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This is one of my all time favourite pieces, but I'm intrigued as to how The Shads got hold of it. I originally thought it was because of the Fireballs' version, but I noted that it was only released as a single in the UK in 1962, so it couldn't have been that, and I'm fairly sure that it didn't appear on any Fireballs album prior to that. This only leaves the original version by the Norman Petty Trio (which has to be heard to be believed), but would the Shads have heard this? I can't imagine that it was the type of music that any of them would have listened to. Could it have been something that Norrie introduced them to?

Simon

They probably got it sent to them by Southern Music as a possible track to record.

Norrie will have got it and gone over it with them

Regards

Stuart

Perhaps, surprisingly, given the pedigree of the tune, nobody else appears to have recorded it since. As some pretty uninspiring lyrics were added at some point, that might possibly be no bad thing, though!

Bill

I always wondered why the shads never played it live,

There was a very long and detailed discussion about this very topic on Shadowmusic back in 2012. Cheers! Rob

Thanks Rob. Here is the link...

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=2757&hilit=FIND+ME+A+golden+street

I thought it would have been found during a visit by Norrie to Tin Pan Alley, if he did that as most producers tended to do back then.

Yes, it's easy to assume that the Shadows had control of their material back then because in their latter days with recording contracts they had a lot more say. In the early days, though, it was Norrie Paramor whose job at Columbia (EMI) was to find material he thought his acts could record and which would sell well. He was more than happy to use good compositions by group members, but all other stuff is likely to have been sourced by him in the first place and then suggested to the group.

Although it's true that Norrie would have the last word (mostly) it was lucky he didn't pick Quatermaster Stores as their A side! (he wanted to call it Cookhouse door) One wonders how things would have turned out if that happened.

Bruce entertainingly describes Norrie's responsibility, as well as his willingness to consider other points of view, in his Rick Wakeman Interview Face to Face
A good use of 50 minutes when you can spare it...