Let’s just say that the collation of molecules constituting the cosmos (including my neurons) has determined that I’ll post a song every day this week. That is, I have no choice about both posting music and the choice of music I post.
I could have sworn that, like the Linda Ronstadt song from yesterday, I’d posted this one before, but a quick search of the site says no. So, with a tip of the dangly-ball hat to our friends in Oz, here are The Seekers with their one huge hit, “I’ll never find another you,” written by Tom Springfield. In 1964 it reached #1 on the UK pop charts, and was #4 in the U.S. I was fourteen, and remember it well.
Maybe you’ll remember their other two hits, “Georgy Girl” and “A World of Our Own” (links go to the videos; be sure to watch the second), but neither made it as big as “Another You.”
You might also remember the small but powerful lead singer, Judith Durham, belting out the lyrics along with three geeky guys in 60s suits. She was great, and if you don’t like her, take a number, get in line, and . . .
I didn’t think I knew this one, but it turns out have heard it before. However, even if this was the biggest hit, it’s “Georgy Girl” that I seem to have heard the most over the years in the UK. Followed by “Morningtown Ride” — “rockin’, rollin’, ridin’”.
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J.Durham celebrates 70th b/day a month ago
“Georgy Girl” is a song that I remember hearing often in early childhood. Brings back memories. Don’t remember ” I”ll never find another you” but I was likely a bit too young.
I thoroughly enjoy The Seekers.
” . . . along with three geeky guys in 60s suits.”
Hmm . . . just congenially curious. ;)How “geeky” are they? Moderately? Nominally? 75th per centile? Does there exist a “geek” phenotype benchmark reference?
What word other than “non-geek” would describe the opposite of “geek” (as well as “nerd” and “dork”)?
Not unlike the male members of a lot of 60s groups, really. Hank Marvin and the Shadows, say?
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Hank is a devout Jehovah’s Witness these days. I blame Cliff ~ being around the “Bachelor Boy” for lengthy periods would twist anyone’s head.
I’m not American, but an anti-geek might be a jock.
My favourite term for a techie geek is “propeller head”. In the UK “anorak” is the term for geek due to the associated dreadful geek clothes awareness.
A type closely aligned to the geek is the “train spotter” who may not actually be a train spotter… they’re not necessarily smart or studious but they’re a bit OCD at collecting stuff, tend to be socially awkward & embrace the anorak aesthetic [to be kind].
Yeah, Michael, jock (in the USian sense) is probably the nearest slang term for “anti-geek” or “non-geek” (USian usage).
The “jocks” the sports “stars” where the “cool” upper crust in the great high school hierarchy, amongst which the geeks were very low on the pecking order.
“A type closely aligned to the geek is the “train spotter” who may not actually be a train spotter… they’re not necessarily smart or studious but they’re a bit OCD at collecting stuff, tend to be socially awkward & embrace the anorak aesthetic [to be kind].”
Interesting. I thought “train spotting” was your typical amateur enthusiast for any sort of odd activity (stamp collecting, etc.). I guess the geekiness fits well too.
“train spotter” is also a derogatory term for any bloke who will not shut up about their pet subject. The subject might be anything from brewing beer to battle tanks of WWII. Train spotters are unable to moderate their obsession to fit in with present company & can’t detect the glazed expression of those people they’ve managed to corner. Mind you most male-on-male conversation is like that anyway, but you get a free pass if the subject is cars or sport ~ I dunno why as it’s still boring crap. I make a sharp exit. 🙂
Before we can talk about the opposites, we need to understand the definitions 🙂
I was a Led Zeppelin and Jethro Tull fan, but I had a secret admiration for Judith Durham. I know all her songs, but I guess she had more airplay down here. My favourite was Ant’s second favourite, “Morningtown Ride”
…oh and thanks, Jerry, for remembering us down here in the antipodes (:
How can you put “was” in there? Surely not possible…
I remember it 2 well. Did not like them. But then I was no good-music aficionado – I liked the Beatles – yuck.
Heretic!
Surely the hat is dangly cork, not dangly ball?
Arrgghh. Sorry. I just hate The Seekers so much, especially ‘Georgie Girl’. Spent hours and hours trapped in car on road trips with family as a kid being unable to escape from The Seekers.
My parents listened to Stravinsky, Mussorgsky, and lots of other 20th century stuff by various sky’s and others. Hated it, except for Scheherazade by Rimsky-Korsakov.
I would have welcomed The Seekers or any other popular music.
My dad, never ahead of his time, loved all kinds of music, but especially Rock. I have many good memories of working with him in his shop, with both of us singing along with the Stones or Led Zeppelin.
Love it, although it was my grandparents who had the most “classical” music. I was likely strongly influenced by seeing Fantasia at an early age. Stravinsky meant dinosaurs! Moussorgsky meant demons!
At home, I was subjected to big band and swing music, courtesy of my dad.
My tastes these days are pretty eclectic.
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I like them. I liked that folk/pop sound from the 60s — though I was too young to listen to the radio then.
Never did like the Seekers for some reason, but “Another You” was quite a good song.
But note that the cosmos comprises the molecules, not the other way around.
Indeed! Thx.
Lesley Gore YouTube video:
“You Don’t Own Me” Live 1964
http://goo.gl/N044e
I really love the spirit of freedom and rebellion in this song. It’s not just about what a girl may need to say to a guy; it’s about what anyone should say to everyone. It really speaks to me.
I know Lesley was still working up to last year. Then her venue shut down, and I don’t know if she’ll be working somewhere else or not. She was about 18 in this video and is 67 now.
Great song.
Yes. I was in high school on Long Island when this was a hit. A strong feminist statement in the days before feminism was scarcely mentioned.
Google or iTunes the cover version of “You Don’t Own Me” by Rasputina. A gorgeously ominous, goth-like version that makes you wonder how anyone ever missed the feminist manifesto lurking behind Gore’s bouncy blond hair.
I don’t thing a message of freedom was lurking; it was very directly and passionately expressed. I suppose many were very concrete bound about their interpretation and didn’t see the generality in it–women and, indeed, everyone. “I’ll say and do whatever I please” isn’t only for girlfriends or women. I’m a man and I love it.
And Jerry is scoring 2 for 2 this week. Judith Durham is my second most favourite singer, after Linda Ronstadt (and she was my favourite for years till I rediscovered Linda). Judith has a lovely voice. And quite by coincidence, having put my MP3 collection on starting with Linda right after seeing Jerry’s previous post, I’d just worked round to The Seekers when I read this post.
My favourite Seekers song is probably The Carnival is Over, but I also came upon a beautiful rendition of Danny Boy by Judith on a ‘Seekers Greatest Hits’ compilation CD – I don’t know when she sang the original. (There are versions on Youtube of her singing it live, but the sound isn’t quite so good, and one Youtube track of (probably) the good version, but taken off an LP to judge from the record noise – here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18BEYdtBnk0
And I came across (on Youtube) a magnificent arrangement of Morning Has Broken which suits her voice, here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5u4uyLdUKI
From the comments, Judith liked the arrangement too.
(Hope those didn’t imbed…)
Beautiful photos!
Both magnificent. Thanks.
Now the kids have got Justin Bieber; I’m sorry for them.
+infinity
Seriously, what passes for popular music today is a pale shadow of what was going in the 60s and 70s. … set up a computer to thump shicka thump and talk bollocks over it, you’ve got a hit. Or strain yourself trying to “sing soul” with all kinds of mindless wobbles (these people need to listen to the real deal and understand it.) Or mumble something dark with a whispering/gasping 1.5 note range over a single guitar lick. Gack.
Judith had a brain haemorrhage in Melbourne, Australia (her home town) after a performance. More at our ABC TV here:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-15/the-seekers/4691800
She is doing well in a re-hab hospital.
I wish her all the best. I loved the seekers and my favourite was (still is) The Carnival is over.
Tripping down memory lane? I remember it all just a bit too well. If you didn’t like the Seekers you probably were not there, we didn’t have many choices.
I’ll never find another you will be playing in my head for hours, thanks Jerry, and Thanks Obama.
I thought this was a song about a lovesick ram. You know, “I’ll Never Find Another Ewe.”
That was baaaaad. You should feel sheepish.
In New Zealand we agreed with the ewe but associated it with ove-sick Australian. Probably shouldn’t move the conversation that way!
Great group though. Saw them a couple of times.
I thought of that play on words too. I also changed the lyrics of “All I Want To Do Is Be With You” to “All I Want To Do Is Betray You”. It got big laughs. I guess I have a smart assed and cynical disposition which only to me makes good comedy. 🙂
Thanks. Haven’t heard that song in a long time. For some strange reason it brought up a vivid memory of playing on the kitchen floor with my cut-out dolls. Maybe I made them dance to it.
Such a beautiful and wistful song. Wonderful stuff. ♥ Thanks for posting it.
(There’s a cover version that I’m rather fond of, but I’ll save it for posting on Facebook. I’ll tag you in the post, J., & then you’ll be all like “get offa my lawn with your indie pop covers!” (¬‿¬)
“Nothing happens without a sufficient reason, why it should be so, rather than otherwise.” Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz.
Isn’t that the typical “There’s a reason for everything” that religionists take as why they believe in the supernatural? Actually, everything important happens without human reasoning behind it…e.g. what is the “reason” for gravity between masses?
You can listen to this song in glorious stereo, here.
Jerry, I’m just a bit worried that some parasite has entered your brain, causing you to post music links….and then, it will ‘pivot’ and give you indescribably compelling, unrelenting signals to swim in shark-infested waters, so that the parasite will pass through a shark, and continue with its life-cycle !!!
…so, continue with the music, but buy no plane tickets, no matter how compelled you feel, to oceanic port locations!!
PS I like that Seekers song, even though I more of a R&R’ler.
That’s a disturbingly specific diagnosis. 🙂
Haven’t you seen grown men at the beach, running full-tilt off the sand and pell-mell into the waves, arms flapping, then, knee-deep, diving into the waves???!!
…it’s the parasites! All too common! 🙂
The contrarian in me made me think of Tim Minchin’s song “If I Didn’t Have You” http://alturl.com/tbw9s
I love that Tim Minchin song!
Still got 4 original Seekers LPs which my parents bought in the 60s. Haven’t got a record player anymore!!!! Nice songs
This song forever will bring tears to my eyes. As foolishly sentimental as it is, it perfectly expresses how I feel about the person who is my soul-mate, but whom I never married.
We live on opposite sides of the continent, and have maintained a mostly clandestine, romantic love for decades, which is wonderful. We get together in person only rarely and it is ecstatic and perfection.
Only then to go back to the mainly misery that our separate lives have carved out over time.
But each time I hear this one tune, there is youth, perfection, and the kind of soul-stirring, string-theory vibration that occurs from only one person in your life.
I love you Randi.