Tuesday Tunes 196: Intros 5×5

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Last October I ran a series of three posts of tunes with recognisable intros, and returned at the end of November for another set. As I continue on my trawl back through previous themes that deserve another look, I think this is one such: I had so many on my list! So today I’m playing my fifth set of intros – with absolutely no loss in quality from the previous four, though a couple of them might be less familiar to many. I instantly recognise them, though, and that’s what counts for me!

Here’s a good one to start things up:

Sorry about that awful intro – I just couldn’t resist it! The Rolling Stones released Start Me Up as the opening track on their album Tattoo You in August 1981: it peaked at #1 in the US (for nine weeks), Australia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Canada, and at #2 in the UK. This track was actually out as a single ten days earlier in August, and reached #1 in Australia, #2 in the US and Canada, and #7 in the UK. It is an incredibly catchy song – one of their best for that – and I love the video, with Mick Jagger doing his best pouting Mick Jagger impression!

When it comes to recognisable intros they don’t come much better than this next one. It surprised me to find that I’ve never played it before but it is always worth hearing, a true piece of classic rock:

Procol Harum released A Whiter Shade Of Pale as their debut single in May 1967, and it reached #1 in the UK in early June, staying there for six weeks. It made #1 in fourteen other countries and with next to no promotion even got to #5 in the US. It is regarded as one of the archetypal tunes of that year’s “Summer of Love” and is one of the most successful singles of all time, selling more than 10m copies worldwide. Annie Lennox covered it in 1995 and got a UK #16 hit with it: in all, it is reckoned to have been covered more than a thousand times. That makes me wonder why people bother: the original is such an iconic song that any cover is going to suffer in comparison.

I said that a couple of these would perhaps be unfamiliar to many, and I’m playing them next. The actual intro on the recorded version of this one is a little longer than in this performance, but this gives me a chance to show you the tv show that, more than any other, introduced me to so much of the music I have loved for sixty years, and to share with you the national treasure that is ‘Whispering’ Bob Harris:

I was a fan of Little Feat, and already had the album Bob mentions at the time of this tv broadcast. The Last Record Album was the band’s fifth: it was released in October 1975 and peaked at #36 in both the US and the UK. Long Distance Love was released as a single but wasn’t a hit anywhere, but that was no matter to me. That laid back intro is so typical of the band and it is a beautiful song, still one of my all time favourites.

Up next is the other unfamiliar one, but it is such a great intro that I had to include it:

Sniff ‘n’ The Tears are a British band, who got together in the late 70s after some of them had played together in other groups. They are the epitome of a one hit wonder: Driver’s Seat was just about their only hit in most places, including the UK, where it made #42, Canada (#17), the US (#15), the Netherlands (#8), and Australia (#13), though a re-release did make #1 in the Netherlands in 1991. This got a lot of airplay at the time, and I was a little surprised that it didn’t do better in our chart. In case you were wondering, when they were thinking of names for the band, lead singer Paul Roberts suggested “The Tears”, but their manager suggested “Sniff ‘n’ the Tears” because Paul had hay fever and sniffed a lot. One of the better stories about a band name, I think!

Back into more mainstream territory for today’s closing tune, and one that was a big hit for one of my favourite bands as I grew up:

The Moody Blues released Question as a single in April 1970, and it reached #2 in the UK, #8 in Canada, #1 in the Netherlands, and #21 in the US. I didn’t buy it – I had all of their albums and waited for their next one to come out. A Question Of Balance arrived in August 1970, reaching #1 in the UK, #2 in Australia, and #3 in both the US and Canada, selling more than a million copies in the US along the way. Like all of their records, I loved it and played it to death! And that intro is, for me, one of the most recognisable that I know. They don’t come much better.

That’s it for this week. I’ll be bringing you another set of tunes next week that didn’t make the original cut, but are still great. I haven’t decided which theme I’ll be using, though – you’ll just have to come back to find out! I’ll see you again in a few days so, until then, have fun 🤩

63 thoughts on “Tuesday Tunes 196: Intros 5×5”

  1. Pingback: Bye Bye April | Take It Easy

  5. the image athe beginning sounds like one of my classes…

    you are right on two counts – all of these songs have great intros, and I was not familiar with the third and fourth ones.

    I’m familiar with the last song, but I never knew the name of it. Great hearing it after all these years…

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  6. I’ve enjoyed this series and glad that you came back to it. I know it goes against the positive nature of your posts, but it might be fun to think of a list of intros that cause us to change the station. I certainly have a few. Usually, they were overplayed so much back in their day, that I learned to dislike them immensely.

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    • It’s a great name, isn’t it. Pity they weren’t more successful though. I played Honky Tonk Women in another post while I was running these the first time round, otherwise it would have been there. The Stones are the first band to have appeared twice across the five posts, Brown Sugar being the other one.

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  12. OGWT WAS my youth (so disappointed when I found out relatively recently that almost all the ‘live’ performances were pre-recorded). Best intro ever, THAT single chord at the start of A Hard Days Night by the Beatles.

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    • I knew that back then – Sounds magazine was a useful source of information!

      That one is on my list. I played Norwegian Wood earlier in the series, and have AHDN and another five of theirs on my list of possibles.

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    • I’m glad you liked them, Willow.

      Layla was the opener to the first set of these, I played Smoke On The Water the week before for another theme, I’d need a huge bribe to even consider Van Halen, and I’m not really an Annie Lennox fan either. This is such a good theme, and I still have loads more I could play!

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  16. Yes, songs that are immediately recognizable by their opening chords, like “Jump” by Van Halen and perhaps “Don’t Do Me Like That” by Tom Petty – and what about those Beatles, who used one powerful chord to kick off “A Hard Day’s Night”!

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    • Jump is probably the only Van Halen song I would ever consider playing, and only if I was desperate! I’ve played both Tom and the Beatles in earlier sets for this theme, and have a further six Beatles possibles, including that one!

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      • I’m not a Van Halen fan, but I came across the video a few years ago and had to admit the song had energy and was immediately recognizable…”Start Me Up” is the one though – immediate! As for The Beatles, I love everything they do – same as for your lists – always fun and fascinating!

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      • To me they were just another American rock band, and I never took to them. I’d promised myself that I wouldn’t play an act I’d already featured for an intro, but broke that for Start Me Up. Too good to leave out! I could do this theme again just with Beatles songs 🤣

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      • It’s a great topic and I understand your POV on Van Halen…I only liked a song or two but after Sammy Hagar became lead singer that was it – never on my play list. Most 80’s hair bands weren’t for me.

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      • I firmly believe that the age in which we grew up has a big impact on our musical tastes. For me, being 9 when the Beatles started in late ‘62, it was the sixties and seventies, up to around 1976. To me the eighties were largely crap, with some notable exceptions.

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  17. The only one of these songs I did not know was “Driver’s Seat”. I’m so glad I took the time to listen to the whole thing; it’s a really good song!

    I have many memories attached to Procol Harum’s legendary song, events in my life which I will never forget. No matter where I am or what I’m doing, when that song comes on the radio, I stop and listen and remember. This morning was no exception.

    Thanks for another great post, Clive.

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  18. All great choices, Clive instantly recognisable Whiter Shade of Pale is an all time favourite….Sniff ‘n’ The Tears like you I thought they would have charted higher in the UK as for Jagger he is the ultimate pouter Charlie Watts face sometimes amused me when Jagger was prancing and pouting another pleasurable listen, Clive as always 🙂 xx

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  19. I love the intro to A Whiter Shade of Pale, always have. These were all very good and I enjoyed Sniff ‘n’ The Tears for the first time. The Moody Blues are one of my favourite bands too and enjoyed watching an outdoor performance with them and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. A magical experience.

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