Jerry Lordan was arguably the greatest composer of instrumental music ever to emerge from the UK. He provided many quality songs for the likes of Petula Clark, Cleo Laine, Matt Monro, Cilla Black, Cliff Richard and Shane Fentone amongst others but the article by George Geddes which follows (originally published in the Hank Marvin Echo and reproduced here with kind permission of the UBHank guitar Club) concentrates on his massive contribution to the world of instrumental music and, in particular, to the repertoire of the Shadows.
Jeremiah Patrick Lordan was born on April 30th,
1934. He died in hospital of acute renal and liver failure on July 24th, 1995 at the age
of 61. Many people who saw obituaries in the quality press may have wondered just why this
person deserved newspaper space. Yet in a few short years at the beginning of the 1960s,
Jerry Lordan had established himself as possibly the greatest British writer of guitar
instrumentals. And it all started with a ukelele...
After leaving Finchley Roman Catholic Grammar School, Jerry did National Service, becoming
a radar operator in the Royal Air Force. A self-taught musician, he did some entertaining
during his RAF days, and on returning to civilian life tried a number of occupations
including stand-up comedy, singing and advertising. By 1958, he was working as a cinema
projectionist in Piccadilly. He started songwriting, and used contacts from his time in
advertising to enable him to make a demo disc of some of his efforts. Somehow, that demo
found its way into the hands of producer Johnny Franz. Jerry's song "A house, a car
and a wedding ring" was recorded by Mike Preston on Decca. More importantly, a cover
version by Dale Hawkins made the US charts, and Jerry felt confident enough to give up his
job in favour of full-time songwriting. His career was consolidated when Anthony Newley
hit the charts with "I've waited so long" from the British comedy film 'Idol on
parade'. He also signed a three-year contract as a singer with Parlophone, and actually
had some success, particularly with a number entitled "Who could be bluer."
Future fame beckoned, but not as a singer.
John Barry picked one of Jerry's tunes - for which Jerry had not yet written a lyric - and
used it on his classic 'Stringbeat' album. It was entitled "Starfire". One of
the hallmarks of Jerry's instrumentals - apart from the strong melody lines - was the
evocative title. Nowhere was this more evident than in his next effort. As he explained:
"I wanted something noble and dramatic, reflecting the courage and savagery of the Indian...".
Initially, Jerry was delighted when Bert Weedon agreed to record the number - entitled "Apache" after a Burt Lancaster film - for a forthcoming album. He was less than pleased when he actually heard the recording. All the drama of the melody had gone. The composer later remarked, in an unpublished 1993 interview
"It's a dreadful version, he hasn't even played the music that I wrote..."
Jerry was then booked on a 1960 package tour with Cliff Richard and the Shadows. At that time, the Shadows were concerned about their future direction, as far as recordings were concerned. After three singles - two vocals and one instrumental - they could not decide what to try next. They were also anxious since their next recording would be the last on their short-term contract. There are several different accounts of what happened. One source says that Jerry was travelling back to Paddington one night on the Tube with Jet Harris, and hummed the tune along to his ukelele accompaniment. Jet asked to hear it a second time, and suggested that Hank and Bruce should hear it. On the tour bus to Bristol, Jerry gave another performance of 'Apache' for the benefit of Messrs. Marvin and Welch, and this performance was confirmed to the author by Jet Harris as recently as December 1998. Jerry himself thought that the encounter had taken place in a dressing room at Colston Hall, Bristol. Whatever the circumstances, Hank recalled
"We said it sounded a very good number and that we'd record it when we got back to London."
There was a degree of concern since Bert Weedon had already recorded the track, but Jerry assured the band that there were no plans to have it released in the near future. At the end of the tour, the Shadows returned to Studio 2 at Abbey Road on June 17th and recorded 'Apache'. It was not all plain sailing, as Jerry recalled :
"...I found out to my horror that mine was scheduled to be the B side. They've only got three hours and they spent two hours fifteen minutes on the A side, which was ... good, but not as good as mine. I knew that. So then I had to sit on my hands for ten minutes while there was a break for tea. We came back, we had forty minutes left, then it was just pure magic, pure magic.It did not take many takes, three or four, in two tracks only."
With Hank using his Stratocaster through a Meazzi echo box into a Vox AC15, Bruce using Cliff's Gibson J200, and Cliff himself providing additional percussion, a classic 60s single emerged. Jerry recounted the story of Cliff's involvement:
".. we wanted some Indian drums. Tony Meehan couldn't, with only two tracks, and Hank and the others playing on the other track, Tony ... couldn't play the regular bass drum, the snare and the tom tom and this Indian drum, which they didn't have anyway, so Norrie Paramor, the producer, said go and have a look, lads, in the prop room. This is Studio Two at Abbey Road, so there's a huge props room under the stairs stuffed full of ... cow bells and you name it, and they came out with this Chinese drum. It's actually called a tam tam, and it's circular with a rope on it, and you hold it in one hand and beat with a mallet with the other, and Cliff Richard held that over Tony Meehan's drum kit... That's him all the way through, bom bom bom bom, bom bom... he kept great time, too.
"Everything about it was magic and at the end I said to Norrie, the producer 'It's got to be the 'A' side, and they all shouted 'It's got to be the 'A' side'.
However, Norrie Paramor was still more enthusiastic about the group's version of 'Quartermaster's Stores' - retitled because of the successful sf television series "Quatermass" - though this may have had something to do with his brother getting the publishing rights for a tune currently in the public domain! The story is that Norrie may have been persuaded to think again by his teenage daughters who preferred the Lordan track. Perhaps the judgment of Jim Grant, producer of the influential Saturday morning radio show "Saturday Club" may have had something to do with it. So, the 45 was issued with 'Apache' as the 'A' side, and publicity from EMI as "Four young men with the sound of the year". The single entered the charts at number 19, reaching no. 1 on 20th August 1960. In so doing, the Shadows knocked themselves off the top spot, as Cliff was there with 'Please don't tease'! 'Apache' went on to become a hit for the group throughout the world, with the exception of the USA where Danish guitarist Jorgen Ingmann took the honours with his cover version. It still meant royalties for Jerry, and the number went on to become one of the most recorded instrumentals of all time. Bert Weedon did, in fact, release his own version as a single which made the lower reaches of the chart. He later said that he had been disadvantaged because his label Top Rank had been recently taken over by EMI who preferred to promote the Shadows version on Columbia. Silver and Gold discs ensued for the Shadows, with their recording selling over a million copies in the UK alone. The number also topped the EP charts as part of the 'Shadows to the fore' collection. In 1995, Jerry received a BMI award for one million American performances of his composition. The Ventures, amomgst other US bands, recorded several versions of 'Apache' and consistently feature it on stage, though their arrangement owes much to Jorgen Ingmann's treatment. There are literally dozens of other versions.
Jerry gave up singing and touring to concentrate on writing. His relationship with the Shadows continued when he wrote 'Mustang' with Tom Mould, which was featured on yet another no. 1 in the EP charts. An even bigger hit came with 'Wonderful land' - although it was originally entitled 'Genesis' until someone remarked that the track was reminiscent of America, at which point someone - no-one knows who - remarked that America was a "wonderful land". Part of the success - another million seller, spending nine weeks at no.1 - must be attributed to Norrie Paramor's string arrangement. Jerry's melody had been a long time in gestation, though
"... in '61, I started ... the main theme of what came to be known later as 'Wonderful land' which I was knocked out with, but I could not get the middle. I could not get the middle, and I used to try it occasionally and it went on months and months. I suppose about six months later in a flash, I got the middle and it was complete.
" I went down and played it to the Shadows, who were rehearsing in a little studio off Charing Cross Road, they were knocked out. [The] recording was made but it lacked something and it was sort of shelved, and then Tony Meehan suggested that the ideal thing might be, as a nice contrast, using Hank's lead guitar, electric guitar, but with big string orchestra behind, and Norrie Paramor agreed.
"Norrie Paramor did the string arrangement, an excellent one, very sympathetic, and one day I got a 'phone call from the Shadows manager ... Peter Gormley, to come down and listen to this track, because Peter didn't know - as many people didn't - whether it was a hit or not. He said in his Australian accent 'I like the play of this, Jerry, tell me what you think ...' So he played it and I said 'A hit, Peter? It's a number one' I said 'It's fantastic'. He said 'Do you really think so?' I said 'Yes, I bloody know so!' So he said ' Well, yes, alright.' I still get the impression it was sort of put out reluctantly."
Much to Bruce Welch's regret - expressed on stage at Shadowmania in 1998 - Jerry then handed two of his finest compositions to ex-Shadows Jet Harris and Tony Meehan. He felt that 'Diamonds' and 'Scarlett O'Hara' were better suited to the sound which Jet had established on his first solo outings, though for the Lordan tracks he abandoned his Fender Bass VI for a tuned-down guitar (Gretsch on record, Fender Jaguar on stage and tv). The former track displaced Jet's old band from the top spot, and the latter made no. 2. That position was also reached by another of Jerry's majestic compositions for the Shadows. Again, this was nameless, until one of the Shadows suggested 'Atlantis' while driving to the EMI studios in Barcelona. To achieve such a position when the Northern Sound was so influential is a credit to both the Shadows and Jerry. The Harris - Meehan partnership foundered, but the 1964 Tony Meehan Combo recording of Jerry's rousing 'Song of Mexico' probably sounded much as it would have if Jet had still been involved. It only made no. 39 in the Top 40, as the instrumental scene went into terminal decline. Jerry continued to supply the Shadows with material - in different times, 'Santa Ana' would have made a fine single, but was relegated to 'The sound of the Shadows' album. Another 'A' side bore the Lordan name, though 'A place in the sun' was attributed to Jerry's wife Petrina.
Despite his massive successes as a composer of instrumentals, Jerry always considered himself a songwriter, and it was to him the Shadows turned when recording their first post-'Apache' vocal A-side. 'Mary Anne' was a beautiful melodic piece, which reached 17 in the charts. (It also works remarkably well as an instrumental, if you have heard the version on a Castle CD by the Unforgettable Music Machine). Jerry also supplied hits for Cliff Richard ('A girl like you' in 1961 and 'Good times, better times' in 1969), Shane Fenton ('I'm a moody guy' and 'Walk away' in '61 and '62 respectively) and Louise Cordet ('I'm just a baby', again in 1961). Jerry regarded his finest song, the one into which he put his 'heart and soul', as 'The old man and the sea', orchestrated by George Martin, produced by Ron Richards and recorded in Studio 1 at Abbey Road with a thirty-two piece orchestra. Released as a single on CBS in 1970, it only received airplay twice and sold a mere 286 copies, whereas lightweight pop like the Louise Cordet song had sold about 150,000.
His instrumental swansong, though, was the first solo LP by Hank Marvin, released in 1969 following the breakup of the Shadows. Jerry contributed two tracks, typically Lordan - 'High Sierra' (co-written with Hank) and 'Sacha' (with Roger Greenaway and Roger Cook). The latter was released as a single, and though unjustly neglected in the UK reached no. 1 in Australia. A second collaboration with Greenaway and Cook, entitled 'Morning star' appeared as a 'B' side in 1970.
Sadly, the end of the Shadows seemed to mark the end of the good times for Jerry. Even when the group re-formed in 1973, their 'Rocking with curly leads' album was largely self-penned, and the addition of John Farrar to the line-up for a short time changed their sound, although they continued to play old Shadows material - including Lordan compositions - on stage. For Jerry, marital and financial problems were only the start, leading to alcohol dependence and physical and mental breakdown. The 1980s were happier times, as he remarried and began writing music again. None of these compositions saw the light, though he had promised a new composition to Hank Marvin when they met in 1994. Jerry's health deteriorated, and he was hospitalised. Bruce Welch spent some time at the the bedside of the man who had played such a significant part in the early career of the Shadows. After Jerry's death, he paid this tribute:
"He was a great writer... In instrumental terms he was a giant, a colossus, a great talent. He wrote wonderful melodies of real quality and substance. Memorable tunes, not wishy washy pop pap. We owe him so much... "
Bruce was one of those who took part in a memorial service at St Martins-in-the-Fields Church in London, on October 25th, 1995. The true memorial to Jerry Lordan, though, is the collection of instrumentals whose very titles epitomise that all-too-brief era when twangy guitars captured the imagination of a generation - 'Starfire', 'Mustang', 'High sierra', 'Diamonds', 'Scarlett O'Hara', 'Atlantis', 'Wonderful land' and 'Apache'.
Thank you, Jerry.
George Geddes © 1999
The U B Hank Club is grateful for the help given by Claudine Lordan in the preparation of this article.
In the previous edition, I referred to Jerry Lordan as having had alcohol problems. Claudine Lordan has written to say that from the time she met Jerry in 1974 until his death, Jerry did not in any sense have a dependency on alcohol. My information was taken from a secondary source which I did not cross-check. Claudine's help was invaluable in the preparation of the article, and I apologise wholeheartedly for any distress these remarks may have caused. GG.
The above article was originally published in
the HANK MARVIN ECHO, the journal of the UBHANK
GUITAR CLUB
.
A detailed tribute to Jerry was published in
Issue 29 of PIPELINE INSTRUMENTAL REVIEW
