176 Goodbye Frankie Vaughan - Nevertheless

Chart  entered  :  28  February  1968

Chart  peak : 29

Time  to  bid  farewell  to  another  fifties  survivor. This  was  the  third  and  last  hit  from  Frankie's  brief  renaissance  on  Columbia  after  the  hits ( on  Philips )  had  appeared  to  peter  out  in  1965 ( the  year  he  received  his  OBE ).

There  are  no  concessions  to  psychedelia  or  R &  B  here. This  cover  of  a  song  popularised  by  Bing Crosby  in  1931  could  have  been  in  the  first  chart. It's  strictly  MOR  schmaltz  for  the  over-35s . Frankie  sounds  a  bit  wobbly  on  the  long  notes; that's  all  I  can  think  of  to  say  about  it  really.

Frankie's  next  single  was  "Mame"  from  the  hit  musical  of  the  same  name  but  he  had  rather  missed the  boat  as  Bobby  Darin, Louis  Armstrong  and  Herb  Alpert  had  all  released  versions  ( all  hits  in the  US  but  not  here )  over  the  past  couple  of  years. If  you  enjoyed  the  Black  And  White Minstrel  Show you'd  love it.

Frankie  then  decided  to  try  his  hand  at  a  bit  of  social  work  and  flew  up  from  his  summer  season in  Blackpool  to  meet  the  street  gangs  on  the  Easterhouse  estate  in  Glasgow  and  try  to  persuade them  to  stop  stabbing  each  other. There  were  suggestions  at  the  time  that  it  was  a  publicity  stunt to revive  his  flagging  career  but  Frankie  did  have  a  longstanding  interest  in  Boys' Clubs  ( that  sadly would  be  suspect  today )  and  he  did  manage  to  arrange  a  knife  amnesty. Nevertheless  he  did  have a  single  out  "( Take  Back  Your )  Souvenirs"  which  I  haven't  heard.

I  can  only  list  the  next  few  Columbia  singles  as  no  one  at  EMI  thinks  they're  worth  compiling : "The  Same  Old  Way" , "Hideaway" ( 1969 ) ; "I'll  Give  You  Three  Guesses"   ( 1970 ); "Make  The Circus  Come  To  Town" ( 1971 ), "Paradise " ( 1972 ). From  the  latter  year  his  version  of  the  title song  from  the  flop  Newley-Bricusse  musical  "The  Good  Old  Bad  Old  Days"  has  made  it  onto compilations  and  is  good  if  you  like  ragtime  musical  numbers.  In  1973  he  sang  "Abide  With  Me" at  the  FA  Cup  Final.  His  last  single  for  Columbia  was  "I'll Never  See  Julie  Again"  in  1974.

In  1975  he  went  to  Pye  who  released  "It's  Too  Late  Now"  in  March  which  at  least  sounds vaguely  contemporary   - well  within  the  last  decade -  with  Frankie  doing  a  big  ballad  in  Tom  Jones version. From  then  on  it's  the  same  story  with  Pye : "Close  Your  Eyes", "Feelings" ( 1975 ) ;"One" , "I'll  Never Smile  Again" ( 1976) ; "Red  Sails In The  Sunset" , "Take  Me" ( 1977 ).  In  1978  he  teamed up  with  Al  Saxon  who  wrote  and  produced  "Think  Beautiful  Things"  on  the  little  known  Beautiful label.

In  1983  he  recorded  the  charity  single  "Stockport"  after  the  Daily  Mail  ran  a  competition  for songs  about  uncelebrated  towns  and  the  writer  Geoff  Morrow  asked  Frankie  to  record  his  effort. It is  a  terrible  sub- Sinatra  big  band  number  with  Frankie  understandably  corpsing  at  singing  such inane  ( and   clearly  untrue ) lyrics. Frankie  did  some  signings  in  the  town- well  you  can't  imagine  it sold  a  single  copy  anywhere  else.

Frankie  next  released  "Dreamers " on  PRT   from  the  disastrous  Marvin  Hamlisch  musical  Jean Seberg   which   had  already  closed  before  the  single  was  released  in   May  1984.  Shortly  afterwards he  went  into  42nd  Street  with  Shani  Wallis  but  had  to quit  in  1986  after  he  fell  seriously  ill  with peritonitis  and  almost  died  from  failing  to  seek  medical  attention  soon  enough.

His  last  single  appears  to  have  been  "When  Your  Old  Wedding  Ring  Was  New "  on  Spartan  in 1987  which  seems  to  plod  on  forever  in  pub  singer  mode  despite  some  palatable  trumpet  work.

In  his  last  decade  Frankie  was  inactive  due  to  health  problems. In  1992  he  suffered  a  ruptured artery. In  1996  he  was  upgraded  to  a  CBE.  He  died  in  September  1999 aged  71 , failing  to  pull  through   after  extensive  heart  surgery.

I'm  aware  that  I  have  not  done  Frankie  full  justice  in  this  piece. That's  simply  because  if  the  music isn't  readily  to  hand  I  don't  have  the  time  or  the  resources  to  hunt  it  down. Any  Frankie  fans reading  this  may  like  to  fill  in  the  gaps  using  the  Comments  box ; that's  what  it's  there  for.