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♫ The Hollies Week Grand Finale ♫ | Filosofa’s Word

I’m Alive

This one has a really interesting and conflicting history!  It was written by American songwriter Clint Ballard Jr.  Ballard originally wrote the song … according to SongFacts, he wrote it for Gene Pitney, who rejected it as did Wayne Fontana, before it was passed on to Manchester band The Toggery Five and then ‘stolen’ and recorded by The Hollies.  But according to Wikipedia, Ballard wrote the song for The Hollies, who initially passed it over to The Toggery Five but then changed their minds and decided to record it themselves.

Frank Renshaw, the lead guitarist of The Toggery Five, recollects: “Wayne Fontana gave us this song ‘I’m Alive’ as he said it wasn’t his style. We liked it a lot, booked time at Abbey Road Studios, and recorded it with Ron Richards as producer. Then the Hollies heard it and stole it from us! It turned out to be their first hit in the UK.”  If I had time, I’d try to dig deeper and find out the whole truth, but I have six songs to prepare tonight and it’s already after midnight!

This charted at in the UK and Ireland and at in the U.S.

Look Through Any Window

This was written by Graham Gouldman and Charles Silverman.  As with the previously played Bus Stop, Graham Gouldman, who was still a teenager, got help with the lyrics from his father, Hymie, a writer known affectionately as “Hyme the Rhyme.”   The song is about the ordinary delights that happen every day. Just look through any window and you’ll see them.  According to Gouldman …

“I was on a train coming back from London up from Manchester where I used to live, with a friend of mine, and he was looking out the window. He said, ‘Look through any window,’ because we were looking as the train crept out of the station and started going through the suburbs quite slowly. We were trying to look into the houses to see what was going on.”

This charted at in the UK and in the U.S.

Jennifer Eccles

The name of this song was constructed from the first name of lead singer Allan Clarke’s wife (Jennifer Bowstead) and the maiden name of guitarist Graham Nash’s wife (Rose Eccles).

This is one of the last Hollies hits with Graham Nash, who left before they recorded their next album, a set of Bob Dylan covers called Hollies Sing Dylan. He picked up with David Crosby and Stephen Stills to form Crosby, Stills & Nash.

“Me, Graham and our wives were at his flat in Hampstead,” Allan Clarke recalled to Mojo magazine. “We said, ‘Let’s write a silly song, and we wrote Jennifer Eccles. Graham said, ‘I don’t want to do these sorts of songs anymore.’”

This charted at in the UK, in Canada, and in the U.S.

Stay

This song was written by Maurice Williams in 1953 when he was 15 years old and first recorded in 1960 by Williams with his group the Zodiacs.  In November 1963, the song was released by The Hollies, whose version reached on the UK Singles Chart. It remained on the chart for a total of 16 weeks. The song is from their debut album Stay with The Hollies.  Quite honestly, I listened to both the Zodiacs and The Hollies tonight and much prefer the Zodiacs’ version, but since it is The Hollies Week …

Just One Look

This one was song co-written by American R&B singers Doris Troy and Gregory Carroll. The recording by Doris Troy was a hit in 1963.  The Hollies recorded it in 1964 at which time it reached in the UK and  became the 37th biggest hit of the year there.  It wasn’t until it was re-released in 1967 that it charted in Canada at and in the U.S. at .  It has also been covered by Anne Murray, Linda Ronstadt and Iain Matthews, each of whom achieved great success with the song.  It may not have charted that well here in the U.S., but I really like it!

Well, my friends, that’s a wrap for The Hollies Week!  I’ve really enjoyed this one … so many fun songs … and I hope you have, too!  Now I need to put my thinking cap back on — if I can find it — and think of what my next series should be!  Pete has suggested maybe the Grass Roots … hmmmmm …

Source: ♫ The Hollies Week Grand Finale ♫ | Filosofa’s Word