When I was young before I had cassettes, the only good way of making a playlist of songs was to stack 45s on the turntable. I would arrange for them to play my favorite songs in my favorite order. These posts are about records I had in my stacks.
“Winchester Cathedral”, released August 26, 1966, is a song by the New Vaudeville Band, a British novelty group. The song made number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on December 3, 1966, and was knocked off the top the following week by The Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations”. Rebounding to the top the next week it remained number one for two more weeks until being displaced by The Monkees’ “I’m a Believer”.
The New Vaudeville Band was founded by the song composer Geoff Stephens. He was a big fan of vaudeville so he wrote “Winchester Cathedral” in that vein, complete with a Rudy Vallée[1] soundalike, John Carter singing through his hands to imitate a megaphone sound.
Personnel (Touring)
- Arranged By – Geoff Stephens, Kenny Woodman
- Bass – Neil Korner
- Drums, Washboard, Spoons – Henry Harrison
- Guitar – Mick Wilsher
- Illustration [Cover] – Bob Post
- Piano – Stan Haywood
- Producer – Geoff Stephens
- Trombone – “Shuggy” Watts
- Trumpet – ‘Pops’ Kerr*
- Vocals – Tristram, Seventh Earl Of Cricklewood (Alan Charles Klein)
The record was made with studio musicians but when they wanted the band to hit the road the record company Fontana tried unsuccessfully to get the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. The band they did assemble toured extensively under the tutelage of Peter Grant, who later went on to manage The Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin. The recording is one of the few charting songs to feature a bassoon.
The B-side is “Peek-A-Boo” another vaudeville-inspired song. This song was c0-written, with Geoff Stephens, by John Carter, an English singer, songwriter, and record producer. I always loved both sides of this classic. I remember wanting to buy it right after I heard it on the radio.
Lyrics
Winchester Cathedral
Winchester Cathedral
You're bringing me down
You stood and you watched as
My baby left town
You could have done something
But you didn't try
You didn't do nothing
You let her walk by
Now everyone knows just how much I needed that gal
She wouldn't have gone far away
If only you'd started ringing your bell
Winchester Cathedral
You're bringing me down
You stood and you watched as
My baby left town
oh-bo-de-o-do oh-bo-de-o-dooh-bo-de-o-do de-do- duh
Peek-A-Boo
Peek-A-Boo, I do love you.
You're the girl for me.
When I look into your eyes
I see my destiny.
Peek-A-Boo, what can I do?
You're so fancy and free.
'Though I try, I can't disguise
The hold you have on me.
I would grow much weaker,
Weather would be bleaker
If I spent a week
Away from Peek-A-Boo.
Peek-A-Boo, I'm telling you
You're the girl of my dreams.
Please don't walk away and put
An end to all my schemes.
I would grow much weaker,
Weather would be bleaker
If I spent a week
Away from Peek-A-Boo.
I said that
I would grow much weaker,
Weather would be bleaker
If I spent a week
Away from Peek-A-Boo.
Peek-A-Boo, I'm telling you
You're the girl of my dreams.
Please don't walk away and put
An end to all my schemes.
Peek-A-Boo, oh dee oh dee oh doh
Peek-A-Boo, oh dee oh dee oh doh
Footnotes
- Hubert Prior Vallée (July 28, 1901 – July 3, 1986), known professionally as Rudy Vallée, was an American singer, musician, actor, and radio host. He was one of the first modern pop stars of the teen idol type. He became one of the first crooners. Singers needed strong voices to fill theaters in the days before microphones. Crooners had soft voices that were suited to the intimacy of radio; the microphones, in this case, promoted direct access to “a vulnerable and sensuous interior,” or in other words, “a conjured intimacy”. Vallée’s trombone-like vocal phrasing on “Deep Night” would inspire Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and Perry Como to model their voices on jazz instruments. [Back]
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