Pop Archives

Mpd Ltd - You Might As Well Forget Him (1967)

(Tommy Roe)
Australia Australia

Single on Go!!, B-side of band original Paper Doll (wr. Mike Brady).

M.P.D. Ltd: Melbourne beat trio driven by a heavy rhythm section, formed in 1965. The 'M', the 'P' and the 'D' were for Mike Brady, Pete Watson and Danny Finley. Mike and Pete had met in Shadows-style band The Phantoms, and Danny had been drummer with another instrumental band The Saxons (see Pedro The Fisherman).

Mike Brady was later responsible for numerous well-known advertising jingles, and as one half of Two Man Band had a hit in 1979 with the Australian Rules football song Up There Cazaly YouTube.

See also Little Boy Sad, Lonely Boy and Walkin' In The Sand.

Further reading: Paul Culnane's band history and appreciation of MPD Ltd at Milesago. 

Key people in the history of You Might As Well Forget Him:
   • chart-topping Atlanta, Georgia, singer-songwriter Tommy Roe;
   • Atlanta singer-songwriter, session guitarist, and prolific producer Joe South;
   • Atlanta vocal group The Tams;
   • Atlanta music businessman Bill Lowery;
   • FAME studios owner-founder Rick Hall;
   • Nashville producer Felton Jarvis.


Derrick Harriott - Walk The Streets [You Might As Well Forget Him] (1967)

(Tommy Roe [credited here to Harriott])
UK UK

Single on lsland by Jamaican singer and producer later resident in the US, a member of  popular Jamaican vocal group The Jiving Juniors 1958-1962. This is a reggae/rocksteady version of You Might As Well Forget Him using the song's alternative title Walk The Streets (also the first three words of the lyrics).

Tommy Roe himself later recorded the song as Walk The Streets (2017), and he notes the song's alternative title at his website.


The Results - I Might As Well Forget Him (1965)

(Tommy Roe)
USA USA

Single on APT, a singles-only subsidiary of ABC-Paramount.

Both sides of the single are songs previously recorded by The Tams. The B-side is the Joe South composition Untie Me, first recorded by The Tams (1962), also their first successful record.

The Results were sisters Marty & Vicky Jones, produced by Joe South "for Tommy Roe Enterprises Inc".

The Results also released Funky/Need Your Love (1966) YouTube, both sides written by Tommy Roe and produced by Joe South.

There are some morsels of information about The Results in old YouTube posts by the next generation, including a daughter-niece who has posted both sides of the 45 to YouTube under the artist names "Marty & Vicky Jones" YouTube. Another commenter (whom I may have misinterpreted) seems to suggest that the Jones sisters were part of Action Unlimited, perhaps the Kentucky group produced by Curt Boettcher.


Tommy Roe & The Roemans - You Might As Well Forget Him (1964)

(Tommy Roe)
UK (recorded in USA)UK (recorded in USA) UK (recorded in USA)

British release on His Master's Voice, November 1964, version by the composer. Apparently not a single in USA. 

You Might As Well Forget Him was produced by Felton Jarvis, the Nashville producer known for his work with Elvis Presley.

Jarvis produced other tracks for Tommy Roe, including his 1963 hit Everybody, recorded at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama.


Singer and songwriter Tommy Roe was from Atlanta, Georgia, where he also knew, for example, Joe South, Mac Davis, Ray Stevens and Billy Joe Royal. He was often on the charts throughout the 60s, beginning with his Buddy Holly-influenced Sheila (1962, #1 USA).

Everybody (1963, #3), was Roe's last hit before Beatlemania broke out in the USA. Three years later he returned to the Top 10 with a style often labelled dismissively as "bubblegum", although the first of these bouncy hits, Sweet Pea (1966, #8) and Hooray For Hazel (1966, #6), pre-dated the true bubblegum craze of the late 60s. In fact Roe's repertoire is more wide-ranging than the labelling suggests, and his own explanation for his "bubblegum" hits is that he aimed to create an alternative to the British Invasion sounds that were pushing the American acts off of the charts. It was a matter of survival [interview with Gary James]. His last chart hits were Dizzy (1969, #1) and Jam Up Jelly Tight (1969, #8).


The Roemans were a popular band from the Tampa Bay Area of Florida called The Romans before they played with Tommy Roe and tweaked their name. They released six singles in their own right on ABC-Paramount. A notable member was drummer Bertie Higgins, later a succesful solo artist who had a hit with his composition Key Largo (1981).


Further reading: 1. Tommy Roe has an active Facebook page with numerous video posts of his work from several decades (still being updated late 2018, although Roe announced his retirement from music there in February 2018). 2. Tommy Roe's catalog of compositions and versions at tommyroe.com. 3. Gary James interviews Tommy Roe at classicbands.com. 4. Rick Simmons interviews Tommy Roe at Rebeat. 5. The Roemans at  Southern Garage Bands.


Tommy Quickly - You Might As Well Forget Him (1964)

(Tommy Roe)
UK UK

Single on Piccadilly. May 1964.

Liverpool singer Tommy Quickly (b.1945) was with The Challengers when he was signed by Beatles manager Brian Epstein who changed his name from Quigley and had him record with a well-established band already in his stable, Liverpool's Remo Four

His first single was Tip Of My Tongue, a Song The Beatles Gave Away, but he didn't chart until Wild Side Of Life (1964, #33 UK YouTube), his fifth and final single.

See also under Kiss Me Now.


M.P.D. Ltd were on the bill with Tommy Quickly in Sydney and Melbourne on the Dave Clark FiveSeekers tour in May-June 1965.


The Tams - You Might As Well Forget Him (1964)

(Tommy Roe)
USA USA

On ABC-Paramount album Presenting The Tams, February 1964.

Recorded at FAME Studios, Muscle Shoals, Alabama, engineered by FAME's founder-owner Rick Hall.

Rhythm and blues vocal quintet The Tams were from Atlanta, Georgia, as were Tommy Roe and Joe South, both of whom wrote songs they recorded.  After an unsuccessful single on Swan, they were signed by the major Atlanta publisher, manager, studio owner and producer Bill Lowery whose corporation also figured in the careers of Roe and South.

The Tams' first single Untie Me (1962), a Joe South composition, was a moderate success (#12 R&B, #60 pop), but their breakthrough came after being signed to the ABC-Paramount label when they charted nationally with What Kind Of Fool Do You Think I Am (1964, #9 USA, recorded at FAME studios). Two reissued singles from the 60s charted in the UK in the early 70s, Be Young Be Foolish Be Happy (1968 #61 USA; 1970 #32 UK) and Hey Girl Don't Bother Me (1964, #41 USA; 1971, #1 UK).

Reference, further reading: Jay Warner, American Singing Groups: A History from 1940s to Today (2006) p.461; also excerpted at Google Books.


Jimmy Hughes - You Might As Well Forget Him (1963)

(Tommy Roe)
USA USA
Original version

Single on FameOctober 1963, by influential Alabamian R&B-soul-gospel singer Jimmy Hughes, B-side of Everybody Let's Dance.

This was recorded at FAME Studios, Muscle Shoals, Alabama, produced by FAME founder-owner Rick Hall

The following year, Hughes released Steal Away (1964, #17), an early soul hit from FAME which would become the site of so many classic late-60s soul recordings by such artists as Joe Tex, Wilson Pickett and Aretha Franklin.

As allan0318 comments at 45cat, Tommy Roe may have sung on this (as rumoured) as he was at FAME Studios recording his hit Everybody at this time.

Further reading: 1. Rick Hall page at Alabama Music.Hall of Fame. 2. Bill Janowitz on Jimmy Hughes and "Steal Away" at All Music: An early example of the transition that '50s R&B made into '60s Southern soul. 


Tommy Roe - Walk The Streets [You Might As Well Forget Him] (2017)

(Tommy Roe [credited here to Harriott])
USA USA
Later version

This 2017 mp3 download on Tommy Roe's label Airebelle (distributed by TuneCore) is a fresh recording of the song previously released by Roe in 1964 as You Might As Well Forget Him (see above).