The Story Of "Long Cool Woman"

[cameron]

Interesting article with some new interviews with Allan, Bobby and Roger Cook who co-wrote the song. It's great to get a full explanation of those lyrics!

www.wsj.com/articles/how-the-hollies-created-long-cool-woman-in-a-black-dress-1502805910

[greengoddess]

Sadly, a subscription to The Wall Street Journal is needed before you can read it - apparently.

[gee]

I heard years ago that LCW began life as a more Country styled number - not impossible remembering the abandoned 'Hollies Sing Country' project and the four 'country toons' they did cut

Roger Cook later relocated to Nashville too - anyway I heard it began as a country flavoured item, then became more early Elvis (40 years gone now !) 'Sun' records styled

hence the lean guitar, the echo on Allan's voice and no harmonies etc as it went on...and got 'rockier and rockier' and speeded up making some think it was a Creedence tribute (CCR did a cover of Elvis 'My Baby Left Me')

Allan has said Elvis at Sun was the chief inspiration re the lean 'echoey' sound - songs such as 'Heartbreak Hotel' etc

Produced by themselves purely as a solo Clarke feature album track (like 'You'll Be Mine', 'Sweet Little Sixteen',  'High Classed', 'Marigold' and much later 'Midnight Shift' etc) Ron Richards later complained he couldn't understand what Allan was singing - tho' it's clear enough !

Terry Sylvester's absurd claims forevermore that he's the "Face" of the song just crack me up !

Terry's not even on the 1971 Hollies studio recording !


I know Terry sang it on that USA tour and a few TV shows then - tho' I DON'T really think it suited his voice which lacks a 'cutting edge' the song really requires and I would have liked to hear Mike Rickfors have a go at it

I'm sure Mike could have belted it out well and far better than Terry's more ballad orientated voice did (- just my own view)

- certainly Mike's more powering soulful 'complete' sounding assertive voice on 'Courage of Your Convictions', 'Slow Down' and 'Nearer To You' etc prove he was fully at home with rockin' uptempo guitar led  tracks !

I suspect Terry possibly opted to sing it back then more for his own profile reasons rather than Mike's supposed inability to handle it...!

whatever it's very much ALLAN'S song and he's the face, voice, lead guitar, and co-writer of it...!

[Deleted]

Aug 16, 2017 16:21:15 GMT greengoddess said:

Sadly, a subscription to The Wall Street Journal is needed before you can read it - apparently.

Indeed. Maybe someone can copy-and-paste it for us?

[Deleted]

Aug 16, 2017 19:45:28 GMT gee said:

Allan has said Elvis at Sun was the chief inspiration re the lean 'echoey' sound - songs such as 'Heartbreak Hotel' etc

Elvis' first RCA single!

[gee]

yes but clearly showing the Sun records influence - unlike say 'Are You Lonesome Tonifght', 'It's Now or Never' or 'Return To Sender' on RCA etc
I only mentioned Heartbreak Hotel as it was so famous

[cameron]

I managed to read it on my phone. I'm on holiday at the moment so not at my computer, I can't copy it from my phone I've tried. When I get home I'll try and share the article.

Basically Roger Cook says how he played the blues riff on the piano, Allan came up with the melody and they both created this story of an undercover FBI agent who falls in love with a woman in a bar while he's under cover. It was just interesting to hear the lyrics explained. Also Allan said how the line is supposed to go: "jumping out of doors and windows" and on the take he accidentally sang 'tables' instead of 'windows' and it made them laugh so they left it in! Allan and Bobby then explain how they built the track up in the studio.

I agree with Gee's comments about Terry Sylvester and "the Face" of the song. People generally don't remember! The Hollies could walk down the street in America and no one would bat an eyelid! They've always been a fairly anonymous band, much to their detriment. I've always heard that Mikael Rickfors struggled to sing the fast complex lyrics, as he was their first choice to sing it. They frequently had to do a lot of takes in the studio on the Rickfors LPs as he struggled with pronounciation and the Hollies wanted it all to be perfect. So the point of him not being able to physically sing Long Cool Woman seemed to have some merit to me.

[Deleted]

At first glance Terry's comment about being the face of LCW is a strange one, but if you think about on the US tour he was.

Has Allan Clarke ever performed his song in the USA?

[anthony]

Aug 17, 2017 18:56:52 GMT @badpenny said:

At first glance Terry's comment about being the face of LCW is a strange one, but if you think about on the US tour he was.

Has Allan Clarke ever performed his song in the USA?

yes on their 1983 Tour with graham Nash

[ransford]

Here´s the article:

How the Hollies Created ‘Long Cool Woman (in a Black Dress)’
With their song about an F.B.I. agent, a raid and an eye-catching woman, the British band the Hollies came up with their biggest U.S. hit.
By
Marc Myers
Aug. 15, 2017 10:05 a.m. ET

Long known for their cheery pop-rock songs and three-part vocal harmonies, the Hollies were in a jam in July 1971. They needed another song to finish their next album.

Lead singer and guitarist Allan Clarke suggested “Long Cool Woman (in a Black Dress),” a rockabilly-noir he had co-written weeks earlier with lyricist Roger Cook about an F.B.I. agent, a raid and a woman who catches his eye.

When the single was released in the U.S. in early 1972, it reached #2 on the Billboard pop chart—becoming the British band’s highest-ranking single here. Recently, Mr. Cook, Mr. Clarke and Hollies’ drummer Bobby Elliott reflected on the song’s evolution. Edited from interviews.

Roger Cook: In June of 1971, Allan Clarke of the Hollies and I were at my office on Park Street in London. We frequently wrote songs together there. At around noon, we left to grab lunch at La Genova, near Marble Arch.

After a bottle of wine and a brandy, Allan and I returned to work on a song. At some point we decided it should be set in New York during Prohibition.

Both of us loved Hollywood films about speakeasy bad guys and cops smashing beer barrels and whiskey bottles in the streets.

I was at the upright piano and Allan was next to me on a chair with his guitar. After messing about on the keys for a bit, I started pounding out a melodramatic and slightly sinister blues riff with my right hand. It was in the key of C.

As my pointer and middle finger played the C and E notes, my thumb moved from G to A to B-flat and back down to A. I can’t lay claim to the chords. It’s an old rock’n’roll riff.

Allan Clarke: As Roger played the riff, I came up with a melody on my Fender Telecaster Sunburst along with a simple chord sequence. We brought that bottle of brandy back with us.

Mr. Cook: Bouncing ideas back and forth, Allan and I thought the song should be sung from the perspective of an F.B.I. agent working undercover at a speakeasy.

I wanted the lyric to have the tough-guy language you hear in gangster films. We came up with lines like “sitting in a nest of bad men” and “people who are doing wrong.”

We even avoided calling the place a speakeasy. We called it a “bootlegging boozer on the West Side.” A “boozer” in London is slang for a pub that serves alcohol illegally after hours.

As the lyric developed, the agent is about to call the district attorney to tip him off when he spots the speakeasy’s female singer. The woman takes his breath away.

“A pair of 45s made me open my eyes” has nothing to do with guns. It was tough-guy slang for the singer’s bust. “Just a five-nine, beautiful, tall” describes her height and poise. Which is why the F.B.I. agent is “a bad mess” after just one look. Remember, Allan and I were a little tipsy. (laughs)

As soon as we came up with, “She was a long cool woman in a black dress,” Allan and I stopped and looked at each other. We had the song’s title.

The guy named Charlie who says, “I hope that you’re able, boy,” is the agent’s sidekick who was watching him eye the woman.

We chose the name “Charlie” because Allan and I were big fans of “On the Waterfront.” In the film, the Charlie character is Marlon Brando’s brother and was played by Rod Steiger.

At this point in the lyric, something had to happen. So we came up with lines about police sirens wailing, everybody running and a gun going off.

As the cops swept in to make their arrests, the F.B.I. agent says, “The D.A. was pumpin’ my left hand and she was holdin’ my right.” The agent had saved the long cool woman from arrest by saying she was his gal.

Allan and I finished the song’s lyric in less than two hours. I wrote it all out on three sheets of paper. In fact, I still have the sheets someplace, but I can’t find them.

Shirley Burns and Carol Weston popped down a few times that afternoon. Shirley was George Martin’s secretary and Carol was John Burgess’s. George and John had co-founded AIR Studios two years earlier and had offices upstairs. Shirley and Carol liked the song but admitted they didn’t understand a word of it. (laughs)

Bobby Elliott: The Hollies were getting pressure from EMI in the U.K. and Epic in the States to deliver “Distant Light,” our next album. But we were still a song short and had to come up with another one fast.

In the past, we had recorded at Abbey Road Studios, but Ron Richards, our producer, may have chosen AIR, because he had helped George Martin and John Burgess start the company.

In July ’71, all of the Hollies arrived at AIR Studios, but Ron called in sick. Allan said he had a song he wanted to play for us that might work. He sat on a stool and took out his Telecaster.

As he played and sang the song, I joined in on drums and Bernie Calvert played his Fender bass. We decided to go ahead and produce it ourselves with the help of John Punter, our engineer.

Mr. Clarke: The guys liked the song but we needed an intro. I came up with a guitar motif, but I wasn’t influenced by Mason Williams’ “Classical Gas.” I just pulled something out of the air and it sounded right.

We recorded the song in the key of E. Originally, Tony Hicks was going to play lead guitar. But he thought that since it was my song, I should play lead.

So it was me, Bernie Calvert on bass and Bobby Elliott on drums, with Tony overdubbing his rhythm guitar after. I used the same Telecaster with heavy strings that I had written the song on with Roger.

Though the lyric’s story was set in the 1920s, I wanted the song to sound like a ’50s rocker, with that twang and urgency. By the mid-’60s, the Hollies didn’t record much rock ’n’ roll after the Beatles made it big. I missed the old sound.

On the vocal, my intention wasn’t to sound like John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival. I was thinking of Elvis on his early songs, like “Mystery Train.”

I always liked recording with a bit of echo on my voice. It gave me a better feel of what I was singing. I wanted that same echo for “Long Cool Woman.” Punter liked it so much that he added quite a bit more when we recorded to give me a big rockabilly sound.

Mr. Elliott: We were all Elvis fans so we were sold on that Sun Records sound. It was called slapback echo. Punter created a slight delay using two tapes so that Allan’s vocal slapped back in less than a second, producing a dry echo effect.

Mr. Clarke: While recording, I goofed on a line. I sang: “Well suddenly we heard the sirens / And everybody started to run / A-jumping out of doors and tables.” It was supposed be, “Jumping out of doors and windows,” but “tables” sounded good so we left it in.

My guitar on the record was double-tracked—meaning I recorded my guitar part and then overdubbed the exact same notes on top, giving the Telecaster a chunky sound.

After I sang the song’s last line, “Cause that long cool woman had it all,” I repeated “Had It all” seven different times until the fade-out. I was channeling Elvis, shout-singing the phrase.

Mr. Elliott: When we finished, I overdubbed two hard drum shots—one in the middle of Allan’s intro and again just before his guitar riff starts. I did this for dramatic effect by hitting the bass drum, the large tom-tom and snare drum all at once.

Mr. Clarke: When Ron returned to work, he listened to the tape and said, “You’ll have to change the echo. I don’t like it.” I insisted it stay as is. We went back and forth, but eventually he gave in. None of us took the song seriously. We never envisioned it as a single. It was just a song to finish off the album.

Mr. Cook: Two last interesting twists. When Allan and I came up with the idea of a long cool woman, I had Billie Holiday in mind for the nightclub singer. I loved her voice.

In 2005, I was having lunch at the U.S. Congress. I was there on behalf of the Nashville Songwriters Association International to urge Congress to improve the copyright laws for songwriters and artists.

Our hosts asked me to sing a couple of songs I co-wrote. One was “Long Cool Woman.” When I finished, a guy came up and showed me his badge.

He was an F.B.I. agent watching over Congress.

He said, “That’s our song, man.” He said that agents loved the first two lines—“Saturday night I was downtown / Working for the F.B.I.”

Apparently, when the single came out in 1972, they played it over the two-way radio for all the agents to hear.

[greengoddess]

Thanks for that, ransford.

One sentence I would query is 'A “boozer” in London is slang for a pub that serves alcohol illegally after hours.' A "boozer" is English slang for any pub regardless of whether or not it keeps to legal licensing hours.

[gee]

on that live at Kings Head Park 1983 concert recording Nash intros LCW with a comment that maybe in retrospect is a bit telling

Nash says something like;

'This is the song that Allan wrote, Allan played and Allan SANG
(in whatever order)

at the time it didn't mean that much to me but looking back was that Nash 're-claiming' the song for his buddy Allan to the American audience...

duly making ALLAN CLARKE firmly the 'face' of his song LCW in the USA ??

I do wonder....

re Terry's 'face' of the song claim, I can't ever take that very seriously - it would have been very briefly if at all but most Americans of course KNEW who sang on the hit they bought !

Terry also said; 'The Americans WANTED ALLAN and we just didn't sound like that anymore...'


which suggests most Americans already well KNEW the voice of Allan Clarke (from Bus Stop, Stop Stop Stop, On A Carousel,  Carrie Anne, Jennifer Eccles, He Ain't Heavy...He's My Brother - ALL USA chart hits) and would have been well aware of the fact Clarke wasn't singing it (or the other recent USA chart hit 'Long Dark Road') on that USA tour

- where the band in truth FAILED to capitalise on the two Clarke sung recent USA hits re properly establishing themselves in the USA - hence the next studio album sadly never got even a release at all in both the UK and USA....

so Terry's 'face of LCW' claim carries little weight really and it's really just a belated claim to fame attempt much like like his (non existent) online 'feud' with the well known in the USA Nash (!)

tho it won't happen I bet IF Nash were to call a Hollies reunion (with Hicks & Elliott onboard) and Allan could sing - which we know sadly he can't - and his (supposed) 'arch enemy' Nash were to invite Terry to be included as part of it then Terry would JUMP at the chance...!

[stuball]

Aug 22, 2017 13:11:44 GMT gee said:

on that live at Kings Head Park 1983 concert recording Nash intros LCW with a comment that maybe in retrospect is a bit telling

Nash says something like;

'This is the song that Allan wrote, Allan played and Allan SANG
(in whatever order)

at the time it didn't mean that much to me but looking back was that Nash 're-claiming' the song for his buddy Allan to the American audience...




which suggests most Americans already well KNEW the voice of Allan Clarke (from Bus Stop, Stop Stop Stop, On A Carousel,  Carrie Anne, Jennifer Eccles, He Ain't Heavy...He's My Brother - ALL USA chart hits) and would have been well aware of the fact Clarke wasn't singing it (or the other recent USA chart hit 'Long Dark Road') on that USA tour



tho it won't happen I bet IF Nash were to call a Hollies reunion (with Hicks & Elliott onboard) and Allan could sing - which we know sadly he can't - and his (supposed) 'arch enemy' Nash were to invite Terry to be included as part of it then Terry would JUMP at the chance...!

I tend to think Nash wasn't reclaiming 'Long Cool Woman' for Allan back in '73, as I don't believe Sylvester's claim that he was the face of the song holds any water with anyone in the know, then or now. I think Terry is /was just 'bigging himself up', while Nash was simply 'bigging Allan up' on stage back in '83.

i recall watching with a few pals, The Hollies on late-night TV back in '73 doing 'Long Cool Woman', with Terry singing solo. Everyone commented to me almost immediately "that doesn't sound anything like the record!" Now they, being music fans, were aware of The Hollies but wouldn't know Allan Clarke from Bernie Calvert from Terry Sylvester.  But they all were instantly aware, and disappointed, that 'the vocal sounded so different'.

I also remember a disc jockey at one of the local radio stations back in '72 when 'LCW' was riding the charts, announcing on more than one occasion, just before he spun the disc, 'This is Allan Clarke & The Hollies'. He wanted to get the message out that Allan was front and centre on 'LCW'.

But Lillian Roxon was right back in '68: The Hollies were a 'faceless band'. Sure, all pop fans were aware of The Hollies, but in my experience very few of them knew the names of the members. A few when quizzed might say, "Wasn't what's his name...Graham Nash...didn't he used to be with them?" As for the others, not a clue. But these same people could tell you all the names of say, Deep Purple. Naming the lead singer of The Hollies was akin to knowing the bass player's name of The Beau Brummells. Only Hollies fanatics knew that.

I agree with you Gee, that Sylvester would jump at the chance of a Hollies reunion, if Nash invited him. it could only do his flagging career good to get that publicity. Right now all he has is his Twitter bullhorn to promote himself, and all that currently gets him is a slot as a warmup act on the oldies package tours. I do have a soft spot for Terry though: Nash was a hard act to follow back in '69, and for a dozen years Sylvester carried it off very well. And it's a shame his solo career never took off. He had a great voice, good looks and was a decent enough songwriter in his day. But for whatever reason it wasn't enough. I do feel sympathy for him, but in my opinion, sometimes he can be his own worst enemy.

[gee]

yeah at the time Nash's onstage 1983 remark about Allan writing, playing, singing LCW meant nothing more to me than just Nash 'bigging up' Clarkey to the American audience (just as in 2010 Nash clearly wanted that Hall of Fame show more to honor his schoolfriend Allan than anything else)

it was only later when all this 'Terry's the face of LCW' stuff became more apparent - per Terry largely - that it occurred to me maybe there was more significance to Nash's quip ? - we know they keep their band issues FIRMLY in house and like the 'squeaky clean' 'faceless' image

it's quite deliberate that besides Nash no other members are that 'known' as faces - Clarke moaned how after 'He Ain't Heavy' topped the UK singles chart in 1988 he was being recognised in the local supermarket !!!

and boy didn't Clarkey look dead miserable singing it on BBC'S 'Top of The Pops' ?

they LIKE being 'faceless' as it suits them - one other likely reason neither Tony or Bobby bothered to go to that Hall of Fame induction show

Tony Hicks is normally first person out of the theatre after a Hollies concert show...! (well almost)

re Terry - yes for a dozen years he was SO important a band figurehead always plugging the band in a very friendly positive manner in interviews and he did SUCH an important job for them

- surprisingly many music press people 'wrote them off' when Nash departed...Terry gave them (& Clarke notably) such a positive 'shot in the arm' plus brought not only his key pathos tinged mature high harmony voice ( so vital on 'He Ain't Heavy', 'Can't Tell The Bottom...'. 'Gasoline Alley Bred', 'Air That I Breathe''Sandy' etc) plus was another fine solo balladeer as Nash had been for them and a fine songwriter - Terry was vital in the Rickfors era too

...yet now he's partly due to his own actions, been virtually 'airbrushed out' of the Hollies picture except for us followers of their history

Terry lost alot when he walked out, but even then he STILL had the chance to go on however the tragic loss of his friend, musical partner, and important American 'name' Jimmy Griffin of Bread fame cost Terry much career wise and he's had to hang on to his association with old friends Denny Laine (Moodies, Wings) & Joey Molland (Badfinger) in those USA nostalgia shows as his own longtime Hollies background is largely (sadly) somewhat eclipsed both by Nash's past Hollies background overshadowing Terry's and by the general 'faceless' image the band CHOSE to have and keep over the seventies, a period when he might have got much better known

hence his desperate claim re being the 'face' of someone else's song he briefly sang in concerts and on US TV in the early seventies
- a VERY long time ago now !

Terry deserves better BUT he's been rather self destructive too...his online 'rants' chiefly at Nash and Clarke also just turn quite a few Hollies fans against him and leave him looking a sad embittered old guy...

[Gralto]

Aug 17, 2017 22:40:44 GMT anthony said:

Aug 17, 2017 18:56:52 GMT @badpenny said:

At first glance Terry's comment about being the face of LCW is a strange one, but if you think about on the US tour he was.

Has Allan Clarke ever performed his song in the USA?

yes on their 1983 Tour with graham Nash

Thanks Cam - and Ransford - for posting this information - very interesting stuff.

Adding to Anthony's response, The H w Clarke first did the song live in the USA during their mini US tour in May 1975 when they played in New York (Bottomline) and LA (Roxy).

[eric]

As an aside, Terry Sylvester sang “Long Cool Woman” on The Hollies May 1973 tour of Australia. In fact, on the 9th May 1973 in Adelaide, they closed their show with LCW, which they did again in February this year.
On their 1975 tour of Australia, with Allan Clarke back in the band, they put in an energetic performance of LCW in Adelaide with Clarke in great form. On that occasion LCW was their second to last song of the night, followed by “Blowin’ In The Wind”.

[stuball]

I suppose we should now consider 'Long Cool Woman' and that rare gem 'Crossfire' to be sister songs. Though they differ in style, both tunes lyrically encompass that '1930s/40s gangster/film noir' theme. Who would have expected that from The Hollies?

[cameron]

It's funny that Terry should be so possessional over a track that he unusually had absolutely no involvement in whatsoever in the studio. There's plenty of live recordings from the 1970s where Terry introduces the song as: "here's one that Allan wrote, Allan sang and Allan played guitar on, do you think you know what it is?" or words always to that effect. It was part of their standard rehearsed stage patter.

I think the Hollies are all a bit sore about never really truly cracking America to be in the same league as the Beatles, Kinks, Rolling Stones etc... but they were the ones who were always happy with their arrangement of anonymity, even drifting into "semi-retirement" in the mid-1970s by condensing all their band commitments to six or eight months of the year supposedly. I've read that many times, and the tour dates, recording sessions and album releases certainly back it up.

Having said that, "50 at 50" was their first album to be officially pressed/released in America since 1993's "30th Anniversary Collection", so that perhaps hints at their popularity over there. Though I find this "50 year career-spanning set" a bit of a stretch. I just can't get through my "Head Out Of Dreams" boxset as it just gets dry after disc three. I think they got it right with "30th Anniversary" by leaning on the pre-1974 material, even though it was heavily criticised for it at the time.
Also, there appears to have been vinyl reissues in America of the original Epic versions of "Evolution" and "Hollies Greatest Hits" last year, though I didn't catch wind of much fanfare, though apparently they are legitimate releases through Sony.

No doubt the LTAW DVD helped raise their profile significantly in America, being created by an American company meant that it was promoted properly over there and fans on the Facebook page are constantly reporting it being rebroadcast on cable TV there.

As a side note, I don't know why artists are obsessed with "breaking" America. The Kinks were banned from touring there and launched their quintessentially British phase of albums in protest; fast-forward 50 years and Ray Davies now lives there and has issued an album, called "Americana" no less, filled with songs about his love for the country! The Hollies seemed a bit indifferent to the American market and often worked to please their UK and European fans, particularly in Germany it seems who frequently got some of their later 1970s LPs slightly before Britain, plus the unreleased "Out On The Road" and "Live Hits" before it was even considered for release in the UK! Epic records certainly missed a trick passing on "Live Hits", apparently it was one of 1976/7s most imported LPs one guy said to me who used to work in a record store over there.

[gee]

my guess is poor or no real management in the sixties cost them dear around 1965 - the 'Soupy Sales Show' thing was a joke plus they had nothing but problems - a foul up over visas saw them sitting in London airport all day...then once over the pond mix ups saw them having to sit in the audience on USA TV shows they were supposed to perform on

they never got an Ed Sullivan Show spot unlike most other beat boom bands - even Freddie got on !

their USA record releases wern't promoted that well until Epic got involved which saw their best period of USA success 

LCW becoming a big USA hit in 1972 (like 'He Ain't Heavy' making no.1  in the UK in 1988) happened IN SPITE of The Hollies not due to them at all...

later they were their own managers really but didn't take their biggest chance as Hicks turned down Clarke's offer to do that early seventies tour (probably some ill feeling lingered re Clarke's walking out on them plus they probably felt he'd jump ship again - as he briefly did in 1978 - to go solo if things took off in the States)

Clarke like Nash seemed perfectly willing to drop The Hollies IF a better chance came along which probably explains Hicks very cautious attitude

Hicks and Elliott are not bothered now but the sad thing is many Americans loved/love the band and wanted to hear more !!

I too find Disc Four of 'Head Out of Dreams' to be mega heavy going - I tend to skip to discs five and six which do have some faster tracks, but CD Four after 'Caracas' is SO slow and ponderous

- each song may be o.k. or fine in itself (some like 'Amnesty', 'Hello To Romance', 'Satellite Three' etc have their strengths) but taken all together the 'Crazy Steal' /'5317704' 1978-79 era tracks could easily send you to sleep !

the tracks are presented in the strict chronological order of recording - proving it was "slow ballad after slow ballad after..." like a band on auto pilot DESPERATELY in need of a modern  contemporary producer figure like maybe Gus Dudgeon, Chris Thomas, Roy Thomas Baker, Pip Williams etc ...

self producing or going back to an elderly nearing retirement Ron Richards was clearly a poor move indicating things were obviously wrong behind the scenes

(I can guess what - a 'works committee' of Hicks, Elliott & Clarke !! - if ever a song title was apt it was 'Draggin My Heels')  

hence Sylvester banging his head against the wall (just as Nash was doing earlier in 1968)...and the SAME result !

[anthony]

agree 100% with Gee, those couple of Albums with slow song after slow song just never get played, I hate them, real bad mix of the same.

[stuball]

Besides inept management, over here The Hollies suffered from image problems, or should I say, no image at all.

They weren't cute a la Peter Noone. They didn't go in for silly gimmicks like Freddy and The Dreamers. They weren't bad boys like The Stones and The Who. They weren't outrageous, they weren't political, they weren't outspoken. They were just a damn fine group, but that wasn't enough to excite the fans. They were as popular as their latest 45, and when that faded from the charts, The Hollies disappeared along with it. More than one critic back in the day referred to them as a 'faceless' group, and for all intents and purposes, they were.

They've often been called a singles band, and that's pretty much how the public saw them. Their albums were ignored, and if they charted at all, it was on the strength of a hit single.

In '67, when pop music began to divide fans between AM and FM, The Hollies missed the FM boat completely. When long guitar solos became cool, The Hollies rarely used them, often incorporating string and brass breaks instead. And they pretty much stuck with the 3 minute pop formula. Goodbye FM play.

And as for TV exposure, it was a rarity to catch The Hollies on the tube. A real treat when it happened though!

And by the end of the '60's it was tough being a Hollies fan. Case in point: in the autumn of '69, I was a 17-year-old high school kid and a devoted Hollies fan. One lunch hour, I was hanging with another four guys from class. We were all keen on music, and of course, fashionably long-haired. The question came up, "Who's your favourite group? And naturally, the others all volunteered the usual stars of the day: Zeppelin, The Band, Santana, The Stones, The Who, etc. When they looked at me, I was tempted to fib, perhaps mention The Beatles and CCR, whom I did like, but no I thought, be honest. So I blurted out, "The Hollies!" and braced myself for their reaction. It wasn't long in coming: first raised eyebrows, then snickering, and finally, "The Hollies!?!?!?!? Are you serious!!! The Hollies!! Are you still 13? Hey, Carrie-Anne, what's your game...you're joking, right?" I told them I loved their vocals, they shook their heads, and talk moved back to 'serious' artists. Of course, about a month later 'He Ain't Heavy' climbed the chart and earned The Hollies some grudging acceptance, but after that I only shared my 'Hollies fixation' with close friends. And of course, after 'He Ain't Heavy' slid off the charts, The Hollies virtually disappeared from view until June of '72, when LCW brought them back from the grave.

Critics also seemed to have little time or patience for the group. Even when 'Heavy' zoomed up the charts, I recall the reviews were often caustic: 'lounge music', 'The Hollies aiming for the Vegas schmaltz crowd instead of the usual 12-year-old girls'. Crap like that!

Only when 'Long Cool Woman' raced up the charts, do I remember critics praising the group wholeheartedly. It was refreshing and long overdue. We've mentioned Clarke's absence and Sylvester having to shoulder the vocal duties on that number, with mixed success. I also recall Mikael Rickfors taking stick from the critics for his vocal efforts as well. His renditions of 'Bus Stop' and 'He Ain't Heavy' were dissed: one critic said they sounded like Ray Charles versions, not at all Hollie-like.

To conclude, things never worked out very well for The Hollies over here. Inept management, lack of image and direction, and a sneering attitude from a lot of high-minded critics, led to the public never really warming to the group. And a handful of hit singles were not enough to keep the group in the public's eye or heart.

[gee]

Carrie Anne - written re Marianne Faithful who still wore her school uniform - was like 'Stop Stop Stop' and 'The Games We Play' a 'riskay' song but The Hollies complete lack of controversy allowed them all in 'under the radar'

'then you played with older boys and prefects...whats the attraction in what their doing...?'

while the lines;
'you use my mind and I'll be your teacher...'/ 'when the lessons over you'll be with me then I'll hear the other people sayin'...hey Carrie Anne what's your game now can anybody play... ?'
also has very 'riskay' control aspect overtones !

we can only guess what 'games' Marianne got up to - when The Stones were raided she was dressed only in a fur coat which she kept allowing to fall open in front of the Police officers as she lay on the couch ! - per the Police statement at Jagger and Richards drug bust trial...

'The young lady seemed to be enjoying the situation...'  - one line of testimony from a Policeman went ! lol 

Nash doing all three chorus harmony voices while Clarke-Hicks-Nash do the opening vocal harmonies and closing lines with each coming in - plus each taking a lead verse vocal and the unexpected steel drums solo was unusual too - but many missed all those aspects didn't they ?

MUCH was made of John Lennon's 'you've been a naughty girl you let your knickers down', Pink Floyd's 'Arnold Layne' and later Ray Davies 'Lola'...

- but in 1966 and 1967 The Hollies sang about molesting scantily clad belly dancers, and women dressing up in school uniforms to play 'games' ('are you sure were getting away with this...?') - and due to their deliberate 'faceless' image no one batted an eyelid ! lol

'Evolution' is full of very 'adult' themed songs - Clarke's obsession in 'Heading For A Fall', Nash's plea to escape mind control in 'Stop Right There', the desire to escape in 'Leave Me', the openly sexual themes of 'When You're Light Turned On', 'Rain On The Window','Have You Ever Loved Somebody', and 'The Games We Play' plus the pain of relationships in 'Then The Heartaches Begin'

- offset by the child's view and nostalgic stance of 'Ye Olde Toffee Shoppe', the bedtime tale of 'Lullaby To Tim', the jolly sounding but troubled 'Water On The Brain' ('I go to bed cos my heads full of pain...' / 'drip drip it's drivin me wild..') plus a genuine Byrds inspired love song 'You Need Love'

a very adult themed mature songs album but largely overlooked by many in 1967 probably as they were seen as 'only a pop group' by many of the more snooty 'serious' music brigade

phasing out Hicks guitar for additional instrumentation was a recurring thing they probably got wrong - yes it was imaginative but the wider audience wanted more guitarwork not less so again musically they were out of step with the prevailing trends

- as still later on 'Daddy Don't Mind' with that trombone solo (another more 'riskay' song but few notice as the attention is more drawn to the silly names 'Joe 'D' Glow' and 'Sass 'E' Frass' ! and how they dress or whom they copy etc - thus we take our eye off what they get up to that won't bother Dad !)

The Hollies intentional lack of strong image kept them 'safe' and 'accepted' tho' not taken more seriously, thus quite alot in their songs gets in under the radar but of course many don't take them seriously as they haven't listened closely

those within the music business however took the band seriously, hence the 'Group's group' tag and the respect many fellow artists had for them

John Lennon very likely saw them as a distinct threat early on (The Stones too whom he also had a dig at) - hence his 'blasts Hollies' thing (which some music writers - Ray Coleman for one - being 'nodding dogs' to Lennon echoed thereafter which also cost The Hollies...)

tho' John himself later was more appreciative of them and namedropped both Hollies and Paul's Wings a few times in interviews, plus he praised up 'Hey Willy' in 1971

- but some music writers and some Beatles fans probably thinking they were being 'on John's side' kept up the derision of The Hollies - one guy has a online site where he does nothing but blast Hollies while ever praising his beloved Beatles !

[cameron]

I think what mostly gets overlooked with the Hollies is what utter genius songwriters they were musically - particularly from 1966 - 1968. They understood the "formula" for writing the perfect pop song. Whereas the Beatles often arrived at their result by accident or with a lot of intervention from George Martin, the Hollies were completely on their own though. Ron Richards never seems to have openly encouraged them, more so just told them if they made the grade or not. Whereas George Martin would literally drag a song out of John Lennon and Paul McCartney on occasion. Take any Clarke/Hicks/Nash song and examine the lyrics - they NEVER rhyme, which takes a lot of effort to make it work. My particular favourite is "All The World Is Love" where they make visual rhymes in "love" and "move" which really says to me that these guys knew exactly what they were doing.

And don't get me started on "Carrie Anne"! Perhaps one of THE most perfect three minute pop songs ever recorded. A killer hook, infectious melody, "riskay" lyrics, that superb middle eight, memorable steel drum solo, the vocal arrangements and contrasting voices... it's just perfect. Even the way that they develop musical ideas to keep you interested - notably the little steel drum backing up the bass on Graham's last verse. By the end of it you want to hear it all again. That is a three minute lesson in how to write the perfect pop song!

Tony Hicks especially bought some wonderful melodies and guitar parts to the table. Things like "On A Carousel" - when you really study that guitar part, you just wonder where on earth it came from! It's got more in common with an Eastern musical scale than it does with a straightforward Western one. He's particularly good at keeping the listener hooked by ending little phrases on 'imperfect' notes to make you want to listen to hear him resolve it in a perfect cadence.
Allan Clarke it was always said bought those wonderful middle eight sections; "When Your Light's Turned On" is a perfect example of this. He also seems to be the guy behind the lyrics on a lot of occasions.
I think Graham just bought the unusual ideas, the things that kept the songs fresh and relevant. They lost that trendy edge when he left apart from briefly recapturing it from around 1970 - 1974.

But let's not forget Bobby Elliott, who, although he didn't write many of the songs, he was certainly the driving force behind a lot of the arrangements. He bought his background in jazz to the group, which gave their pop songs an interesting edge. And who can deny that he's probably the most technically proficient drummer out of all the British Invasion bands?

Eric Haydock bought his rocking bass to their early records, years before Paul McCartney was doing it in earnest. Bernie Calvert was a more laid back player but could really get going when he wanted (the bass line on "Gasoline Alley Bred" is one of my absolute favourites) and he also contributed a lot of keyboards to their records, particularly in the early 1970s.

All in all, when you did deeper than those vocals which really defined the Hollies' sound, they all had a lot to offer collectively. They all pulled their weight when it came to getting their ideas down onto tape and it shows in their flawless recordings. In a way, I just wished they'd have had a producer who pushed them harder than Ron Richards did. He very much let them get on with it and then told them if it was working or not. He was very much a 'get it in the can and go home' guy, often trying to even cut sessions short to get around to the 'Abbey Tavern' before last orders! But he famously disagreed with them over several tracks and pushed some forward as hits, particularly later on, which were far off the mark. He virtually forced them to record "Son Of A Rotten Gambler" which I personally love, but it wasn't a commercial hit single. He also missed a few too - notably "Dear Eloise" which was a hit the world over but not issued in the UK as a single and "Long Cool Woman" which he hated when he heard it for the first time. Bobby Elliott muses 'what if George Martin had produced the Hollies?' in the notes for "Hollies Finest", hinting that perhaps the band have felt the same on reflection. It can't be ignored that we wouldn't have the Hollies if it wasn't for Ron and he did them a sterling service from 1963 - 1975. He allowed them to do virtually what they wanted in the studio and choose their own material, which was more freedom than a lot of bands in the day got. But by the late 1960s, he was a bit out of step with the times and didn't embrace the changing music scene as much as other EMI producers.

I think with Ron not particularly pushing them in any direction, once they'd lost Graham they'd lost their only truly fiery member who was fighting to keep the group current and relevant. I think Tony was very much the assumed leader once Graham left, but he was too regimented in his opinions to allow the Hollies to follow musical trends like they'd done before. He was clashing with Allan over their direction in the early 1970s, which was the real reason behind Allan wanting to go solo. Allan's early solo stuff is very much along the lines of "Distant Light" and "Hollies (1974)". Tony was a real no-nonsense voice in the music world, who even the Beatles respected for his honest and sometimes brutal opinions. I read one interview with him from 1967 where he dismisses the Monkees as "a joke" and the Troggs as "past it"! He was certainly very dissatisfied with the whole 'flower power' movement, which is now one of the most famed points of the Hollies' career. He's played this era down several times in interviews over the years, which is a shame because I feel that those few years from 1966-1968 was when the Hollies' songwriting was perhaps at its strongest. From Allan's return in 1974, they never truly went for a style on their LPs like they'd done with rock & roll with "Stay With The Hollies" and "In The Hollies' Style", psychedelia as they'd done with "Evolution" and "Butterfly" and AOR as they'd done with "Distant Light" and "Romany". They just dipped their toe in and out of various styles (and a near disastrous foray into Disco!) which I think stemmed from a lack of self-belief and perhaps reading too much of what the critics thought of them. 

[christocello]

Err, to be honest, I do not consider the Hollies having been great songwriters. Nearly any of their better known hits have been written by other songwriters - to start with: Just like me, Stay, Just one look, Here I go again, Look through any window, I'm alive, Bus Stop, I can't let go - following with: Listen to me, Blowin' in the wind, Sorry Suzanne, He ain't heavy, I can't tell the bottom, Gasoline Alley Bred, ending with: The baby, Magic woman touch, The air that I breathe, Sandy, Soldier's Song, Stop in the name of love...
What's left may be interesting for the true fan. Look at the (64-68) exceptions from the above mentioned string of pearls: "We're through" was an interesting attempt to go bossa nova but that's no catchy tune except for the guitar riff. "Stop Stop stop" is interesting for the instrumentation and the slightly "oriental" atmosphere. "Carrie Anne" is an intelligent variation of the Byrds (and Dylan's) Mr. Tambourine Man - as "If I needed someone" had already been George Harrison's variation of "The bells of Rhymney". Jennifer Eccles was a kind of Bubble gum music, not even been liked by it's creators for various reasons. Just "On a carousel" seems to be original on it's own, a song where music and text go together in a most perfect way. "Long cool woman", their "biggest" US-hit could rarely being seen as a typical Hollies' song, this is CCR/Elvis -Style, created by the songwriting team of Roger Cook and Allan Clarke [being discussed in the posts above] . So I admire this fantastic group for their musical craftmanship, their vocal blending, their energy when playing live and their ability to arrange songs from other composers. I don't say I don't like their own songs - but IMO there are too few melodies to remember to say that the Hollies were really great songwriters. Other groups like the Beatles, the Stones, Who, Beach Boys, Fleetwood Mac, Pink Floyd, Chicago, Eagles, Deep Purple, Queen etc. etc. became famous for their own songs, songs we all remember as original creations of those groups. Perhaps that makes the difference...

[gee]

I would argue against that viewpoint however

The Hollies were pretty sophisticated songwriters - something The Everlys spotted as early as 1966 hence 'Two Yanks in England' featuring 75% Hollies original songs that were either ALBUM tracks or their 'B' sides material rather than the very poppish commercial hits penned for the band

They were always happy to cover others numbers and make them their own while as songwriters they preferred the album and 'B' side format to mostly feature their own often more ambitious compositions which they took alot MORE Studio time on - they 'nailed' Bus Stop in a mere 45 minutes one wednesday afternoon in May 1966

...and then spent more time working on their own songs such as the interesting number that made the 'B' side - 'Don't Run And Hide' which is all about having self belief, confidence and the backbone to ignore those who would detract someone's sense of self worth

'Don't run and hide from the people...cos your only hurting yourself...' - it's a song possibly to a self harming girl being bullied and ground down by the lies of others...and the singer is her boyfriend trying to build her up to face those who would hurt her inside...plus it has an angle re standing together to face the derision of other people: 

'Please fight back it's important how you accept their lies now...if you run you condemn yourself when they realise...' / 'You'll be hurting me cos I'm left all alone and  and I've got them to face...'

all in all a far deeper more realistic to life song than one in cute rhymes  about meeting a pretty girl in a bus queue !
('Bus stop wet day she's there I say...' etc) - Mike Rickfors once called it a 'silly pop song' !

tho' in it's defence (and songwriter the great Graham Gouldman's) while the rhyming lyrics to 'Bus Stop' may look rather twee (tho' he gets both 'queue' and 'umbrella' into his song), when they are sung the song comes to life - hence a big hit in umpteen counties, a USA breakthrough hit for The Hollies and also recorded by both Herman and Gene Pitney


their own songs however are so often far more adventurous in scope and performance as like The Everlys (on their album tracks) as opposed to their 'A' side hit songs they take a very commercial sound and apply it to a more ambitious song structure

note the pause in 'Baby That's All' then the guitar solo that breaks away from the flow of the song...which they then resume with 'riskay' lyrics ('The Night turns to dawn...your there by my side...you show your love...') and this is way back in 1964 when The Beatles were enthusing about wanting to hold your hand...!

'Time For Love' was commercial enough to work as a single sung in complete harmony, as was 'Don't You Know' (another number Elliott opens in emphatic style)

numbers such as the gritty 'You Know He Did' with it's chugging riff and bluesy back up guitar again have interesting more adult lyrics  ('need someone when you're alone at night...')

'So Lonely' could easily have made an 'A' side too with it's superb echoey guitar riff, plus Nash taking a haunting counter point middle 8 vocal ('waited oh I waited...')

they intentionally broke the songwriting rules alot - look how 'When I Come Home To You' dashes about all over the place with vocals and instruments in tight uniformity as key changes go on left, right and centre at top speed as the number never stands still for a moment while harmonica and guitar hooks play off each other, the lyrics are unusual too ('comin' home isn't good for me I know...')  

re subject matter - apart from maybe Bob Dylan which group sings reflectively about the inevitability of DEATH ? - well 'Too Many People' did with a historical stance too and the mono version featured sound effects a year before The Beatles did on 'Yellow Submarine' which people thought was so ground breaking

'Hard Hard Year' begins as a Dylan-ish lament openly contemplating suicide - then a heavy rock guitar solo (Jimmy Page asked Hicks how to play it for the Everlys version) crashes in...and vanishes again as we go back to Dylan style acoustc folk

'Pay You Back With Interest'- features bells two years before Cream used them on 'Those Were The Days' in 1968 - and has tempo changes an electric piano intro, and lone jazzy style percussive outro by Elliott while Nash again sings the bridge lead vocal and the lyrics are realistic re the touring lifestyle ('it seems unfair to leave you and sell myself the way I do...') - this must have influenced Nash's 'Pre Road Downs' for CSN later

'Peculiar Situation' - with it's perverse non rhyming lyrical couplets again true to life ('You do well at things that interest you' / When I start you never turn away' / 'If you're wrong you don't mind saying so'/ 'not to proud to phone me when your down' etc) ...and note how Hicks only sings the background lyric 'Ation...' while Nash is virtually absent vocally, except adding the final emphaisis on the lyric;'...Right' on the chorus and at the conclusion as vocalists each alternate...BUT vocally it switches completely around on the bridge section as Nash then leads the vocal; 'do do do do do...'ahead of the other two  before Clarke resumes the lead voice on the lyrics - all in all a very 'peculiar situation' as the song STILL swings !

I could go on as there are a zillion other examples - Nash led them into writing 'All The World is Love' cut six months before Lennon sang 'All You Need is Love' in 1967

'Signs That Will Never Change' in 1967 was a very early ecology song...as was 'Look at Life' later in 1969

Radio Caroline featured 'Evolution' as their 'Album of the week' in June 1967
Noel Edmonds did likewise re 'Write On' in 1976 on his BBC Radio One sunday show too

both were full of original songs with just one cover on 'Write On'

The Hollies never really pushed themselves hard enough as composers (hence the daft 'Ransford' idea) - even with Nash they would often do a cover if they (& Ron Richards who often had sway - remember it was an unimpressed Ron who relegated Ringo to tambourine on the album version of  'Love Me Do' !) felt it suited them - many top songwriters offered them songs written with them in mind , they rejected 'A Must To Avoid' which Herman had a hit with

only Nash by 1967 was really pushing them forward - sadly Clarke, Hicks, Elliott were all rather 'set in their ways' as Ron was and in the seventies that became abundantly clear re all those slow ballads ! (to Sylvester's frustration)

they COULD write great songs but unlike many of their contemporaries they (apart from Nash) didn't seem to have the 'go' or self confidence, even arrogance that was required...and I think Hicks particularly could 'rest on his laurels' and let others do the songwriting -
besides being in the two group  'in house' teams Tony only really went for it over late 1969 to early 1972 as a fully functioning composer, when he proved he certainly COULD do it - hence the bunch of songs he wrote solo or in partnership (mostly with Kenny Lynch) and his 'Too Young To Be Married' (another mature more realistic number) topping the charts in a few countries when only an album track at home

The Hollies have been vastly underrated as songwriters but their adventurous approach is beyond question making alot of their original numbers quite fascinating and far deeper on an artistic level  - often even stronger than the very commercial hits they reeled off effortlessly on which their reputation chiefly stands of course