Barry Mason was once an understudy to Albert Finney at the Royal Court. And that’s probably how he ended up with a cameo in Saturday Night And Sunday Morning, singing What Do You Want in a pub while Arthur Seaton wins the drinking contest. “You get thirsty working that machine all week”.

I once had a friend who couldn’t get into soul because he thought it sounded too put on. His fav singer was Tony Burrows. Obviously this opened him up to insane amounts of abuse from my trendy mates, but from Love Grows alone you can see he had a point (his name was/is Jak Knowles in case anyone knows him, and he had a Glitter Band haircut in 1991 which is heroic as well as a little bit scary). The vocal is entirely believable.

Weirdly, in the UK Love Grows wasn’t followed up at all, with the next Edison Lighthouse 45 (It’s Up To You Petula) not appearing for over a year. Anyone got a clue how or why this happened? Or of any other (living) act who didn’t bother releasing a follow-up to a number one?

I think that in America, the EL brand continued as Love Grows was followed by Melanie Makes Me Smile (released over here as a Tony Burrows solo 45), almost as good as Love Grows - upbeat bubblegum with a similarly unexpected, eyebrow-twisting (with heartstrings following) downwards tug on the chorus.

This is pop pop popular, as well-crafted and joyous as it gets. It took the combined mights of Macaulay, Cook and Greenaway to make it so irresistible - shame they didn’t try more often. A 9 plus for me.

No matter what any fancy analysis says about it and no matter how disparaging people get about it, it’s a song that can bring back amazing memories and it needs to be recognised for being one of those tracks that makes you feel good - which is what great music is all about. Nothing else matters!

Tony Macaulay wrote some good ‘uns in his time, it has to be said.

It’s actually “Love grows” not “Love goes” and I think it’s great. So did 15 Million others!

Stuart Edwards (original guitarist)

No idea about Eddystone Lighthouse, but this isn’t braindead or cheesy or dross…

I admit there were some songs that I really enjoyed, but this sort of stuff was really so “uncool” by 1970 that I wouldn’t admit it. Still, “Rosemary” is an example of incredibly well-crafted pop. Much better, I think, than, “Sugar Sugar” inasmuch as it has a clever rhyme scheme and a great hook, and it actually articulates a sentiment beyond songs with which eight-year-olds can identify (i.e., repeated invocations of sweet confections that, when consumed in excess, can give you a rush in the short term and make you fat in the long).

As to Scott’s suggestion–Could it be “There’s something about her had holding mine . . . . (???). But–and this is the English professor speaking–the possessive pronoun “mine” modify a noun within the phrase or sentence, and “hand” is the only one possible. Of course, sleazy thoughts know no syntax……

BTW, no stork for me. I’m sorry to admit that I’m a year older than the charts. What a drag it is getting old!

Could somebody sort it out for me please? Thanks!

I can’t believe the late 60s got as bad as this. One piece of irrelevant dim-witted cheesy braindead dross after another.

The opening of this always makes me think the record was mistakenly played at 33 RPM, instead of 45 RPM, for some reason - it sounds oddly slow, somehow. It picks up as soon as the vocal comes in, though.

I own a dog-eared collection of “Rolling Stone” magazine reviews bought for a dime at a garage sale, circa 1970. The review of this song says something to the effect that one way you can tell a bad record is that no matter how many times you hear it, you can only remember the opening line and the hook. I quoted that to my best friend, who immediately sang the whole song. An eloquent rebuttal, I thought. The irony being that I’ve always liked this record, too. I guess I was feeling smugly superior that day.

This is kind of a “Vini, vidi, vici” record: it had one goal - Hitsville! - it achieved it, there’s not much else to say. Except it managed to be pleasant in the bargain. The only two moments that stand out above the generul thrum of pleasantry are the one couplet: “I’m a lucky fella/And I wanna tell her,” for its cheeky non’rhyming rhyme, and the counter-vocal at the fade, with Burrows singing, “Love keeps growing every place that she’s going” against the repeated hook.

I wonder what Rosemary is doing these days. I hope the years have been kind.

anyway i fixed the above sample code to copy as straight quotes – so it should now work.