In the shadow of the great hit records produced in the sixties by The
Beatles, Stones, Who, Kinks and their top-flight rivals were the also-rans and
one hit wonders, some of whom released singles that maybe didn’t make the top
of the charts but deserve more than to be forgotten footnotes of the decade.
One of them cropped up on my iPod this morning and sounded as good as ever.
Having long ago lost
the 45 I would have bought in 1968, I actually acquired ‘I Can’t Let Maggie Go’
digitally on a £3 Hits Of The Sixties
compilation CD I found on the shelves of Sainsburys a few years ago which I bought purely for this song. Recorded by a group called Honeybus, it reached number
eight in the UK charts in March of that year and made a comeback in the
seventies as the soundtrack for a TV ad for Nimble bread. Presumably the
lightness that enabled Maggie to fly was down to the lightness of the loaf.
‘I Can’t Let Maggie
Go’ really is a lovely song, so redolent of the era’s smart pop, with a
gorgeous, fluid melody and a slightly baroque feel, all leading to the key hook line
about not wanting to let Maggie go: ‘Oh me, oh my, I see her fly. Now I know, I
can’t let Maggie go’. What sounds like organ pan pipes flutter gracefully the
background and there’s a ’cello somewhere in the mix, enhancing the double-tracked
vocals and harmonies that kick in on the chorus. It’s a very simple song, with
verses repeated but the elegance of its cyclical melody diffuses any lyrical
shortcomings. If there was a Maggie she ought to have been flattered.
In truth, I think it
sounds a bit like a Beatles B-side, their period between Beatles For Sale and Help,
and in this regard not unlike ‘Yes It Is’, John’s song on the B-side of ‘Ticket
To Ride’, albeit it a bit faster and less mannered. In 1968 ‘Maggie’ was a bit of a throwback, instant nostalgia, and it therefore arrived a bit too late for Honeybus to
sustain any real momentum. As it was the group’s main composer, Pete Dello, left
the group soon after it dropped from sight and although he and they retained a
cult following into the seventies and beyond they never again troubled the
charts.
But there is a
second reason for my lingering fondness for this song, for in my world there really was
a Maggie. Sometime between 1967 and ’68 my girlfriend of two years, name of
Margaret, left Skipton to study at Keele University near Stoke on Trent, thus triggering
the end of our relationship. I wasn’t happy. Oh me, oh my…
plus Strawberry Alarm Clock "Incense And Peppermints", The Cowsills "The Rain, The Park and Other Things", The Turtles "Happy Together", Tommy James & The Shondells "I Think We`re Alone Now". pop perfection.
ReplyDeleteToo true... and Marmalade's 'Reflections Of My Life' and Amen Corner's 'If Parade Is Half As Nice'.
ReplyDeleteOh yes. I feel a mix tape coming on.
DeleteI've not seen a compilation that really does this musical area justice. I love this stuff - things like the first four Love Affair singles, the Casuals' Jesamine, Edison Lighthouse. It often gets left unwritten about by serious rock writers and magazines like Mojo, partly because these groups almost invariably didn't make a classic album. But if you were alive at the time your perception of pop was very much shaped by such strings of hits on the radio. (And sympathy, Chris, about Maggie ...)
ReplyDeleteForgot to mention singles by the Move, Procul Harum in the later 60s, and Manfred Mann, and the Left Banke's Walk Away Renee.
ReplyDeleteProbably also because these groups never put on a spectacular live show. Thanks Rikkr.
ReplyDeleteProbably also because these groups never put on a spectacular live show. Thanks Rikky.
ReplyDelete