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--- In , "unlunf" <unlunf@y...> wrote:
> ~!~!~!~
> What's the origin behind the SHADOWS' song, "The Rise
> and Fall of Flingel Bunt"? Took forever but we finally
> found the answer. The world's preeminent experts on the
> Shadows say the band often selected funny-sounding names
> at their whim, and this was basically one of them.
> ~!~!~!~
There's just a bit more to it than that (though not much). Here's
an excerpt from the autobiography of Bruce Welch (the Shads' rhythm
guitarist) by the name of "Rock'n'Roll - I Gave You The Best Years
Of My Life:
"The first single John [Rostill, bass player] played on was 'The
Rise And Fall of Flingel Bunt', which we wrote together in the
studio. I suppose we were all taking a leaf out of the Beatles'
book now. It was written around an opening guitar riff with bags of
fuzz [must have been left off the final recording?]. Hank suggested
we make a twelve-bar instrumental out of it, because at that time
rhythm'n'blues was starting to take a stranglehold on the British
market and people were attracted to the heavier type of twelve-bar
blues. Norrie Paramor thought it had potential as a single. The
title came about courtesy of Richard O'Sullivan [well known British
actor], with whom we had worked on The Young Ones and Wonderful Life
[two Cliff Richard movies with the Shads]. It was the name of a
character he had invented - it was perfect. We had recently seen a
movie called The Rise And Fall Of Legs Diamond, and we liked the
title so much, we borrowed it. The record was released in May 1964
and was hailed by the music press as 'the Shadows new sound'. It
put us back in the Top Five and was voted instrumental of the year."
There you go.
Ivan
