Sources of Australian Pop Records from the 50s, 60s and 70s plus some Aussie originals and some New Zealanders
Originals / Covers / Remakes / Songwriters / Chart Positions
The first single by Melbourne’s Cheryl Gray, later world-famous under a different stage name
Two sisters from a small town in Texas who wrote a hit for Maria Dallas from a small town in NZ.
The Billy Thorpe hit derived from a 1936 record by Harlem Hamfats
The country singer from Milwaukee who first recorded Col Joye’s “Bye Bye Baby”
Johnny Farnham's cover version of Friday Kind Of Monday (1968) was a hit in Australia (#6) and New Zealand (#11).
The original version from 1967 was by The Meantime, a group that came out of nowhere, released this one single that failed to chart Top 100, and that was it.
This looks like a clear case of obscurity until you follow the lead in the writer credits. Friday Kind Of Monday was written by Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, one of the most successful songwriting teams of the 1960s, and a married couple from 1962 to 1965.
As Billboard announced, the lead singer on the Meantime single is Ellie Greenwich but, more than that, the whole recording is a studio project by Greenwich and Barry.
They had previously written and recorded as The Raindrops whose seven singles 1963-65 included He's The Kind Of Boy You Can't Forget (1963 #17 Bb, #15 CB) and What A Guy (1963 #34 CB). They charted moderately in most Australian cities, but in Adelaide they had hits with Kind Of Boy (#4), and That Boy John (1963, #12).
When you listen to a Raindrops record, you are most likely hearing Greenwich's voice double-tracked, with Barry's bass vocals and prominent drumming. For live appearances and for photos of a trio, other personnel were recruited.
This reminds me of Leiber and Stoller's view that We don't write songs. We write records.
The Meantime was a similar project, a Raindrops for the late 60s, created in the studio by Barry and Greenwich. There is a cryptic clue in the group's name: think Greenwich Mean Time.
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Website by Lyn Nuttall. © Lyn Nuttall 2004-2025. Chart positions courtesy of Gavin Ryan’s Australian Chart Books and Dean Scapolo’s Complete NZ Music Charts. Special thanks to Terry Stacey for information, corrections and suggestions. Thanks also to Tony Watson, Philippe Edouard, Dave Overett.., More…