(Mort Shuman - Jerry Ross)
New
Zealand
Single on Festival September 1967 by Liverpool-born singer (Rosalie Edmondson 1948-2022). Her family migrated to Takapuna, Auckland when she was 15.
Daylight Savin’ Time was nominated for the Loxene Golden Disc award, then the most powerful force in New Zealand popular music (AudioCulture). See note below on the charts.
Sandy Edmonds was a pop star with a high media profile in late-60s New Zealand. She had a residency on TV pop show C’mon and toured with major overseas artists. All too soon for her fans, she left her music career and eventually moved to Australia.
And then without explanation or warning she was gone, leaving behind one of the decade’s celebrated pop-garage anthems, Daylight Savin’ Time
Grant Gillanders at AudioCulture.co.nz
Sandy went into the fashion industry, running her own businesses in Melbourne where she died in 2022.
See also Sandy Edmonds – I Love Onions (1967).
Sources, essential reading: 1. Sandy Edmonds biography by Bruce Sergeant. 2. Sandy Edmonds page at AudioCulture.co.nz.
(Mort Shuman - Jerry Ross)
USA
Original version
#79 USA
Single on Mercury June 1967 by James Barry Keefer, Philadelphia-born singer best known for his earlier single 98.6 (Nov 1966, #7 USA 1967).
Credited on the single are arranger Joe Renzetti and producer Jerry Ross, as on 98.6 and other Keith singles.
Producer Ross wrote the song with Mort Shuman who is known for writing numerous hits with his regular collaborator Doc Pomus (see the Pomus-Shuman song list at shrout.com).
Joe Renzetti arranged, for example, Bobby Hebb’s Sunny (1966, #2 USA), Jay & The Techniques’ Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie (1967, #6), and Barry Manilow’s Mandy (1975, #1). He played guitar on Cameo-Parkway hits by Chubby Checker, Dee Dee Sharp and Freddy Cannon, and his entry at IMDb has a list of his film and TV scores. His website is at joerenzetti.com.
An Australian connection: Joe Renzetti arranged the original version of Happy Without You. He hadn’t heard The Strangers’ Australian version, arranged by Peter Robinson, until I sent him an mp3 a few years ago.
Related concept* but not the same song as ‘Daylight Savin’ Time’ by Sandy
Edmonds.
First recorded in 1930 on Madison 78 rpm disc by Carlton Dance Orchestra as There Ought To Be A Moonlight Saving Time. There have been many versions over the years, often with the title as (There Ought To Be A) Moonlight Saving Time or just Moonlight Saving Time.
Notable versions include
• Annette Hanshaw (1931)
• Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians
(1931)
• Hal Kemp & His Orchestra (1931)
• Maurice Chevalier (1931)
• Ray Anthony & His Orchestra
(1952)
• Blossom Dearie (1955)
* In Keith’s Daylight Saving Time the singer operates in daylight, so he wants daylight saving to extend the time / To have fun with my baby, which is what DST is designed to do at the end of the working day. By contrast, in Moonlight Saving Time the singer prefers night-time so for them, When days are longer, the nights are shorter Somethin’ should be done about this. Again, this refers to the end of the day, as the extra hour of darkness next morning is probably no compensation to the working canoodler.
(Louis M. Jones)
USA
Red herring
Similar title but not the same song as ‘Daylight Savin’ Time’ by Sandy
Edmonds.
Single on Decca by Kentucky-born country-gospel singer-songwriter and banjo player Louis M. Jones (1913-1998). At this time he was aged around 45 but was known as Grandpa since his early 20s.
Source: Grandpa Jones at Discogs.com.
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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…