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“WEAR
YOUR SLEEVE ON YOUR HEART”
Encounters
with the Hollies
By
Peter Sharp
I
was, I am I suppose, part of that oh-so-lucky generation that missed the
war, missed national service but was just perfectly in time for the
sixties. Every generation thinks that music and sex is re-invented for
them, but for us it really was.
I did the things you had to do in 1963, got a Dansette for my birthday,
bought Billy J. Kramer and the Dakota’s single, “Do You Want To Know A
Secret”, Gerry and the Pacemakers “How Do You Do It” and then The
Beatles “From Me To You”.
I put them in those cardboard sleeves lined with clear plastic with
different coloured binding down the sides. Played them, kept them safe and
read them. Did you used to read record labels? I know who wrote all those
songs but I never knew what “ASCAP” was. I know they were five
shillings and ninepence when I first bought them and then they soon
went up to six shillings and threepence, a sixpence increase!
(Almost as bad a shock to everything I held dear as when chocolate went
from sixpence for a Mars Bar or a Crunchie or a Cadbury’s Chocolate
Bar”, [not the half-sized threepenny ones or the stupid little penny
ones] to seven pence). Anyway
the Merseybeat stuff was a minor obsession for a while. I subscribed to
Mersey Beat magazine, I bought the “This Is Merseybeat ” EP
(couldn’t afford the LP). I Bought Freddie Starr and the
Midnighters first single, Farons Flamingoes “Do You Love Me” and the
Mojo’s “Everything’s Alright”. Then I bought “Do You Love Me?”
by the Contours, on the Oriole label, licensed by Tamla Records and
realised that Merseybeat was only a very pale imitation of something very
much more exciting.
A whole unknown world of music appeared, Drifters, Coasters, Miracles,
Marvellettes, everyone
that had songs covered by all the northern beat groups. Then I heard the
Hollies’ “(Ain’t that) Just Like Me.” It had all that energy that
the real thing had plus an amazing, strong, exciting harmony. When
you listened to the Beatles you couldn’t tell where John and Paul’s
voices began and ended but George’s was a bit weak sometimes. On Hollies
records the three part harmonies were seamless. I bought Searchin’
and Just One Look. I didn’t hear Doris Troy’s version for a long time
afterwards, but it was one of the few times when I preferred an English
cover to the original.The
bit where Graham Nash sings;
"
I thought I was dreaming but I was wro-o-ong,
I’m going to keep on scheming till I can make you, make you my ownnnnn”,
made
the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, and it still does today.
I bought “Stay with the Hollies” which had all the songs that all the
pre-blues beat groups did, Mr. Moonlight and all those. (There must have
been thousands of groups of kids all playing the same dozen or so songs,
just like a couple of years later all you ever heard was Got my Mojo
Working, and then later every white soul boy doing Knock on Wood. No
wonder the Beatles were such a breath of fresh air, new songs!)
And then of course I went to see the Hollies. I was only 13 and
lived in Bedfordshire so I didn’t see them in a club in Manchester or
during their residency at the Cavern. No, it was at one of those
national tours at Granada cinemas that went round and round the country
then. They had a headlining group, some Americans and people you’d
never heard of, plus people you had heard of but couldn’t stand.
Did I really see Crispian St Peters on the same bill as the Small
Faces? Did I really see Leapy Lee on the same night as Martha and the
Vandellas? Every single show seemed to have Roy Orbison in it anyway, or
Gene Pitney if he couldn’t make it.
I cannot remember who was on with the Hollies in 1964, Bo Diddley, Marty
Wilde and Lita Rosa for all I know, but I do remember them. Graham Nash
played a large black acoustic guitar with one pickup and HOLLIES written
downwards behind the strings on the body. This impressed me;
everyone had their name on the bass drum of the kit, but on a guitar,
never.
(Writing this I realised that even when the Beatles were the best-known
people in the universe, Ringo still had THE
BEATLES written on his bass drum. Imagine someone turning up at
Shea Stadium a bit late and thinking, “ I wonder who this is? Oh yes
it’s the Beatles, I can see it on the drum”)
He didn’t play it much I remember thinking, but it was better for him to
have something to hold . Two singer groups never looked right, c.f. The
Nashville Teens.
Anyway they were great, the harmonies were even better live and I think
they must be among the best half-dozen bands I’ve ever seen.
Someone had told me that if you left an autograph book at the booking
office, they’d get it signed by the stars on the night of the show.
I took the cover of “Stay With The Hollies”, left it the day before
with my name and address and the man said yes no problem he’d make sure
the Hollies signed it.
The day after the show I went back for it. It wasn’t there, he
couldn’t remember ever seeing it, or ever seeing me. They went through
that, ”Have you seen it, no I haven’t seen it shall I look in the lost
property” stuff that people still do when you are very worried about
losing something and they don’t give a shit.
“It’s probably been taken on to the next theatre”, they said,
“come back tomorrow and see if its been sent back.” Next day they
couldn’t remember me or the LP sleeve. “Who did you talk to?” said
the man I’d talked to.
Of course I never saw it again, signed or not. I ordered a new one, which
took ages to come, and cost seven shillings and sixpence (an LP cost
thirty shillings then).
Then I saw an ad. in the local paper for the opening of a new record shop.
(Can you remember the names of all the shops you bought records from? I
can’t remember who I sat next to at school or what colour my bike was
but I can remember every shop I bought records from and what the booths
smelled like. And I can remember the way people joined up the holes in
that hardboard lining to the sound hoods and with biro.)
The shop was going to be opened by the “Hollies in Person”. (I’m not
sure how else they would have done it).
So we went down there, me and Brian Ward and Robin “Rodser” Wright,
and we were among the first in the shop. The shop was on two levels, a
balcony running around the first floor. Of course I had taken something
for the Hollies to sign.
Yes, my new cover of “Stay with the Hollies”.
I imagined that they would stroll in, cut a ribbon, chat to us
about their latest single, sign a few autographs and then stroll out. So
did two or three hundred other people. With an hour or so to go I was
pressed painfully up against the counter with a whole shop full of people
pushing me from behind and more coming in all the time. The record cover
was getting bent and crumpled so I held it up in the air. This, as well as
looking stupid, was painful after a few minutes. I couldn’t get my arm
down because of the crush and it kept on getting more painful. All this
was not improved by the zany fun-loving individual who leant out over the
balcony and tried to grab the cover from me. Then
they shut the doors so that no one else could get in. Instead of just
being painful and uncomfortable, it now became painful and uncomfortable
and unbearably hot and airless.
After what seemed like hours the shop staff announced that the police had
cancelled the grand opening. The doors opened and we staggered out onto
the street, me clutching seven shillings and sixpence worth of
sweaty-damp and dog-eared LP sleeve.
As
we walked away a big car sped past us, probably a Humber Hawk, but was
stopped by a red light.
The rear window was open and someone inside shouted, "Hey look,
someone buys our records,” and they laughed. The last time I saw the
Hollies they were driving fast out of Bedford in a black car, with Graham
Nash waving at me through the rear window.
After that the world changed, I listened to ska and soul and blues and
didn’t buy any other kind of record for years.
A couple of months ago I bought the CD of “Stay with the Hollies” and
it is just as fresh and exciting as it was then. The same can’t be said
of many “beat group” recordings, although there are exceptions.
“Animalisms” by the Animals is brilliant and “Meet the Searchers”
has harmonies that almost rival Nash, Hicks and Clarke. I listen to in the
car and my son put a track or two from it on a 50th birthday
party tape for me.
Now
if I send the cover of the CD to……
Thanks
to Peter Sharp for sharing his Hollies memories
Copyright © 2001 Geoff@Home
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