Oops should not have said that

royclough · Post by **royclough** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 10:11 am

http://s38.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=159S ... F56P1W1WJN

Back in the mid sixties Crispian St Peter had a big hit in UK (2) with You Were On My Mind originally done by We Five(His version IMO was far better)he followed that up with another top 5 hit The Pied Piper which was also top 5 in US.

I am sure most will remember these.

In press interviews though he began to say he felt he would be bigger than Elvis, he was a better songwriter than Lennon/McCartney and a better singer than Cliff Richard.

His next release proved to be his last hit just making the top 50 at 47 here in UK. The publicity had backfired and three years later Decca cancelled his recording contract.

He was later to claim that all the comments were his Manager's idea to get publicity, he suffered ill health shortly after and did make some more recordings but none meant anything. I have an album of his Best Of and I think he was quite good, judge for yourself with Changes his last ever hit.

sowhat · Post by **sowhat** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 10:38 am

Well... a long time ago, when i was 16, i thought our band would be bigger than the Beatles... where's this band now?..

Lovely song, thank you for sharing it, albeit to be true, i'd say he struggles too hard with falsettos...

ozover50 · Post by **ozover50** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 10:45 am

I certainly remember both of them, Roy. The We Five version of "You Were On My Mind" was a huge hit here - the CSP version only received exposure through UK "pop" shows. My preference was/is for the We Five version - added to by personal experiences when it was a hit. "Pied Piper" made it big here, BTW.

For me, "Changes" is in the 'OK but...' category. I'd much prefer it if he didn't sound a bit like Demis Roussos!!

wayang · Post by **wayang** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 11:05 am

Okay, I'm processing all this...I remember "You Were On My Mind" and "Pied Piper", so I'm guessing it's Crispian's version of both I'm recalling. (Guess I never heard the We Five version...are they the group Second City TV modelled The Five Neat Guys after?) Anyway...so based on covering another band's tune and then writing "Pied Piper" (if he did), Crispian's gonna claim to be a better songwriter than Lennon/McCartney? Whew, that's lame.,..and Pied Piper's nice and all, what with that happy, cheezy little flute hook...but come, now...it's one of those tunes by a tunesmith about what it's like to be a tunesmith writing a tune. I really hate that motif in a song...Barry Manilow's "I Write The Songs...", for example, or that insipid Kiss ballad to the guy's girl about how he can't come home yet 'cuz: "me an' the boys'll be playin'...all ni-i-ight..."

Gimme a break, dude..."Shut up an' play yer guitar..."

ozover50 · Post by **ozover50** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 11:35 am

We Five had a female lead vocalist, Dane - Bev Bivens.

Interestingly, they were the first commercial artists to record music for Coca Cola. Whether one would consider that a "feather in the cap" is debatable, eh?

wayang · Post by **wayang** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 11:53 am

It'd be a giant 'feather' in my Swiss Bank account, buddy!

(Man, I coulda sworn that Bev Bivens drummed for ELO...)

sowhat · Post by **sowhat** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 12:06 pm

Oops... didn't know Bivens is a lady...

ozover50 · Post by **ozover50** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 3:32 pm

Here's the lovely Bev....

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Thu Jan 05, 2006 4:55 pm

The We Five version was huge here in Ma. you still hear it a lot on the oldies stations, Pied Piper was also huge, never heard his version of You were on my mind or the other song you mentioned Roy.

wayang · Post by **wayang** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 7:03 am

Wow Aitch...that is definitely not the drummer I saw with ELO...

ozover50 · Post by **ozover50** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 2:48 pm

Thought not....

If you were considering an 'outdoor' vacation you could do much worse than a "bivouac with Bivens", IMHO....

shamustwin · Post by **shamustwin** » Mon Jan 09, 2006 11:25 am

Were not the We Five from Orange County?

firstbassman · Post by **firstbassman** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 5:21 am

Though the We Five did a great snappy version, just for the record, You Were On My Mind was NOT "originally" done by them.
The song was originally recorded by its author: Sylvia Tyson (of the folk duo Ian and Sylvia fame).
- Mark

royclough · Post by **royclough** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 5:39 am

Did not know that Mark thanks.

icabod · Post by **icabod** » Wed Jan 11, 2006 5:50 am

Wow Mark, I get to work with Sylvia from time to time over the last 23 yrs or so and I did not know that, I'll ask her about it next time I see her....amazing what you learn here