There is a popular myth, peddled mainly by rock bands and younger musicians, that the showbands of the 1960s only did cover-versions of hit-songs and were more or less a ‘human jukebox’. In this article Francis K. Beirne sets out to show how that belief is very much a myth and an incorrect one at that.
While many of the releases on vinyl by showbands included covers or interpretations of well-known songs, some showbands made a point of including original material both in their dance programmes and on record. Anyway, some of the biggest hits in history were what some disdainfully call ‘covers’, e,g: ‘Blue Suede Shoes’ by Elvis Presley, ‘With A Little Help From My Friends’ by Joe Cocker and ‘It’s All Over Now’ by the Rolling Stones.
Top of the pile were Ballymena band, The Freshmen. Billy Brown was a prolific songwriter but guitarist Damian McElroy and drummer Davy McKnight also composed. The band’s original singles included ‘Northwest Territory’, ‘Yesterday Song’, ‘Time Hasn’t Changed Her’ and ‘You Never Heard Anything Like It’, a song which was played on BBC regularly by John Peel.
On the band’s first L.P. record, six of the tracks were original songs, one by Danny Ellis of the Jim Farley All-Stars, ‘Look At The Sunshine.’
‘Cinderella’, a song written and performed by Billy Brown and inspired by Limerick contralto Suzanne Murphy, is rated as one of the best released by an Irish artiste in any genre.
Tommy Swarbrigg, both with The Times and when he was with The Drifters, always made a big effort to do his own original songs. We’re familiar with ‘Looking Through The Eyes of a Beautiful Girl’, ‘The Entertainer,’ ‘If Ma Could See Me Now’ and the Eurovision entry ‘That’s What Friends Are For’, but Tommy also wrote songs for Joe Dolan and the Drifters, two tracks on The Drifters’ E.P. ‘Minutes To Midnight’ and ‘I’ll Sit On Your Doorstep’ and a number of B-sides including ‘Workday Blues’ and ‘The Wrong Impression’.
All 12 tracks on The Times’ 1975 L.P. ‘Passin’ The Time Away’ were original songs by Tommy and Jimmy Swarbrigg.
Another showband who made a big effort with their own original material were the Riviera from Ballyhaunis. Band-members Mal Tiernan and Patsy Haugh were the songwriters and among their releases were ‘Love And The Country’, a hit for Shea Cribben, ‘The Girl Next Door’, ‘What About The Last Time?’ and ‘Give Your Love A Chance’.
When Danny Ellis joined Stage 2 in 1972, the Cork band recorded three of his songs, ‘I’d Still Believe In You’, ‘Move Along’ and ‘Whole Lotta Lovin’’ along with ‘Whiskey Woman’, written by the band’s guitarist Des Hickey.
Danny, who had a successful solo career as a singer/songwriter in Asheville, North Carolina, also wrote ‘A Knock On The Door’ for his first band, the Airchords and ‘Uncle Tristan’s Moonship’ with Fran O’Toole for the Miami Showband.
Continue reading in this week’s Ireland’s Own
