40 Days

[JohnBassist]

Another topic a couple of weeks ago relating to the Shads version of "Happy Birthday" on the "21 Today" LP brought to mind one of the (perhaps) lesser known tracks that Cliff and The Shadows did on that LP back then - "40 Days".
Back in the "good/bad" old days in South Africa where I was living at the time every white South African male, on reaching the age of 18, was required to do National Service - initially for 9 months and eventually up to 2 years with many "camps" after finishing that initial period. - Where am I going with all of this? - Well, when the "21 Today" album was released the "40 days" track suddenly caught on with the guys doing their National Service and the line "I'm gonna give you 40 days to get back" became their theme tune - celebrations were the order of the day on whichever day fell 40 days before they returned home at the end of their service or the end of their stint on the country's borders in the border wars. The song was requested and played time and time again in all the "Forces Favourites" Radio Request pogrammes for years.
I realise that it may be difficult or impossible to incorporate this particular number when they tour South Africa next year, but if it could be arranged I'm fairly certain that it would go down incredibly well with the audience.
John

[Martin Page]

Funnily enough the song gained 10 days when Cliff recorded it. It was written by Chuck Berry and originally called 30 Days!

Martin.

[Stageleft]

Last time we were in SA with Cliff in 2007 we did do "40 days", he often changes a song or two for different territories ie we usually do "Evergreen Tree" in the far east and Japan etc--
It's not in the current UK set for Cliff and the Shadows but there's a chance they could do it in SA as it has special relevance there. I'll put in a word!! JJ

[Peter K]

40 Days was released as a single in Germany and became a hit, but I don't remember the chart position it finally reached.
I attended a Cliff / Shadows concert at Berlin back in 1964 when the fans shouted :
" 40 days, 40 days, 40 days " ! In the end Cliff and the Shads played it.
This year there's no concert at Berlin, only one at Cologne. I doubt that 40 days will be included this time and I assume that the set will be totally the same as in the UK.

Peter K

[Didier]

Funnily enough the song gained 10 days when Cliff recorded it. It was written by Chuck Berry and originally called 30 Days!

It lost a lot on the French cover version : it's only 8 days !...
("rien que 8 jours" by Johnny Hallyday in 1965).

Didier