#638: Full Measure by the Lovin’ Spoonful

Peak Month: January 1967
8 weeks on CKLG’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #3
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #87
YouTube.com: “Full Measure”
Lyrics: “Full Measure”

Bass player Steve Boone (born on Long Island) and drummer Joe Butler (born on Long Island in 1941) had been playing in a band called The Kingsmen based on Long Island in the early 1960’s. By 1964 their band (not to be confused with the Kingsmen from Washington State who had a hit with “Louie Louie”) were one of the top rock and roll bands on Long Island. Their live sets included folk songs put to a rock beat, pop standards and some new hits showcasing the British Invasion. Steve’s brother, Skip Boone, and several three other bandmates filled out the group. In 1964, Joe and Skip chose to relocate to Manhattan. They focused on writing original material and blending a rock bass and drums with their jug band sound. Three other bandmates chose not to move, except Steve Boone, who joined Joe and Skip in New York City’s Greenwich Village, the nexus of the folk music scene.

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#639: Niki Hoeky by P.J. Proby

Peak Month: February 1967
9 weeks on CFUN’s Vancouver Chart
Peak Position ~ #4
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #23
YouTube.com: “Niki Hoeky”
Lyrics: “Niki Hokey”

James Marcus Smith was born in 1938 in Houston, Texas. His mother left his father when he was ten. His dad threatened to shoot her with a gun, but was overcome by other relatives. James’ mother took custody of the boy and he was sent to military schools from the age of ten until he graduated. After high school graduation, Smith moved to Hollywood and was billed as Jet Powers. He also recorded a few songs under his given name. But, in 1961 Sharon Sheeley, the composer of Ricky Nelson’s “Poor Little Fool” and girlfriend of Eddie Cochran, suggested Smith bill himself as P.J. Proby. The name came from one of her former boyfriends. Proby had a minor hit in the fall of 1961 with Liberty Records titled “Try To Forget Her”. The single cracked the Top 50 on CFUN in Vancouver in October. He continued to record with little success while he recorded demos for Elvis Presley, Bobby Vee and Johnny Burnette. For awhile he worked as a driver for Paul Newman. Proby flew to London, UK, and through Sharon Sheeley’s connections, met Jackie DeShannon and British TV producer Jack Good. Good got P.J. Proby to appear on a Beatles TV special on May 6, 1964, called Around The Beatles.
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#639: Norwegian Wood/Michelle by The Beatles

Peak Month: February 1966
4 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position #3
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com link: “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)”
Lyrics: “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)”
YouTube.com link: “Michelle”
Lyrics: “Michelle”

Paul McCartney was born in Liverpool in 1942. He attended the Liverpool Institute High School for Boys and met fellow classmates  George Harrison on a school bus. When Paul was 14 his mom died from a blockage in one of her blood vessels. In his early teens McCartney learned to play trumpet, guitar and piano. He was left-handed and restrung the strings to make it work. In 1957, Paul met John Lennon and in October he was invited to join John’s skiffle band, The Quarrymen, which Lennon had founded in 1956. After Paul joined the group his suggested that his friend, George Harrison, join the group. Harrison became one of the Quarrymen in early 1958, though he was still only 14. Other original members of the Quarrymen, Len Garry, Rod Davis, Colin Hanton, Eric Griffiths and Pete Shotton left the band when their set changed from skiffle to rock ‘n roll. John Duff Lowe, a friend of Paul’s from the Liverpool Institute, who had joined the Quarrymen in early 1958 left the band at the end of school. This left Lennon, McCartney and Harrison as remaining trio. On July 15, 1958, John Lennon’s mother died in an automobile accident.

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#634: Generals And Majors by XTC

Peak Month: December 1980-January 1981
11 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position: #6
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #103
YouTube.com link: “Generals And Majors”
Lyrics: “Generals And Majors”

Colin Ivor Moulding was born in 1955 in Swindon, England. Moulding is self-taught as a bass player; he was learning rock riffs at the age of 15. Terry Peter Chambers was born in 1955 in Swindon. At age 14 he bought a drum kit and learned to play drums.  Andrew John Partridge was born in Malta in 1953. He grew up in Swindon and wrote his first song at the age of 15. In 1970 he formed a band called Stiff Beach, which by 1972 was a four-piece band renamed Star Park. Colin Moulding and Terry Chambers both joined Star Park in 1972. The band opened for Thin Lizzy in 1973. Subsequently, the renamed their band the Helium Kidz. The UK pop music magazine, New Musical Express, wrote an article about them. Swindon, in Wiltshire, England, was known for several other notable musicians including Justin Hayward of the Moody Blues, Gilbert O’Sullivan (“Alone Again Naturally”), late 90s UK pop singles chart topper Billie Piper (“Because We Want To”, “Girlfriend”), and Josh Kumra who provided vocals on the #1 UK single, “Don’t Go” with Wretch 32 in 2011.

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#640: Talk It Over In The Morning by Anne Murray

Peak Month: October 1971
10 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position: #7 on CKVN
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #57
YouTube.com link: “Talk It Over In The Morning”
Lyrics: “Talk It Over In The Morning”

In 1945 Morna Anne Murray was born in Springhill, Nova Scotia, a coal-mining town. Her father was a doctor and her mother was a registered nurse. Growing up she took piano lessons for six years and began taking vocal lessons at age fifteen in 1960. Anne loved music. It was the age of rock ‘n’ roll, and growing up she sang along with all her favourites – Buddy Holly, Bobby Darin and Connie Francis. However, Anne was also inspired by a wide variety of musical styles, including the classics, country, gospel, folk, and crooners such as Patti Page, Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney. She loved them all. In 1962 she gave one of her first public performances singing “Ave Maria” at her high school graduation. She went on to be part of the CBC variety show Singalong Jubilee in 1967.

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#641: Bangla Desh by George Harrison

Peak Month: September 1971
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CKVN chart
Peak Position: #4
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #23
YouTube.com link: “Bangla Desh”
Lyrics: “Bangla Desh”

George Harrison was born in Liverpool in 1943. Harrison remembers cycling past a home in his neighborhood that was playing “Heartbreak Hotel” by Elvis Presley. The encounter with the song got him hooked on rock ‘n roll. He subsequently was influenced by Little Richard and Buddy Holly. Harrison’s father bought him his first guitar in 1956 when Harrison was 13 years old. After Paul McCartney joined John Lennon’s group, the Quarymen, McCartney suggested that his friend, George Harrison, join the group. Harrison became one of the Quarrymen in early 1958, though he was still only 14. They changed their name to the Silver Beatles and then the Beatles in the spring of 1960. They group headed to Hamburg, Germany, on August 17, 1960, for a three-and-a-half month stint. In early 1961 the Beatles returned for more engagements in Germany. On June 22, 1961, Bert Kaempfert produced “My Bonnie”, “Ain’t She Sweet” and eight other songs. Later in 1961, “My Bonnie” climbed to #4 on the Hamburg pop charts and #32 on the German pop charts.
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Peak Month: February 1960
9 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position ~ #6
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com link: “Snake In The Garden”

Not much is known about Jerry Howard. In 1959 he co-wrote “Feelin’ Low” for George Roberts And His Big Bass Trombone. The single was not a hit record. On November 16, 1959, Billboard reported that “Snake In The Garden” was “breaking” into the record and radio market in Miami. Indeed, the song was #17 on the WAME-AM survey the following week. After the single was released it got a review in the November 30, 1959, issue of Billboard magazine in their “Very Strong Sales Potential” section: “Snake In The Garden – strong performance by Howard on an interesting rockaballad with folksy flavor and the lyric based on Adam and Eve theme. Effective backing.”

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#643: She Knows Me Too Well/Wendy by The Beach Boys

Peak Month: September 1964
Wendy: 7 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position: #7
Wendy: Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #44
YouTube.com link: “Wendy”
Lyrics: “Wendy”

Peak Month: September 1964
She Knows Me Too Well: 9 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN chart
Peak Position: #7
She Knows Me Too Well: Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #101
YouTube.com link: “She Knows Me Too Well”
Lyrics: “She Knows Me Too Well”

Brian Wilson was born in Inglewood, California, in 1942. In biographer Peter Ames Carlin’s book, Catch a Wave: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson, he relates that when Brian Wilson first heard George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” it had a huge emotional impact on him. As a youngster, Wilson learned to play a toy accordion and sang in children’s choirs. In his teens he started a group with his cousin, Mike Love and his brother, Carl. His named the group Carl and the Passions in order to convince his brother to join. They had a performance at Hawthorne High School, where they attended. Among the people in the audience was Al Jardine, another classmate. Jardine was so impressed with the performance that he let the group know. Jardine would later be enlisted, along with Dennis Wilson to form the Pendletones in 1961. The first song Brian Wilson wrote would become “Surfer Girl.” A demo of the tune was made in February 1962 and would go on to be a Top Ten hit when it was released a year later in 1963. However, their first recording was a doo-wop-surf tune called “Surfin’” in October 1961. It was released in November ’61 on the Candix Enterprises Inc. label. The surprise for the group was that the record label had changed the group’s name from the Pendletones to the Beach Boys. Consequently, as each time the record was played by a DJ in America, radio listeners were being introduced to the Beach Boys. The name Pendletones was now history.

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#644: Werewolf by the Five Man Electrical Band

Peak Month: June 1974
10 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG’s chart
Peak Position #8
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #64
YouTube.com link: “Werewolf”
Lyrics: “Werewolf”

The Five Man Electrical Band was a Canadian mainstream rock band from Ottawa. They had an international hit in 1970 called “Signs.” Les Emmerson was born in 1944. In 1963 the Staccatos, an Ottawa group, was formed. It included lead singer and local disc jockey Dean Hagopian. After some local hits they got the attention of Capitol Records. Other bandmates included Vern Craig on guitar, Brian Rading on bass guitar and Rick Bell on drums and vocals.  Meanwhile, Hagopian left the band by the end of 1964, and was replaced on lead vocals by Les Emmerson. One of their 1965 singles imitated the surfing sound with “Moved To California.” In 1966 Rick’s brother, Mike Bell, joined the band as a second drummer. In 1966 their Top 40 hit on the Canadian RPM singles chart, “Let’s Run Away,” won the group the two Juno awards that year for Best Produced Single and Vocal Instrumental Group Of The Year.

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#645: Silhouettes by The Nylons

Peak Month: January 1983
11 weeks on Vancouver’s CFUN’s chart
Peak Position #7
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube.com link: “Silhouettes”
Lyrics: “Silhouettes”

The Nylons are an a cappella group that formed in 1978, based in Toronto. The original members were all gay men: Dennis Simpson, Paul Cooper, Claude Morrison and Marc Connors. They released their self-titled album in 1982. There were some lineup changes after 1979 when Dennis Simpson left. By the time the Nylons released their first album, Arnold Robinson was the newcomer joining the other original group members.

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