Searchers, Byrds and Dusty Springfield

Answers to your questions about The Searchers
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sowhat
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Post by sowhat »

Ahem... ten little indians... or something...
7-11 (the Ramones)
99 1/2 (Creedence)
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Post by ozover50 »

One After 909 - Beatles
"Never eat more than you can lift." - Mr. Moon
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sowhat
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Post by sowhat »

Sweet little 16 - Chuck Berry
52nd Street - Billy Joel
10th & the Avenue (?) - GreenDay
We can go further and 'play' with dates...
Planet Earth, 1988 - Ramones
74-75 - Connells
1985 - don't remember the name of the band
Summer of '69 - Brian Adams (?)
"Sooometimes i think that 60s were better..." (© Tom Fogerty)
...and so on...
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Post by royclough »

What I was actually concentrating on rather than just songs with numbers which has perhaps been missed was the sequence 10 to 1 then Zero then Half then Quarter.
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sowhat
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Post by sowhat »

Here's my kinda 'version'...
0. 'Zero' 'zero' UFO - Ramones
1. I don't want to be the 'one' - Searchers
2. Rude awakening # 'two' - Creedence
3. 'Three' of us - Louis Armstrong
4. 'Four' strong winds - Sloan / Searchers
5. 'Five' to one - Doors
6. 'Six'teen tons - Platters
7. 'Seven'th son - Mindbenders
8. I h'eight' you - many artists, i believe
9. Twenty 'nine' palms - Robert Plant
10. Memphis-'Ten'nessee
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TimWilde
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Re: Searchers, Byrds and Dusty Springfield

Post by TimWilde »

Hi:

To provide an answer to part of a question that was raised earlier in this thread...

On the contrary, The Searchers recorded Popcorn Double Feature before I did. When their recording went nowhere, a copy of it was sent as a demo to my manager, Bob Reno, in order to get the song re-recorded by one of his artists. In turn, Bob called on his friend and producer Artie Wayne to produce the song with me as the artist. In regard to the B side, Too Many Questions, I had previously recorded that song for Artie Wayne, but only as a demo (which of course was meant only to demonstrate the song to other artists). After Artie produced me on Popcorn Double Feature, it was decided to throw the demo of Too Many Questions on the B side in order to avoid having to record another side.

The interesting thing about our recording of Popcorn Double Feature that you're not aware of is that it became an instant hit throughout the country. That is, when Bob Reno took me on tour around the country to promote our record, every disc jockey at every radio station we visited from New York to LA informed us that their listeners were crazy about our record and that they made huge numbers of requests that it be played daily. However, along with all the play requests also came an equal number of complaints. Namely, the record was not available to be bought anywhere. Throughtout the tour Bob Reno continually called the record company, Tower Records (a subsidiary of Capitol Records), in order to get them to properly distribute the record as previously agreed. After endless excuses and promises no distribution was ever made. Tower Records never distributed a single copy of our record anywhere, in spite of the fact that they knew the record was being so well received in the multitude of markets from New York to LA. By the end of our long tour it was painfully obvious that for whatever reason, Tower Records did not want our recording to "make it." I still wonder why... were their earnings so high that they needed to show losses?

If you're wondering what have I been doing, I honed my song-writing skills and I sing and record my own songs under a new name in the new-country music field.

Cheers!

Tim Wilde
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Re: Searchers, Byrds and Dusty Springfield

Post by admin »

Tim: Thanks very much for setting the record straight with regard to your recording of Popcorn Double Feature. Certainly a different composition for the times. I am still not sure what all of the lyrics mean to this day. It is always great to hear from those who were there at the time and a rarity for us here to get an recording artist to join in with our discussion. Marketing and distribution is certainly what record sales is all about. This must have been a most frustrating time. I do hope you will chime in further on this discussion or other topics with which you have first hand experience.

I have just listened to your recording and it is a great psychedelic version. It is plain to see why it was well received in its time.

One more time on the lyrics which make more sense to me the more psychedelic you make the song. The ordinary events of a changing world can be difficult and unsettling especially when it is being viewed with a degree of distortion or impairment. :D

Popcorn Double Feature
(lyrics are written by Scott English/Larry Weiss)

Everybody's going through changes
Everybody's got a bag of his own
Everybody's talkin' 'bout places
That can only be found in the greater unknown
People are flyin'
And babies are cryin'
Don't nobody care at all?
There's love and there's laughter
And good things come after
Just follow the bouncing ball

Popcorn double feature
Whole world's a funny farm
Black man is your teacher
No need to be alarmed

Music's comin' out of the woodwork
Soundin' so strange and nobody sleeps
And a little man on the corner
Is holdin' a flag and makin' a speech

Coffee each mornin'
Don't park is the warnin'
They'll tow your machine away
There's so much confusion
That's built on illusion
What's makin' the music play?

Popcorn double feature
Whole world's a funny farm
Black man is your teacher
No need to be alarmed
Not much...

Coffee each mornin'
Don't park is the warnin'
They'll tow your machine away
There's so much confusion
That's built on illusion
What's makin' the music play?

Popcorn double feature
Whole world's a funny farm
Black man is your teacher
No need to be alarmed
Not much...

Popcorn double feature
Whole world's a funny farm
Black man is your teacher...
Life, as with music, often requires one to let go of the melody and listen to the rhythm

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Re: Searchers, Byrds and Dusty Springfield

Post by TimWilde »

Hi Peter:

It's my pleasure to join in the discussion seeing there still is interest in this recording. Yes, I was only thirteen years old at the time, and it was a very frustrating and difficult experience for myself as well as for my manager Bob Reno as he dealt with the record company. Because Tower Records failed to fulfill their part of our agreement, they caused a total loss for Bob, who had personally paid for the production and all of the promotion of the record, including the entire promotional tour we made.

Regarding the lyrics, allow me to make a correction in the chorus...

Popcorn double feature
Whole world's a funny farm
Come let me be your teacher
(Black man is your teacher is incorrect)
No need to be alarmed

Cheers!

Tim Wilde
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Re: Searchers, Byrds and Dusty Springfield

Post by admin »

Thanks Tim. Lyric correction duly noted. I wonder if there have been liberties taken with lyrics or whether they have been heard incorrectly over time.

I would be most interested in knowing more about the recording session and the career path that saw you recording as a young teen.
Life, as with music, often requires one to let go of the melody and listen to the rhythm

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Re: Searchers, Byrds and Dusty Springfield

Post by TimWilde »

Liberties were taken with the lyrics. In my previous post, in addition to the correction I made, I failed to mention that the words "Not much..." are not part of the lyrics written by the writers of the song, Scott English and Larry Weiss.

The recording session was at a huge studio in midtown Manhattan and it was fun. Artie Wayne was very creative. It was his idea to have a trombone solo, which was very popular with disc jockeys. During the promotion tour Bob and I found that some jockeys were using it as a theme intro to their show. The sound you hear just before that solo starts is Artie rubbing two pieces of fine sandpaper together.

As for me, I was a very determined and aggressive thirteen year old who looked more like sixteen. I decided I was going to make a record and I knocked on door after door at 1619 and 1650 Broadway until I heard "yes." My dad was a musician, and as early as five years old he had already started preparing me for what I wanted to do; I could play guitar chords and accompany myself singing all the songs I liked. Performing songs for my dad's musician friends created an especially happy time; one that I've been re-creating over and over ever since.

Thanks for your interest,

Tim
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Re: Searchers, Byrds and Dusty Springfield

Post by admin »

Tim: Have you had any contact over the years with The Searchers or The Fall with regard to their recordings of Popcorn Double Feature?
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Re: Searchers, Byrds and Dusty Springfield

Post by TimWilde »

No Peter, I never met The Searchers or The Fall. The only artists I was acquanted with during that period were those who got booked on the same TV shows I appeared on, such as Stevie Wonder, The Fifth Dimension and many others. I still have some publications from that time period, and I'm attaching an article I thought you may want to see that appeared in Teen Life about me and Artie Wayne. The guy you see on my side playing guitar is Tony Orlando. We were just hanging out together after my record was completed when a call came from Teen Life about wanting to do the article on us. Therefore the photos you see were not taken during the actual sessions, but rather in a small studio where we posed for shots to go along with the story.
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Re: Searchers, Byrds and Dusty Springfield

Post by winston »

Welcome to the forum Tim. Thanks for helping to make this a very interesting thread. :D
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Re: Searchers, Byrds and Dusty Springfield

Post by royclough »

Just seen this and most interesting there is a video on youtube Tim of your recording but regretfully the first few images could cause offence so I won't post it here.

I am most interested in the fact you state your was not the original every reference source I have read states it was even Artie Wayne I am sure told me it was the original.

I'll have to ask Searchers if they can recall or not, but virtually all their recordings, unless it was one of their own efforts, were based on a demo version or original version, so I am certain they had something.
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Re: Searchers, Byrds and Dusty Springfield

Post by royclough »

"We straightened the song considerably from the original demo that had been sent to us and gave it, or so we thought, a more commercial feel. The end result we decided was catchy (it was), an intriguing new route for us to travel down (it was) and a possible return to chart favour for the Searchers (it was not)."

Actually here is a quote from Frank Allen's book about the song, the plot thickens.
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