Cry for a Shadow

Last updated
"Cry for a Shadow"
Cryforashadow.png
US picture sleeve
Single by the Beatles
A-side "Why (US)"
B-side "Why (Europe)"
Released27 March 1964 (single)
20 November 1995 ( Anthology 1 )
Recorded22 June 1961
Genre Instrumental rock
Length2:20
Label
Songwriter(s) Harrison/Lennon
Producer(s) Bert Kaempfert

"Cry for a Shadow" is an instrumental rock piece recorded by the Beatles on 22 June 1961. They recorded the song at Friedrich-Ebert-Halle within the gymnasium, Hamburg, West Germany while they were performing as Tony Sheridan's backing band for a few tracks, under the moniker the Beat Brothers. It was written by George Harrison with John Lennon, as a pastiche of the Shadows' style [1] (the Shadows, who backed Cliff Richard, were the biggest British instrumental rock & roll group at the time of the recording). It is the only Beatles track to be credited to Lennon and Harrison alone.

Contents

"Cry for a Shadow"'s original title was "Beatle Bop". [2] It was intended to be released as the B-side of "Why", another Sheridan song with the Beatles, but the record company Polydor chose to release another song instead. This instrumental is the Beatles' first recording of an original song commercially released when, in January 1962, it was included on Tony Sheridan's French EP entitled "Mister Twist". [3] In mid-1963, as the Beatles were gaining popularity, Polydor decided to rerelease this EP in Germany as "Tony Sheridan With The Beatles", [4] and in early 1964, "Cry for a Shadow" was released in Britain, Germany and Australia (where it reached number 32) [5] as a single with "Why" changed to the B-side, [6] while in North America, Sheridan's song was designated as the A-side. [7]

This song is one of only two officially released Beatles singles to feature Pete Best on drums. The other is "Ain't She Sweet".

It is also featured on The Beatles' First [8] and as part of the Anthology 1 compilation in 1995. [1]

Cover versions

"Cry for a Shadow" is one of the songs included on the Smithereens' collection of Beatles covers, B-Sides The Beatles (2008). [9]

San Francisco new wave group Translator released a cover version of this song as a B-side to their song "Break Down Barriers" in 1983. The little-known recording was included as a bonus track on the 2008 CD re-release of their album No Time Like Now on Wounded Bird Records. [10]

Personnel

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 MacDonald, Ian. Revolution in the Head . 2007, Chicago Review Press, ISBN   1-55652-733-0, p. 48
  2. Lewisohn, Mark: All These Years Volume 1:The Beatles Tune In, Little Brown, London 2013, ISBN   978-0-316-72960-4, page 465
  3. "Virtua Beatles Music: Polydor 21914: Mister Twist - Tony Sheridan". 27 October 2010.
  4. "Tony Sheridan with the Beatles – My Bonnie (1963, Vinyl)". Discogs .
  5. Kent, David (2009). Australian Chart Book:Australian Chart Chronicles (1940–2008). Turramurra: Australian Chart Book. p. 203. ISBN   9780646512037.
  6. "Cry For A Shadow". The Beatles Bible. 18 March 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-25.
  7. "The Beatles with Tony Sheridan – Why (1964, Vinyl)". Discogs .
  8. Bruce Eder. "Beatles' First [German Deluxe Edition] - The Beatles - Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards - AllMusic". AllMusic.
  9. Deming, Mark. B-Sides the Beatles at AllMusic . Retrieved January 15, 2016.
  10. Sclafani, Tony (April 13, 2007). "Lost in Translation: Despite ties to Beatles, '80s rockers Translator just missed the big time". Goldmine . Archived from the original on November 18, 2018. Retrieved January 15, 2016.  via  HighBeam Research (subscription required)

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pete Best</span> British musician, former member of the Beatles

Randolph Peter Best is an English musician known as the drummer of the English rock band the Beatles who was dismissed immediately prior to the band achieving worldwide fame. Fired from the group in 1962 after playing drums as a Beatle for the previous two years in Germany and England, he started his own band, the Pete Best Four. He later joined and started many bands over the years. He is one of several people who have been referred to as a fifth Beatle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fifth Beatle</span> Informal title for associates of the Beatles

The fifth Beatle is an informal title that has been applied to people who were at one point a member of the Beatles or who had a strong association with John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. The "fifth Beatle" claims first appeared in the press immediately upon the band's rise to global fame in 1963–64. The members have offered their own beliefs of the "fifth Beatle":

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bert Kaempfert</span> Musical artist

Bert Kaempfert was a German orchestra leader, multi-instrumentalist, music producer, arranger, and composer. He made easy listening and jazz-oriented records and wrote the music for a number of well-known songs, including "Strangers in the Night", “Danke Schoen” and "Moon Over Naples".

<i>Anthology 1</i> 1995 compilation album by the Beatles

Anthology 1 is a compilation album by the Beatles, released on 20 November 1995 by Apple Records as part of The Beatles Anthology series. It features rarities, outtakes and live performances from the period 1958–64, including songs with original bass player Stuart Sutcliffe and drummer Pete Best. It is the first in a trilogy of albums with Anthology 2 and Anthology 3, all of which tie in with the televised special The Beatles Anthology. It contains "Free as a Bird", billed as the first new Beatles song in 25 years, which was released as a single two weeks after Anthology 1.

"My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean" is a traditional Scottish folk song that is popular in Western culture. It is listed in Roud Folk Song Index as No. 1422.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tony Sheridan</span> British musician (1940–2013)

Anthony Esmond Sheridan McGinnity, known professionally as Tony Sheridan, was an English rock and roll guitarist who spent much of his adult life in Germany. He was best known as an early collaborator of the Beatles, one of two non-Beatles to receive label performance credit on a record with the group, and the only non-Beatle to appear as lead singer on a Beatles recording which charted as a single.

<i>My Bonnie</i> 1962 studio album / live album by Tony Sheridan and the Beat Brothers

My Bonnie is a 1962 album by English rock and roll singer-songwriter and musician Tony Sheridan. Sheridan, then playing in clubs in Hamburg with the Beatles, was discovered by producer Bert Kaempfert and subsequently signed with him to record for Polydor. Sheridan recorded several songs with the Beatles, of which only a single was released in 1961, the titular "My Bonnie" and B-side "The Saints", credited to Tony Sheridan and the Beat Brothers. While both songs are included here, the remaining tracks on this album were credited again to the Beat Brothers but recorded without the Beatles.

<i>Twist and Shout</i> (EP) 1963 EP by the Beatles

Twist and Shout is the first UK extended play by the English rock band the Beatles, released by Parlophone on 12 July 1963. It was also released in Germany, Spain, New Zealand, Australia and Argentina. It topped the UK EP chart for twenty-one weeks, becoming so successful that it registered on the singles chart and eventually ranked as the fourth-bestselling "single" of 1963 in Britain. All four tracks on the EP were originally released on the band's debut album that year, Please Please Me.

<i>The Early Tapes of the Beatles</i> 1984 compilation album by the Beatles featuring Tony Sheridan

The Early Tapes of The Beatles is the first digital repackaging of The Beatles' First !, the 1964 German compilation album of Tony Sheridan and The Beatles recordings. The songs were recorded in Hamburg between 1961 and 1963. Most of the tracks feature vocals by Sheridan. Only tracks 1-5, 7, 10, and 11 actually feature the Beatles, with John Lennon singing lead on "Ain't She Sweet" and featuring "Cry for a Shadow", an instrumental written and performed by the British group alone. The other songs are performed by Sheridan and other musicians, identified as "The Beat Brothers". This CD, which was released in 1984, includes two additional tracks and an extended version of "Ya Ya" and was reissued in 2004 with a different design on Universal Music's Spectrum label.

<i>In the Beginning (Circa 1960)</i> 1970 compilation album by the Beatles featuring Tony Sheridan

In the Beginning is the first American packaging of the 1964 German album by Tony Sheridan and the Beatles, called "The Beatles' First !".

<i>The Beatles with Tony Sheridan and Their Guests</i> 1964 compilation album by the Beatles featuring Tony Sheridan and the Titans

The Beatles with Tony Sheridan and Their Guests was an American compilation album that included "Cry for a Shadow", a instrumental written and recorded by The Beatles, plus three other recordings with the fledgling group backing fellow British guitarist and vocalist Tony Sheridan.

<i>The Beatles First</i> 1964 compilation album by the Beatles featuring Tony Sheridan

The Beatles' First! is a German compilation album of songs recorded in Hamburg in 1961 and 1962 by Tony Sheridan with the Beatles as his backing group. It was originally released in 1964 in Germany, then issued in 1967 in England, 1969 in Canada and finally in the United States in 1970.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ain't She Sweet</span> 1927 song written by Milton Ager and Jack Yellen

"Ain't She Sweet" is a song composed by Milton Ager, with lyrics by Jack Yellen. It was published in 1927 by Ager, Yellen & Bornstein, Inc. It became popular in the first half of the 20th century and typified the Roaring Twenties. Like Happy Days Are Here Again (1929), it became a Tin Pan Alley standard. Both Ager and Yellen were elected to the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

<i>Very Together</i> 1969 compilation album by the Beatles with Tony Sheridan

Very Together is an album by the English rock band the Beatles and the first compilation of the band's early recordings supporting Tony Sheridan to be released in Canada. It was issued in November 1969 by Polydor Records, with the catalogue number 242.008. The cover photograph features four candles, one of which has been extinguished – a reference to the "Paul is dead" urban legend.

<i>Beatles Bop – Hamburg Days</i> 2001 compilation album by the Beatles featuring Tony Sheridan

Beatles Bop – Hamburg Days is a compilation album of the 1961-1962 recordings of The Beatles with Tony Sheridan done in Hamburg for Polydor with producer Bert Kaempfert. Released by Bear Family Records in 2001, this is, to date, the most complete collection of these recordings featuring both mono and stereo mixes. This collection excludes the other recordings featured on the My Bonnie and The Beatles' First albums that were done by other musicians under "The Beat Brothers" name. But it does include a version of "Swanee River" by other musicians as a comparative to the lost Beatles recording.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ya Ya</span> 1961 Lee Dorsey song

"Ya Ya" is a song by Lee Dorsey. The song was written by Dorsey, C. L. Blast, Bobby Robinson, and Morris Levy. Levy's participation in the writing has been called into question; the Flashback release of the single lists only Dorsey and Blast as writers, as do the liner notes to the American Graffiti soundtrack.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Take Out Some Insurance</span>

"Take Out Some Insurance" is a blues song released in 1959 by Jimmy Reed written by Charles Singleton and Waldenese Hall but originally credited to Jesse Stone. The copyright registration for the song lists its title as "Take Out Some Insurance on Me, Baby".. Tony Sheridan recorded it with different lyrics in 1961 with The Beatles as his backing band. Misidentified, it was released in Germany in 1964 as "If You Love Me, Baby " but subsequently as "Take Out Some Insurance on Me, Baby ", "Take Out Some Insurance on Me, Baby" or erroneously as "If You Love Me, Baby".

"Nobody's Child" is a song written by Cy Coben and Mel Foree and first recorded by Hank Snow in 1949. Many other versions of this song exist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Why (Tony Sheridan song)</span> 1964 single by The Beatles with Tony Sheridan

"Why" is one of the early songs performed by the Beatles when they were backing Tony Sheridan. It was first issued on Sheridan's french extended play called "Mister Twist" in 1962. In the UK, it is the B-side of the instrumental rock tune "Cry for a Shadow". Although it was originally intended to be the A-side, the record label Polydor chose not to release it. When the Beatles were gaining popularity by 1964, the record label decided to release it with "Cry for a Shadow" as the A-side and "Why" as its B-side. In the US and Canada, it was released as originally intended, by the North American record label MGM with "Why" as the A-side and "Cry for a Shadow" as the B-side, due to its being an instrumental. Both were included on the German compilation album "The Beatles' First!" in 1964 and on all its other reissues worldwide in subsequent years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skinny Minnie</span>

"Skinny Minnie" is a 1958 song co-written and recorded by Bill Haley and his Comets. The song was released as a Decca single which became a Top 40 chart hit in the U.S.