THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
2,040) The Red Squares — “You Can Be My Baby”
The British are coming . . . to Denmark — via “K-KILLERRRR” (stOOpid68, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEBbxWwPGas) “[d]ynamite pounding mod freakbeat” (happening45, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17KcOjo1g18), “a single worthy of the Who [see #119, 548, 833, 976, 1,912] . . . sound[ing] as majestically overamplified and punkishly chaotic as anything coming from Mssrs. Townshend, Entwistle, Daltrey, and Moon”. (Bruce Eder, https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-red-squares-mn0000417608) Mike Stax writes that the Squares “hitched their high-register harmonies to an electrifying Who-inspired arrangement with blazing power chords, zooming bass, and crazed drums”. (Mike Stax, liner notes to the CD comp Nuggets II (Original Artyfacts From The British Empire And Beyond 1964-1969)) Ironically, all this adulation is (rightly) in reference to the Swedish single version (above) — the Danish single version (below) is positively narcoleptic.
Baronvonrhubarbpostoffice surmises that “I doubt us brits would have made this a hit so thankfully Denmark 🇩🇰 had a bit more taste”. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zml21_-4FOk)
Bruce Eder tells us of the Squares:
A number of British bands, recognizing that there was demand for their sound and a living to be made outside of England, took the plunge — the Rokes [see #1,370] went off to Italy, the Liverpool Five headed for Asia and then the United States, and the Red Squares took off for Denmark. Formed in Boston, England, in 1964, the[y] were almost a retro outfit, emphasizing harmony vocals along the lines of the early Beach Boys [see #667, 1,825], the Four Seasons [see #1,454], and the Tokens [see #66, 923, 1,046], with falsetto leads and a strong emphasis on covers of early-’60s material. . . . Finding the competition in England a little too steep — what with better established groups like the Fortunes already laying claim to the audience for that brand of harmony vocal-based pop/rock — the group pulled up stakes and headed for Denmark in early 1966, where there was a good deal of demand for British bands, and where early-’60s American sounds weren’t considered as out-of-step as they were in England. They became stars there, hitting number one with their cover of the Four Seasons’ “Sherry” and cutting an entire LP. By the middle of the year, they’d also begun experimenting with harder sounds in the instrumental department[, resulting in “You Can Be My Baby”].
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-red-squares-mn0000417608
Vernon Joynson adds:
They . . . found work playing American bases in France. In July 1965 . . . Howie Gee [was] recruited as an extra lead singer . . . . In December 1965 . . . Gee temporarily left the group to join his girlfriend in Denmark, where he discovered a fertile market for British groups and persuaded his bandmates to join him. Within six months they had become a big name and were breaking in Sweden. At gigs there was hysteria, and at one Swedish concert the crowd completely wrecked the stage. . . . Despite constant personnel changes, from 1966-1967 they were among Denmark’s leading pop idols. . . . Few groups had the adulation they received wherever they went, and they were constantly in the press. The Red Squares split in December 1969 after a tour of Israel as they had permit problems and no hope of returning to Denmark.
The Tapestry of Delights Revisited
But something might have been rotten in the State of Denmark. Yoyomama1 writes: “Imagine a working-class band of English mods with attitude, a surly disposition and loads of potential being dropped into a market [in this case Denmark] that only wants to hear soft pop standards and this is what you get, and it’s fucking tragic.” (https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/the-red-squares/the-red-squares/)
Here is the more sedate “Danish” version:
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