(Keith Colley - Knox Henderson - Linda Jo Colley)
Australia
On EMI various artists EP, a Show Souvenir Sampler, referring to Sydney’s Royal Easter Show: Profits from the sale of this record will be donated by E.M.I. (Aust.) Ltd., to the 1969 Heart Fund Appeal.
This was to have been Sydney band Flying Circus’s first single. Instead, the first single was Hayride (1969 #3 Sydney #1 Brisbane #13 Perth), followed by La La (#5 Sydney #4 Melbourne #1 Brisbane #1 Adelaide #9 Perth).
45cat.com shows a custom pressing of the unreleased Shame, Shame. It was later anthologised by Glenn A. Baker on Best of Flying Circus 1969-71 (1995).
Further reading: Flying Circus history at Milesago. There is no connection with TV comedy Monty Python’s Flying Circus (1969): the name appears to be a coincidence.
Suggestion from Terry Stacey.
(Keith Colley - Knox Henderson - Linda Jo Colley)
USA
Year unknown, probably late 1960s.
B-side by obscure band on obscure label Pema. As far as I can see, this was the only single for both band and label. (I’m confident this has no connection with NZ band The Phyve.)
(Keith Colley - Knox Henderson - Linda Jo Colley)
Argentina
(Keith Colley - Knox Henderson - Linda Jo Colley)
UK
#29 USA
Single on Polydor subsidiary Camp July 1968.
Magic Lanterns were from the town of Warrington (Cheshire, historically in Lancashire) on the River Mersey between Liverpool and Manchester. The band, formed in 1965, evolved from earlier bands The Hammers and The Sabres, with a number of line-up changes along the way.
The definitive history of Magic Lanterns, including a singles discography, is at the Manchester Beat website, written by John H. Warburg and band member Alistair Beveridge. Especially interesting are Beveridge’s comments on the last three Magic Lanterns records which he believes were made by studio line-ups after the band broke up.
Producer Steve Rowland (b.1932, Los Angeles) had already followed a successful career as a TV and film actor in the USA when he moved on to production and A&R in the British music industry of the mid-1960s. He notably produced several hit singles for Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich, as well as albums for The Pretty Things, The Herd and Rodriguez. He sang with The Family Dogg (Way Of Life, 1969, #6 UK), a recording project that involved several legendary names in British music. For an appreciation of the range of records he worked on, see the list at his own website.
I have changed the Magic Lanterns completely… They are great singers, and we’ve been using numbers to suit this… We got one number from the States, “Shame, Shame”, and changed the hook around slightly, making it much more obvious. I think it’s a hit.
Steve Rowland, ‘Beat Instrumental’ Jun 68
(Keith Colley - Ingo Volz)
Germany
Single on CBS March 1968 with German lyrics by Ingo Volz. Vocals by Mike Peng.
Crickets Five were formed in Frankfurt in 1964. They found steady work at local venues and events, and won a Pepsi-sponsored talent quest in 1966. They won again in 1967 and were signed to CBS as first prize.
Their first single on CBS was Summer Wine / Don’t Fight It (1967). It reached #1 in May 1967 on radio chart show Frankfurt Schlager Exchange, and the band appeared on TV pop show Beat Beat Beat on the same network. The record was reportedly a hit in Japan when it was re-released there in 1970.
Their final single was Gimmi Dat Ding (1970), a German-language version of the Albert Hammond-Mike Hazlewood song Gimme Dat Ding, an Australian hit for both Maple Lace and Frankie Davidson.
Sources: 1. Band member Günter Schäfer’s account at Manfred Nitschke’s website BEAT im RIED 1965-1969. 2. Crickets Five discography at 45cat.com. 3. Frankfurt Schlager Exchange charts for April-June 1967 at hessencharts.de.
(Keith Colley - Knox Henderson - Linda Jo Colley)
USA
Original version
B-side on Columbia December 1967.
The A-side is another release of Enamorado, Keith Colley’s Spanish-language song that was a regional US hit in 1963.
The other Colley in the writer credits is Linda Colley, Keith’s wife.
The other credit is to Knox Henderson who, I’m assuming, is the same songwriter from Tyler in Texas who co-wrote some songs for Mouse And The Traps, formed in Tyler in 1965. As Paula Bosse at Flashback: Dallas explains, he is too easily mistaken for the Traps’ lead guitarist Bugs Henderson, another Henderson altogether.
The producer is Gary Usher (1938-1990), notable for his writing and production, especially in the area of surf music where he worked with The Beach Boys, Dick Dale, and The Hondells, among others. He wrote songs with Brian Wilson, and produced albums by The Byrds. See, for example, his selected discography at Wikipedia.
Keith Colley recorded a version of (And Her Name Is) Scarlet the year before The De Kroo Brothers had their Australian hit with the song (1963). Colley’s version was on Era, the label that issued Bob Wilson’s original version of Scarlet, written by Era’s owner Herb Newman.
Essential reading: Keith Colley bio by Steve Leggett at All Music Guide.
‘
(Sylvia Robinson)
USA
Red herring
#12 USA #6 UK
Similar title but not the same song as ‘Shame, Shame’ by Flying Circus.
Single on Vibration by American disco group led by Shirley Goodman, formerly in Shirley and Lee (Let The Good Times Roll, 1956, #9 USA).
Vibration was a subsidiary of All Platinum, owned by Sylvia Robinson, the writer and producer of Shame Shame Shame,
This is one of numerous different songs entitled Shame or Shame, Shame or Shame, Shame Shame.
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