Comments on: GEORGIE FAME - “The Ballad Of Bonnie And Clyde”

By: rosie

rosie — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 19:11:33 +0000

Tom @38: Light My Fire was a contemporary hit, though not a number one, for Jose Feliciano. Not a straight copy but an interesting and original interpretation.

By: DJ Punctum

DJ Punctum — Thu, 01 May 2008 08:45:59 +0000

Oh, there’s nothing wrong with a little discreet self-Googling… ;-)

(although I note that Mr Murray didn’t return to comment on the “Billy Don’t Be A Hero” entry)

By: Doctor Casino

Doctor Casino — Thu, 01 May 2008 04:06:17 +0000

I finally heard this one for the first time and I must say, Tom, you’re uncharacteristically harsh here! You may be right that the performance hits some weird notes, but if you’re not paying attention this is a really catchy thing. It could use some more surprises along its length but I can’t complain about that first hook, “BONnie and Clyde” - nice.

I associate these kind of rinky-dink retro pieces with mild children’s edutainment cartoons, mainly the “I’m Just A Bill” spot on “Schoolhouse Rock” but I think it ran through all manner of cheap children’s fare for decades. Ooh - even better example - Follow The Arrows.

….so imagine my surprise when I got ready to post this comment and found that this thread was once revived by the song’s author! (Or an imposter, although I can’t imagine what would possess somebody to bother.)

By: Marcello Carlin

Marcello Carlin — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 16:57:05 +0000

What did you think of the Serge Gainsbourg one?

By: Mitch Murray

Mitch Murray — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 16:03:59 +0000

I read the various opinions of my song, ‘The Ballad Of Bonnie And Clyde’ with interest and amusement. Of course, many of the comments were fair and well-made, but at the time I was in the business of writing hit songs and I can’t apologise for that - especially as millions of people all over the world bought the record and made it No.1 in so many countries. Several other singers besides Georgie Fame covered it and had great success, including Johnny Halliday’s No.1 in France - ‘L’Histoire de Bonnie et Clyde’.
Yes, of course it was a period-piece, and was meant to relate to the Thirties however, the song told the story of Bonnie and Clyde in what I believe was a highly melodic yet dramatic style.
Your correspondents were right when they observed that the piece was an example of musical opportunism - much of pop music is always opportunistic, hit songwriters like to have hits, but I am very proud of the song and believe it had value. Millions of record buyers agreed, and Warner Brothers recognised that ‘The Ballad Of Bonnie And Clyde’ helped with the promotion of the movie in many territories.
By the way, we did see the film - that’s why we were inspired to write the song.
Thank you all for your interest. Best regards, Mitch Murray.

By: Marcello Carlin

Marcello Carlin — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 08:29:14 +0000

No, Fame fired Mitchell for “insubordination” back in ‘66; his next job was with the Experience.

By: bramble

bramble — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 21:10:16 +0000

Didnt Mitch Mitchell play on this before jumping ship with Jimi Hendrix?

By: Tom

Tom — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 22:22:38 +0000

I didn’t know that! In the UK I guess the singles weren’t released, or weren’t promoted, because they didn’t really have hits beyond “Hello I Love You”. “Light My Fire” is a #1 later though, for someone else, and Pink Floyd get a number 1 too in 1979, so the picks were a tiny bit tongue in cheek.

By: koganbot

koganbot — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 22:09:58 +0000

Odd that you should pick the Doors to represent albums, Tom. You’re right that 1968 is the big shift to albums, but the Doors were the one freak band to never stop placing singles high on the charts. And Morrison never lost his appeal to teenyboppers, albeit to the glammetal-before-there-was-even-glammetal rock-chick teens, not the Davey-Jones-is-so-cute teens.

By: koganbot

koganbot — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 22:06:44 +0000

Mark, of course the Cahierist new wavers weren’t anti-moralist at all (note the Rohmer cycle “Six Moral Tales”) (and Penn and Benton and Newman aren’t antimoralist either); what they objected to was films reducing themselves to a moral point, as if they were Aesop’s Fables. The Cahieriets wanted ideas to be imbedded in the whole staging and flow of a movie and the relations of its characters (”staging and flow/relations of its characters” = my attempt to translate the phrase “mise en scène”; lots of “Death Rock 2000″ [among other pieces] is my applying the concept ["concept"] “mise en scène - or Ferguson’s and Farber’s American equivalents - to music).

By: koganbot

koganbot — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 21:54:33 +0000

Ha, I was reading down this and was wondering “When is someone going to mention Flatt & Scruggs” - though as for their being “genuine country,” I might classify ‘em more as neo-bluegrass proto-NPR/alt-country. Also, not having read any of the bios, I’d nonetheless expect that the real Bonnie & Clyde - and also the ones portrayed in the movie - would have been pop fans, probably listening to Crosby and Astaire and having dreams of glamour. And my ex-wife Leslie once remarked that the real Bonnie would probably have been ecstatic to have someone who looked like Dunaway playing her in the movie.

Beatty is an amazing actor, but always makes me uneasy, since his specialty is characters with a lot of difficult things going on inside but without much self-awareness of all that’s running beneath their own surface.

By: Doctor Mod

Doctor Mod — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 06:33:07 +0000

Country? Since when is this sorry bit of retro-30s pseudo-jazz COUNTRY??

There was some genuine c&w in the film soundtrack, Flatt and Scruggs, as I recall. Now that guitar/banjo pickin’ work fit right in with the ambience of the film. B&C were country-kinda people, after all.

Somehow, Georgie Fame mugging and smirking through the sound of multiple gunshots makes me wonder if Mitch Murray and Peter Callender actually saw the film.

The denouement was not cute.

By: Alan Connor

Alan Connor — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 00:20:21 +0000

The same Peter Sellars who played William Shaksper Junior the Fifth in Godard’s King Lear - along with Woody Allen, Julie Delpy, Norman Mailer, Burgess Meredith and Molly Ringwald?

By: Marcello Carlin

Marcello Carlin — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 10:41:56 +0000

Though it should be noted that “Stand By Your Man,” recorded and released in 1968, took seven years to get to number one in Britain.

By: Chris Brown

Chris Brown — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 19:35:32 +0000

Howdy! I keep meaning to come around and comment on something here in the “new” location. Glad to see so many new posts on here.

However, I don’t think I’ve ever heard this song, which limits my opportunities to discuss it somewhat. Having glanced at the rest of 1968 I agree with the overall tenor.

Now I’m off to annoy everyone by commenting on ancient posts…

By: Tom

Tom — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 15:10:33 +0000

I forgot “Lucille”! Yes indeed.

That said I think the UK’s country-lovin’ heyday does seem to have passed, a bit.

By: Mark M

Mark M — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 15:00:48 +0000

According to Everyhit, Kenny got to number 1 with Lucille and (of course) Coward Of The County, and number 2 with Ruby. As Tom sort of implied, this country’s fear of country is a bit of a myth.

By: Tim Hopkins

Tim Hopkins — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 13:16:33 +0000

Pls ignore the above covered by TE’s first reply whch I misunderstood completely. Oh dear.

By: Tim Hopkins

Tim Hopkins — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 13:15:34 +0000

I’m a stinker for assuming things got to #1 which didn’t, really, but I thought dear old Kenny Rogers had a short string of #1s which were proper actual country (albeit of a pop variety)?

By: Erithian

Erithian — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 12:30:46 +0000

This is the first Number 1 that I can remember from the time and seeing it on TOTP at the age of 5. Of course it started a lifelong affinity with TOTP and so many memories of great appearances - none more so than the one coming up in about 13 entries’ time! Last year, at exactly the same age, my twin boys for the first time went to bed singing the Number 1 they’d just heard on TOTP, “Amarillo”. It’s a pity they haven’t got thirty-odd years of the show to look forward to…

By: tracerhand

tracerhand — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 22:56:42 +0000

kinda feeds into my mom’s controversial contention that bellbottoms were already retro in the 1960’s - they looked like sailors’ trousers!

By: wwolfe

wwolfe — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 16:43:02 +0000

Musically, this always seemed like it belonged among that odd little cache of 1920s revival songs that sprung up in the mid-1960s. My impression is that this came from the general movement to rediscover interesting aspects of American and English history (hence the vogue for Western duds among American hippies and Edwardian gear among English bands) that was prominent at the time. In America, the 1920s mini-boom produced hits like Sopwith Camel’s “Hello Hello” and the New Vaudeville Band’s “Winchester Cathedral.” Various acts also posed in 1920s garb on their album covers (see: Spanky and Our Gang and Peter, Paul, and Mary, among others). Outside of pop music, there were examples such as “Thoroughly Modern Millie” in movies and the revival of “No, No, Nanette” on Broadway.” To me, “The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde” sounds at home in this funny little musical cul-de-sac. It never occurred to me when I was hearing it on the radio as a 9-year old that the singer and songwriters were all British. (Of course, I never knew until today that the same guy who wrote “Winchester Cathedral” also wrote “There’s a Kind of Hush” and “Doctor’s Orders.” There’s three songs I would never have guessed came from the same pen.)

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 13:14:49 +0000

I actually got no further than the Bonnie And Clyde section as I realised that a) I didn’t like Warren B. that much and that b) if I didn’t like Warren B, god only knows what horrors wd await me later in the book!

By: pˆnk s lørd sükråt cunctor

pˆnk s lørd sükråt cunctor — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 12:33:42 +0000

i think genre segregation predates 1955 — the niche charts began in the billboard in the late 40s, no? (i have this all written down somewhere)

(actually there’s an argument to say that genre segregation began with the use of the word “blues” in a song title, ie in the 20s –> it meant “ONLY BLACK FOLKS WILL WANT TO BUY THIS”)

By: tracerhand

tracerhand — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 12:20:38 +0000

(of course you’re prob. talking about the 1955 tennessee ernie ford version, which was the hit; the difficulty we have today in calling ford “country” points up the segregation of this kind of music that began at some point in the 1950s - into black and white, rock, pop and country - there were no such categories at the time; one wonders, however, how “16 tons” would have fared had it not been written by travis, and had ford been just a bit blacker)