I think I’ve mentioned around here before that I now volunteer in a local charity shop. It’s only for one day a week but I’ve really come to enjoy my day in the shop, in amongst all those things people have found excess to requirements.
This week I was going through a trolley of things which had to be priced ready to go out on the shop floor and in amongst it all there were three 45rpm singles – the one at the top caught my eye. It was the song Out On The Floor by Dobie Gray. But of course Dobie wasn’t singing about anything going out on a shop floor, he was singing about dancing, and I knew this song was a big favourite with the Northern Soul faithful back in the early to mid 70s. Could you ever find lyrics more appropriate for people who regularly attended “all-nighters” in repurposed dancehalls in the North of England?
Out On The Floor by Dobie Gray
I’ve written about Northern Soul around here before (link to posts), as it fascinates me how a body of young northern men came to love dancing to obscure soul records from the mid 60s so much, but it wasn’t until I read this book by Stuart Cosgrove that I realised how little I knew about it all. Although Stuart is a Scot, back in the day he and his friends would travel south to attend the legendary all-nighters in places like Wigan Casino and in doing so he built up a vast knowledge of not only the records that were played but of the various characters best known on the circuit. It was all down to a handful of DJs really and where they went the crowds followed. What a time to have been alive.
If you are interested in the history of Northern Soul I would thoroughly recommend Stuart’s book. As for Dobie’s record in the shop, I didn’t buy it as it’s definitely not one of those really rare ones that change hands for lots of money, and I don’t think it was in very good condition, but it certainly drew me to a song that has become an earworm for the rest of the week. Thankfully a nice earworm.
Until next time…
Out On The Floor Lyrics (Song by Fred Darian/Alfred V De Lory)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, babe’s it’s out of sight Out on the floor each night, I’m really movin’ The band’s is wailin’ right I feel like groovin’ The chicks are out of sight and I am grooving The crowd is in tonight beggin’ for more
I get my kicks out on the floor
I am on the floor tonight, I feel like singin The beat is running right and guitars are ringin’ I’m really on tonight and everything swingin’ The room is packed out tight, light at the door
So I get my kicks out on the floor
Yeah, yeah, yeah, babe’s it’s out of sight
When I’m out on the floor, it makes me feel like a king Everybody here, don’t you know what I mean It makes me wanna move (makes me wanna move). It makes me feel that groove (make me feel that groove). I wanna twist and shout (makes me twist and shout). Work it on out (make me work it on out)
When I feel that beat (feel that beat), I gotta move my feet
Out on the floor tonight, I feel like singin’ The beat is hot and bright, guitars are ringin’ The chicks are out of sight everything’s swingin’ The room is packed up tight, lined at the door, oh, yeah So I’m gettin’ my kicks, out on the floor (I got some more) Don’t you feel that beat, down in in your feet
Another Saturday and another blog post from me. I’ve suddenly become quite prolific after a bit of a fallow period. We’ve all had our ups and downs over the last couple of years but thankfully my downs seem to be temporary. I feel for those whose mental health has really been affected however, as there just doesn’t seem to be enough help out there for the increased demand. This week’s news headlines won’t have helped – Could Christmas be cancelled yet again?
Something Mr WIAA and I have actively tried to cut back on over the last fortnight, is rolling news. Being home-based, we never wanted to fall into the trap of watching daytime telly, so always kept the screen in the kitchen tuned to a news channel. Problem is, in 2021 the stories have been bleak indeed, and not just down to the pandemic. Best to simply catch the radio news first thing in the morning then stay well away from it all for the rest of the day – Turns out a bit of property porn, or touching base with the heir-hunters when having a break, is far less depressing.
Kay Burley from the world of rolling news
Forgive me this indulgence, but over the years, whenever something quite big happened in our family, we didn’t just rush home to tell each other. Oh no, we also burst into song, the first lines from this song to be specific. One of DD’s favourite films as a young child was Summer Holiday and it was watched many, many times. Near the end of the film, Don (Cliff Richard) puts the world’s press right, via the medium of song. Here he is singing Big News from 1963. (Starts at 0:33.)
Big News by Cliff Richard:
Sticking with a 1960s theme, my Saturday morning starts well nowadays. Not just because of Rol’sSaturday Snapshots, but also because of the radio show Sounds of the Sixties. The current presenter Tony Blackburn is now aged 78, but his enthusiasm for the songs he plays is infectious, and in a 15 minute period he can fit in around five classic songs, punctuated with his short and snappy, so bad they’re good, dad jokes.
Couldn’t get to sleep so went to buya new mattress – Salesman said if you lie near the edge you’ll soon drop off.
Tony started out in pirate radio and of course was the first DJ to be heard on BBC Radio 1 when it launched in 1967. The first record he played was The Move’sFlowers in the Rain, a useful fact for pop quizzes. He’s had a long career and even provided the inspiration for many a comedy sketch about aging, ‘not-so-cool’ DJs. Think Tony has had the last laugh though, as here he is still doing a job he adores all these years later – How many of us can say that nowadays. His first love was soul music and he always includes a floor-filler from the days of Northern Soul on his show. This morning’s pick was this gem from 1968, What by Judy Street.
What by Judy Street:
I’ve become fascinated by Northern Soul over the last few years and have written a fair few posts about the phenomenon that hit the North of England in the mid 1970s. I love to watch those dancers in action and live in hope I’ll master their moves whilst still fit enough to do so. The music usually drives the dance style, but because I wasn’t there at the time, tricky to pick it up in later life it seems. Maybe I’ll have to get one of those big circular skirts and put some talc on my laminate floor.
The song What was originally recorded by Melinda Marx, daughter of Groucho, and released in 1965. Judy recorded it in 1968 as the B-side to her single You Turn Me On. After being exported to England, it was picked up by DJs at Wigan Casino and became a big hit on the Northern Soul circuit.
So, ‘What’s It All About?’ – I used to be shocked when people I worked with said they didn’t really watch the news, as I always like to be well-informed about what’s going on in the world. It does start to wear you down however, when everything is negative, worrying and doesn’t give you much hope for the future. I will no doubt return to my old ways in due course, but for the moment, nice to have a bit of a break from it all.
It was a real delight to listen to back to back songs from the 1960s earlier on this morning – In a short space of time we were treated to Oh, Happy Day, Waterloo Sunset, Ain’t Nothing Like The Real Thing, Do You Know The Way To San Jose and I Couldn’t Live Without Your Love, as well as the song written about above. As for Tony Blackburn, just like Kay Burley in the world of television news, he’s not for everyone, but when interviewed he’s like the cat that got the cream, as he still can’t quite believe he gets paid for playing all these songs he loves. He is apolitical and never offers up his opinions, so his show makes for a nice relaxed start to the weekend. His predecessor Brian Matthews was more a connoisseur of ’60s music I think, often playing lesser known tracks, but Tony is a people pleaser and sticks to the ones we all know and love.
Right, time to dust off my plimsoles and get working on my spins and shuffles. If you want to find out more about Northern Soul, this episode of The Culture Show does well in explaining it all.
Until next time…
What Lyrics (Song by H.B. Barnum)
Do you want me to get down on my knees Beg you baby please cry a million tears Do you want me to call you on the phone Beg you to come home think of all the years
When I once lived in paradise When the love light showed in your eyes
Oh tell me what What (what) can I do when I still love you What (what) can I say when I still want you What can I do what can I say You’ll never know this way
Do you want me to follow you around everywhere in town do you want a clown Why do you treat me mean and cruel breaking every rule can’t I be your fool We could make this a happy home So come back where you belong
Oh tell me what (what) can I do when I still love you What (what) can I say when I still want you What can I do what can I say You’ll never know this way
Please forgive me come back and then We can fall in love Over and over and over and over again
Oh tell me what (what) can I do What (what) can I say Say you’ll come back don’t stay away What (what) can I do now baby
Postscript:
After pressing the publish button I made a bit of an interesting discovery. At the start of last week, my first post back after a break of a few weeks featured a song by Soft Cell. I of course mentioned that their first big hit in 1981 was a cover of Tainted Love, a Northern Soul favourite originally recorded by Gloria Jones.
In 1982 they also recorded What, and it got to the No. 3 spot on the UK Singles Chart. For some bizarre reason I don’t remember it at all, so can only put that down to the fact my life as a student had just come to an end and the world of paid work had begun – Different priorities. Anyway, here are Soft Cell with a very different version of today’s featured song. They obviously had an affinity for Northern Soul.
One of the loveliest things about having a blog, is that you just never know when a particular post from your archive is going to go viral, but that’s just what’s happened around here over the last couple of days because of a particular drinks advert. If like us you’ve been trying to avoid all the political programming on telly (we already know who we’re going to vote for and just feel depressed whenever we see the runners and riders in action), you might have caught some of the popular prime time shows that still attract a fair few million viewers of an evening. They’re not for everyone I know, but with no guests in the holiday hideaway and no-one ordering Christmas gifts from Mr WIAA’s website, we seem to have more time on our hands than is realistically good for us, and they do offer a bit of light relief of an evening.
The other night, in between watching celebrity campmates do things no human should ever have to do (eating kangaroo anus for entertainment comes to mind) we were treated to multiple showings of one particular seasonal advert, and it leapt out of the screen at us because it featured the Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons song, The Night. A couple of years ago I had written a post about that very song after watching the film Northern Soul (link here) and it seems I was not alone in enjoying the ad, as later that evening my “viewing stats” for the post really started to ramp up and it looks as if it will continue that way for the duration of the campaign. I’m not sure if I’m supposed to share such things around here but if you haven’t yet caught it, here is that very stylish ad.
The Night by Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons:
Always pleased when I find myself at the top of a search engine results page after the YouTube clip and the wiki entry, as I often experience “blogger’s guilt”, feeling I should be spending my time working on something more lucrative. Finding your blog in amongst the big boys makes me realise, like many others around here, I have quietly and anonymously built up quite a database of “stories and songs”, way beyond anything achieved at college or in the world of work.
You will notice there are a fair few party-goers dancing “Northern Soul style” in the ad. Despite not charting first time around, The Night became one of the most popular tracks on the northern soul circuit, becoming a hit in the UK in 1975. As often happens around here, a strange coincidence has occurred, as even before the ad aired I had already been revisiting my original post to remind myself just how great some of these lesser known American soul records from the mid ’60s were, and all because of another popular Saturday night telly show.
It’s apparently been running for 17 years and along with the various X-Factor formats and the crazy jungle show, I’ve kind of forgotten what people used to watch before they came along. It’s a show that really seems to draw in the viewers though and although we have never been fervent devotees of Strictly Come Dancing, if you have the telly on whilst you’re preparing Saturday night’s dinner, it’s inevitable you will catch some of the performances.
The other week I think the “celebrities” had to pick a song or style of dancing which was personal to them and Kelvin Fletcher (a soap star and fantastic dancer as it turns out) picked Northern Soul, as his dad had been a fervent devotee back in the day. Since becoming fascinated by the movement a couple of years ago, my ears pricked up, and the song they danced to, Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) by Frank Wilson formed an earworm for the following week.
Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) by Frank Wilson:
This song was new to me so of course I had to find out more. Although it became popular at Wigan Casino and the like in the mid 1970s, it was originally recorded in 1965 on the Motown subsidiary label Soul. But here is the really interesting bit, it was Frank Wilson’s only Motown single and is a prized item amongst collectors as all but 5 of the original 250 demo singles were destroyed. Berry Gordy had apparently given the vocals a lukewarm reception and Frank himself decided he would rather focus on production, which has led to the crazy scenario where some of these original copies are changing hands for over £25,000 each.
Every time I hear about the phenomenon that was Northern Soul, I regret not having been in the right place at the right time, as the dancing would have been perfect for me. In the mid ’70s we only had our local youth club’s disco, but it was there I discovered my passion and was never, ever to be seen dancing round my handbag. Oh no, we had the space so I made full use of it and watching the genuine afionadas of Northern Soul (the dance above was more a stylised version for the show), I reckon I could have given them a run for their money. As a form of exercise, it looks as if it would be much more fun than a workout at the gym. Time to look out the talc, some very wide trousers and get practicing.
Until next time….
Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) Lyrics (Song by Frank Wilson)
Here I am on bended knees I lay my heart down at your feet Now do I love you
All you have to do is ask I’ll give until there’s nothing left do I love you
As long as there is life in me Your happiness is guaranteed I’ll fill your heart with ecstasy, forever darling
Do I love you? Do I love you? Do I love you? Indeed I do Indeed I do
The very thing that I want most Is just to have and hold you close Do I love you?
From early morning until late at night You fill my heart with pure delight Do I love you?
whenever I lay me down to sleep I pray the Lord your soul to keep And bring you home safe to me, for ever darling
Do I love you? Do I love you? Do I love you?
Indeed I do, sweet darling, indeed I do
Now whenever I lay me down to sleep I pray the Lord your soul to keep And bring you home safe to me for ever darling
Do I love you? Do I love you? Do I love you? Indeed I do, little darling, indeed I do
Last night I finally got round to watching the film Northern Soul which had been recorded on the machine the previous week. It was made in 2014 but was all about the dance culture that emerged in the working-class industrial towns of the North of England in the early 1970s. Instead of chart music, the DJs in the various dance halls and youth clubs of Bury, Bolton, Blackburn, Burnley and Rochdale, played American soul music from the mid ’60s. And, this wasn’t mainstream soul music familiar to these youngsters, these DJs played the more obscure records that had never even charted (e.g. Tony Clarke: Landslide, Gloria Jones: Tainted Love, The Salvadors: Stick By Me Baby) but somehow they managed to attract large crowds of young people on a weekly basis, who literally danced all night.
The film Northern Soul is what would probably be classed as a gritty drama but told the story of two lads from Lancashire who immersed themselves in this culture, working in a factory by day but playing DJ at night, and at the weekends frequenting the big all-nighters at venues such as Wigan Casino. Watching them dance, this was early break dancing, what with the spins and the athletic moves. Who knew it all started in Lancashire?
For me, the standout record in the film was The Night by Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons. I knew this song well but didn’t realise that although it was originally released in 1972, due to poor promotion, didn’t chart. It did however become a popular track on the northern soul circuit and subsequently became a hit in 1975 reaching No.7 in the UK Singles Chart. An oh so familiar tale of a boy pleading with a girl he likes to resist the advances of another – Sadly all the pleading in the world is not going to work in a case like this as we girls all seem to go through a (probably) hormonally-induced phase of being attracted to the wrong kind of boy.
The Night by Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons:
But going back to northern soul, as a great fan of chart music between 1972 and 1975, carefully recording the chart rundown every Sunday night, it had not escaped my attention that there were a fair few listings around that time attributed to bands with the word Wigan in the title – There was Wigan’s Chosen Few with Footsee in 1975 and later on that year Wigan’s Ovation with three separate chart entries. They turned up on TOTP and we witnessed this very energetic style of dancing, so different to what we were used to down the local youth club. I didn’t give it much thought at the time but in later life have been intrigued by how this movement took off to such an extent. It was hard enough getting boys to dance at all where I came from so to see a whole dance hall full of, let’s face it, very macho males showboating on the dancefloor was surprising indeed.
I will leave you with a couple of clips that kind of sum up what it was like back then – The dance halls had seen better days and life was a bit grim on the outside but when all that great American soul music was being blasted from the sound systems, life it seemed, was sweet. I am pretty sure the Frankie Valli track that has become an earworm over the last 24 hours is not representative of the music that was played back then, and there are some music bloggers like Marie from It’s All In The Grooves who are experts in the kind of ’60s soul played at these venues, but watching the film it did remind me how much I loved Frankie’s falsetto. Still touring it seems at the grand old age of 82 and tickets selling fast so if you live in the North of England and want a little reminder of your days down at the Casino, get online fast!
The Night Lyrics (Song by Bob Gaudio/Al Ruzicka)
Beware Of his promise Believe What I say Before I go forever Be sure Of what you say
So he paints a pretty picture And he tells you that he needs you And he covers you with flowers And he always keeps you dreaming If he always keeps you dreaming You won’t have a lonely hour If a day could last forever You might like your ivory tower
But the night begins to turn your head around And you know you’re gonna lose more than you found Yeah the night begins to turn your head around
Beware Of his promise Believe What I say Before I go forever Be sure Of what you say
For the words may come too easy If you don’t believe I’m leaving And goodbye will come too quickly If you really think he loves you If you really think he loves you You would give your love so sweetly If that day could last forever You would fall in love completely
But the night begins to turn your head around And you know you’re gonna lose more than you found Yeah the night begins to turn your head around
What's It All About? 