Thursday, March 03, 2011

Compare and Contrast: Farewell My Lovely Appetizer

Well, I'll be jiggered. I just discovered that one of my all-time faves by the second best pop/rock band in Liverpool -- The Searchers' gorgeous 1965 "Goodbye My Love"...




...is actually a cover. Specifically, of a semi-obscure Southern soul record by Jimmy Hughes from the same year.




I'm embarrassed to admit that before I stumbled across this one on the intertubes the other day I was unfamiliar with not just the original but with Hughes himself. That said, on balance, and as spine-tingling as the Hughes version is, I think I still prefer the cover. Something about those harmonies, I suspect.

6 comments:

geor3ge said...

Wow, the rhythm guitar just gets under your skin, doesn't it?

TMink said...

I had an dear aunt who said "I'll be jiggered" all the time. I had not heard that one for decades. Thanks.

Trey

steve simels said...

I got it from Negativland.

On their hilarious "U2" record. The guy says it a couple of times.

Faze said...

I've never heard either of these singles. So I thought I'd do an experiment to see if it is true, as they say, that there would be a bias to prefer the version I heard first. I suspected that I would probably like the Searchers version the best. So I listened to the Jimmy Hughes version a couple of times first. Then I listened to the Searchers version. Verdict: Searchers is better. The harmonies are great. The overall sound is cohesive. But that little rhythm guitar sting, as Geor3ge points out, really makes it. So much for the "hearing it first" bias. (Nothing wrong with Jimmy Hughes' voice, though. It's damned ethereal.)

Anonymous said...

Am so extremely biased to the Searchers, not going to pretend otherwise. Jimmy Hughes, though, seems to foretell Al Green, which is kinda outre for 1965.

The Merseyside bands competed to plant their stakes in great but less-traveled blues and R'n'B covers. The Searchers found some of the best, and made them their own.

AP

steve simels said...

See: "Someday We're Gonna Love Again."