I
had eye surgery earlier this week; I'm not going to go on about it,
it wasn't for cataracts but for an epiretinal membrane scrape; you
can look it up if you wish.
So
I sent the photo (above) to the kids to show them daddy as a pirate
and it reminded me of one of the greatest rock'n'roll records ever
made; by this bloke:
That's
right! Johnny Kidd of Johnny
Kidd and the Pirates and his great record was Shakin' All Over
– here it is on You Tube:
I
hope you can click on to that.
As
you will see, his right eye had the patch, and mine is on the left.
Shakin'
All Over wasn't really a hit outside Europe but it was covered in
Canada by a group from Manitoba called The Guess Who –
and I know someone from Manitoba – where it reached number one in
1965.
Johnny
Kidd's original version (which he also wrote) was released in 1960 and it was one of those
records which was totally original; in those days all British singers
tried to sound like Elvis – well not all of them but most did –
and Johnny Kidd really sang from the heart.
They
had other hits – I'll
Never Get Over You
and Please
Don't Touch –
the latter being their first single, but sadly,
the life and career of Johnny Kidd was cut short when he was killed
in a road accident on October 7th, 1966 near Bolton in Lancashire
when he and his "Pirates" were driving away after a
performance.
The guitar part on Shakin'
All Over was played by the session
guitarist Joe Moretti and whilst it is not a great piece of guitar
playing it is, and was, for the time, original. Just the right amount
of echo, reverb and wow wow, on the opening guitar picking, which I
think might have influenced Hank B Marvin playing guitar for the
Shadows track
Wonderful Land.
I remember when I went to the various
'Caverns' that sprung up in the British cities after The
Beatles made the one in Liverpool famous,
groups playing 'Shakin'
All Over' nearly every night and I suppose thinking back that Johnny
Kidd was the link between the teeny bop of the sugary British pop
songs of the late 50s to the Beatles and the hard rock and blues that
came later.
Johnny
Kidd sang Bo Diddley songs way before The Rolling Stones.
Johnny
Kidd and the Pirates
– a group that preceded Alice
Cooper;
they were as theatrical as AC - and as Johnny didn't play an
instrument on stage groups like Led
Zeppelin
and The
Who
felt they could have a solo singer who didn't carry or play an
instrument; there's also footage or recordings of Led Zeppelin
playing Johnny Kidd songs.
Click on to the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n327ncoU_ZU
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