It Ain't Half Hot, Mum!
The September meeting of the guitar club took place on one of the warmest nights
of the summer and was once again well attended.
Vince started the evening with an instrumental interpretation of the song
'Whispering Grass' which was originally released by the Ink Spots in 1946 and then
became a number 1 in the UK charts in 1975 for Windsor Davies and Don Estelle
who you might remember from the BBC comedy series It Ain't Half Hot Mum. This
was quite appropriate bearing in mind it was such a warm evening. I can only
speak for myself but I much preferred Vince's version! Vince also played a classical
study piece. Erica followed this with 2 songs from the Abba catalogue. Firstly, 'I
Have a Dream' which reached number 2 in the UK charts in 1979 (Westlife took a
cover version one place higher in 1999); then Erica played 'Super Trooper' from
1980. In case you didn't know, Super Trouper is a registered trademark for a series
of follow spotlights used in stadium, concert, and special-event lighting.
Bryan's contributions to the evening's proceedings included 'Sixteen Tons' which
was first released by Merle Travis in 1946, when it went gold. Other notable
versions were made by Tennessee Ernie Ford and Frankie Laine. Then, with Ian on
Harmonica, Bryan played the Donovan song, 'Mellow Yellow' a number 8 hit in the
UK in 1967. Next, Gary 1 performed a version of the Ben E. King song 'Stand By
Me'. This was originally released in 1961 and then re-released in 1986 with the film
of the same name and became a UK number 1. It has also been used in adverts for
Levi 501 jeans and, by 2012, the royalties for the song were over £17m. There are
over 400 recorded versions, including such artists as John Lennon, Otis Redding
and Muhammed Ali. The Kingdom Choir sang the song at Harry and Meghan's
wedding. Gary then performed his own 2022 composition, 'You're My Angel'
dedicated to his wife.
Tim's two instrumentals included a lovely version of 'English Country Garden' which
was a UK number 5 hit for Jimmie Rogers in 1962. This was followed by a Chet
Atkins piece (sorry, we missed the title). Sandra then played the Carole King song,
'So Far Away' from the 1971 album Tapestry which featured James Taylor on
guitar. This is one of the best selling albums of all time, having sold over 30 million
copies worldwide. After this, Sandra performed another song from the Fairport
Convention back catalogue.
The final two acts of the first half of the evening were John F. who, as ever, played
brilliantly. Firstly, he gave us Elizabeth Cotten's 'Oh Babe, It Ain't No Lie'. Her
signature song is 'Freight Train' and she was inducted into the Rock'n'Roll Hall of
Fame in 2022 (what took so long?!). Guitarists will be interested to know that she
played left handed on a right-handed guitar i.e. upside down. John followed up with
'Rag Time Millionaire' supported by Bryan on bass and Sandra on backing vocals.
It's always good to see a spontaneous band appear. Sketch, making his second
appearance at the club on his box electric guitar then played 2 blues numbers:
'Little Red Rooster' written by Willie Dixon and made into a UK top ten hit by the
Rolling Stones in 1964; and 'Hoochie Coochie Man', the 1954 Muddy Waters song.
During the break, Gary 2 won the raffle (about time is all I can say!) then he got
the second half underway with a medley of songs about September. Starting with
Carole King's 'It Might As Well Rain Until September' this was followed by, 'Wake
Me Up When September Ends', the Green Day song from their album American
Idiot. Thirdly, came 'September Song', composed by Kurt Weill with lyrics by
Maxwell Anderson. Frank Sinatra had a hit in the USA with a version of this in 1946
but the only person to take this into the UK charts was Ian McCullogh of Echo and
the Bunnymen (no. 51 in 1984). The medley concluded with 'September' by Earth,
Wind and Fire. John F.C. was next to play with an instrumental version of 'Both
Sides Now', which was written by Joni Mitchell and taken into the Top 20 in both
the UK and the USA by Judy Collins. (Sorry, we missed the title of John's second
piece).
Ian contributed 'Ruby Tuesday' to the evening's entertainment. This was a number
1 in the USA and a number 3 in the UK in 1967 and was a double A side with the
then controversial 'Let's Spend the Night Together'. After this, Ian played the
Creedence Clearwater Revival song 'Have You Ever Seen the Rain?'. According to
Wikipedia, in March 2023, this song surpassed one billion streams on Spotify. Then
we welcomed Dave who was appearing before a live audience for the first time,
which is always a daunting prospect. To mark this occasion, Dave chose to play the
Beatles' song, 'Let it Be', a US number 1 and a UK number 2 from 1970. Not only
was Dave performing for the first time but he was also the first person to start a
song on the guitar and finish on ukelele. Well done for giving it a go, Dave.
Michelle was also a first-timer at this incarnation of the club with the traditional sea
shanty, 'What Shall We Do With the Drunken Sailor?' This song goes back to the
1830s and there have been versions by the King's Singers and Pete Seeger. Ably
assisted by Bryan, Michelle then sang 'The Wild Rover' from 1845 – well-known
versions of this song have been recorded by the Clancy Brothers and The Pogues.
Steve then performed a medley of Jeff Buckley songs from the album Grace. This
was Buckley's only studio album and it received mixed reviews at the time but, over
the years, it has been reappraised and regularly appears in lists of greatest albums
ever made. Jeff Buckley died in tragic circumstances in 1997.
Bringing the curtain down on the evening, Graham played 'The City of New Orleans'
which was written by Steve Goodman in 1971. The following year Arlo Guthrie was
the first to have a hit with this song. Accompanied by Ian on harmonica, Graham
then performed 'Poppa's Blues'; written by Richard Stilgoe, this appears in the
musical, Starlight Express (I think I've got this right!) Pete then played an old folk
song called 'A Fair Wind' (I think - hard to find much information about this!),
followed by 'This Wheel's on Fire', written by Bob Dylan and Rick Danko but turned
into a UK hit for Julie Driscoll and the Brian Augur Trinity in 1968 and,
subsequently, the theme music for Absolutely Fabulous. Siouxsie and the Banshees
also took a version into the UK charts in 1987. Finally, Ross joined Graham and
Pete in the Eclectic Band to perform the Shadows' 'Dance On', a UK number 1 in
1962 and, with lyrics added, a hit for Kathy Kirby the following year. Rounding off
proceedings for September they then played 'Why Worry' by Dire Straits. So
concluded another varied and entertaining evening.
The next meeting is on Tuesday 3rd October.
Best regards,
Gary2 (research supplied by GarypediaTM)
Apologies for any omissions/inaccuracies/mis-spelt names etc.