TIME MACHINE
JANUARY 1965 …Them explode onto the charts
Van Morrison, Pat McAuley, Jackie McAuley, Billy Harrison, Alan Henderson
second single Baby, Please Don’t Go
Delta bluesman Big Joe Williams, 1963
producer Bert Berns, 1965
(from left)
Morrison, Henderson and Harrison on-stage,
March 19, 1965;1964’s Gloria B-side.
Getty (9), Alamy
JANUARY 28
In the UK Top 10, the pleasant and hygienic tunes of Sandie Shaw, Gerry And The Pacemakers and Sounds Orchestral. Just below them was the sound of fury, abandonment and near-mystical intensity.
Belfast’s hardnut rhythm’n’bluesers Them were at Number 11 with their sizzling Baby, Please Don’t Go, a cover of a song made famous by Big Joe Williams in 1935. On the flipside was Gloria, 19-year-old singer Van Morrison’s driving, mantric invocation of the supernatural ineffable. It was inspired by his cousin Gloria Gordon, who died aged 29 of cancer, and in time it would become a rock’n’roll standard, covered by Hendrix, Patti Smith, The Doors and others. In its 16-year history, the humble 45 rpm single had rarely packed such concentrated power.
A few weeks earlier, Them had considered Baby, Please Don’t Go dead in the water. Released to middling attention in November, a December performance on pop TV show Ready Steady Go! improved its fortunes. Soon after, as Them guitarist Billy Harrison told NME on January 22, “Ready Steady Go! chose it out of the blue for their signature tune.”