(Mapp - Jones - Smith*)
Australia
#29 Melbourne | #68 Australia
* Writing credits: In addition to co-writers Norman Mapp, Ollie Jones and Henry H. Smith, the song’s registration at BMI lists Billy Dawn (aka Billy Dawn Smith, real name William Paul Smith) who co-produced the original version of Timber. (Or – alternative theory – is it Billy on the label, Henry H. the addition at BMI?)
Single on Astor by Melbourne singer and guitarist Bobby Cookson.
♫ Listen at YouTube
Cookson was vocalist with The Premiers before going solo on
Astor but the band still backed him in the studio and were named on four of his nine singles 1961-65. He
charted four times:
• Flutter Flutter (1961, #20 Melbourne, #46 Australia)
• Timber (1962, #29 Melbourne, #68 Australia, covering a 1960 single by Curtis Carrington)
• I Could Have Loved You So Well (1963, #14
Melbourne, #44 Australia, with The Premiers)
• Rona (1963, #28 Melbourne, #57 Australia, with The Premiers, written by
band member Lee Conway, later a successful country artist).
See also his final single Funny Man.
Cookson possessed a powerful, Roy Orbison-style voice that made him a powerful attraction
Ian McFarlane
Sources, further reading: Ian McFarlane, Encyclopedia of Australian Rock & Pop. 2. Spencer et al, Who’s Who of Australian Rock.
(Norman Mapp - Ollie Jones - Henry H. Smith)
USA
Original version
Single on Roulette subsidiary Gee February 1960.
Curtis Carrington (1935-2000), from North Carolina, was a rock’n’roll and gospel singer, a pianist and a songwriter based in New York from the late 1950s. After leaving the music business in 1962 he became a Baptist minister and founded the New Calvary Missionary Baptist Church in Greensboro, NC.
In the late 1960s Rev Carrington established the Greensboro record label Ken-Yatta, which recorded local gospel singers into the 1980s.
Sources, further reading: 1. Curtis Carrington tribute from The News and Record, Greensboro, November 2000. 2. History of Ken-Yatta label at 45cat.com. 3. Ken-Yatta discography at Discogs.com.
(Bobby Darin - Don Kirshner - George M. Shaw )
USA
Red herring
Same title but not the same song as ‘Timber’ by Bobby Cookson.
Single on Decca March 1956, the first release by future star Bobby Darin.
Darin, Kirshner & Shaw also wrote the follow-up A-side Silly Willy. Darin’s songwriting partnership with Don Kirshner was short-lived but Kirshner became a major operator in the music business as publisher, producer, songwriter and enabler of new talent.
There are hundreds of songs entitled Timber, as this title search at the BMI-ASAC site Songview shows..
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Website by Lyn Nuttall. © Lyn Nuttall 2004-2024. 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…