This is a US promo copy of a 1964 British 45 by Tommy Quickly, real name Thomas Quigley, a Liverpool pop singer managed by Brian Epstein.
“You Might As Well Forget Him” is a very pretty ballad writtten by Tommy Roe for the soul group the Tams, whose original version did well in the UK. The b-side is a lesser pop number called “It’s As Simple As That”.
One reason I’m posting this is because this song was covered by one of my favorite Australian groups, M.P.D. Ltd. as the b-side to their last 45. They learned it from Quickly when they toured Australia together opening for the Dave Clark Five.
Quickly was apparently a naive youngster who preferred singing rock ‘n roll to pop. His early 45s missed the charts even when he was singing a Lennon-McCartney castoff, and his career was over by the end of 1965.
A remembrance by one of his managers is archived here.
It might be good to note that those fabulous cave stompers, the Remo 4 are backing him up on that track. Try to find their version of Peter Gunn which is, by far, one of the and wildest covers ever recorded of that song.
Love your posts, keep up the great work…
JT
Chas wrote about Tommy Q. saying “His early 45s missed the charts even when he was singing Lennon-McCartney castoffs.”
Well, to be fair to Tommy…NOBODY was ever gonna have a hit with that Lennon-McCartney song (“Tip Of My Tongue”), generally agreed as the worst song L&Mc ever wrote. But the track you post is definitely the best of his limited number of singles, though “I’ve Seen Such Things” is a nice pop song, and “Kiss Me Now” (featured in the currnt episode of ‘Ready Steady A Go Go’) is just plain fun Merseybeat-by-the-numbers (you can hear that modulation coming a mile away.) His “Humpty Dumpty,” on the other hand, is best not discussed.
JT says <<< It might be good to note that those fabulous cave stompers, the Remo 4 are backing him up on that track. Try to find their version of Peter Gunn which is, by far, one of the and wildest covers ever recorded of that song. >>>
But just make sure you find the Picadilly 45 from 1964…that’s the good version. They did a not-as-exciting remake for a 1966 single on the Star Club label.
Probably this guy was his own worst enemy as he had a drink & drugs problem.
He had the potential to become as big as Peter Noone but he blew it.
However Tip Of My Tongue I rate as a fine example of Lennon/McCartney and the original by Quickly has not been anthologised that much.
Its failure is as difficult to understand as the success of the bachelors who dragged music back into the pre rock era yet had a hit single at the time of the British Invasion!
Quickly’s follow up was similar in mould to many of the Gerry & the Pacemakers’ songs of the time but again failure.
His own ineptness was the reason why his cover of No Reply was abandoned.
However the final single Humpty Dumpty is something of a killer-it grroves like a groover but is NOT the same one made by Jimmy Nicol & the Shubdubs which was an instrumental.
There was however one lower end chart entry in the UK for Quickly-this was a version of the country music standard The Wild Side of Life but it was nothing special.
Not every Lennon/McCartney song scored but every single one has been many times covered.Tip of My Tongue was done in the States by the BADBEATS at the time and is one of the songs on the many “songs they gave away” compilations.
To place Tommy Quickly into a musical area he is part of the high school pop popular in the States both before and well after the Beatles.THEY rarely touched on the idiom which has been identified decades later and only a few songs fall into this area by way of their chord changes ie This boy and Oh darling.
British Invasion music covered the UKs version of high school which meant Gerry,Billy J,Herman,Freddie,Wayne Fontana etc.Quickly was bang in the center and could have been bigger if he’d had more sense
One correction to Richard Astley-Clemas’ post about Tommy Quickly:
Richard says…<<< However the final single Humpty Dumpty is something of a killer-it grroves like a groover but is NOT the same one made by Jimmy Nicol & the Shubdubs which was an instrumental. >>>
This is incorrect. Jimmy Nicol’s single “Humpty Dumpty,” released on Pye in early 1964, is indeed the same song that Tommy Quickly would release at year’s end on the same label. (And Jimmy’s is certainly not instrumental…might you be thinking of his follow-up, “Husky,” ) Both singles bear a writing credit of “Trad., arr. Harris, Nicol, Wellings,” as Tommy’s is pretty much a straight copy of Jimmy’s record.
Coincidentally…both Quickly’s and Nicol’s 45s of “Humpty Dumpty” had James Brown songs for the flip…Jimmy takes the “Night Train” and Tommy declares “I’ll Go Crazy.”
Ah yes HUSKY-I have both anyway on CDs of instrumentals
Roger Key wrote…
<<< Am I the only person who thought "Prove it" was an excellent single? I haven't heard it for 40-odd years so perhaps nostalgia is adding something to my memory of it. >>>
Hi Roger. No, you’re not the only one who is a fan of “Prove It.” I like that one too.
If you’d like to hear the song for your first time in over 40 years, I do a podcast of nothing but British Beat, 1962-66, entitled ‘READY STEADY A GO GO,’ which you can check out by going to…
http://www.nanker.podomatic.com
…and Tommy’s “Prove It” can be heard towards the end of Episode 12 (October 19, 2006.)
Am I the only person who thought “Prove it” was an excellent single?
I haven’t heard it for 40-odd years so perhaps nostalgia is adding something to
my memory of it.
Michael,
Thanks to you I just heard it again after all this time.
Suddenly it was 1964 again!!!
Just as good as I remembered.
Thanks again.
Roger.
Why would anyone think this was the worst Lennon/McCartney song? Its nothing of the sort and if its listened to properly you can hear the same octave leap which helped turn I want to hold your hand into the first U S hit
I would like to make contact with the singer Tommy Quickly can some one please give me his address or email address
My postal address is:
David Agius
21 Triq Is- Salvja
Zonqor Point
Marsascala ZBR 09
Malta
Hope to hear from you soon.
TOMMY QUICKLY NUMBER 1 FAN IN MALTA,
A true and dedicated TOMMY QUICKLY Fan David Agius