Moderators neil Posted March 19, 2021 Author Moderators Share Posted March 19, 2021 Track 25 - "The Sheik Of Araby" by Tommy Cooper It's funny how the universe works at times, with no thought for it Tommy Cooper lands in this thread on what was his birthday. I'd have had no idea if not for seeing @Devon Malcolm mention it in another thread. Here Tommy does a cover of the long time standard "The Sheik of Araby", a song that has been done for decades across a number of genres, even the flipping Beatles did it. Here Tommy sings at the start, very much club singer style, but also I reckon Pete Doherty listened to this and totally nicked Tommy's style. Of course Tommy can't help himself and breaks into a spoken story about getting lost in the desert and getting a message to the Sheik, goes back to be bit of singing, then another tale, classic Cooper ain't it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators neil Posted March 27, 2021 Author Moderators Share Posted March 27, 2021 ONTO CD TWO!! Yep, we've covered all of the first CD, now we're on to the second CD. What will this one bring? The first definitely got a bit soft in the middle. I feel like your typical NOW Hits compilation gets pretty bad on the second tape, where side 1 might have given you some Oasis or Blur, side two you're being hit with the Boo Radleys. Track 1 - "Up Je T'aime" by Frankie Howerd & June Whitfield Now this is a true novelty record, no shocker that its set to legendary "lets have mad sex babes" song J'Taime. This is great stuff, I love Frankie Howerd and he's class in this. I won't give any spoilers but this is top stuff. June Whitfield doesn't really provide much, I reckon this was her firing back at Terry Scott's "I Love Birds". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Jazzy G Posted March 28, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted March 28, 2021 That was an unexpected cameo at the end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators neil Posted April 24, 2021 Author Moderators Share Posted April 24, 2021 WE BACK MOTHERFUCKERS Track 2 - "You Are Awful (But I Like You)" by Dick Emery Been a while since I posted here which is mostly because...well I get bored tbh. But soldiering on with this next one: Nothing popped the UK back in the day than Dick Emery. What a raunchy comic he was, mad as a hatter dressing up like women and everything. This bellowed song is named after his most famous character Mandy, a dumb blonde with big tits, who uttered this before slapping the interviewer - top quality comedy. Dick Emery's wiki page says 'He was very keen on "long legs and blondes"' - which makes you wonder what else he got up to as the Mandy character. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators neil Posted April 27, 2021 Author Moderators Share Posted April 27, 2021 Track 3 - "Boiled Beef and Carrots" by Lenny Henry That's SIR Lenny Henry to you mate...<does lenny henry laugh> This was a real shocker for me. Lenny Henry doing a song? What on earth is this gonna sound like? Wasn't expecting this banger of a tune about a delightfully bland dinner. Dropped this in 1975, which is interesting, because who the fuck was Lenny Henry in the 70s? I only remember him appearing in the 80s. So was this his original plan? Be a pop start or summink? This is an old comedy song, the lyrics you can look up online, but this is definitely more of a PC version. This song has also been done by this list of top tier musicians, Max Bygraves; Peter Sellers; Tommy Trinder; Chas 'n' Dave; Ken Stanley & The Pubsters; Charles Keeping; Bernard Bedford; The Two Bills From Bermondsey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Bifkin Posted April 27, 2021 Share Posted April 27, 2021 Has there ever been a whiter black guy than Lenny Henry? All I've got is Tiger Woods, OJ Simpson, Kenny Lynch and Ashley Cole. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members BomberPat Posted April 28, 2021 Paid Members Share Posted April 28, 2021 (edited) 12 hours ago, neil said: Track 3 - "Boiled Beef and Carrots" by Lenny Henry This was a real shocker for me. Lenny Henry doing a song? What on earth is this gonna sound like? Wasn't expecting this banger of a tune about a delightfully bland dinner. Dropped this in 1975, which is interesting, because who the fuck was Lenny Henry in the 70s? I only remember him appearing in the 80s. So was this his original plan? Be a pop start or summink? In '75 he was touring with, weirdly, the Black & White Minstrel Show. The song is an old music hall number by Harry Champion, who's most famous for one of the earliest versions of "I'm Henry VIII, I Am". It's been done by Max Bygraves and Peter Sellers, and it's basically meant to be a stereotypical Cockney song. I'm guessing the joke behind Lenny Henry doing it, given that it's at the time of him doing the Minstrel Show and New Faces, was that it would be considered the height of comedy for a black man to sing a cockney song. Edited April 28, 2021 by BomberPat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators neil Posted April 28, 2021 Author Moderators Share Posted April 28, 2021 (edited) Track 4 - "Our House" by Sid James I was really hoping this was going to be Sid James doing a cover of Madness' "Our House" but of course Sid was dead long before that. This little ditty reminds me a lot of the song from the ending of Bugsy Malone Which speaking of, my mum knows one of the dancers from that scene. Edited April 28, 2021 by neil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Houchen Posted April 28, 2021 Share Posted April 28, 2021 I’m really glad you’ve picked this up again, some fascinating stuff in here! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators neil Posted April 30, 2021 Author Moderators Share Posted April 30, 2021 Track 5 - "The Harvest Of Love" by Benny Hill Here's cheeky chap Benny Hill dropping a comedy song, this even has its own wiki page. He's doing a yokel accent singing about farming but wink wink its about shagging aint it? As youtube commenter "Toby Banks" says on the above video "About time this song was here." Couldn't agree more. Also noticing a trend in that every song on this compilation comes from Pye Records. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators neil Posted May 1, 2021 Author Moderators Share Posted May 1, 2021 Track 6 - "Am I Just A Pretty Face" Here's the UK's camp Bruce Forsyth with an absolutely dreadful song Awful. He's more known for the catchphrase "Shut that door!", and had a song titled that which is actually far superior with lots of gay jokes thrown in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators neil Posted May 5, 2021 Author Moderators Share Posted May 5, 2021 If you had to guess what the title of a Bruce Forsyth song would be I'd imagine you'd guess: Track 7 - "Chin Up" by Bruce Forsyth Yeah no surprises what this song is about. Keep your chin up coz Bruce has a big chin don't he. Although the video thumbnail highlights that Bruce has nothing on Jimmy Hill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators neil Posted September 26, 2021 Author Moderators Share Posted September 26, 2021 Christ I haven't posted in here in a while have I? Ah well. Back with a BIG ONE for @Astro Hollywood Track 8 - "Here Comes The Fuzz" by Jim Davidson Ah, problematic thumbnail and all on this. Yeah its Jim Davidson doing disco. Quite a catchy tune, strong Boney M vibes. I imagine Jim really got into with black face and a wig with beads on it to really get capture the feeling when recording this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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