Here is the third part of my list of influential singles from a 2023 Facebook challenge. The idea of the challenge was to post each day for 20 days a single that had been influential in my life. I expanded this to include singles which, when I listen to them, vividly conjure up a particular time in my life. In addition, I wanted to concentrate on singles that were either one-hit wonders or outliers in some way.
The Floral Dance – Bridghouse and Rastrick Brass Band
Whenever I look back over the music charts of the 1970s and 80s, I am always amazed by the sheer diversity of musical styles that manage to attain high chart placings.
For example, in November 1977, the Bridghouse and Rastrick Brass Band spent six weeks at number 2 with their arrangement of “The Floral Dance”, a song written in 1911. When you consider that this single sold half a million copies and was only kept off the top spot by “Mull of Kintyre” by Wings you can see the scale of that accomplishment.
Needless to say, this was the band’s only entrance into the UK top 10.
(In an even more bizarre turn, the song would enter the charts again in 1978, this time by Hanwell Brass Band and featuring a vocal by Terry Wogan, though probably the less said about this version, the better!)
I’m including this track in my list as an illustration that all styles of music can be moving and memorable, not just those that are cool or fashionable at the time.
On a personal note, for a long time I have wanted to record a version of this tune using folk instruments, kind of the way Mike Oldfield might have done it.
Car 67 – Driver 67
I suppose today’s entry could be classed as a novelty single, of which there were a good number in the 1970s and 80s. (As an aside, I haven’t deliberately targeted these decades for my choices; it just seems that there were a lot of one-hit wonders and otherwise outlier tracks that I remembered from this period. Ask me to remember one-hit wonders from the 1990s and 2000s and I’d have a much harder time coming up with a list.)
Novelty songs tend to be built around a unique or somehow quirky concept, whether musical, lyrical or otherwise. In this case, it’s a conversation between a taxi-driver and his dispatcher where he finds he is being sent to pick up his very-recently-ex-girlfriend.
Written by Paul Phillips and my late friend Pete Zorn (who can be seen playing bass in this video), “Car 67” by Driver 67 was released in November 1978 but did little until a plugger got it to the attention of Radio 1’s David Jensen in January 1979. Jensen named the song Record of the Week and an appearance on Top of the Pops followed in February 1979. The song ended up spending a total of 12 weeks in the chart, peaking at number 7. It would have risen higher in the chart but the record company failed to press enough copies to keep up with demand.
Subsequent singles by Driver 67 failed to chart, but “Car 67” enjoyed the singular distinction of being named by the Queen Mother as her favourite record in 1980.
In this video from Top of the Pops Paul Phillips plays both the taxi driver and, in cap, glasses and fake moustache, the dispatcher. The singing, however, was actually recorded by Bill Zorn, brother of Pete and acoustic guitarist in the video.
Captain Beaky and his Band – Keith Michell
Another novelty record, the single “Captain Beaky and his Band” from the 1977 album of the same name reached number 5 in the British chart in 1980. It was written by Jeremy Lloyd (writer of TV’s “Are You Being Served”) with music by Jim Parker. Distinguished actor Keith Michell provided the narration of this tale of a group of brave animals and birds who save the woodland creatures from the threat of Hissing Sid, “an evil snake” who presumably wanted to eat them for lunch.
The reason I’m including Captain Beaky in this list is not because it’s cute or funny or silly but because of the nationwide craze it briefly sparked off. Someone (according to Wikipedia a scientist working at the British Museum) wrote in to Radio 1 after hearing the record, saying that they thought Hissing Sid was innocent and being treated unfairly; their letter was read out and the whole thing just took off. Badges, T-shirts, stickers and so on all were created proclaiming the character’s innocence or guilt. It wasn’t uncommon to see “Hissing Sid is Innocent” graffiti on walls at the time. Nowadays we would say that the thing went viral or we would describe it as a meme. Back then those terms were not in common use, but that’s what happened.
This video shows Keith Michell performing the song on Top of the Pops. Eventually, like all such crazes, enthusiasm for Hissing Sid and Captain Beaky waned and they never appeared in the charts again, though a second album, including the story of Hissing Sid’s trial, was released in 1980.
Barbados -Typically Tropical
Several times when compiling this list I have thought that the songs wouldn’t have been hits today for various reasons, and this one is no exception. “Barbados” by Typically Tropical tells the story of a bus driver in Brixton who is looking forward to flying home to Barbados to visit his girlfriend – all written and sung (in cod-Caribbean accents) by two white blokes from Wales! Somehow I don’t think that would fly (no pun intended) today!
Jeff Calvert and Max West were both working as recording engineers for Trojan Records when they submitted a demo version of “Barbados” to Gull Records in the spring of 1974. The label liked it and so a full version and B-side were recorded. Gull hung on to the recordings and did not release “Barbados” until May of 1975. By August that year, the single reached number 1 in the charts, selling over 300,000 copies.
Encouraged by their success, the band recorded an album “Barbados Sky”, released in October of 1975, but it only sold around 8,000 copies, placing Typically Tropical firmly in the one-hit-wonder category. However, two of the band members did score another chart success in 1978, as they wrote “I Lost my Heart to a Starship Trooper” for Sarah Brightman and Hot Gossip – a number 6 hit and another one-hit wonder!
A re-written version of “Barbados”, titled “We’re Going to Ibiza” was a number 1 hit for Dutch Eurodance group Vengaboys in 1999.
I’m including this one because I think it’s a lovely tune and brings up a lot of nostalgia for me.
Tinseltown in the Rain – The Blue Nile
My final choice for this section is one of my favourite songs of not just the 1980s but possibly all time. I could write at great length about this one but will try to keep this relatively short!
“Tinseltown in the Rain” by The Blue Nile has been described as an ode to the band’s home city of Glasgow, in my mind it could be about any town or city. What comes across to me in this song is the feeling, or the memory of a feeling, of being young. That sense of life being full of possibilities yet knowing at the same time those possibilities are finite, that everything must some day change. When Paul Buchanan sings the lines “One day this love will all blow over / Time for leaving the parade / Is there a place in this city / A place to always feel this way” it gets me every time. I think those feelings are universal.
“Tinseltown in the Rain” reached number 87 in the British singles chart in September 1984. The Blue Nile never achieved a top 40 hit, their highest chart placing being number 50 in 1991 with “Saturday Night”.
Andrea Corr released a cover version of this song in 2011. It’s perfectly pleasant to listen to, though her delivery suggests to me that she doesn’t really understand the song because the pain and longing of the original are sadly absent.
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