CRAIG DOUGLAS ‘ ‘Only Sixteen’
(11th September 1959)
Craig Douglas on the other hand makes Cliff seem like James Dean. On the cover of Cuddle Up With Craig he looks distinctly uncomfortable, and distinctly grown-up. He sings grown-up too. ‘Only Sixteen’ is a look back to a romance that could never be ‘ ‘She was too young to fall in love / And I was too young to know’ ‘ the cute twist being that the singer is only 17 now. But Craig’s awkwardly precise, high voice sounds far too sensible for that ‘ he sounds like he’s singing for the parents and grandmas of young lovers, who can cluck their tongues and say ‘aah’, knowing that at least one of these new ‘pop singers’ is on their side. In a word, ‘Only Sixteen’ is square. Its jolly tune is grounded by lumbering production and stolid drums, and its whistling backing vocals round out a fairly obnoxious package. 2
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rosie on July 25th, 2008
Limp though this song is, or at least this interpretation of this song, it shouldn’t go unremarked that it is a Sam Cooke song. That Sam Cooke made so little impact on the top of the British charts is to lose sight of his tremendous influence on the music of the period.