It is Sunday, and you know what that means, don’t you? Yup, it’s time for Song Lyric Sunday, and this week, as he tells us in his post Subvocalization, Jim is inviting us to play a song that gets stuck in your head. He gives a scientific explanation of what this means but for me it boils down to one thing: it’s welcome to ‘Create An Earworm Week,’ everyone!

I had to think about this one a bit, as these days I consume most of my music through Apple Music and YouTube, so the chances of hearing something on the radio that then stays with me all day are zero. But back in my teen years my little transistor radio was a cherished possession, and I would listen at every opportunity. This included having the radio on in my bedroom while I was getting ready for school, and I’m playing two of the tunes which always had that impact for me back then.

In 1967 the UK Government passed an Act of Parliament which outlawed the pirate radio stations that I had grown up with. The BBC rescheduled its programming as a result, giving us the new Radio 1, which began broadcasting on 30 September 1967. They recruited many of the DJs from the pirate stations so it felt a bit like plus ça change, but that was what I was tuned into when this first song became a big hit here in early 1968:

John Fred Gourrier originally formed his band John Fred and the Playboys in 1956, and after a couple of name changes, to avoid any confusion with Gary Lewis and the Playboys, John Fred & His Playboy Band came into being. Judy In Disguise (With Glasses) was written by John Fred and bandmate Andrew Bernard. You might have difficulty picking them all out but they threw loads of instruments at the record, which features strings, brass, a sitar, piano, bass, guitar, drums, breathing sounds, and just for good measure some dissonant string sounds. Its title is a play on, and a mondegreen of, the Beatles song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, which Fred believed was “Lucy in disguise with diamonds” when he first heard it.

In January 1968 the song reached #1 in the US and became a gold record, selling more than 1m copies. It also hit #1 in Germany, Switzerland, and Australia, and #3 in both Canada and, in February, the UK. If this came on the radio before I left for school I was stuck with it all day – it is a very difficult song to shift from your head! The success of the single led to John Fred & His Playboy Band being branded as a novelty act, and as a result they never had another major success. The follow-up single, Hey, Hey, Bunny, peaked at #57 on the Billboard chart, and the band never again hit the Hot 100 – and neither did they here. Maybe as an homage, Gary Lewis recorded a cover of the song for his 1968 album Gary Lewis Now!, but as that only made #150 in the US I guess the royalties didn’t do much for John Fred’s bank balance! Novelty song or not, it includes one of my all time favourite lines, the one about a heavily advertised product of the time which I have borrowed in part for my title.

The Move released Fire Brigade as a single in January 1968, and it peaked at #3 in the UK a month after John Fred achieved the same placing. I have played this one often, as it is in my sets of ‘fire’ songs each November, but this is its debut on SLS. It is a typical 60s English pop song, from a band which eventually morphed into two parts – Jeff Lynne (who joined after this song) turned his bit into the ELO, and Roy Wood turned his into Wizzard. This is nutty but I have always loved it, and am still word-perfect on it now, even to my timing for Carl Wayne’s ‘oohs!’ The song was written by Roy Wood, who takes lead vocal, and if you want to see the lyrics you can find them on musixmatch.

That’s my job done for today. Two short songs which may last longer in your head than you might wish, but they are fun and that is one of the delights of music for me. I’m off to see what others are playing for this theme, and if you’d also like to know just follow the link at the top to Jim’s post.

Thanks as always to Jim for running the show, and I’ll see you again for some Tuesday Tunes, I trust. Stay safe and well 😊