatles” version from the White Album sessions.
Well, today’s Friday; but this one takes in every day of the week.
From The Scaffold, famous for containing not only Paul McCartney’s brother, Peter Michael McCartney aka Mike McGear, but also poet Roger McGough and Tiswas stalwart John Gorman.
Their big hits were Thank U Very Much and Lily the Pink, the latter a perfect match for the Canadian Barn Dance. But I also remember fondly Do You Remember?.
Clearly (2 Days Monday, Thank U Very Much) txt spk was alive and kicking in the 60s.
