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
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
- 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
