Get Your Gun

Last updated

"Get Your Gun" is a song written by Lynsey de Paul and Terry Cox. [1] It was released as a single by Zakatek (aka Lenny Zakatek) on Bell Records on 12 October 1973. [2] The b-side was another de Paul and Cox penned song "Gotta Runaway". Both sides were produced by de Paul and the strings were arranged by Christopher Gunning and de Paul. [2] The single was reviewed by the British DJ John Peel for the music magazine Sounds . It has been described as "Freaky, bizarre and ultimately interesting and a definite one-off". [3] In an interview some years later Lenny Zakatek said "I was singing at a night club called Gulivers In London five nights a week when Lynsey De Paul and Dudley Moore came in, they both thought I had the X-Factor, Lynsey introduced me to the legendary Dick Leahy (Billy Ocean, David Cassidy, Donna Summer, Wham, George Michael) and he signed me to his U.S.A. label Bell Records". [4]

A German language version with the title "Roter Mann" with German lyrics written by Gunter Gabriel was released in 1974, also on Bell Records and sung by Zakatek. [5] This version was released on the German compilation album, 1000 Nadelstiche - Amerikaner Und Briten Singen Deutsch (1000 pin pricks - Americans and Brits sing in German) on Bear Family Records in 2002.

The recording of the song was re-released, for the first time on CD as a track on the album Pop Cycles Vol. 12. [6] The song still receives radio play, notably on WFMU's "Evan "Funk" Davies Show" on 21 June 2023. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barry Blue</span> English singer, producer and songwriter

Barry Blue is an English singer, producer, and songwriter. As an artist, he is best known for his hit songs "Dancin' " and "Do You Wanna Dance".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terry Cox</span> British musician

Terence William Harvey 'Terry' Cox played drums in the British folk rock bands The Pentangle, Duffy's Nucleus and Humblebums.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lenny Zakatek</span> British singer

Lenny Zakatek is a British singer and musician. Born in Karachi just prior to it becoming a part of Pakistan, he has lived in London since the age of thirteen. Zakatek is best known for his work with the British bands Gonzalez and The Alan Parsons Project.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rock Bottom (Lynsey de Paul and Mike Moran song)</span> British song from 1977

"Rock Bottom" was the British entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1977, performed in English by Lynsey de Paul and Mike Moran. It was also written and produced by de Paul and Moran and released on the Polydor record label. Originally it was written for the group Blue Mink; and submitted unbeknown to de Paul and Moran as an entry for A Song For Europe by the publishers; when it was selected, de Paul agreed to perform the song if Moran would join her. On 9 March 1977, "Rock Bottom" was selected to represent the UK at the A Song for Europe 1977 event held at the New London Theatre, presented by Terry Wogan.

<i>Taste Me... Dont Waste Me</i> 1974 studio album by Lynsey de Paul

Taste Me...Don't Waste Me is the third album by the English singer-songwriter Lynsey de Paul but the second album of completely new material and de Paul also was the producer for all of the songs. It was released in the UK in November 1974 and was the first album on Don Arden's then new label, Jet Records, and initially distributed by Polydor, although Island Records was soon contracted by Arden to take over distribution and this confusion may have negatively affected sales. Releases in all other countries, such as Spain, Germany, Australia, Japan and South America, were on the Polydor label in early 1975. The album was generally well received by music critics from leading magazines of the day. AllMusic journalist Craig Harris stated that "one of the first successful female singer-songwriters in England, de Paul has had an illustrious career" and lists this as one of her best albums. The Sunday Sun reviewed the album and wrote "Lynsey de Paul has shown her fine smoochy new album "Taste Me Don’t Waste Me" that she consistent song-writing talent". It was also de Paul's personal favourite album and she wrote on her music store website some years later "The Taste Me... Don't Waste Me album was a romantic collection of songs that I wrote and recorded as a relaxing, late night album", echoing earlier comments to the music press. The LP was listed as one of the best album releases of 1975 by journalist Judith Simons. It has stood the test of time in that it is listed as one of the top albums released in 1974 by online site "Best ever albums", as well as one of the top 1000 albums released in the 1970s.

"Going to a Disco" is an electro-funk-dance song written by Lynsey de Paul and Mike Moran, and released as the duo's second penned single for Martyn Ford on Mountain Records, released on the 12 August 1977 in the UK and Europe. This was the first Mountain label single to be distributed by Phonogram and had the characteristic moulded plastic label. The recording was produced by Ford and John Punter, and was the follow-up release to Ford's UK hit single, "Let Your Body Go Downtown". It was also released as a 12 inch single.

<i>Tigers and Fireflies</i> 1979 studio album by Lynsey de Paul

Tigers and Fireflies is an album recorded in 1978 and released by Lynsey de Paul in April 1979 on the Polydor record label in the UK, Europe, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and South America. It was launched at a special event at the Mayfair Club in London, with de Paul looking similar to the 1940s film star Veronica Lake. The album was recorded at Long View Farm Studios with additional recording at Mediasound Studios, New York and produced by Rupert Holmes. In his 1986 biography, Justin de Villeneuve, de Paul's manager at the time wrote "I gave Rupert Holmes a call in New York. He agreed to see me if I flew to America. Polydor, with the prospect of the involvement with Holmes, agreed to up the budget". The collaboration between de Paul and Holmes on Tigers and Fireflies was mentioned on the Ray Shasho Show, when Shasho interviewed Holmes on his BBS radio show on 7 August 2018. The story behind the recording of the album was also discussed in the book Dervish Dust: The Life and Words of James Coburn. Speaking to Music Week about the album, Jim Cook said "Throw away all of your preconceived ideas about Lynsey de Paul" and the Scottish press reported "Nifty production by Rupert Holmes has the petit blonde back on form Not a weak song on the album".

<i>Surprise</i> (Lynsey de Paul album) 1973 studio album by Lynsey de Paul

Surprise is the first album released by Lynsey de Paul on the MAM record label in 1973. In Australia, the album name was changed to Sugar Me, after de Paul's first hit single. All of the songs on the album were written or co-written by de Paul, who was accompanied by some of the UK's leading session musicians including Terry Cox, Ralph McTell, Ray Cooper, Jeff Daly, John Gustafson, Chris Rae, Danny Thompson, Gary Boyle, Barry de Souza, Dick Katz, Robert Kirby, Francis Monkman, John Richardson and violinist Johnny Van Derrick. The album front cover is a portrait photo of de Paul photographed by Clive Arrowsmith, and a gatefold sleeve with illustrations provided by de Paul, a nod to her previous career of designing album sleeves and song lyrics.

<i>Before You Go Tonight</i> 1990 studio album by Lynsey de Paul

Before You Go Tonight also known as Take Your Time is a Lynsey de Paul album recorded in 1976 for Jet Records, but shelved out of spite by then manager Don Arden, and not released until 1990. Then it appeared as a CD release in Japan on Century Records, and again on the Vivid Sound under licence from Trojan Records. The album was originally called Singer-Songwriter and was finally released on de Paul's music store as Take Your Time, albeit with a slightly different track listing. All of the songs were written by de Paul, except the amusing "You've Either Got It or You Ain't", which was co-written with David Jordan. The album was produced by de Paul. The track "If I Don't Get You The Next One Will" was released as a single in 1976 and this version is included. "My One and Only" is de Paul's version of a song recorded and released in 1975 by her label mates at the time, the British female vocal trio Bones.

"Miss Hit and Run" is a song written by Lynsey de Paul and Barry Blue. Blue released the single in 1974 as a follow-up single to "School Love" on Bell Records in the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain and on the Barclay label in France and recorded it with a "Beach Boys" type of arrangement. The single sided acetate label of the single reveals that the original title was "Little Miss Hit and Run", confirming what was reported in the music press at the time. The song was Blue's fourth consecutive hit, reaching number 26 on the UK Singles Chart in August 1974. It also reached number 9 on Capitol Radio's "Capitol Countdown" chart, and spent three weeks on the Dutch Tipparade. In some UK regional charts based on sales, it reached the Top 20 The original single version of the song performed by Blue was also a track on the K-Tel album, Music Explosion and the Polydor LP "20 Super Power Hits".

"Papa Do" is a song written by Lynsey de Paul and Barry Blue, who are credited as Rubin and Green. The song was released as a single performed by Barry Green in February 1972 backed with "Boomerang" on the Decca label and had a modicum of chart success in Spain, France and Sweden. It received a number of favourable reviews, including one from the BBC DJ Alan Freeman on his Sunday radio show Pick of the Pops. The Dutch group, Cardinal Point, recorded a version which was similar in style to that recorded by Green, as a track on their self-named album, and the Greek group, The Daltons, also released a version of the song as a single. The song was re-titled "Mama Do" and the text slightly modified for de Paul's own jazzed up version, that served as the opening track for her debut album, Surprise, which was released in 1973. In January 1974, Decca Records re-released the single to capitalize on Barry Blue's chart success and it again received positive reviews.

"You Give Me Those Feelings" is a song written by Lynsey de Paul, and produced by de Paul and Jon Kelly. It was released as a non-album single, with the B-side "Beautiful" also composed by de Paul, on Polydor in August 1977, as the follow-up to the European hit single "Rock Bottom". The German and French releases of the single both had picture sleeves. The romantic song makes clever use of vocal overdubbing and has a false ending making the shorter version more radio friendly that the whole song, which clocks in at over four minutes. The song was play listed by a number of British radio stations. It is listed as one of the songs of 1977 in a German music database as one of the songs of the year 1977.

"House of Cards" is a song written by Lynsey de Paul and Barry Blue and is one of their most covered songs. It was first released as a single by Chris Kelly on the CBS label on 7 April 1972, credited as being written by Rubin and Green (Blue). The song was a radio hit in Italy, receiving multiple plays on national radio stations.

"So Good to You" is a song that was written by Lynsey de Paul, and first released by Zakatek as the B-side to his 1973 single, "I Gotcha Now", which also penned by de Paul. The single was released on 2 March 1973 and both songs were produced and arranged by de Paul. Her own version appeared in October 1973 as the B-side to her award-winning single "Won't Somebody Dance with Me", which was arranged by Christopher Gunning and produced by de Paul. In Japan and some South American countries, however, "So Good to You" was released as the A-side of the single release with "Won't Somebody Dance with Me" being relegated to the B-side on its release in 1974. AllMusic lists "So Good to You" as one of De Paul's song highlights. It was also a radio hit in Italy and ranks as one of de Paul's biggest songs there according to Radiocorriere magazine. It is still played on radio stations around the world.

"I Gotcha Now" is a song written by Lynsey de Paul and released as a single by Zakatek on the Bell Records label on 2 March 1973. The release of the single received interest from the British music press. The song features a pounding piano, fuzz guitar and "I Am the Walrus"-esque strings. De Paul's own demo of the song, with the title "Got You Here Now" and recorded at Orange Studios, London, by David Humphries in early 1973 resurfaced in 2022 and features a xylophone in place of the piano break in the middle of the song. The B-side is also a de Paul song, "So Good To You", and both songs were recorded at 10cc's Strawberry Studios with Eric Stewart, the lead guitarist and singer of The Mindbenders and later a member of 10cc, being the co-engineer. De Paul recorded her own version of "So Good To You" and released it in October 1973 as the flip side to her single "Won't Somebody Dance with Me". In Japan, this was the A-side of the release. Both songs were however, originally written by de Paul for Zakatek, after she co-discovered him together with the actor Dudley Moore, her boyfriend at the time. However, some years later de Paul revealed that she had offered "I Gotcha Now" to Slade. Lenny Zakatek discussed recording the song in an interview given to Black Music & Jazz Review.

"Hi Summer" is a song written by Lynsey de Paul and recorded by Carl Wayne as a single released on the DJM/Weekend label on 5 August 1977. The B-side of the single is another song composed by de Paul, "My Girl and Me". Both songs were produced by de Paul with "Hi Summer" being published by Standard Music. It was used as the theme tune to the popular Sunday night prime time ITV variety programme Hi Summer, which also featured Carl Wayne as one of the performers. The song received good reviews, with notable British DJ and music critic James Hamilton writing "Ultra-brite and bouncy TV theme really does get ‘em jiving" for his weekly disco music feature in Record Mirror. That issue of Record Mirror also contained a half page advert for the single. Music Week also featured a full-page advert for the single. College DJ Andy Davids promoted an uptempo television theme playlist at the time, that included "Hi Summer" along with the theme tunes from "Happy Days" by Pratt & McClain as well as the Muppet Show.

<i>Love Bomb</i> (Lynsey de Paul album) 1975 studio album by Lynsey de Paul

Love Bomb is the fourth album released in 1975 by the British singer-songwriter Lynsey de Paul, and her second album released on Jet Records in the UK and Polydor in Germany, Australia and Japan. In the US and Canada, it was released in January 1976 on Mercury Records. The album was recorded at the Marquee Studios, London, England, produced by de Paul and arranged by Tony Hymas, with Terry Cox playing drums, John Dean percussion, Chris Rea guitar and Frank McDonald bass. The striking sleeve cover photo of de Paul in U.S. military style clothing was taken by Brian Aris.

"My One and Only" is a song written by Lynsey de Paul and first recorded by the female vocal trio Bones. It was released as a single in 1974 in the UK on Jet Records, and on Polydor in France, Germany and Italy. The recording was produced by de Paul. The song is about a summer holiday romance and is influenced by the style of 1960s girl groups such as the Shangri-Las. Bones performed the song on British television as guests on the Granada TV programme, Rock On With 45, on 16 January 1975. The B-side of the single, “Baby Don’t Make Me Cry”, was a doo-wop sounding song co-written by de Paul and Barry Blue, and again it was produced by de Paul.

"All Night" is a song written by Lynsey de Paul and Ron Roker. De Paul released her version of the song on 27 April 1973 as her third single released on MAM Records, with arrangements by Martyn Ford and John Bell and produced by de Paul. The song is listed in the U.S. Library of Congress Catalog of Copyright Entries and in the "The Directory of American 45 R.p.m. Records" It features an uncredited male vocal. A slinky, sexy song, it compares a love relationship to that of the spider and a fly. The single is backed by the more socially aware song "Blind Leading the Blind", composed and produced by de Paul. The song was an unusual release since neither the A-side or the B-side featured as tracks on her debut album. Surprise had been released a little more than a month earlier - presumably it was not included since "All Night" has a very different style than the tracks on Surprise.

"Taking It On" is a song written by Lynsey de Paul and Ron Roker, and originally published by ATV Music. Although de Paul recorded her own demo version of the song in 1972, her version of the song was not released until 2013 on her Anthology CD album Sugar and Beyond. De Paul also arranged and produced this recording.

References

  1. "Offizielle Deutsche Charts". Offiziellecharts.de. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
  2. 1 2 "Zakatek - Get Your Gun". 45cat.com. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
  3. "Zakatek Get Your Gun UK Bell 1973 Glam Rock Punk - auction details". Popsike.com. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
  4. "Lenny Zatatek" (PDF). Lennyzatatek.co.uk. Retrieved 21 March 2022.
  5. "Offizielle Deutsche Charts". Offiziellecharts.de. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
  6. "Various - Pop Cycles Vol. 12". Discogs.com. Retrieved 23 June 2023.
  7. "Time for an InterActiv™ Listening Party of England record shop finds!: The Evan "Funk" Davies Show". Wfmu.org. Retrieved 23 June 2023.