Radio Favorites – Shame Shame

He’ll only break your heart
And leave you standing out in the rain
Shame, shame

As a record collector, I hunted down many of my favorites but obviously came nowhere near getting them all. These are some of my favorites I didn’t own then.

“Shame Shame / Baby I Gotta Go Now” (45-2560) was an Atlantic Records single released in 1968 by the band The Magic Lanterns. I always liked the song “Shame Shame”, when I heard it on the radio but I didn’t have the single until the 2000s. The twangy guitar and vocal harmonies are very memorable. It was written by Jarrell Keith Colley[1], his wife Linda Colley, and Knox Henderson.

The Magic Lanterns formed in 1962 as The Sabres, playing locally in Manchester, England, and changed their name a few years later. Their first album was Lit Up on CBS in 1966. In 1968 they switched to Atlantic Records and released their first US hit, “Shame, Shame”, which peaked at No. 29 on the Hot 100, No. 5 on WLS (Chicago), and No. 3 on Canada’s RPM Charts.

Band Members
  • Jimmy Bilsbury/Pilsbury – vocals, guitar
  • Peter Shoesmith – guitar
  • Ian Moncur – bass guitar
  • Allan Wilson – drums
Later Members
  • Alistair/Les Beveridge – vocals, guitar
  • Peter Garner – vocals, guitar
  • Mike “Oz” Osborne – vocals, bass
  • Henry Paul Ward – vocals, drums
  • Kevin Godley (of Godley & Creme)
  • Lol Creme (of Godley & Creme)
  • Steve Rowland – songwriter (of The Family Dogg)
  • Albert Hammond – songwriter
  • Christopher Wren – Vocals
  • Mitch Mitchinson – Guitar

Magic Lantern Facts

Bassist Mike “Oz” Osborne would spend several decades fighting
the mistaken impression that Ozzy Osbourne
had actually played in his early career with the Lanterns.

“Shame Shame” has a tasteful horn section arranged by John Paul Jones,
the English multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger,
and producer best known as the bass player for Led Zeppelin.

Among the musicians who passed through their ranks were Kevin Godley and Lol Creme, who were also members of Godley & Creme, Hotlegs, and 10cc.

Albert Hammond lent his writing skills to the Magic Lanterns. He is a British-Gibraltarian singer, songwriter, and record producer. A prolific songwriter, he also collaborated with other songwriters such as Mike Hazlewood, John Bettis, Hal David, Diane Warren, Holly Knight, and Carole Bayer Sager. Hammond’s son Albert Hammond Jr. is a guitarist with the American band the Strokes.


The group had two more minor hits in the US, “One Night Stand” (#74, 1971) and “Country Woman” (#88, 1972). In 1972 the band released further singles on Polydor label in the UK, none of which met with chart success.

“Shame Shame” Lyrics
Love was the game 
Fool was my name
I thought you'd know wrong from right
But you ran to his arms tonight

Shame, shame
We had a good thing, baby
Shame, shame
He doesn't love you, baby
Shame, shame
He'll only break your heart
And leave you standing out in the rain
Shame, shame

I was your clown
But he'd be around
You call him up on your stage
But he's acting out every page

Shame, shame
We had a good thing, baby
Shame, shame
He doesn't love you, baby
Shame, shame
He'll only break your heart
And leave you standing out in the rain
Shame, shame

I thought you'd know wrong from right
But you ran to his arms tonight

Shame, shame
We had a good thing, baby
Shame, shame
He doesn't love you, baby
Shame, shame
He'll only break your heart
And leave you standing out in the rain
Shame, shame
Hey!

Shame, shame
We had a good thing, baby
Shame, shame
He doesn't love you, baby
Shame, shame
He'll only break your heart
And leave you standing out in the rain
Shame, shame


Footnotes
  1. Jarrell Keith Colley, from Spokane, Washington, is a singer, songwriter, and music executive. In the early sixties, Keith Colley was headed toward a Gene Pitney-esque sort of situation – crashing the gates as a teen idol while working behind the scenes as a songwriter and publisher. For Colley, though, the behind-the-scenes stuff won out and he ended up with only one charting single, “Enamorado,” which peaked at #66 in ‘63. Colley turned increasingly to the business side of the music scene as the 1960s waned, becoming an A&R man for Four Star, and eventually becoming a part of the administrative side of the publishing company. He recorded one album in 1974 as Sun Child. “I’m Changing Things” MCA-448 [Back]

Further Reading

Sources

Discogs
Wikipedia
AllMusic
Song Meanings


Author: Doyle

I was born in Atlanta, moved to Alpharetta at 4, lived there for 53 years and moved to Decatur in 2016. I've worked at such places as Richway, North Fulton Medical Center, Management Science America (Computer Tech/Project Manager) and Stacy's Compounding Pharmacy (Pharmacy Tech).

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