(Billy Meshell - Phil Barr)
Australia
#7 Melbourne #2 Brisbane #7 Adelaide #38 Perth
Single on HMV, EA4836, released in Australia March 1967.
Also released in USA on Dot, 17039, listed as a new release in Billboard, September 1967 [link].
Movin’ Man was written by the American songwriting team of Billy Meshell (aka Wilbur, surname also spelt Meshel) and Phil Barr (aka P.L. Barr). The US Copyright date is 1966, full title Please, Mister Movingman, alternative title Movin’ Man.
It was rearranged and rewritten by Buddy England with John Farrar of The Strangers. It differs considerably from Dion & The Belmonts’ US release.
Buddy England was a regular on The Go!! Show, produced by Melbourne’s new Channel 0 from 1964 and later networked nationally. Movin’ Man was his biggest national chart success, although it was his fifth charting single in Melbourne. He later joined The Mixtures for a while from mid-1969, and later in the 70s he replaced Bruce Woodley in The Seekers. He also worked in A&R for Astor Records and ran the Air label.
See also: Doll House.
References
1. Chris Spencer et al, The Australian Rock Discography 1956-1969
2. David Thompson, The Music Goes Round My Head.
3. Ian Mcfarlane, The Encyclopedia of Australian Rock & Pop.
4. Billboard archives at Google Books.
5. US Copyright Office, Registration Number EP221451 [search].
Thanks to David Thompson and Aaron Betts.
(Billy Meshell - Phil Barr)
USA
Original version
Single on ABC February 1967. Also on album Together Again (1967).
♫ Listen at YouTube
The career of Dion DiMucci (b.1939) went through several phases. Known as just Dion, he had a number of charting records with The Belmonts 1958-1960, notably A Teenager in Love (1959, #5 USA) and Where Or When (1960, #3 USA). His solo career from 1960 produced such hits as Runaround Sue (1961, #1), The Wanderer (1961, #2) and Ruby Baby (1963, #2).
Together Again (1967) was a Dion & The Belmonts reunion album with a contemporary sound, but yet to come was Dion’s with-it folk-rock hit Abraham, Martin and John (1968 #4), his last charting single and miles away from the doo-wop of his early records.
References:
1. Single reviewed in Billboard, 4 February 1967. Advertised by ABC in Billboard, 11 February 1967.
2. ABC album discography at Both Sides Now.
3. Richie Unterberger’s Dion biography and review of Together Again at All Music.
Further reading:
1. Discogs.com’s Billy Meshell page lists some aliases and name variations and
includes his 1969 solo album The Love Song Of A. Wilbur Meshel.
2. Phil Barr is also known as P.L. Barr: see his entry at Discogs.com.
3. Label shot of UK issue on His Master’s Voice at 45Cat.com.
Single on Pye, HT 300082, May 1967. Presumably recorded in UK, but that serial number is from German Pye; I can’t find any evidence of a UK single having been released.
♫ Listen at YouTube
A pop singer from Liverpool with a background in opera, David Garrick was a prolific recording artist who never had a big hit in the UK but did much better on some European charts. David Garrick was a stage name, borrowed from the 18th century British actor.
Billy Meshell & Phil Barr also wrote David Garrick’s Dear Mrs Applebee (1966, #22 UK; a big hit in Germany, Belgium and The Netherlands). Mrs Applebee was originally recorded in the US by Flip Cartridge, an alias of co-writer Wilbur “Billy” Meshell, a singer-songwriter who later became an executive at Arista Records and more recently CEO of publishing company Music & Media International.
Garrick’s other UK chart entry, three months earlier than Mrs Applebee, was a cover of The Rolling Stones’ Lady Jane (#28 UK).
References, further redaing: 1. David Garrick (Popsänger) at de.wikipedia.org. 2. David Garrick (singer) at en.wikipedia.org. 3. DavidGarrick.net is no longer online: try the archived version at Internet Archive.
(Billy Meshell - Phil Barr - John Herald)
USA
Later version
Version with new lyrics and altered title on Capitol album Double-Back by singing and songwriting brothers Happy & Artie Traum.
Further reading: 1. Happy Traum at Wikipedia. 2. Official site of Artie Traum.
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