original v hit rides again

[royclough]

Another original v hit.
Gerry Marsden wrote this supposedly for a young British singer Louise Cordet, her version was released in Feb 64 but Gerry must have changed his mind or record company did and his version came out in April 64, so technically her's was the original in terms of first recorded version released,I think we'll all agree on the definitive version.

Those of you who may seen Gerry perfom this live will know this but for amusement of those who may not have this has been his standard introduction to the song for many years now

"In 1964 I was courting a young girl and we had a big row and spilt up, I felt bad about it and sent her this next song on a tape , a few days later she rang me and said Gerry let's get back together again - that girl has now been my wife for 40 odd years (elicits aah's from audience) -
pause

"Some days I wish I'd never wrote the bloody song!"

[chriscurtisfan]

Oh dear--another one that hurt my ears, Roy, and Rick's ears as well! Would have been a shame if Gerry had never recorded his own composition. That is one beautiful song he wrote and recorded!! And evidently a lot of other people agreed.

It's one of my top two Gerry favorites! You can guess which is the first, but it's about some boat ride! Thank you for sharing the backstory on the song. I would love to know more backstories on a lot of songs!!! That information generally isn't easy to locate...so I thank you for any and all backstories on music compositions!

[royclough]

Thanks for commenting

[JeffZ]

I was interested to see the production credit on Louise's version; Tony Meehan. Still this is Gerry's song and his version is the best of the two.

[nick_allen]

I see from Wikipedia that Louise Cordet is the goddaughter of Prince Philip - now there's a bit of trivia for you all!!
Horrible performance, and sorry to say horrible production. And yes, my favourite Gerry Marsden song is the one about the boat ride... For some reason I find that his voice, more than any of the other obvious ones, is evocative of that early/mid sixties period.

[admin]

Gerry certainly gets my vote here. He sings the song as if he means it. The Louise Cordet version is bland and almost emotionless to my ears.

[royclough]

Another Original V Hit, well it was a number 48 for Searchers in UK, so just about qualifies, though written and recorded by Hollies their version did not appear til 67, the first recorded version was by The Everlys, as MC said "Not a lot of people know that"

[JeffZ]

I love both versions here, and also the Hollies' original (which if memory serves is on "Evolution" or at least it was in the US). I'll go with The Searchers as I like John Blunt's drumming on this (sorry Cheri !). But The Everlys are an all time fave of mine.

Roy, didn't Chris Curtis produce Paul & Barry Ryan's cover of this?

[chriscurtisfan]

I see from Wikipedia that Louise Cordet is the goddaughter of Prince Philip - now there's a bit of trivia for you all!!
Horrible performance, and sorry to say horrible production. And yes, my favourite Gerry Marsden song is the one about the boat ride... For some reason I find that his voice, more than any of the other obvious ones, is evocative of that early/mid sixties period.

Thanks, Nick for saying it the way I wanted to say it! That was as bad as Cher's version of Needles & Pins. I agree with you about Gerry's voice. It actually sends chills through me as if I am, literally, right back in that time period. Unfortunately, when the song ends, I find I am here in 2011 again! And old!

[chriscurtisfan]

I love both versions here, and also the Hollies' original (which if memory serves is on "Evolution" or at least it was in the US). I'll go with The Searchers as I like John Blunt's drumming on this (sorry Cheri !). But The Everlys are an all time fave of mine.

Roy, didn't Chris Curtis produce Paul & Barry Ryan's cover of this?

That's o.k. Jeff, JB has his followers, too! And, yes, Chris produced P&B Ryan's version. However, I'm not crazy about it at all. I maintain that Chris needed The Searchers as much as they needed him. The Searchers version is, in my opinion, the best.


I'm an Everly Brothers fan from age 4, but this song doesn't work for them. Not after hearing it by The Searchers and The Hollies. I don't know if it's Don or Phil on lead, but he sounds as if he is straining his voice. The Hollies would be my next choice, as they are my 3rd Top Fave Band ever. The Searchers will always win out, even if Chris isn't present. However.... it would have been even better if he had been the drummer on it!!! Sorry, I just couldn't help myself!!

[royclough]

For clarification when I state original I mean first version to be released in UK especially. For instance Hollies wrote Have You etc but their version released after The Everly's version

[JeffZ]

In the interest of completeness here's the Hollies version.

http://youtu.be/yyyjPRc8Jv4

There is also a clip of them doing this on French TV which I was going to use, but that one has the great Fuzz lead by Tony Hicks mixed off, so I went with the album version.

[rictified]

Two Yanks in England is a great album.