Didn’t you love Herman’s Hermits featuring Peter Noone as “Herman”? Although considered a singles artist and never critical darlings, they had over a half dozen huge and very diverse hits “Something Good” “Mrs Brown You’ve got a lovely daughter” “Henry The Eighth” There’s a Kind of Hush” “Listen People” and of course ” Dandy” a bouncy happy go lucky song about a womanizing “ladies man.” An unusual song for the band to record, as Herman’s Hermits, didn’t write their songs, usually turning to professional songwriters in the U.S. And U.K. “Unusual” because “Dandy was written by the amazing Ray Davies! Front man and principal songwriter for The Kinks! Furthermore, The Kinks released their own version at the exact same time as The Hermits. Strange as it sounds, The Kink’s recording received absolutely no attention, while Herman’s Hermits had an international smash!….”Dandy you’re all right”
Here’s Peter…..er, Herman…
Just yesterday I talked to a friend about “Dandy” wondering how it was possible that two versions of the same song could be released at the same time (copyright?). Now I’ve found that there was a third release by The Rockin’ Vickers. Amazing! I have also found that both versions mwentioned first were successful in different parts of the world so saying “The Kink’s recording received absolutely no attention” can’t be correct at all!
OMG…….We can hear Ray Davies ALL OVER this song. When we cued up the clip of the Hermits covering this tune I thought we were starting to hear the Kinks “Well Respected Man”!!!! We are going to try and find the Kinks own version now. Fun stuff and you woke up a long buried desire to listen to more Kinks music!!!
thanx ….. r&p
Hey Ron and Paulette….We agree, always a good idea to listen to more Kinks music! And we further agree with your comment about “A well respected man” furthermore, upon listening to The Kinks version of “Dandy” you can hear “Dedicated Follower of Fashion” all over the place!. Also while your surfing around The Kinks catalogue check out “Death of a clown” it features a rare lead vocal by Rays brother Dave!…..Hope you dig it…
As always great to see you here and always enjoy your perspective…
Thanx guys!
AGAIN The Great Karnack…you are so right again ….. we forgot all about “Dedicated Follower of Fashion”!!! We’ll be listening…..r&p
Enjoyed the Herman’s Hermits songs. They were songs you sang to without having to think much about what they meant, only that they were fun. The Kink’s were a group I really liked as well. I know a lot of people would remember their big hit, “You Really Got Me”, however two of my favorites were “Catch Me Now I’m Falling” and “Sunny Afternoon”. Oh….the good old days!
Hey Jules,
Amen to “Sunny Afternoon” for our money “Sunny Afternoon is thee best “Down and Out” blues song ever written! And how about “Tired of waiting for you” Yes, we could go on and on…The Kinks were such a great band and Ray and Dave Davies were great songwriters!
Thanx for the memories…
Oh, and one more interesting factoid about Herman. His actual real full name is, are you ready?…..Peter Noone is actually, Peter Blair Denis Bernard Noone!
Now, that’s a great name…