Roy, the Cryin’ Shames were very much part of my Merseyside musical turf.
Previously known as the Bumblies, they were 1964/65 regulars at the likes of the Rumlin’ Tum and the Sink. Two Liverpool city centre clubs that back then had been newly opened to cater for the second-wave of younger groups that were being inspired by the international and national success of the first.
The then Bumblies recorded their version of Please Stay in London with the help of the infamous Joe Meek – and Decca agreed to release it but not under the name of the Bumblies. Being that Michael Bentine, founder member of the Goons, had previously copyrighted the name for reasons that the Bumblies were also a junior type Goon show of pupett characters that were around on children’s television in the UK at the time.
To quote an online extract from Michael Bentine's entry in Wikipedia
In 1954 he began as a television presenter with a BBC children's series, The Bumblies. These were three small creatures from outer space who slept on 'Professor' Bentine's ceiling and who had come to our planet to learn the ways of Earthling children.
So, the group sat around to disscuss the matter of a name change. Being that they had come to quite like the name 'Bumblies', they thought it was a crying shame that they had to change it – hence the adoption of the name. They also liked the idea that it could be shorted to the Shames, very much in the same way that the Rolling Stones became known simply as the Stones – but that proved to be very much wishful thinking on their part.
As Roy says, when Joe Meek sent Brian Epstein a copy of Please Stay just before Decca released it. He [Brian Epstein] made an approach to the group to bring them into his NEMS stable of artistes. I understand that Brian Epstein was told, in no uncertain terms, by certain members of the group what he could anatomically do with his offer. With hindsight and considering the then influence of the NEMS organisation, not the wisest thing in the world to have done. The Cryin’ Shames could have certainly done with the additional clout of an outfit like NEMS to get their first UK single higher than number 26 in the UK charts.
For a more indepth profile of the Bumblies / Cryin’ Shames by one of the original members please see…..
http://triumphpc.com/mersey-beat/a-z/bu ... ames.shtml
I very much agree with a quote from the said bio’ that……
I don't believe they were the only reasons for our [Cryin’ Shames] early demise, we were not as talented as some of the bands who had gone before. I don't think any of the second generation bands matched those earlier bands, nor did we have the experience of the Beatles, Searchers, Remo etc. Hamburg gave them something the later groups lacked.
Such could also be universally said about the second-wave of Liverpool groups. Which, in my opinion, was very much a contributing factor to the short-lived nature of the Merseyside musical movement that the likes of the Beatles, Searchers, Pacemakers, etc, had initially pioneered – they simply didn’t have the sustainable talent.
