One of the two men behind the hits of Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich (not to mention The Honeycombs and The Herd,) Alan Blaikley, died in July but I only found out when his obituary was published in today’s Guardian.

The two were apparently the first British composers to write a song for Elvis Presley.

An (incomplete) list of the songs the duo wrote is here. It’s not a bad CV.

This is the one featuring the “man with the whip” as the Queen Mother is supposed to have said to Dave Dee. In reality I believe the sound was made by scraping a bottle across the strings of a guitar.

Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich: Legend of Xanadu

Alan Tudor Blaikley: 23/3/1940 – 4/6/2022. So it goes.

I had planned at some time to post The Honeycombs’ biggest hit Have I the Right? but since the passing of their drummer Honey Lantree* recently, this one, on which she sings as well as drums, seemed more appropriate.

The fact that she was the group’s drummer – and she could actually drum, and did not need, like many sixties acts, to rely on session musicians – was a selling point, a factor in the group’s success, and a focus of some bemusement among the unenlightened of the time.

The Honeycombs: That’s the Way

Ann Margot (Honey) Lantree; 28/8/1943 – 23/12/2018