Way Back When

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Do you ever find yourself thinking about the bands and singers that you have grown to consider as favourites over the years, and try to recall what was the first song of theirs that you ever heard, and why it attracted you to their music? No? That’s just me, then. I’ve been doing that a fair bit this week, since I posted Song Lyric Sunday: Changes a few days back. In that I played songs by Frank Turner and John Hiatt, whose music I have loved for quite some time, and I thought I might play for you the first songs of theirs that I ever heard, and add in a few from some other favourites for good measure.

Frank is the more recent of those. I first heard one of his songs played on the radio by the wonderful ‘Whispering Bob’ Harris, who has introduced me to so much of the music I like over the past fifty plus years. This was back in 2013, when Bob had a late night show on Saturdays going into Sundays on BBC Radio 2. It was a three hour show and occasioned many a late night – but it wasn’t a school night, so that was ok, and the music made it worthwhile. This one leapt out of the radio when Bob played it as a track from a new album release:

I was a little late picking up on Frank’s music, as Recovery was the opening track on his fifth album, Tape Deck Heart, which was released in April 2013. He had progressed steadily up the UK albums charts, each one doing better than the one before, and this was his big breakthrough album. Its predecessor, England Keep My Bones, had reached #12 here in the UK and #143 in the US, and this one got to #2 here and #52 in the US. The track was released in March of that year as the lead single, which is probably when Bob played it. It only got to #75 but I was hooked! That was before the days of Apple Music, so I was still buying CDs, but I had a free Spotify account which enabled me to listen to the album before buying. I did just that, acquired his previous albums, and now have a full collection.

I was even later to the party with John Hiatt. I knew of him from his involvement in the band Little Village, with Ry Cooder, Nick Lowe and Jim Keltner, but I wasn’t familiar with his own music until 1993. After all, he had only been making records for nineteen years at that point! The song I first heard, during my long car commute around the North Circular Road in London, was this one:

Perfectly Good Guitar was the title track of John’s eleventh album, released in September 1993. I had been in the job for just sixth months and was getting used to the long slog of a drive, but I really needed music and the radio to keep me company! I don’t recall which DJ played this, but it was one that I immediately liked, so I took a punt on the album (not even Spotify to help in those days!). I never regretted it – it is a superb album, and was the start of building my collection of his records. He has made twenty four to date, plus a couple of live ones. They are all now in my Apple Music library!

Having started down this route with my favourites, I thought of a few others I could include. For this next one I was right there at the beginning:

The Beatles released Love Me Do as their debut single on 5th October 1962 – a milestone in rock and pop history! In those days we weren’t well served in the UK for music radio: we only had the BBC Light Programme, which didn’t give us much, and we had to wait until 1964 for the pirate radio stations to come on the scene and blow everything up. But somehow, nine year old me managed to hear this on the radio, and fell in love with this wonderful new sound, which was so fresh compared with the crooners who filled the airwaves before then. Regular readers will know that I have been a fan of just about everything the band recorded, and I still play them often (apart from Long And Winding Road, which is a maudlin dirge).

Regulars will also know of my deep rooted love of folk music. There are several bands I could have chosen to illustrate this, but I’m going for Oysterband – keeping my loyalties to where I grew up, which is where the band were formed. I’d heard of them, and may even have been vaguely aware of band members’ involvement in another act, Fiddler’s Dram, who had a single UK hit in 1979 with the song The Day We Went To Bangor (didn’t we have a lovely time…). But my first toe in the water with them wasn’t until 1998, some sixteen years after their first album. I was in the huge HMV megastore in London’s Oxford Street one day after work, as it had a very wide selection of genres, including a great folk music section. My eyes chanced upon a compilation album called Pearls From The Oysters, and I took a chance and bought it. This was a comprehensive double CD of tracks from four of the band’s albums, and though it wasn’t the first track in sequence the first I played – because I had known a version of it for twenty five years since Steeleye Span recorded it – was this one:

That video is a little grainy but it simply exudes joy and happiness, which suits the song so well. Fittingly, as you can see, it was shot in New York: much to the bemusement of locals, I’d guess. It is one of my favourite videos of the band, though, as it is what music is all about for me: fun. As I mentioned, Steeleye Span recorded a version of the song on their album Commoners Crown, released in 1975, with a guest appearance on ukulele by Peter Sellers – I kid you not! It is a traditional song which has been recorded several times, and another of my favourite folk bands – Bellowhead – released a version on their album Hedonism in October 2010. It is the same tune but they all bring their own style (and lyric variations) to it, and I like them all.

For today’s final act I’m having a very hard time identifying the first song of his that I can remember hearing. I think it was this one, as it was from his breakthrough US album, gave him his first huge US hit single, and I’m pretty sure I heard it on the radio here too at the time, though it wasn’t a UK hit. Or maybe he was on the Old Grey Whistle Show – who knows:

Hurts So Good was the opening track on the album American Fool, released in April 1982 by John Cougar, as he then was. He had outgrown his younger self – Johnny Cougar – but had yet to work his way through being John Cougar Mellencamp to settling on his actual name, John Mellencamp. Confused? Sorry! Anyway, the album was #1 in the USA and Canada, and made #37 here in the UK – his first UK chart appearance, no doubt helped by my purchase after hearing just this one song. Do you do that too? Buy an album on the strength of a single – it can be risky, but in this case it paid off and now, more than forty years on, he is still right up there amongst my favourites. And I think back to that whenever I hear this song.

I’ve enjoyed this self-indulgent little trip down memory lane, and hope the music was good for you too. You’ve had one who has been a favourite for ten years, two of thirty years, one of forty years and one from sixty years ago: once you get into my favourites you don’t escape! The meme at the top is in belated honour of this week’s Tuesday Tunes post – I should really have used it for that, seeing as I played that song! But that’s life, isn’t it: thinking of the perfect retort just after the conversation has ended! Enjoy the rest of your week, and I’ll see you again for Song Lyric Sunday 😊🎶

38 thoughts on “Way Back When”

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  4. For me it was the Beatles all the way. I can remember exactly where I was and what I was doing the exact moment I heard “All My Loving”. And the next day in school it was all the buzz. That afternoon I went to the record story and bought one of my very first singles. These are the moments we will never forget! Great post, Clive!

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    • A great band to choose for your first record! Oddly, that wasn’t a single here: an album track which then became the lead song on a 4 track EP. In those days we had separate charts for singles, EPs and albums, and that topped the EP chart for eight weeks. A great memory for you, and I’m glad you liked the post 😊

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  6. Yes, I like to reflect back on how I found out about a band. There are a couple that stick out for me that you introduced me too that are now part of my favorites. (First to Eleven and Walk Off the Earth). Oh, and I’ve been playing Run and Hide by Dax a lot lately too. I certainly remember Frank Turner from following you. Of the ones you picked today, my two favorites were John Hiatt and John Mellencamp. It Hurts So Good is one of my wife’s favorite songs.

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    • Thank you, Pete, I’m glad to have made some introductions for you. Interesting to me that those are both what I regard as ‘YouTube bands’ – they release music in the conventional way but thrive mostly in video format. Dax is another that I’m pleased you like. I’ll take those two as your favourites from these: both good choices, and it’s good to have found one of your wife’s favourites too 😊

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  7. Interesting to think about. I don’t remember any specific time the first time I heard any songs. Most were heard on my transistor radio, or on one of the teen dance shows on TV. Lots of times I can remember something I was doing when I heard the song, maybe not for the first time, but I associate the song with those times. 🙂

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    • Some stand out for me, but there are many that are like that for me too. I first had a transistor radio in 1961 and listened to it a lot. At first it was just the BBC but then the pirate stations came along and I had a choice of pop music stations 24/7. Heaven! Quite a few of my favourites go back to those days but I’ve been collecting them ever since 😊

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    • Over time, we collect so many ‘first time’ musical memories, don’t we. Those are two good ones from Beatles contemporaries. I’m with you on the Stones but my first Yardbirds memory is For Your Love, which I think was just before this one – but don’t quote me on that, as my memory may not be right!

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  9. I can recall a few songs of bands that made me aware of them. When I was 14, I visited London for the first time. The radio played “Can’t stop this feeling” by REO Speedwagon. The next day, I bought the single and back at home the LP. Something similar happened when I heard “Rock ‘n Roll is King” by ELO. It was even the first single I ever bought.
    I like the songs you shared here. But I can only recall “Love Me Do”. Yet, the chorus of “Hurts So Good” sounds familiar.

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    • I think you’ve told me about REO Speedwagon before – it rings vague bells! That isn’t one of ELO’s biggest or best known but it was always fun.

      I guess most of these are too recent or obscure for you, but I’m glad you like them. I’m not surprised you might have recognised Hurts So Good – it was played a lot at the time.

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      • That’s possible. I think you shared a song of REO Speedwagon. That’s right, that’s maybe why I remember that song so well. Only once I had bought the single I got introduced to the more popular songs of theirs.
        It is always interesting to get introduced to songs I could have heard but did not. And those I may have forgotten. Thanks for your series, Clive!

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      • I did indeed – I played Take It On The Run some weeks back on Tuesday Tunes.

        I’m happy to have provided those introductions for you. This was a one-off post but it did strike me while I was writing it that it could become one of my occasional series. Give it a few weeks…

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  12. I still recall the first time I heard the Beatles. I fell in love with their music immediately. For me it was a nice change from Country and Western. Now I was an Elvis fan and still am, but the Beatles were new and exciting. Yes, I was one of those who screamed in front of the TV when they appeared on Ed Sullivan. When I later married an Englishman, (named Paul) no one was surprised.

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    • It’s one of those life moments, isn’t it. Like when we heard about President Kennedy, or the twin towers (visible in the Oysterband video). It’s good to see that you have taken that devotion through life 🤣

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  13. You introduced me to John Hiatt, and I do like his songs (don’t think much of Frank Turner though). I remember singing ‘New York Girls’ in my primary school, but the words were different I think. John Mellencamp is another one of my favourites.

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