Growing up in the 60's meant the Billy Cotton Band Show on the radio at Sunday lunchtime whilst the roast and gravy was being dished up is ingrained into me. His catch phrase of "Wakey-wakey!" was hollered at the start of every half hour of music and family oriented merriment.
His dance band was big throughout the 40's and 50's with numerous hits including "I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts","Friends and Neighbours and "I Saw Mummy Kissing Santa Claus". In the 60's he had a regular Saturday night show on the BBC TV that last many years.
On this 45 E.P. I found at a boot sale (?) the vocalist is Alan Breeze who sang with his band for over 40 years.
Billy Cotton Band - The Woodpecker
Billy Cotton Band - The Marrow Song
Billy Cotton Band - Lulu Had A Baby
Billy Cotton Band - Sweet Violets
These SendSpace files are available for seven days or until exhausted.
The Billy Cotton Band is one of my favourites in this genre. Never knew where "Wakey wakey" originated from, but it's still being used in The Netherlands as well (especially by music teachers ;-)
ReplyDeleteThanks for dropping by Jan.
ReplyDeleteAFTER after suffering through the "Billy Cotton Band Show"...you would get The Clitheroe Kid and/or Round the Horne and/or The Navy Lark...how fab was that and how great was the radio ??
ReplyDeleteI was just thinking this week how much I needed a copy of 'The Marrow Song'. Fantastic!
ReplyDeleteI agree B9 that the golden age of radio was the 60's but I must admit The Clitheroe Kid and The Navy Lark were'nt my favourites. Now Round The Horne was in a different league altogether!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure "suffering" would be the right word though as there were highlights in those shows and it's a shame that the Beeb hasn't any in the archive to share on Radio 7. It would be interesting to to hear if they sound as good now as they did back then. Maybe the passing of time had dulled my memory of the awful bits!
There are several other versions of "The Marrow Song" mcdingo. I think I recall one by Larry Grayson which I have somewhere. Maybe a future upload and then, maybe not!
I have several editions of 'Round The Horne' if you'd like me to send you some. I think I've got all the first series and then a few bits and pieces.
ReplyDeleteLarry Grayson doing the Marrow Song? Oh yes! Sounds fantastic.
I guess Billy Cotton was immediately before lunch, so perhaps the suffering was waiting for Roast Lamb and mint sauce....but you could help but love left hand down a bit and right hand up a bit...however, I would agree nothing matched Round the Horne...Rambling Sid Rumpo remains a hero to this day
ReplyDeleteThanks for the generous offer of some Round The Horne mcdingo but I think I probably have quite few already on various media- tape, vinyl and MP3. Never enough time to listen to them all as much as I'd like to.
ReplyDeleteRambling Sid is a hero of mine too. I'll wordle my possett until my nadgers be free.