THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
2,053) Georgie Fame — “Parchman Farm”
I like to think I was named in honor of Georgie Fame (see #103, 169, 634, 695, 721, 1,044, 1,741) Hey, my mother used to call me Georgie, and we share the same initials (along with gluten-free items!). If only I were so cool! As Oregano Rathbone has said, “[i]t’s imperative not to trust anyone who doesn’t love Georgie Fame, though we can’t begin to imagine what kind of monster such a person would have to be.” (https://recordcollectormag.com/reviews/album/whole-worlds-shaking-complete-recordings-1963-66) Dave Stephens puts it well: “All traces of his upbringing . . . had been totally expunged and replaced by one part Mose Allison – an American white jazz singer & pianist who was fond of interpreting blues in a very individual manner – and a second part blending a whole host of black jazz, blues and R&B singers . . . .” https://www.toppermost.co.uk/fame-georgie/
From the first LP — Rhythm and Blues at the Flamingo — “Georgie and the band pull [Mose Allison’s “Parchman Farm”] off brilliantly.” (Dave Stephens, https://www.toppermost.co.uk/fame-georgie/) — “Absolutely Happening. You’ all know It.” (karlbillinger9945, https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sChJh1in4j4&list=RDsChJh1in4j4&start_radio=1&pp=ygUkR2VvcmdpZSBGYW1lIOKAlCDigJxQYXJjaG1hbiBGYXJt4oCdoAcB&ra=m)
Matthew Greenwald writes of the song:
One of Mose Allison’s most enduring songs, [it] has definite swing element to it, and the locomotive tempo is positively infectious. There are some unique features that set the song aside, one being the modulation in the second verse, which gives the song an even greater momentum. In addition, there is a down-tempo coda that is about as soulful as jazz could possibly get at the time. Lyrically, it’s about one of Allison’s favorite themes, that being persecution.
Georgie Fame on Mose Allison: “I didn’t get to know of Mose Allison until 1962 when I worked down the Flamingo Club in London playing from midnight until 6am. . . . An American GI . . . introduced me to the music of Mose Allison, and it was Mose who became my biggest influence both musically and as a human being.” (https://www.vintagerockmag.com/2023/02/soundtrack-of-my-life-georgie-fame/)
Here’s an excerpt from John Pidgeon’s wonderful reminiscence about Georgie Fame, the Blue Flames, and the Flamingo:
At most clubs where R&B groups play . . . the audience is art-studenty, the scruffy side of smart, with Stones-length hair or longer. The Flamingo, a firetrap of a basement . . . attracts an altogether different crowd. Because the All-Nighter operates from midnight to six, they come from a netherworld where people don’t keep regular hours: US servicemen . . . on 48-hour passes . . . young West Indians from Notting Hill and Brixton, insomniac musicians, drunks, junkies, hookers, and drynamil-fuelled faces. . . . Much of the band’s material has come from the GIs who frequent the All-Nighter. Keen to replicate the music they would be dancing and drinking to back home . . . and gratefully aware that Fame and his fellow musicians are not only capable of meaningful interpretation, but enthusiastically open to influence, they lend him their own records. If Fame likes what he hears, the song will be in the band’s set the following weekend . . . . And . . . it’s a GI who has introduced him to maverick jazzer Mose Allison, reshaping his singing style overnight. The album that hooked him is I Love The Life I Live, its title track now a staple in the Blue Flames’ set, along with Allison’s “Parchman Farm” and “Work Song”. Even when I search out Allison’s originals, I don’t like Fame’s approximation any less. . . . The Rolling Stones may have been lost from the Ricky Tick to the wider world of pop, but I don’t care any more, because Georgie and the Blue Flames make the most exciting music in town. . . . From midnight to six we dance and fidget and talk nonsense, start to feel not so great, swallow more pills and feel great again, and suddenly we’re outside in the cold, cold light. Those six hours can flash by so fast, I once ask on my way out why the bands haven’t done two sets tonight. “What’re you on, son? Here, you sure you’re old enough to be in this joint?” I wasn’t.
As to Georgie, Max Bell says:
Georgie Fame . . . is one of British R&B music’s founding fathers. . . . [with immense] cultural influence. . . . The black music he championed with his band The Blue Flames brought new sounds to Swinging London and bossed venues like the Flamingo Club and the Marquee where he turned the English mod movement on to a whole bag of soul and authentic US urban and country sounds and also the ska and early reggae he heard in the Jamaican cafes and clubs in the Ladbroke Grove area of London. . . .
Steve Huey adds that:
Georgie Fame’s swinging, surprisingly credible blend of jazz and American R&B earned him a substantial following in his native U.K., where he scored three number one singles during the ’60s. . . . Early in his career, he . . . peppered his repertoire with Jamaican ska and bluebeat tunes, helping to popularize that genre in England; during his later years, he was one of the few jazz singers of any stripe to take an interest in the vanishing art of vocalese, and earned much general respect from jazz critics on both sides of the Atlantic.
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/georgie-fame-mn0000543055/biography
As to Fame’s early history, Bell tells us that:
[He] depart[ed] to London aged 16 to seek his fortune. He touted his talents up and down the legendary Tin Pan Alley area of Denmark Street just off Soho where he was spotted by impresarios Lionel Bart and Larry Parnes who christened him Georgie Fame – somewhat against his will. Working with touring rock and rollers like Joe Brown, Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran young Fame became battle-hardened and was snapped up by Billy Fury in 1961 to lead his backing band The Blue Flames for whom he arranged and sang. The Blue Flames and Fury parted company and so Georgie took over . . . .
Steve Huey again:
The[ Flames’] budding reputation landed them a residency at the West End jazz club the Flamingo, and thanks to the American servicemen who frequented the club and lent Fame their records, [Fame] discovered the Hammond B-3 organ, becoming one of the very few British musicians to adopt the instrument in late 1962. From there, the Blue Flames became one of the most popular live bands in London. In 1963, they signed with EMI Columbia, and in early 1964 released their acclaimed debut LP, Rhythm and Blues at the Flamingo. It wasn’t a hot seller at first, and likewise their first three singles all flopped, but word of the group was spreading. Finally, in early 1965, Fame hit the charts with “Yeh Yeh,” . . . . [which] went all the way to number one on the British charts . . . . His 1965 LP Fame at Last reached the British Top 20, and after several more minor hits, he had another British number one with “Getaway” [see #1,044] in 1966. After one more LP with the original Blue Flames, 1966’s Sweet Thing, Fame broke up the band and recorded solo . . . .
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/georgie-fame-mn0000543055/biography
Here is Mose Allison:
Here is Bukka White:
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