THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,681) Johnny Young — “Craise Finton Kirk Royal Academy of Arts”
Australian Johnny Young’s (see #682) irresistible version of the Bee Gees’ pop psych classic was a hit on UK pirate radio stations and heading skywards . . . until the British government shut them all down.
The definitive Milesago: Australasian Music and Popular Culture 1964-1975 gives us the story:
Arriving in London Johnny was reunited with the Gibbs and during his stay he cut three more Bee Gees tracks: “Craise Finton Kirk Royal Academy of Arts” (backed by the Bee Gees and produced by Barry), “I Am The World” and “Every Christian Lionhearted Man Will Show You”. “Craise Finton Kirk”/“I am the World” was released as Johnny’s next single in August 1967. It made the Australian national Top 30 (#14 in Melbourne and #29 in Sydney) during September and also gained considerable airplay on British radio, notably on the legendary pirate station Radio London. The single entered the Radio London Fab Forty at #31 on 30 July 1967, and rose the following week to #27, but regrettably it was at exactly that point that Radio London was forced off-air, a victim of the Maritime Offences Act, which was being rigidly enforced by the British government in order to shut pirate stations down. . . . . Mike Manners, who recently contacted Milesago, has fond recollections of his time working with Johnny: “I was Johnny’s UK keyboard player in 1967. As a London-based organist . . . I was recruited by Johnny Young’s London team to help his Australian drummer, Danny Finlay, form a backing band for John. This we did. . . . [W]e made several promotional appearances, including a music slot on the famous national TV chat show . . . ‘Dee Time’, hosted by Simon Dee. . . . THE show to be seen on during the United Kingdoms ‘Flower Power’ era! On the show we performed ‘Craise Finton Kirk’ live, each of us wearing white embroided floor-length Carnaby Street kaftans(!) with me on harpsichord for this production.”
Mary Payne: adds:
Many frequently-played records on the pirate stations . . . were hits as far as the listeners were concerned, but never became bestsellers. . . . Craise Finton Kirk by Johnnie (sic) Young had been on the Radio London playlist for the final four weeks of the station’s life . . . . Each of the Radio London DJs had a weekly ‘climber’ – a disc touted as his pick for imminent chart stardom, although the records selected from the pile of new releases were not necessarily self-chosen. We do not know if Willy Walker . . . chose Craise Finton Kirk as his climber for w/c 23/07/67 or whether the disc was assigned to him. The single entered the Fab Forty at #31 on 30/07/67, rising the following week to #27, just as Big L was forced to close down. The late Mike Ahern cited Craise Finton Kirk as being on Caroline’s ‘pay-for-play’ list – records that usually appeared in the lower end of the Countdown of Sound. A clip of a TV interview with Johnny . . . explains what the song was all about. Craise Finton Kirk was a real person – an eccentric Scotsman who used to parade up and down London’s Oxford Street. He mumbled incomprehensibly as he made a meagre living by carrying sandwich boards, advertising passport photography. Newly-arrived in London, the Bee Gees had asked him for directions, but found themselves unable to understand a word he said. A fellow sandwich board carrier told them that the mystery man’s unusual name was Craise Finton Kirk and the Gibb brothers felt a song coming on! Apparently, the sandwich board star did know that he had been immortalised in song, as he had posed for publicity shots with Johnny! Where the Royal Academy of Arts part of the song title comes in is not discussed in the interview, but we might hazard a guess that Craise Finton Kirk‘s sandwich boards bore the name as part of the advertisement. Johnny also comments ruefully on how the loss of offshore radio had adversely affected his budding career in the UK. Johnny’s take on Craise Finton Kirk may have achieved only offshore chart action in the UK, but a month after the closure of all our sea-based stations with the exception of Caroline, the single hit #14 in Melbourne and #29 in Sydney.
Milesago tells us of Young:
Johnny spent three frantic years as one of Australia’s top beat performers . . . . He was born . . . in Rotterdam . . . . Johnny’s parents migrated to Western Australia when he was three . . . . After he left school, Johnny began work as a trainee disc jockey on Perth radio, started singing at local dances, and [was] lead vocalist with local group The Nomads . . . . In 1965 . . . he became host of a local Perth pop show Club 17 [and] issued two singles . . . . In 1966, Johnny signed to [the] Clarion label, and formed a new backing band Kompany . . . . The kick-start for his career as a pop star came in early 1966 when The Easybeats visited Perth. They . . . present[ed] him with one of their new songs. “Step Back”. . . . [which] became a double-sided #1 hit in Perth, Sydney and Melbourne. . . . the second biggest-selling Australian single of the Sixties . . . . The next single . . . provided another double-sided Top Ten hit . . . . Johnny disbanded Kompany to go solo. . . . The first half of 1967 took Johnny to the peak of his pop career. He made his first major solo appearance on the “Big Show” tour on Australia Day 1967 . . . . [H]e took over as compere of The Go!! Show . . . . His cheerful boy-next-door personality and good looks enabled him to take on the role of TV host with relative ease . . . . [N]o doubt encouraged by huge international success of his friends The Bee Gees, Johnny decided to heed the siren call of Swinging London. . . . [He] set sail for the UK and . . . Clarion released his new single, “Lady” . . . which Barry [Gibb] had written specially for him. . . . Johnny’s follow-up . . . failed to chart . . . . Johnny failed to make a major impression on the UK scene, and he returned to Australia in January 1968, broke, exhausted and depressed. . . . Johnny fell back on his early training as a DJ and . . . joined Melbourne’s 3XY as the drive-time host . . . . His last hit single . . . was released mid-year and reached #31 in Sydney . . . . While in London, encouraged and coached by his friend Barry Gibb, he had begun to compose songs and he now began writing in earnest . . . . [H]is credits include Russell Morris’ “The Real Thing” and “Part Three Into Paper Walls”, Ronnie Burns “Smiley” — all national #1 singles . . . . Johnny scored yet another #1 single during 1970 with the sentimental country ballad “I Thank You”, recorded by former boxing champion Lionel Rose . . . . In 1970 he teamed up with Kevin Lewis . . . . [T]heir greatest success came with . . . the children’s talent quest cum variety show Young Talent Time, which . . . . was a massive success . . . .
Here are the Bee Gees off The Bee Gees 1st:
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