Just came across this little piece of trivia this morning and decided to share it with you all but have a go at the answer.What do Sandie Shaws Puppet On A String and Danas All Kinds Of Everything have in common and before you all dive in the answer is not the fact that they both won the Eurovision or any Phil Coulter connection. ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

TP. One thing they have in common is that they were both in English and were the first two English language songs to win the competition ??? ???

Not quiet the answer i was looking for and also not quiet true as heavens forbid will we ever forget Lulu a co - winner in 69 with Boom Bang A Bang but good try Liamo .You have gone cold after me giving you a clue to do with you. ;) ;) ;)

Sandie Shaw & Dana are 'made up' names...just like many of the members here.. 8)

No made up names here the answer is in the recordings and not the names. ::) ::) ::)

This is not the answer but when UK won in '67, Ireland was 2nd. Then when Ireland won in '70, UK was 2nd (opposite way round)...kinda odd really

I knew there were a lot of closet Eurovision fans out there.That was a good answer but where do you draw the line as when we won in both 92 & 93 it was the UK who came second on both occasions and then to close this when the UK finally won in 97 it was us who came second. ;D ;D ;D

Ok an infamous session  guitar player played on both songs do i actually have to name him . :-[ :-[ :-[

Was it 'Big' Jim Sullivan ....great British session guitarist who also played with: Tom Jones, Gilbert O'Sullivan, Petula Clark, New Seekers, Bachelors etc etc....?

Good guess but alas not the right guess but you are on the right track.I remember Big Jim Sullivan on Thank Your Lucky Stars when he covered the Ral Donner classic You Dont Know What You Got Until You Lose It yes he even did the vocals ;D ;D ;D

Were there many session guitarists out there then? I got my information from: www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Jim_Sullivan. It gives all the records that he played on. It's well worth a look. M

I will give it a gander over the weekend.This guy also has a great site as well.Probably not as well known as BJS but his list of recordings its like a whos who of the record industry it would probably be easier to name the few he has not played with.Final hint and if you lot out there dont get this i will give it up.He is famous for possiblly the greatest intro to  any song well ok the most well known and you will all be eating your hats if i have to tell you either the player or the tune. :-[ :-[ :-[ :-[ :-[

Hi Alpineseven,

Just a guess but is it the splendidly named Vic Flick. As far as I know he was the guy who played the James Bond Theme in all those movies.  He was also a very in demand session musician,
BTW  I had the great pleasure of recording with Big Jim Sullivan when I was a member of Emile Forde and the Checkmates. Last I heard of him he was playing with James Last and his orchestra.

rgds

Barry

There y'are. After all that time Barry got thje FLICKing answer just before me :-[

Well we did get a bit of mileage out of that one after all.Yes indeed it was the one and only Vic Flick who started off with the John Barry Seven and it is Vic you hear on the likes of Walk Dont Run and Hit And Miss which was the theme for Juke Box Jury.He went on to play on quiet a few more Bond themes.Nice one Barry will tell son Terry you got it right when i go around to Martins later this afternoon. ::) ::) ::) ::) ::) ::) ::)

Hi Alpineseven,

Small world indeed !!

Best Regards


Barry

Hi Again.

A little teaser of my own.

Who had the ORIGINAL hit version of 'Little Old Wine Drinker Me ?

You might be surprised at the answer.

Regards

Barry

From what I can establish there were 2 issues of it in 1966;;;;;; Charlie Walker and Robert Mitchum :-[ :-[

Hi,

Spot on. I hadn't heard of the Charlie Walker version.

Robert Mitchum was a surprisingly good country singer. Apparantly at the wrap party for 'Ryan's Daughter' he joined the band onstage and entertained the cast and crew with songs and stories for over an hour.

Hidden talents indeed

Regards

Barry

Barry, I remember Robert Mitchum singing in one of his films. I can't remember the film or the song.

Question for ya. When(what years) were you with the Checkmates?

Hi Again,

I had 2, how can I put it ?, 'interesting'  years as a Checkmate (1961-62)  We were based in London and played all over the UK and continental Europe.
I guess the most memorable time with Emile was playing the Star Club in Hamburg ( We were the first Irish musicians to play in that famous venue). At different times we shared the bill with Gerry and the Pacemakers, The Big Three, Tony Sheridan, Rory Storm , Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley et al.

Happy Days !!

Regards

Barry

I had a reason for asking. I think it would have been during your time too. There were 2 ballrooms here in Arklow, The Ormonde and The Entertainment Centre. The Centre was the usual venue for acts like yourselves. However, one Sunday night The Checkmates were playing in the Ormonde and we, The Red Seven Showband in the Centre. You had to walk across the bridge to the Centre. There was quite a bit of snow. The Checkmates would have got the crowd anyway but with the snow added, we ended up with about 2 dozen!!!!
So And So!!!!! We played the full 4 hours all the same to make sure we got paid. :-[

Hi again,

Don't feel too bad. You probably got more money than we did.
Forde was a miserable b*****d

Rgds

Barry

So it was him that got all the money that night ;D (All the money???). Where'd I get that from ??? ???

For anyone interested..(or of an age to remember), Robert Mitchum sang the theme tune 'The Ballad of Thunder Road' to his film 'Thunder Road'... His follow-up to 'Little old wine drinker me' was called 'You deserve each other', which also charted in the Country charts in the U.S.... M

Thanks for that info. Very interesting. It must have been Thunder Road I was thinking of :o

Hey..M, I looked on that website & it states that the Big JS played on both those singles too..How's about that then? 8)

It's amazing the number of showband names who were part of the beat scene in the UK. Barry with The Checkmates, Shaun O'Dowd with Plastic Penny, Dermot Hegarty with The Yardbirds and some guy , can't recall his name at the moment who had been a member of the Nashville Teens. (he went on to join Gene & THe Gents).
Met Vic Flick some years ago at the Castlebar International Song Contest. Nice guy.

Just back from an afternoons racing in my local so i missed all the excitement .Yeh i would have got Thunder Road for RM  but lets be honest they all could not have played on both singles .I came across the info on Vic Flicks site and as i usually do got confirmation from my Euro know all so i will go along with it until someone tells me it is wrong.By the way Barry young Ter says hello. ::) ::) ::)

Hi Tiptop,

Not sure about the Gene and the Gents/Nashville Teens connection. I was in G and the G's for five years. In that time we had two lead guitar players, Henry McCullough and Pete Cresswell. When Henry left we were faced with a major problem. Let's face it, how do you replace a guy of Henry's calibre?!
We decided we would have to look outside Ireland so we advertised in the Melody Maker, held auditions in London and Pete Cresswell joined the band. He proved to be an excellent choice and is still very active in the business.
I know for certain Henry wasn't in the Nashville Teens and I have no recollection of Pete ever mentioning that he played wth them.

I could be wrong. After all,  It HAS been a long time!!


Regards

Barry

Tiptop,

Just re read your post. OOPS! You didn't say it was a guitar player! Sorry about that. Either way, none of the rest of us played in The Nashville Teens.

rgds

Barry

Hi Barry,

Pete Cresswell is the guys name I couldn't remember. I recall I read in papers at the time that Pete had been a member of Nashville Teens. Maybe it was just publicity to drum up interest!

Hi Tiptop,

I seem to remember Pete played with sombody famous allright, I just can't remember who.
He was certainly good enough to have played with the Nashville Teens.

regards

Barry