Bruce bass guitar on 'let me be the one'

[Derek Mowbray]

It was the British public who made the mistake by choosing the wrong song. Don`t Throw It All Away was a far better song ,public opinion is not allways right as we see in The X Factor

[hankb56]

Love Dont Throw It all Away, so much meaning as was Stand Up Like A Man my personal favourite, the words, music and the harmonies especially Bruce's input in the chorus, both possible follow up hits. Never understood where Run Billy Run came from and why and It'll Be Me Babe, not exactly worthy singles then later on we got Love Deluxe, another brilliant song that got nowhere despite a lot of air play.
Much as I love and have always loved the Shadows music sometimes I cannot figure out the logic in some of the singles that were released.
Ian

[drakula63]

It'll Be Me Babe and Love DeLuxe were fantastic songs and BOTH really should have been hits. On the other hand, it is difficult to find anything good to say about Run Billy Run - it even sounds rushed (recording/production wise), as if they desperately wanted it out as a single as soon as possible. A mistake. Either Don't Throw It All Away or Stand Up Like a Man would have been better follow ups to LMBT1.

As I understand it, LMBT1 was leading in the contest for quite some time, before the Dutch (in return for us giving them full marks) gave us a measly ONE point! I think this was the point at which the scales were tipped in their favour. Obviously this is only based upon what I have read or heard elsewhere as, sadly, I did not watch the contest on the night. I suspect that, at 11 years of age, I had not yet discovered the joys of the Eurovision Song Contest...

[iefje]

I'm from the Netherlands and my father has told me that on March 22nd, 1975, he was the only one in the living room at his parents' home in front of the TV-set who wished The Shadows should have won. He didn't (and still don't ) like "Ding-A-Dong" by Teach-In at all! I wasn't around at that time yet, but I'm completely with my father!

[hankb56]

Definatly Don't Throw All Away should have been a strong contender as it's composer Gary Benson I think his name is had a hit with it and an excellent version as well.

Ian

[hankb56]

Then there was Cool Clear Air, but there again I did like them all. If I were to list my top six of the songs it would be for what it's worth,

1 Stand Up Like A Man
2 Don't Throw It All away
3 Let Me Be The One
4 Cool Clear Air
5 This House Runs On Sunshine
6 No No Nina

[JimN]

The sovereign test of the quality of a melody (and its underlying harmonic structure) is whether it could be performed as a valid and engaging instrumental.

The Teach-In song would make a convincing instrumental: plenty of harmonic development throughout the theme statement.

Let Me Be The One as an instrumental would sound like something off the "String Of Hits" album.

I rest my case.

[MeBHank]

The sovereign test of the quality of a melody (and its underlying harmonic structure) is whether it could be performed as a valid and engaging instrumental.

I quite agree. Relying on lyrics to get your own personal meaning from a song as a listener is shallow, IMO.

I almost never hear the lyrics of a song unless they're appalling or exceptional. I usually just let the melody, harmony, chord sequence and arrangement wash over me. A bad habit, some might say, borne of listening to instrumental music for so long. I must admit to enjoying many of the Shads' covers of the seventies and eighties, but that's probably more of a personal nostalgia thing (I knew tracks such as Memory and If You Leave Me Now at an early age, long before I'd discovered the group's original hits and "That Sound").

Ding-a-Dong is actually pretty good, musically. Jim's right, it's a better melody than Let Me Be the One, although it has poorer lyrics. The lyrics and the song title are what let it down. But if it was specially written for Eurovision then it was a song designed to win the votes of millions of people of many different languages. Though the result sounds twee to us, using onomatopoeia was a good, if cheap, way of ensuring that.

A good arrangement can cover a multitude of sins, though, and make a bad song sound pleasant. The art of song-writing died a long time ago and a business of the same name took over. Advanced production techniques meant song-writers became increasingly lazy (why else would Hank have such trouble deciding on the track list for an album of covers, such as he did with "Guitar Man"? I mean, James Blunt's You're Beautiful? Ouch. Bloody record labels.).

If I consciously enjoy both lyrics and melody together on first hearing it's safe to say that the composer (and lyricist, if applicable) has done his job properly. Very rarely does it happen.

J

[GoldenStreet]

The Teach-In song would make a convincing instrumental: plenty of harmonic development throughout the theme statement.

Although performed a cappella by the King's Singers, it's harmonic potential is certainly demonstrated in their rendition of the song...



Bill

[JimN]

Yes, I have the King's Singers' version (I'm a fan).

JN