THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,695) Tracy Rogers — “Baby”
British actress Tracy Rogers gifts us a “glorious” (Mikey Dread, https://www.45cat.com/record/bm56077) and “great version of the Sorrows” [see #407, 567, 1,597] song. (teabiscuit, https://www.45cat.com/record/bm56077) “Oh Yeah. Cool as f*ck. (tonymack66, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiO6azwjQhg) Indeed! I love the Sorrows, but Rogers outfreaks’ the Sorrows’ freakbeat. Well, she did have a little help from the great freaks Les Fleur de Lys [see #32, 122], who frequently backed up Sharon Tandy [see #371, 441, 442, 741, 1,485]. All pretty freaky for a song co-written by famed pop songwriters Mort Shuman and Clive Westlake!
Ready Steady Girls! writes:
Tracy Rogers had an air of Brigitte Bardot about her, and both worked as actresses and singers. The major difference was that Brigitte was hugely successful while Tracy languished in obscurity. The fact that, of the pair, only Tracy could hold a tune must have been cold comfort for the Briton. She is perhaps best known for her version of the Sorrows’ “Baby”, on which she is thought to be have been backed by Les Fleur de Lys.
Discogs tells us that:
Tracy Rogers had a successful career as a singer and actress on the West End stage in the sixties and also starred in the original Broadway production of Noel Coward’s musical, The Girl Who Came to Supper . . . . [S]he trained for the stage as a child at the Italia Conti School. At 18, she went to Broadway to appear in The Girl Who Came to Supper and on her return to London starred in shows such as Will O’ the Wisp, Where the Rainbow Ends . . . The Roar of the Greasepaint and . . . Oh! What a Lovely War. She also appeared at the London Palladium in variety with Danny La Rue and Des O’Connor. As a singer she was signed to Polydor Records and had a chart hit with “Love Story”. She made several films, including What a Crazy World, Rattle of a Simple Man and the gay cult classic The Leather Boys, with Rita Tushingham. TV appearances included Z Cars, Emergency Ward 10, Dixon of Dock Green, No Hiding Place, The Troubleshooters and Softly Softly.
Steve Kurutz tells us of Shuman:
While either on his own, or teamed with songwriting partner Doc Pomus, Mort Shuman has authored some of the most lasting songs in pop music, including “Save the Last Dance for Me” and “Teenager in Love.” Born in Brooklyn to Jewish immigrant parents, Shuman studied at the New York Conservatory but felt rejected and alienated by his peers in Brooklyn. Identifying with the black community in Harlem, Shuman’s true musical education came within that area’s raucous R&B clubs . . . . Shuman started penning lyrics at 18 and found success when his songs such as “Surrender” were recorded by Elvis. In 1958 the songwriter met fellow white R&B devotee Doc Pomus and the two took up residence in a small Greenwich Village flat, forming a successful songwriting partnership. Together the duo signed on as writers at the Brill Building, penning hits for the Drifters (“Save the Last Dance for Me” and “Sweets for My Sweet”), Elvis (“Little Sister”) and Dion & the Belmonts (“Teenager in Love”). Those early-’60s songs represented the zenith of Shuman’s creative output . . . but the songwriter continued to write for Janis Joplin, Andy Williams, and the Small Faces, among others. In 1966, Shuman had somewhat of an epiphany when he heard the work of Belgian composer Jacquees Brel. He immediately moved to France and began translating Brel’s work into English. In the early ’70s, he wrote and directed a musical around his translations of Brel’s songs and titled it Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris. Shuman also became a star in his own right in France when several of his French-language songs (filtered through a New York accent) became hits.
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/mort-shuman-mn0000591723#biography
Here are the Sorrows:
Here is a cool hard rock version by Billings, Montana’s Frantic (’70):
Here are Sweden’s Panthers (’65):
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