(#253, 27th July 1968)
The ever-smiling Des takes the Engelbert path, singing a sad song with an easy sweetness, drawing any sting it might have had, and reaching a bumper audience in the process. Thankfully O’Connor is much less bravura than Humperdinck, and his arrangers give him space to breathe too, so “I Pretend” is more gentle than unctious, though still pretty soporofic. 3
Written by Tom on Monday, August 21st, 2006 | 2,008 views |
The UK's 1000+ Number One Hits since 1952, reviewed, in order, irregularly, for as long as I can bear to keep doing it. A history of pop in the shape of a chart.
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FT's Pete Baran on August 21st, 2006
When did Des’s singing career become “the joke” about Des? When he became a chat show host I remember asking my parents what qualified him to do the job. My mum said singing, whilst my Dad suggested an ability to laugh at even the unfunniest people ever. He was right, the most unfunny joke being that his singing was bad.
FT's Tom on August 21st, 2006
I didn’t know that it was a joke! I got the impression that pretty much everyone in light entertainment did a bit of singing back then - it was just part of the job, another string to the bow. Then at some point the aura of sanctity (or credibility) descended on pop and TV people only did novelties, if that, and then the pendulum swung back in the late 80s when young TV actors/actresses who looked as if they might be pop stars were given the chance to be. (& now here we are).
FT's Pete Baran on August 21st, 2006
I think the joke initially was from Eric Morcambe, and only when they had him actually on the show wa sit discovered that he had an ability to laugh at absolutely EVERYTHING. Gumming OAP’s loved it I’m assured. He was like a one man studio audience (which makes it strange they got a studio audience in).
He did seem to find Freddie Starr the funniest. But his singing voice is a lot lighter than his Tony Bennett tan would suggest.
FT's pˆnk s lord sükråt cunctør on August 21st, 2006
have you been watching bbc2’s history of light entertainment tom? the impression i get is that up until the late 70s “light entertainment” meant “can really REALLY sing — prepared to do other stuff competently also”
even MIKE YARWOOD closed off his show with a song
the weird thing is that the successor ideology is more like “singing is only artistically worthwhile if you CAN’T DO IT PROPERLY” — where “properly” in that sentence obviously means something to yarwood but not (say) courtney love
FT's Tom on August 21st, 2006
No! I always miss interesting TV. This sounds very convincing tho.
Anyway I don’t think Des sounds a bad singer on this, is what I was trying to say in reply to Pete.
FT's Pete on August 21st, 2006
Exactly what I was trying to say too in a different way. Des is a good at singing, lousy at pretty much everything else except cracking up at people’s jokes. On Today With Des and Mel, Mel did all the serious questions!
Erithian on August 21st, 2006
Ten years before this, Des worked as compere for Buddy Holly and the Crickets’ tour of the UK. They played the Woolwich Coronet, and songs like “Not Fade Away” made a big impression on a 15-year-old in the audience named Michael Jagger. I’ve often wondered what would have happened if young Michael had decided to follow in Des’s footsteps rather than Buddy’s.
FT's Doctor Mod on August 23rd, 2006
Strange how all these mediocre songs for Mum and Pop get so many comments!
When I look back at all the curiosities that got to the top of the charts in 1968, the year of assassinations and riots, I’ve got to think that a whole lot of people were seeking music that required little or no thinking.
FT's Tom on August 23rd, 2006
I think that’s too big a generalisation. Not everybody was rioting or getting assassinated! I think it takes pretty huge overwhelming events to directly change the kind of music someone wants to listen to, and those events are generally personal not public. The current situation in the Middle East is not making me listen to Bruce Springsteen over Girls Aloud, for instance.
FT's pˆnk s lord sükråt cunctør on August 23rd, 2006
presumably des was already very big on telly in 68
given his amiable persona, i imagine a lot of people might simply have been reaching for “comfortable likeability” (and i have to say, my own responses towards “dark” or “confrontational” music over the last two or three years incline me to be a bit less brusquely scornful about this choice: kids want to step out of cosiness, but sometimes grown-ups want — need — to step back into it for a little while)
FT's Doctor Mod on August 24th, 2006
No, it wasn’t my point to say that everyone was partaking in assassinations or riots–but, thanks to mass media, those events were certainly propelled into the cultural consciousness and were certainly reflected in a considerable portion of the music.
My point is that in deeply troubled times “a whole lot of people [seek] music that require[s] little or no thinking.” This is the rationale that has traditionally been used to explain the sort of Hollywood spectacles that gave cheap escapist fare to the public during the Great Depression.
Surely I didn’t claim this as a blanket statement–and I do have relatives (and I suspect a few friends) who are currently in retreat from the news and any form of stimulation that will force them to come to grips with what sort of badly managed nation (or world) we’re living in–but then my perspective is undoubtedly colored by the side of the Atlantic on which I dwell.
The current conflict in Lebanon hasn’t compelled me listen to Paris Hilton’s venture into the music arena. But it did inspire me to dig out a certain old Human League CD. I never thought that record could make me shed a tear or two. Santyana was right….
FT's Doctor Mod on August 24th, 2006
I meant, of course, Santayana. (”Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”)
Marcello Carlin on August 30th, 2006
In the Britain of 1968 Enoch on blood in the Tiber was of more pressing concern than MLK or JFK or ‘Nam, all of which were, shall we say, distant.
The thing about Yarwood and his “and this is me” meme is that his actual singing voice sounded exactly like Perry Como, whereas his Perry Como impression sounded nothing like anyone.
But yes, All Round Entertainer was then still the ultimate goal for any ambitious Britpopster; Lulu or Cilla getting their own Saturday night TV series > getting to number one.
As for who bought it (ditto Solomon King, John Rowles and all the other would-be Engelberts flooding the charts of ‘68); my mum, mainly. Italian, you see - we have a penchant for the big, bold but slightly vulnerable tenor.
And let us not forget that, in 1968, Scott Walker walked the selfsame corridors, albeit in deliberate half-light.
Mark M on August 30th, 2006
Actually, in that BBC2 Light Entertainment series, Cilla claimed she had had serious doubts about doing her TV show, precisely because she thought of herself as a rock’n'roll person.
Marcello Carlin on August 30th, 2006
Back in ‘63 she wanted to do “Love Of The Loved” in the way she’d done it in the Cavern, i.e. lots of thrashy, punky guitars, but George Martin demurred and said she’d have a longer career if she didn’t.
Also with the TV series she felt she owed it to Brian Epstein, who had been negotiating with the BBC about it; it was about the last thing he did before he died.
(additionally, it’s worth bearing in mind that Cilla had more or less disappeared off the charts by ‘67 so it was probably the way to go in any case)
FT's Doctor Mod on September 1st, 2006
Actually, Cilla was still able to pull off three top 20 UK chart hits in 1969, including “Surround Yourself with Sorrow,” which peaked at #3.
Oh No It's Dadaismus on September 1st, 2006
Des started as a comedian and then became a singer, amirite?
Marcello Carlin on September 1st, 2006
Yes. One night at the Glasgow Empire he pretended to faint on stage to avoid the lynch-mob audience.
Marcello Carlin on January 17th, 2007
I should clarify here; Cilla had stopped having hits by ‘67 but THEN after the TV series her popularity soared again and she got back on the charts with “Step Inside Love” et al.