Was your "summer camp" Parris Island? My dad was a DI there in the early 40's. When he was getting close to discharge they sent him there to finish out his tour. When I found that out in my late 20's it explained a lot of my childhood. lol [/QUOTE]Small world, eh ? Yes it was indeed a fine summer on Parris Island for me in 1974. My sister sang 'Billy Don't Be A Hero' from the time I enlisted until the day she dropped me off at the recruiting station to catch a ride to SC. Even today she will still sing it if the story comes up, LOL.
Is your Dad still with us ?

Bill :)

No, my Dad died in 1991. He was a tough ole bird. He had 7 heart attacks and 9 strokes but was still walking (with the aid of a walker) and called me everyday, ate fine just had some problems with balance and his speech wasn't clear. He was a great guy.

My dad died from a stroke almost 5 years ago. He had the first stroke in his trailer truck, at a rest stop in Chelsea, MA. They found him 2 days later and took him to the hospital in Lowell. Eventually he got moved to a rehab inPresque Isle. He was coming along quite well.. even starting to walk again. One day he complained of intestinal pain, so they decided to do an MRI. He was terribly afraid of small places, and the fear caused his brain to start bleeding again. He didn't survive the second stroke. He was only 68, and never sick a day in his life. The day he had the first stroke, he spent the morning piling 2 cords of wood.

Sorry to hear that, thanks for sharing the connection.

Bill :)

and Cathy I'm sorry to hear of your loss also.

Thanks Mike - I guess "Windy" isn't exactly a one-hit wonder! I recall the Association having multiple hits over time.

mnmouse - thank you for correcting my bass-ackwards memory of the song we both liked. The "flower" I thought was in the group's name, not the song, and I totally forgot Skylark as the song's name, thought it was "She's a Lady". Well, glad u knew both and brought back fully such a great memory of that song. Made me think of my first girlfriend when it came out.

Janice - like u and several others, I like "The Captain of Her Heart" by Double. And B-stone - I never would have guessed the pronunciation of Double was "doo-belay" phonetically. The song really sticks in your head after you hear it; those piano riffs (?) are perfect.

Its odd how right in the middle of "America's Top 40" pop/rock stations lists, a song that could be timeless and of definately non-rock or non-pop nature "crosses-over" from other categories more non-descript than obvious crossover sources such as country, etc. comes along and captures listeners hearts, out of context so often, e.g. the Macarena, and:

"Be Happy" I forget his name. Great catchy tune.

And songs that seem from another generation sometimes capture our ears in songs like :

"The Last Farewell" by Roger Whittaker.

That caught even teenagers off guard, as it did me in the middle of listening to Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, and the Eagles. It is, as I'm sure many of you find, especially British folk (Bru? John ?) to be an invogorating and timeless song.

You can feel the salt spray and here the creaking of the mast and ropes. And such a voice ! Whittaker had a hit with this at the same time TWOTEF/"The Wreck" came out on LP in Summertime Dream.

While greatly overshadowed by Gord's masterpiece, The Last Farewell still stood out enough to functionally captivate a good portion of the teenage population (and certainly adult) in the USA and I assume elsewhere perhaps even more, as he toured in Europe and the UK more as I understand.

This song, if described broadly, was a strong deep baritone/bass voice singing with a noteworthy and charming (as my parents said when they heard it and liked it too!) British accent, and sounded somewhat like a throwback to Bing Crosby, singing with the accent, to a full orchestral background, with presumably *zero* predictable appeal to the teenage segment.

But it did, at least me and my friends. It is a song that makes u feel like you just splashed on the most invigorating aftershave ever made, and are standing on the bow of an oceangoing wooden vessel, and the waves are splashing high on a bright sunny day (corny, I know..).

If you haven't heard it, you might be surprised to feel some of this is true if you check it out. I'll try and find a hyperlink to it. For now, take my word for it please. He followed quickly with about 4 other great songs with good airplay, mostly on easy listening stations though:

New World in the Morning
Durhame Town (The leaving)
I don't believe in If Anymore
Dirty Old Town

Well the 4 above by Roger Whittaker, along with "The Last Farewell" are my new entrants. These strictly speaking do not apply to the thread's premise, if but only in one regard: He came out of nowhere (to American young audiences), had first the one hit that crossed over into top40, and then as I recall slipped into easy-listening relative obscurity (in America) with the above 4 more noteworthy songs.

I doubt if top40 listeners ever heard any but the Last Farewell, making it an unusual but *great* entry in the thread.

While continuing his career primarily in Europe and the UK as I understand, and playing some unusual mixes of old standards along with musicals and "easy listening" standards of the day in the 70's, one more Whittaker album stands out to me.

I believe it is called "Great Irish Folk Songs"
with wonderful stripped-down acoustic guitar and his *powerful* voice performing familiar-sounding -old- folk songs like "The White Cliffs of Dover" and a wonderful rendition of the "The Ash Grove" .

True "old-fashioned" pre-civil war folk songs heard frequently in the American West by immigrants often relegated to the awful conditions and prejudice of working in the mining and railroad industries in the USA.


He sings and does some full period-dress old showtunes in concert anymore, dressing as a clown, a peddler, etc. At times odd now to my taste, he can still belt out a tune that'll shatter a glass window such as his old version of "Waterboy" - another American West folk tune.

If you pick up ONE CD of his on this reccomendation alone, be SURE to get the album entitled "The Last Farewell and other hits", with an oblique profile and extreme close-up of his face covering the photo, with all the above songs shown as the first 4 except Dirty Old Town, great if you can find it along with the Irish Folk Tunes album.

Watch-out though, there are myriad remixes, re-recordings of those first four songs listed w/o Dirty Old Town, and the defining sign of the original full-orchestration productions of the magnificent four is the album I mention also containing the song "Sunrise,Sunset" as a definitive feature of the right album. You'll find numerous versions of all the first 5 songs I mentioned by him in various packages, but beware the sometimes awful re-recordings and K-tel TV compilations. IMHO (and windy tonight) form, I hope u enjoy the above songs I added as new this posting.
- Geo Steve

Brink, and Cathy, I am sorry to hear of your respective losses. I greatly sympathize.
-Geo Steve

I actually bought that single of Roger's. I really loved that song. Wow, talk about strolling down memory lane here.

Thanks for the info Borderstone

Dream Weaver
Sittin' on the dock of the Bay
Baker Street - he might have had another hit though.


Thank you Steve, and Bill W. I appreciate the thoughts.

ah, good one brink...

ooooh, dreamweaver...gonna have it in my head for the rest of the day now...

Thanks Geo and Bill. It was a few years ago, and I'm over the shock of it now. Sometimes, when I think of one of Dad's goofy sayings or something, I still get misty eyed.

This is off topic really -( don't send out the hounds! ) but I love Roger Whittaker's work. So does a certain Talbot10 who has met and can regale with personal tales of their meeting(s). (Don't be annoyed at me Bill for talking out of school!)
I have only seen him play once. At the Sydney Opera Hose in about 1984. I insisted on taking my wife along -(she was reticent) and he was wonderful if somewhat unusual as he broke up his concert with a slide show based on his home country of Kenya ! It was like a travelogue /tourist promo...I think it was about a week after we saw U2 hammer the Sydney Entertainment Centre with the opening concert of their "Under A Blood Red Sky" tour. ( the "Red Rocks "concert )

But I digress. The Last Farewell is one of those songs that has stood the test of time and will continue to do it.

PS If you want to hear someone who can whistle, fair dinkum like a piccolo or a real musical instrument , then Roger Whittaker is your man - try the track called "Mexican Whistler" for those who can access and download the tune if you doubt the truth of it.... Astonishing.

I listenedto Roger Whittaker sing once,no offensebut I couldn't keep a straight face! :D LOL!

Hey,that's just me though. :)

How about,'80s "Funkytown" by Lipps. Inc (Lip-sync)? The female singer and her male instrument playing partner made two LPs but this was the only hit they got!

The follow up "Rock It" never got higher than #80! The song has been heard for 26 years but they're somewhere enjoying middle age now. Love to see them show up on one of those PBS specials though.

but you can keep a straight face through Funkytown?

It's fine if someone wants to "return fire" Mike. :) It couldn't change my view of Mariah anyhow.

If she went down Whitney's path though,I'd really be crushed,as well as feeling so very sorry for her if she did. :(

Not gonna happen though! :D

LSH,I don't think we're meant to keep a straight face during "Funkytown". :D That and Anita Ward's "Ring My Bell" from 1979! ;) That song cracks me up! LOL!

A really cool 1 H.W. from '79 also,"Knock On Wood" by Amii Stewart. A remake of the 60's song. She then tried to bastardize The Doors by disoc-fying "Light My Fire". Dancable but just weird and wrong.

Same as the new Blondie/Doors mix called "Rapture Riders". [img]tongue.gif[/img] A combo of "Rapture" & "Riders On The Storm" with an equally stupid video to go with it! Ugh!!!

By the way...Brink,Otis Redding had like 11 more hits than "..Bay". Just letting you know. ;)

Gee Walter I didn't konw that, I thought that he died before Sitting On the Dock of the Bay and that was the only one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otis_Redding

Hi Brink! :) Instead of my making the list,just click up top to see Otis's Hot 100 career in the U.S. Lot faster! ;) :D

The ones that say "U.S." are the pop chart.

Thanks B!

Billy Vera and the Beaters: What Did You Think

What did you think I would do at this moment When you're standing before me With tears in your eyes...

Remember this one? Any previous or follow up hits? I can't seem to think of any...

I remember buying that for my mum - she loved it! I've heard it playing in stores etc....always know it right away...

He had hits that others sang. interesting bio:
http://www.livinblues.com/bluesrooms/billyvera.asp

B-stone: Howdy. I appreciate the Roger Whittaker follow up from you as an alternative point of view. Have you ever heard "The Last Farewell" ? Its arguably his hands-down best hit, and really did fall into the crossover categorie in '76, or so, the same Time Summertime Dream and the Wreck were building momentum. When I bought both albums simultaneously, I mused over the maritime connection between the two.

And Sydney Steve, I agree with you on The Last Farewell. It has stood the test of time, and to this day when I hear it, rarely on the radio here in Colorado, or put it on my old turntable, I still get the 'Skinbracer" invigorating ocean-spray slap-in-the-face wake up. He** of a song.

If someone were to hear some of his "easy listening" standards only, they would have a very incomplete view wouldn't you agree ? And man-oh-man are you right can he whistle. He is rather well-noted for this, as I recall.

I still reccomend for new listeners Dirty Old Town as well, a song that always evokes for me that feeling you get on the first or second date with "The" woman meant for you. I'd stack up that song and Last Farewell with a lot of GL songs, although Gord remains my favourite.

Whittaker's "Water Boy", as I mentioned in raising the Whittaker entry, is also a showcase for his powerful bass voice, I swear he could bust all the glass out of the Long Branch saloon in "Gunsmoke" !

I have heard the warbler song and that whistling is definately staggering as you pointed out Sydney.

If someone catches only one of his renditions of songs such as "Send in the Clowns", where he is dressed as a clown, I can understand where a top40-oriented listener would dismiss him as another "category" of singer, but that is in fact his strength, similar to GL's, is his timelessness and versatility, and outstanding voice.

And I STRONGLY reccomend his traditional (Irish ? ) Folk Songs album, with "The Ash Grove" etc. It is pure acoustic and incredible voice classic timeless folk.

OK enough enough, I'll stop.... :)

- Geo Steve

nice thoughts, Geo. I agree with you, I totally loved Roger, even bought the 45 of The Last Farewell. I think I'll have a look-see at Amazon.com for his Best Of collection... thanks for reminding us!!

{BRANDY}:: BY LOOKING GLASS. That song takes me back to 1972,73. Those for me were great years...

"Did you boogiw with your baby iun the back row of the movie show."

"Did you boogie with her there 'cause you had nowhere else,that you could go?"

"When the lights went way down low,did you forget about the picture show?"

"Did you boogie with your baby in the back row of the movie show?"

("Did You) Boogie With Your Baby" - Flash Cadillac & The Continental Kids

One hit,that's all they had! ...but what a great one. :cool:

OK Have I got a doozy for you
This morning on New York's annoying news radio station 1010 WINS I was surprised to hear a commercial that began "Hi this is Wink Martindale"
http://www.winkmartindale.com/images/menu/logo1.gif
http://www.winkmartindale.com/images/menu/logo2.gif
[img]http://www.winkmartindale.com/images/menu/logo3.gif[img]
http://www.winkmartindale.com/images/menu/logo4.gif
OK I now see from a Wiki that he
"is perhaps best known as a game show host"
Not being a great follower of US game shows I never knew that. So my mind immediately recalled:-
"His rendition of the song "Deck Of Cards" went to #7 on the Billboard charts and sold over a million copies in 1959."
I suspect therefore that he qualifies as a one-hit-wonder.unless Walter knows differently??
I will never forget those immortal lines:-

You see Sir, when I look at the Ace, it reminds me that there
is but one God.
And the Deuce reminds me that the Bible is divided into two parts, the Old and the New Testaments.
When I see the Trey, I think of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost
"And when I see the Four, I think of the four Evangelists who preached the Gospel; there was Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
And when I see the Five, it reminds me of the five wise virgins who trimmed their lamps; there were ten of them: five were
wise and were saved, five were foolish and were shut out.
When I see the Six, it reminds me that in six days, God made this great heaven and earth.
When I see the Seven, it reminds me that on the seventh day, God rested from His great work.
And when I see the Eight, I think of the eight righteous persons God saved when He destroyed this earth; there was
Noah, his wife, their sons and their wives.
And when I see the Nine, I think of the lepers our Savior cleansed, and nine out of the ten didn't even thank Him.
When I see the Ten, I think of the Ten Commandments God handed down to Moses on a table of stone
When I see the King, it reminds me that there is but one King of Heaven, God Almighty.
And when I see the Queen, I think of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who is Queen of Heaven.
And the Jack or Knave is the Devil......
So you see, Sir, my pack of cards serves me as a Bible, an Almanac and a Prayer Book."
sorry to get "religious" on you
Not bad for a confirmed agnostic
It won't happen again,Promise.
So din't send me to Coventry or ignore me please
John Fowles
Stationmaster Lorne Help!!
I wanted to display the complete logo as shown on Wink's site:-
http://www.winkmartindale.com/mainmenu/index.html
but it is in 4 parts
I can get three to appear but as you can see the third won't nor do I know how to get 2,3 and 4 all together in the same line as they appear on Wink's site.I was thinking that since you previously got 4 on a line could you try with these three please?? Over to you

The link to his site served it's purpose Sir John...I saw the full logo at Wink's site....
;)
Char

OK clever clogs that is why I gave the link (so that Lorne could see the effect I wished to recreate) and because my point was that I had previously admired Lorne's ability to make a number of pictures appesar here on the same line, something I tried but failed to master, oh do shut up hooligan fellow down under. i thought that if Lorne were to look sat Wink's site and he would then see that three of the 4 gif image files that make up the full 4 gif file montage are indeed all on one line and he might then be able to get them to appear here similarly and I could learn myself so that I could add this trick to my upcoming revised displaying tutorial
John

aha Sir John...if the link shows us the image at the other site is there a need to post it here too?
;)
I love my 'wink' face being used apropos to the Wink site...I'm easliy amused....
lol

and I do like 'clever clogs'too !!
;)

No of course there is no need to post it here but if you reread my postings you just might realise that I was hoping to use this as an example of the technique to display more than one item on a line here which is something that stationmaster Lorne can do but I can't and I hoped to find out how to do it from him

People wearing clever clogs also wear clever trousers I believe!!

Always versatile , the Master has entered the world of comedy in a big way!

Re read ? I was unaware Char was a member of "Masochists Anonymous" ....

That said , Corfid rumours abound that John is as we speak in top level negotiations with a cutting edge medical publishing crowd who specialise in dealing with the problems of the sleep deprived. It is understood every post John has ever logged is to be rebadged as "The Insomniacs Self Help Guide "- printed straight to paperback in a multi volume release with 12 easy installments . woo hoo!

Save yourselves some money while there is still time Corfidites - take John's advice and
" Snore Monthly " rates his musings No 1! ;)

LMAO!! Too funny Steve. Good humor.

Absolutely too funny, Steve!!

Oh come on ladies the Sydney hooligan ain't that funny.In fact he is a disrespectful insulting moron, and I understand that he is going to be the chief usher at his parent's wedding next month.
Please stop pandering to his egomania
John Fowles
It's a pretty poor show when after trying my level best to present well researched,interesting educational and entertaining items this clown has to spew forth this sort of claptrap and horse droppings

You go man, John. You tell 'em. To wit to 'em all ! Erudite ex-cogitations of fertile imaginations obfuscated by crepuscular, but well researched enlightment unite ! I'm with ya man. Which reminds me of a non-sequiter pivot, if you'll all alow it, and some general rambling of mine.... I hope u all find it interesting...
j/k John, - I satirize myself here far more than you, as I am sure you recognize. :) truth be told, I enjoy your postings very much.
- geo Steve

.......giggling and looking around for the dictionary... just reading all that sprained my lips! If they end up in a cast it won't be pretty. :eek:


OK, Mike. I've managed to come up with another one hit wonder after all those listed. It wasn't easy.

Classical Gas by Mason Williams

Thanks Misty... all in good fun. I have nothing but respect for John's learned and indeed well-researched posts. His humour cracks me up,too.

Oh BTW you'll find 3/4 of my $20 words in one of my favourite authors - Trevanian i.e. the Eiger Sanction - remember that horribly-acted climbing movie with Clint Eastwood ? Well the book is a work of brilliant satire that the movie sort of... barely nudges by comparison.

They say Clint did learn basic climbing enough to get some tough snow and ice shots done on the Eiger in Switzerland, and rock in Monument Valley, too. He was in da** good shape for what must have been his mid to late 50's ? dunno.

Baaaad movie, greaaaat book from a brilliant but secretive French Basque small-townsman author that recently wrote "The last Great Western Novel" - [as i recall] or similar. - A heavily researched book with a pattern shoot-em-up resulting, but he did his history homework out here in the west.

MY song contribution..... help me out here everyone.,,, the one about leaving the cake out in the rain...oh noooooo . written and .wait ! zounds ! its... "McArthur Park" by....by.... Richard Harris ? of Jonathan Livingston SeaBull ? sic[gull,SeaGULL] or did someone else already post this ? I think it was the actor/BAARD-ite/poet-cum-Rennaisance Man Richard Harris who played either Lancelot or King Arthur in Camelot. Men in tights. Always cracks me up. What was that Monty-python-esque movie about Men in Tights with Robin Hoood et al ? Never saw it but heard it was hilarious.
- geo Steve

MacArthur's Park by Jimmy Webb...my goodness that was quite the song!

While I don't recall another Richard Harris hit Jimmy Webb did alright for himself: some GREAT songs were his creations:

"Jimmy Webb is responsible for writing numerous popular and Top 10 hits sung by a disparate group of artists, including Glen Campbell ("By the Time I Get to Phoenix," "Wichita Lineman", "Galveston"), Art Garfunkel ("All I Know"), Richard Harris ("MacArthur Park"), The Fifth Dimension ("Up, Up and Away") and The Highwaymen, consisting of Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, and Kris Kristofferson, ("The Highwayman"), Linda Ronstadt, and many others.

Webb's father was a Baptist minister and a former Marine. His mother died when he was a teenager. His most popular songs were all composed when he was between 19 and 21 years of age.

"By The Time I Get To Phoenix" is one of the most recorded songs of the 20th century."

I'm responding to something from last month that I couldn't before.
As I mentioned I listened to Whittaker's stuff and was unable to contain my laughter. Overall,no,I really don't know any of his songs at all.

I might listen to "Farewell" if I get a chance,who knows?...maybe I'm wrong. ;)

By the way,I'm going to cease correcting folks about how many hits someone had. I know people don't like being corrected but I'll say that Billy Vera did have 2 other hits but,nobody really remembers them.

There's a lot of acts out there that had one really memorable song but for whatever reason,after that "big one" they have these lesser hits. Makes you wonder why anyone was interested in the first place.

Like when The Bellamy Brothers had that big #1 hit on the pop charts,"Let You Love Flow" and then their only other top 40 entry was,"If I Said You Had A Beautiful Body"....etc. #39.

I just don't get that at all. :rolleyes:

I think every thing the Bellamy Brothers did was a hit! Loved 'em and still do.

from another
"old hippie"

I love the song, "Ah, Leah" by Donnie Iris...I believe it was a hit in 1980.