April 23, 2009

"Hold Tight" — a flashback.

How many of you, when you read the expression "hold tight" in the last post, flashed back immediately to Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich?



Ha ha. I'm so stuck in the 60s!
Hold tight, count to three,
Gotta stay close by me
And hold tight, sing and shout
Just ride my round-about
And hold tight, shut your eyes, girl,
You suit me for size.
Forget the other guys.
You'll never fall each time you call.
Hold tight, hold tight, hold tight.

13 comments:

traditionalguy said...

Those were truly happy days of youth. (The drugs did not crash our party until 67). That was 42 years ago now, but still as fresh in our minds as a crisp Wisconsin spring morning. Then LBJ sent the UCMC ashore in Viet Nam in June, 1965, and we all wondered what that might mean for our happy days.

john said...

Not me. Were they actually Herman's Hermits? And what's with the stage hand pushing the merry-go-round?

TJ said...

This song was used to great effect in Tarantino's Death Proof a couple years ago.

AST said...

I've heard the name, but don't remember the song. I was 12 in 1960 and around for pretty much all of these groups, but I guess I did too much vinyl.

Wince said...

Trevor Jackson said...
This song was used to great effect in Tarantino's Death Proof a couple years ago
.


1960s child star Kurt Russell as a psychopath Stuntman Mike breaks up the fun in Tarantino's Death Proof.

former law student said...

I flashed all the way back to the Andrews Sisters:

Hold tight, hold tight, a-hold tight, hold tight
Fododo-de-yacka saki
Want some seafood mama
Shrimps and rice; they're very nice

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSpTwzOs-E8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhn84N9JueA

Chip Ahoy said...

I did not have a flashback I was stuck admiring your photos especially the second one with the mixed purple sky. Those would make a sweet framed set, especially if there was a third. That song is entirely new to me.

However, the video to the song did transport me to an earlier event.

Here goes: ‹anecdote alert›

My friend, Toni, was charged with organizing her company picnic. Toni once admitted to not being able to draw a straight line, which is a ridiculous way of confessing lack of artistic skill since neither do artists, generally, they use rulers for that. She had this very very uncorrectable bad habit of volunteering me for anything artistic that caught her fancy and she decided I needed to paint a few large boards with the faces cut out so kids could stand behind them and be photographed being something other than little kids. I objected. This could take up a whole weekend. She didn't know what she was asking. Demanding really. After much harping and abuse I caved. Naturally, I did lose every argument, after all.

On separate boards I painted a clown juggling puppies, A mermaid sitting alluringly on a rock, a ballerina in a tutu on point, a ridiculously overwrought muscle-man flexing, two boxers duking it out, an astronaut riding a golf cart on the moon, a surfer insouciantly on the end of a surf board being trailed by a shark, all in children's' sizes. I was not particularly proud of my work, they were all slapdash over-colored and goofy as all hell and I did it just to shut Toni up. They were the product of resentment at having been volunteered so casually. When I viewed them, they vibrated resentment and that was my way of training Toni out of her habit of volunteering me.

She dragged my complaining ass to the picnic. I'm such a downer. I expected the wooden posters to be completely ignored and for the company picnic to be a drag, but to my surprise, there the boards were already all set up in a row when we got there, and the children -- hundreds of them it seemed, hopping all around those stupid careless paintings eager to have their picture taken in various guises. Little kids are so freaking easy to amuse. Her company saved the boards for future picnics.

What's the moral of the story? I do not know. I'm telling about being transported, not moralizing. ‹/anecdote alert›

Anonymous said...

D-D,D,M&T were big on 2 word song titles. There's also "Bend It", "Touch Me" & "Save Me".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDgq10Rsb-0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdxfPuuuUO8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CFfFL6Gm3k

Interesting factoid: they spent more time on the UK singles charts circa 65-69 than the Beatles. My fave song by them might be the porcelain friendly anthem "Loos of England".

former law student said...

they spent more time on the UK singles charts circa 65-69 than the BeatlesHowever, they didn't spend any time on the Billboard top 100. In fact, I never heard of them before today. How could Althouse have heard of them, much less had this song forced into her memory? Unless she grew up in England, watching Blue Peter.

Ann Althouse: The Expatriate Years. It suddenly occurs to me: Professor Althouse shuns her given name because Ann was her cousin. They pulled a switcheroo, a la the Prince and the Pauper or the Parent Trap. The inspiration for the Patty Duke show:

Meet Annie, who's lived most everywhere,
From Zanzibar to Barclay Square.
But Althouse's only seen the sights
A girl can see from Brooklyn Heights — What a crazy pair!

But they're cousins,
Identical cousins all the way.
One pair of matching bookends,
Different as night and day.

Where Annie adores a minuet,
The Ballet Russes, and crepe suzette,
Our Althouse loves to rock and roll,
A hot dog makes her lose control — What a wild duet!

Still, they're cousins,
Identical cousins and you'll find,
They laugh alike, they walk alike,
At times they even talk alike —
You can lose your mind,
When cousins are two of a kind.

Scott said...

Those are really hot beatle boots.

Bissage said...

They sound like the Four Seasons on a bad acid trip.

Christopher in MA said...

FLS said, "I never heard of them before today."

Actually, if you're like me (born 1963, but with a fascination for early 60s and British Invasion), you probably did. I never thought I'd heard of them until a while back when Mark Steyn, in his "Song of the Week" column, talked about DDDBM&Ts "The Legend of Xanadu," which was the only other one of their songs to penetrate the American market. I looked it up on Itunes, and the moment I heard it, I realized "yeah, I know these guys!"

BUT - DON'T go to Itunes looking for them; the album they have is a cheesy re-recorded ripoff. Go import and buy the singles collection. I'm not a fan of the early stuff, but I love "Zabadak," which sounds like a poor man's Moody Blues, and "Snake In the Grass," which sounds like a mashup between Vanity Faire and the Dave Clark Five.

Tarzan said...

Mullets are so passe. Bring back the Hair Helmets of the glorious 60's!