Singles that survived from my time as ‘Funky Genghis’ at the London School of Economics in the 70’s – and occasional at events into the 80’s
As promised in the last ‘groovy 45’ article on Stagger Lee, here is a single from my collection by the great Bobby Womack that continues the perhaps unexpected link with one Neil Diamond.
I was and remain a particular fan of Diamond’s 1960’s output, and for similar reasons to Quentin Tarantino, who was keen to feature Girl, You”ll Be A Woman Soon on Pulp Fiction – a song written and recorded by Diamond in 1967 and re-recorded in 1992 by Urge Overkill for the film. But that is another story.
Despite enjoying much of Diamond’s 1960’s output there was one song I was not particularly taken with – Sweet Caroline. That will come as a shock to Diamond Heads as it is one of his most popular songs. But it is not one of mine.
The album ‘Brother Love’s Travelling Salvation Show’, recorded in 1968, was released in early 1969 with superb gatefold-sleeve artwork. It was a great and enjoyable album that I still listen to and enjoy over 50 years later. However, just 4 months after its release Diamond recorded Sweet Caroline and, because it was a huge hit in the US, the record label (Uni) decided to include it at the end of further pressings of BLTSS and even changed the name of the album – to ‘Sweet Caroline’ – and changed the cover to a drab and unimaginative pop-style. The song did not fit at all into the style of the album.
Pictured above: the original album (left) with songs that sounded like the deep-south (where they were recorded) and which is worth listening to end-to-end. Right is the abomination put together by Uni records following the success of Sweet Caroline in the singles chart, looking like another any-old pop-hits album that wasn’t really about anything at all.
So, now you know what I think of Sweet Caroline. However, this version by Bobby Womack is pretty good making it to No.16 in the US charts on its release in 1972. The Diamond original got to No.4 in 1969 in the US and to No.8 in the UK in 1971.
The ‘b’ side of the Womack release was the magnificent Harry Hippie, a song for his brother and bass guitarist Harry Womack and written by Jim Ford.
Both Sweet Caroline and Harry Hippie are on one of his most highly rated albums – Understanding – released in 1972 .
Any thoughts? Leave a comment!