Herman's Hermits "I'm Henry The VIII, I Am" on Ed Sullivan. Pretty silly!

A message from the Director of the new Herman's Hermits DVD

Hello All (and Steve too!),

I'm the director of the new DVD "Herman's Hermits: Listen People 1964 – 1969"which is due out on March 30th as part of our "British Invasion" DVD series. Check out the link to the trailers here http://www.reelinintheyears.com/britishinvasion/

One of the goals with this (four part) series (which features complete performances) was to show the importance of these artists (Small Faces, Gerry & The Pacemakers, Dusty Springfield & Herman’s Hermits). We filmed new interviews with Peter Noone, Barry Whitwam (Drums), Karl Green (Bass) and Keith Hopwood (Guitar). Sadly Derek Leckenby (the lead guitarist) died of cancer in 1994 and we were not able to find any archival interview footage of him. Everyone that has seen our film who came in with a negative attitude about the group, has commented on just how good they were. I think that they have gotten a raw deal over the years because of the few novelty songs they cut ("I'm Henry VIII, I Am" "Mrs Brown You've Got A Lovely Daughter" and "Leaning On A Lampost" Did you know that Mrs. Brown was never supposed to be a single? They had to record one more track for their debut album and as a joke in virtually one take they cut the track. It was the disc jockeys in the US that started to play it on the radio and the label (MGM) was begging Mickie Most (their producer) to release it. Both he and the group refused to put it out as a single unless they got advance orders for 1,000,000, which they did. Had that not happened the group would not have followed this up with "I'm Henry The VIII" (recorded earlier by Joe Brown & the Bruvvers) The group were the first to record "For Your Love" and "Bus Stop" (both penned by Graham Gouldman). They had amazing songwriters such as King/Goffin, Ray Davies, Graham Gouldman and PF Sloan so why have they been treated like they are the Backstreet Boys? They played all of their instruments as well which has been become BS folklore that they didn’t. (If you have any doubt how good they are just check out our DVD where most of the tracks are live!)

If writing songs is the criteria for a great artist then we'll have to dismiss most of the Motown acts from the sixties who never wrote anything but were great singers and performers. The Beatles first album has many covers, the first five Stones albums are loaded with covers. I'm not comparing them to the Beatles or the Stones BUT they were a great group with GREAT pop records that simply can't be denied because of a few novelty songs. How can you listen to If you don't like pop music then there are MANY artists that recorded from 1964 - 1969 that we will also have to dismiss. Are you saying that you don't like the Monkees who were certainly a novelty act when they first came out (thanks to their TV show)? All of their "Hits" were written by other great songwriters as Neil Diamond, Goffin/King, John Stewart and Boyce & Hart. Other British Invasion acts like the Animals and Yardbirds didn’t write songs either.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that the Herman’s Hermits are the greatest group of all time BUT I think they have (unfairly) been shown such distain by music critics for nearly 40 years and I hope that my film will put them in their proper place in Rock History and give them some well deserved credit.

I realize some (or all) of you will disagree with me but I appreciate you letting me take the time to state my case.

Sincerely,

David Peck
Director, Herman’s Hermits: Listen People 1964 – 1969
Reelin’ In The Years Productions
www.reelinintheyears.com

 

I met him in 1987 at the New Years Eve show I mentioned in the Tommy James thread. Gosh was he short. I had no idea of that until I met him. He may even be shorter than Sonny who I also met that night. That was also quite the surprise. I never noticed either of them being short from their TV appearances.

Peter put on a great show that night though I'm not sure if any of the original Hermits were with him.

I was a big fan back in the 60's starting with I'm Into Something Big. OTOH, I don't think their music holds up nearly as well as does much of the other British Invasion music.

 

I first heard it on WABC but we moved to California right after it made it's debut, so I got to hear it on KRLA and KFWB as well. I don't think KHJ started playing pop music until the following year.

 

I knew I was missing one of those UK Columbia 45s from the Hermits--LOL. Funny stuff Steve.

Mike

 

You're right that Jackson was an original, so my statement about "all originals except for Chris Curtis" was technically incorrect.

But we're even...for a guy who's such a stickler for accuracy, you blew this one. Tony Jackson does not sing "Needles and Pins" -- Mike Pender does.

And just my opinion, but "Sweets for My Sweet" and "Sugar and Spice" are OK, but weak compared to most post-Jackson songs when the Pender-Curtis tandem predominates in the vocals. Jackson's nasally voice never did much for me at all.

 

Good catch you beat me to it.

I have The Searchers Live At The Star Club LP on Mercury records with Tony Jackson on lead vocals. It's one of the best sounding live albums from the early 60s.

I have all the HH LPs and everything on CD. I believe it's around 110 songs.

I saw Peter Noone in North Dakota in Oct 2008. He did a charity show for a local town that had their school wiped out by a tornado. He was great. My wife is in a wheelchair due to Parkinsons disease. After the show he walked up to her knelt down took her hand and talked to her for a little bit before he went back to sign autographs. Yes he is a class act!

 

I ended up a KRLA guy but being so new it took a while to develop a preference. I liked KFWB because they had B. Mitchell Reed who I knew from WMCA in New York. He is by far my favorite all time radio DJ.

 

Wrong, better luck next time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unwa_XQKc4A
Tony Jackson, singing Needles and Pins in a duet with Mike Pender, as they do on the record.

 

Those are the words I sang at school!

But I was only six at the time.

 

pwned

 

I'm well aware that Jackson sang along during live performances. However, I have read a specific account of the recording session of "Needles and Pins." Jackson initially essayed the lead vocal, only to have it taken away from him by producer Tony Hatch and given to Pender, much to Jackson's dismay. This account does not say that Jackson and Pender sang in unison.

Even if Jackson is present, it is certainly Pender's voice that dominates.

 

Yes, Tony was supposed to sing solo, and Hatch made Pender the lead singer, but Tony sings the entire song with Mike as a duet, and he was not happy about it. His voice is clearly present on the harmony but it is sung as a duet. I will agree it is the first of the Mike Pender-style songs that Chris in particular wanted them to record (which they then did). I have heard interviews with both Chris and Tony Jackson which support this. For what it's worth I though they lost something very special when Tony was forced out.

 

Interesting. I once saw Peter Noone in attendance at an NRBQ concert (an outdoor show in the plaza at the base of the World Trade Center tower 2, pre - 9/11). He joined them on stage at one point.

 

And then you could mosey over to Wallach's Music City in Topanga Plaza (recently opened, and source of a rare and valuable piece of Beatles vinyl) and peruse the vinyl...

 

My first memory of this song is from summer camp too (Shibley Day Camp, Long Island, New York) -- we didn't sing along with the radio, but some counselors played it on guitar and taught it to our group as a rainy day activity. This was the summer of 1965 but at the time I was 7 years old and had no idea it was a current radio hit.

 

Thanks for that info, David. I was just wondering who recorded "I'm Henry The VIII" first in the 60s. I remember seeing some video a while ago of Joe Brown performing "I'm Henry The VIII" on an NME Poll Winners Concert.

So a question: Did Joe Brown's version popularize this old song in the 60s, or was this a case of a song that was around and everybody covered it?

Wow! That just blew my mind!!!! Very cool!!! Many thanks for that!

 

I used to love HH too when I was a kid. Funny how that seemed like great music at the time, and maybe it is.

 

Here are a few illustrations to go with this thread: US, Japan, Sweden, Denmark.

 

You can get Harry Champion CDs at http://www.musichallcds.com/music_hall_cds_catalogue.htm if you want to hear more of Harry's work.

http://www.musichallcds.com/cdr3_page.htm has I'm Henry VIII, I Am.

 

Herman's Hermits is considered great music by me.

 

No Lek

Jgreen, while I LOVE The Hermits, I doubt very, very much that is Derek Lekenby doing the lead. Its just too perfect. Rather, I believe that is 'Big Jim" Sullivan, who, along with James Page, was a Super session guitarist who played on hundreds of British Invasion hits.

And I think that is Bobby Graham on drums on that song as well.