(* and The Drifters )
Chart entered : 12 September 1958
Chart peak : 2
Number of hits : 133
Well you knew this guy was cropping up shortly didn't you ? This threw up a challenge what do I do with a hit act that separates in two both of which remain successful ? My original intention was to treat Cliff Richard and the Drifters / Shadows as a separate entity and then give each another Hello post. However I've found out that the Drifters to Shadows transition was not, as is commonly described, a simple name change and in fact this single doesn't feature any of the classic Shadows line up apart from Cliff himself. It would be quite absurd to wait for that to coalesce and not have this as anybody's debut so we'll introduce Cliff here and ponder how to treat The Shadows while there's a bit of thinking time available.
To clarify the line up issue The Drifters at this point were Cliff on vocals, Ian Samwell who wrote the song on guitar, Terry Smart on drums and Norman Mitham another guitarist. They apparently had no bass player. In the studio Norrie Paramor used session man Ernie Shears on lead guitar and Frank Clark on bass while reluctantly allowing Smart and Samwell to feature. This song was promoted from B side to a cover of Bobby Helms's "Schoolboy Crush" before release. Hank & Co were drafted into the band over the course of the next year.
Here's Lena's take on it Cliff
The problem I have with Cliff is my dad's reaction to him whenever he came on the box back in the 80s. He would roll his eyes and sigh "Cliff sodding Richard" with as much disdain as he could - being as he was very much an Elvis man.
ReplyDeleteTaking the track, it's aged pretty well, and the rumble of the rhythm guitar may have pricked the ears of a certain Mark Feld. I just find it hard to think of Cliff extolling the virtues of rock and roll when he moved over to mainstream pop only a few short years later.
Cliff's enduring delusion that he's still a rocker at heart after Eurovision, banning his own record, fifty years of chastity (ahem ) and sanctimonious Christmas songs is one of the more endearing things about him.
ReplyDeletePerhaps so - though I admit when I hear his name, the first thing that pops into my mind is Rick's poetic tribute to him in the Young Ones: "Oh Cliff!/Sometimes it must be difficult not to feel as if/you really are a Cliff/when fascists keep trying to push you over it..."
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