THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,863) Ronnie Burns — “Easy Rider”
No, this is not the Byrds’ “Ballad of Easy Rider”! It is “Easy Rider”, performed by Ronnie Burns (see #1,657) , “one of [Australia’s] truest pop heroes” (Paul Culnane, http://www.milesago.com/artists/burns.htm), and written by his frequent collaborator Johnny Young. To be fair, Burns is headed to experience America livin’ like Easy Rider! But, given how things went down at the end of Easy Rider, I’m not sure he really wants to do that. Easy Rider is of course “the landmark American film” starring Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Jack Nicholson in which “[t]wo hippie bikers set out to discover ‘the real America’ and wind up taking the ultimate bad trip”. (https://www.amazon.com/Easy-Rider-Special-Peter-Fonda/dp/B000022TSY) You all owe it to yourselves to listen to Little Steven’s paean to the flick — https://www.undergroundgarage.com/shows-589-580/show-589-easy-rider (set #3).
Paul Culnane tells us Ronnie Burns’ story in the definitive Milesago: Australasian Music & Popular Culture 1965-1975:
He began his musical career as a folk singer in Melbourne before catching the ‘Beatle bug’ in 1964, whereapon he became a founding member of The Flies . . . . one of the very first bands in Melbourne to catch on to the new ‘beat’ style and gained attention as “Victoria’s top Beatle-alikes” . . . . achieved considerable popularity on the booming Melbourne dance circuit, with a repertoire of Brit-vasion standards from the catalogues of The Searchers, The Hollies and Herman’s Hermits and others . . . . The Flies toured interstate during late 1964 and early 1965 . . . . supporting The Rolling Stones on their first Australian tour in January 1965. . . . Ronnie quit the band in August 1965 to go solo . . . . [He] clean-cut image, appealing, boyish, dimpled good looks and impeccable sartorial presentation immediately made him a favoured TV and pin-up star when he launched his solo career under the aegis of leading Melbourne impresario Jeff Joseph. . . . Ronnie could often be seen on pop TV shows including The Go!! Show and Uptight . . . . was extremely popular, and enjoyed a series of strong chart hits, many written and/or produced by the cream of Aussie pop composers and backed by some of our top musicians. And he was voted Australia’s most popular male performer, or “King Of Pop”, on more than one occasion. . . . [H]is popularity gradually spread thanks to regular TV and concert appearances. He signed a solo recording contract with the Spin label, and his debut solo single for them . . . “Very Last Day” . . . . made the Top 20 in Melbourne in June 1966, as did the follow-up, “True True Lovin’” . . . (#17 in September), and it also made the new Go-Set national Top 40, first published in the 5 October 1966 edition, coming in at #22 in the inaugural chart. . . . He scored major success on the singles chart by tapping into a rich vein of material written by his illustrious label-mates The Bee Gees . . . . The Bee Gees [see #291, 353, 354, 439, 466, 484, 497, 570, 594, 717, 861, 962, 1,065, 1,101, 1,125, 1,190, 1,321, 1,336, 1,343, 1,465, 1,584, 1,640, 1,685, 1,843] penned Ronnie’s third solo single “Coalman” . . . especially for him . . . . [It] became a national Top 10 hit . . . peaking at #6 . . . . [and] followed by another brisk, hard-beat Gibb number, “Exit Stage Right” . . . peak[ing] at #19 at the end of July. . . . His growing popularity was certainly assisted by the fact that his biggest competitor, Normie Rowe, had been away from the local scene, first with trips to Europe and America in 1967, and then by his call up for National Service . . . . in early 1968. The Groop’s songwriting team of Brian Cadd and Max Ross, provided Ronnie with both sides of his next single, “When I Was 6 Years Old”, which charted briefly in Go-Set, reaching #28 (Mar. 1968) . . . . Ronnie’s next single — and one of his best — was the magnificent “Age Of Consent” (#16, Jan. 1969), a lush, emotive ballad penned by The Twilights’ [see #563] Terry Britten . . . . Britten wrote quite a few songs for Burns, as did Johnny Young. . . . Ronnie toured the land extensively over the next few years . . . . Johnny Young produced a full album’s worth of solid material in 1969’s Smiley. The LP’s wistful title track was an enormous hit for Ronnie in December 1969, only just missing out on the #1 spot [with today’s song on the B-side]. It was one of the few Australian hits of the ’60s to directly address the issue of the Vietnam War, although it was not the first, as is sometimes claimed — that honour goes to The Masters Apprentices’ “Wars Or Hands Of Time” [see #297] . . . . Further introspective Young-penned songs for Burns’ singles, like “The Prophet” and “If I Die” helped to prolong Ronnie’s turn in the spotlight. After a couple more polished pop albums that featured well-chosen material from notable singer-songwriters of the day . . . . Burns retreated from the glare of the pop music spotlight for some time. . . .
Here are the Byrds:
Here is Roger McGuinn’s version, from the soundtrack to Easy Rider:
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