Added: 4 years ago
From: conkyjoe
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  • awesome song! love it

  • ... great ... remember those times ... however, first time i heard that number ... it was their german version ... i owned the single ... but lost it ... i´d really love to hear it once again ...

  • I was 11. Had just started to unload water from the water wagon into an animal water tank when this came on. WLS radio screamin' across the prarie! I sat and pondered how strange the world could be (absolutely nothing changed in my world at the time).

    Then the summer of '68 happened and everything changed in the world.

  • this is the kind of music i want to hear on 1960s radio not the same 300 1960s song that have been played since 1980 when 60s radio because a staple on the radio dial.

    i first heard this on a radio station around 1994. a friend of mine who worked in radio was surprised i heard something so obscure.

  • Oh, no wonder, I was trippin', the singer bears some resemblance to actress Shelby Chong. Anyway, great song ♪

  • Back then, around May of 1968, the A.M. radio stations played this song to death.I was there I can confirm it... you know, oh not this song again! Thank god for the underground F.M. stations. Don't get me wrong, I did like this song. But too much is too much!

  • this video and song are pure magic it came out in the sixties and i don't believe any song touches me like this one it is almost like a time machine for memories for me..

  • according to the Billboaed book of Top 40 hits, this song peaked at number 8 not number 18!

  • Same here USAF 16th Tach fighter wing, I heard this o much and to this day everytime I her it it takes me back

  • I bought this single when I was 11 -Only music in town was a box with maybe a dozen singles on the counter in the haberdashery store at Wyong.

    To finally see what they look like 46 years later is just uncanny!

  • does she look like Karen Carpenter to anyone?

  • @michaelflorida56 INDEED SHE DOES

    

  • I bet the band use to gang bang her sweet ass.

  • i was even when they realese this song but it rocks,i heared it from jakaranda fm,where can i find a copy ,its strange strange world

  • She is absolutely priceless. I am enchanted by her. Been singing the first line of that song for months, getting the words wrong and never thought to look it up until last night. Love it.

  • I still have this on 4=Was one of my favorite songs in the 70s

  • Is it just me, or does she look like her, or someone else?

    I do, too.

    I'm a very strange man, and I thank me.

  • @naganokumas lol! Me is a wittle confrused. :)

  • Last I heard about these guys the were playing a Ramada Inn in Kansas City

  • First off thank you for the sacrifice you made for this country. It is men like you that allowed me to grow up free and I am in your debt for what you gave so that I would have that freedom.

  • First time I've heard this song since the late 60s, and first time I;ve seen the singer....wow.

  • As a kid in the early- mid seventies, this was the first band I saw live. They toured our tiny Kwa-Zulu Natal town of Harding where I grew up. Was I only in love with Glenys after seeing the show, and I can still see why! She was absolutely gorgeous, with the most charming smile.

  • I think she looks like Karen Carpenter, great song!!

  • I mean imagine hearing a hit like Poker Face by Lady - and not actually seeing what she looks like for FORTY years...! that's what this video is for me

  • omg 40 years and it's only today that I finally get to see the girl who sang it

  • I remember when this was a hit in the usa. It was definitely just in the wake of the murder of martin luther king jr. and bobby kennedy. this haunting song totally caught the mood of the moment in north america. everyone and I mean EVERYONE was thinking it was a strange world and maybe not coming back was a reasonable thought considering the devastation of one public assassination after another. It was all too much and this song perfectly caught the mood. ironic they were aussies.

  • @zyxquark , why ironic? What was the song about anyhow? I was 18 at the time, wasnt sure if it was pro or anti drugs, which was a major consideration at the time. And the guys, were they Jacks? and if so, what does that mean? And its still a very strange world, and I thank you, Kerouac

  • ironic because it caught the melancholy mood of the moment in the usa and they were aussies--1968 was one of the worst years in american history--huge, bloody war in which thousands were killed, tet offensive, anti-war riots on campuses all over, 2 almost back-to-back gut-wrenching political assassinations, followed by major race riots in major cities, e.g. whole areas of washington d.c. in flames, anti-war demonstrations at democractic convention turning into wholesale police attacks on kids.

  • @zyxquark Im still not sure that is irony, but what the hell, Id say it was a pretty bad year in Vietnamese history too, and could have been avoided if the US had stayed out, ironically. The song is good, as so many were then, some good ones out of the UK too. Eve of Destruction (from US) sort of started, at least my, consciousness in that way, that and Satisfaction, the make love not war principle. Best wishes.

  • @zyxquark  They were not Aussies, they were from South Africa.

  • @zyxquark

    yeah we all read about the turmoil in 1968 in school too. no need to repeat it here like the same 1960s soul music is repeated on 60s radio since 60s radio became a permanent fixture on the radio dial in the early 1980s.

    tell us something we don't know next time.

  • spinal tap!

  • For those who remember she reminds me of Barbara Feldman from Get Smart. 

  • @gary1232002 -- That's Barbara FELDON! By the way do y'all remember Fred Willard as an Air Force officer in THIS IS SPINAL TAP mentioning that this band is performing in the lounge at a nearby Ramada Inn and that Spinal Tap should go check them out? LOL☺

  • @WytZox1 It's not Barbara Feldon....looks a little like her though; same hair LOL

  • @carroll1956 -- I know it's not Barb. I was merely correcting his spelling of her name.

  • @gary1232002 That's exactly what I said a while back. But even stranger is her voice even sounds like Feldons! " It's a strange strange world we live in Maxwell Smart......Your a very strange man, aren't you Maxwell Smart?"

  • they totally made it big in South Africa. i remember attending a concert of theirs when i was just a little tyke and everybody was wild about them =)

  • This one is for Jack Layton.

  • She kind of reminds me of Karen Carpenter.

  • @Danbertex - Tell me about it !! for years I struggled with trying to place a similarity - then one day a Karen was playing on car radio on the way home - Whack !! AS well, many a Rhodesian (myself included !!) loved her voice - lovely moment in time.

  • 1968 may have been one of the most turbulent years ever, but to me, it was just another ordinary year during my childhood. Of course, it was then that I remember being off from school for Martin Luther King's funeral; as well as being on a school trip the same day that Bobby Kennedy was killed.

  • What a great song. The 60's were such a great time for music, especially the late 60's. I was still a child when the 60's ended, but even then I loved the music of that era.

  • What would life be without YouTube.

  • Its a strange, strange world u live in master barack!

  • i was honoured to watch David Marks the original writer of this track perform it live last week in South Africa.

  • Her smile at the end is absolutely priceless.

  • @skooterbud05 She was very pretty.

  • Glynnis and Clyde played at our church in Brakpan one Sunday. Clyde cried and Glynnis looked embarressed. The whole thing was pretty damn sad. Especially because apart the Shadows, Apache tune, this was the 2nd piece I learned on guitar. Urgh...I can still play it. And THAT, my friends, is SAD.

  • FUCKING GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  • @utubesux691,

    why do you have to use such language???

  • I used to hear it a lot in 1968 while I was in the Army. I loved it and Jill, but when I left then came back from Vietnam, I was to never hear it again until 40 years later about the same time agent orange caught up with me. Glenys, if you read this, you were my last love before I lost my innocence. Sp5 Miles 1st Special Forces Group Vietnam 1968

  • @tribegoddess ..........Great story. It sounds like you're a sentimental soul. May you recover from agent orange and I hope Glenys gets your message.

  • @tribegoddess Were you inside the US Embassy on April 30th, 1975? (Date of the fall and evacuation)

  • @tribegoddess Wasn't she a dream? FYI RVN 1969-70 46th inf

  • Great song. I wanted to use some of its verses in my '91 novel SHAPES (it was a favorite of one of the main characters), but the editor nixed the idea because even quoting the lines would require paying the copyright owners for reprinting them. So I simply noted that the kid was humming a song about, "what a strange world we live in." CuffColl.

  • Glenys relates the story of “Master Jack”: “In certain mines the foreman is called ‘Master Jack’, and the song tells the story of a labourer who works diligently for this master for years and years and the decides to go out on his own and exercise his desires and aspirations as an individual to be something other than a labourer.”

  • ij

  • Great song, I always assumed it was a war protest song. Nice to learn it was about England. Thanks for posting it.

  • conkyjoe this is one of the best uploads on youtube,a true collectors item.Big Thank You,

  • ok. I now see lots of people made the Karen Carpenter comment earlier.

  • This girl looks a bit like Karen Carpenter, doesn't she??

  • @llieber100 Yeah, but ever girl looked like Karen Carpenter back then, including my sister. Something about how they all wore that Patty Duke / Marlo Thomas flipped up hairdo.

  • @llieber100 This was a hit before the Carpenters were even recording.Both were pretty gals.RIP,Karen,you left us much too soon.

  • Never thought about this song being about Colonialism, and Master Jack being England. Interesting thought. Always loved this song.

  • I don't remember hearing this song till the mid 70's. I liked it as soon as I heard it. I assumed it had somethinh to do with slavery but was never certain. Nice to finaly learn 35 years later that it is actualy about South Africa's relationship with England. Also I was always curious as to what the lead singer looked like. I just knew that she was pretty by the sound of her voice.

  • Listening to evolution from Carl Zimmer master gene hox gene interesting know! Master Jack

  • This song is about british rule over south africa, 'master Jack' is england and her politics of the time, which was colonialism , She is singing as 'south africa'

  • Thank you - that's all I need  to say!

  • i was searching for this sondg for along time finally found thank you

  • Me too .

  • I used to listen to this when I was very young. I am so happy I found it again.

  • god she looks a bit like Karen Carpenter of coruse her voice isnt as grand I was a little kid when this came out

  • @ravenwhitechapel ...yupper she does look like her..4 sure I thought it was her 4 awhile..strange world indeed!

  • oh i mis those days! the lyrics they use today ar crap. a big car,gold around there neck and 20 bit...s around them.

  • I still say the drummer looks like buddy holly

  • This is the Stereo Re-recording they'd put out when they'd got to the American RCA studio in 1968..the original 45 was recorded in their native African studio in late '67.

  • love this song glad I found it thank you

  • This song had been around prior to 1968. I remember hearing it either on a country or western or a folk music station in the early 1960's In either event a great song, and an enjoyable rendition by this group.

  • who cares a nice song

  • They are still singing and have just self released a new album in SA. Bought it on a recent trip there. Great song this - very deep and meaningful

  • Here the are - youtube.com/watch?v=BL7JiipBNE­A

  • They have recently started performing again ...

  • this song will always be part of my life...loved it from day one when i hear it....was teenager and many great memories from this song,,,my age now 60 years old

  • Love this song, love her voice, love her face.

    Kind of a mix between Karen Carpenter and Barbara Feldon.

    Still have and play my original 45.

  • @bond007collector Totally agree,and an accurate analogy..though I had thought a cross between Karen Carpenter and Linda Ronstadt..must agree Agent 99/Barbara Feldon resonates as well.

  • @bond007collector She also looks like Agent 99, just joking. But this video probably came out when Get Smart was in it's prime and that dress she's wearing, looks like one Feldon would have worn on the show. The resemblance is scary.

  • @MrMansterdawg Actually your right,, she does look like Barbara Feldon from Get Smart..lol

  • @LSTINVGS Nah. Feldon had a sultry-ness that this lady doesn't have. Someone earlier said she looks like Karen Carpenter and I think that's a lot closer (more "cute girl next door").

  • 4th Info

    "Yes". Bruce Bark is still an active musician, performing at various gigs around the country. Clive and Glenys lead a quiet life at their Sandton home with daughter Aimee and son Dirk.

  • 3rd Info

    Tony Hughes has established himself as a successful executive in the insurance world and lives near Johannesburg. Josh Sklair, also a reborn Christian, is a successful session musician in Hollywood. Paul de Villiers has done well for himself as a musician in Canada, where he has worked with country star Anne Murray and rock group

  • 2nd Info

    Both Clive and Glenys are still active on the Gospel music scene. In 1986 Glenys recorded a gospel album,Here U Is Wonderbaar. In August 1988, Glenys and Clive's third child, daughter Aimee was born.

    Clive has a television production house, Genesis Sound, where he works with John Ferrier, producing music and documentary programs for television. Daughter Lisa contributes to the vocals used in the productions and son Dirk is a lighting cameraman.

  • 1st Info

    The band 4 Jacks & a Jill continued touring and doing gigs into the early eighties. By 1982, long-time drummer, Tony Hughes, one of the original members, had left the group and had been replaced by Mossie (Christopher) Hills. In 1983 Glenys (Lynne) and husband Clive became born-again Christians. They dedicated their lives and music to the Lord and, after recording a Gospel album in 1983, Clive disbanded the group. Four Jacks And A Jill remains South Africa's longest-running pop group.

  • WoW Original Soundtrack

    I used to love this song

  • fantastic @ where can i buy her cd ,,her music is ever so ritch good!

  • Where is she now????

  • @havingfun1968 she is alive as far as i know . living a secluded life. glenys lynee. went on after the group broke up to sing gospol music and has 3 kids.im not sure where she lives.

  • Suddenly I'm 18 yrs old again.

  • I think I was only 10 or 11 when this came out. Every mod girl in the world had that hairstyle! Don't forget the shiny gogo boots & mini skirt. Great song.

  • I remember hearing this song for the first time on the am radio in the car...it was one of the most hauntingly beautiful things I'd ever heard. To this day, it still gives me the chills.

  • Karen Carpenter look alike. I wore this record out in less then a year back in high school.

  • @attra91 she is so way hotter than karen

  • I love this song! It should have been a bigger hit in the USA than it was.

  • I used to have this record. "Jill" looks a lot like Nancy Sinatra...

  • I was looking for this!...one of my 60's favorites...thank you!

  • ”Very nice!”Thank you  very much!”

  • 42 years old, and this song is as poignant as it was in '68!

  • wow - I totally forgot about this song - then found myself knowing all the lyrics. I didn't know the meaning when I was a kid - and now it gives me chills. It still is a very strange world we live in, Master Jack.

  • wow - I totally forgot about this song - then found myself knowing all the lyrics. I didn't know the meaning when I was a kid - and now it gives me chills.

  • 1 of the geats from the 60's i love this song thanks for posting it

  • I love this song, thanks for posting this!

  • This was the first band I ever saw at the Main Point in Bryn Mawr, back in 1968.

  • Are you sure some of you are not reading to deeply into the message of this song?

  • She has a great voice and I love her smile at the end. 

  • This is truly one of those rare sixties songs that made the music so interesting. You never knew what was coming out next on the radio. The singer reminds me of Karen Carpenter.

  • Liked the song the first day I heard it, and still like the song today. What happen to all the band members? Were are they today? They had a good sound, good singer, and never made it big.

    Are any of the band members still around today. It would be good to see an interview, and get the true meaning from them about this song.

  • @norsab5 they broke up and all are still alive as far as iknow

  • @norsab5 They evidently had several hiots in their native South Africa,but only this hit globally.Jill was pretty.

  • @norsab5

    I saw a thing about them about a year ago on tv. I'll try and find more info and update here. As far as I recall Glenys Lynne is doing very well.

  • great lyrics... ahead of it's political times...certainly would have been provocative at the time... For the conkyjoe comments... make no mistake the USA history is not too far from our that of south africa's... this song would have made just as much sense in your country.. in some states' would still do...

  • OMG - never seen this clip before - loved this song as a child and it really made me start thinking about what was happening on this rock. Maybe it should be re-released and a lotta pollies take notice!! PLEASE?

  • This song embodies the beautiful hope of the late 60 folk music compared to this present day 21st century of neurosis, materialism, hyper anger and depraved graphic sex so often heard in these songs and videos. Thank God for Satellite Radio!

  • a couple of friends from South africa explained it like this; The youth of today are telling the older generation that your way worked for you but we have to find our own way. Basically it was a subtle "apartheid must go" message. It had to be subtle because open opposition to apartheid carried some pretty draconian penalties. Especially for whites who opposed it. One punishment involded removing you from society. Not jail time, not a hit squad. Forbidden by law to work, travel, mingle..

  • @tastyhorses You're wrong. Master Jack = England. It was England that tried to tell South Africa how to run it's country. In the 1960's during all the insanity England was giving up it's overseas colonies and turning them over to communist butchers that destroyed prosperous countries in the end. South Africans knew how the blacks were and tried to seperate themselves from them. This song is about England minding it's own buisness and not condeming what they know nothing about.

  • @MightisRight70 I have to disagree. This song about england & all her cruelties and sadness she has spread around the world. This song is about how england ruined the beauty around the world. Not about "England was minding her own business". The song clearly says "a color ribbon out of the sky", it means she knew exactly what she was doing when she imposed the whip upon the black man and other minorities. The "ribbon" IS the Whip. The fact that it has color, indicates "clarity" of decision.

  • @Aliendear

    I'm sorry, but this is complete rubbish. The song was written by a man and is about a mine laborer working for his foreman (who is called a "master jack" on some mines in SA) and how he wants to leave and make his own way in the world.

  • @Aliendear

    I'm sorry but this is complete rubbish. The singer in the video (Glenys Lynne) didn't write the song. The song is actually about a mine worker telling his foreman, called a "master jack" on some mines, that he wants to leave and make his own way in the world. 

  • @rlsuth No rlsuth, I knew what this song was about when I was a kid. You damn racists want to change the course of history and how it was written. You'll incur even more wrath on the day you die, thus adding to your sins. I'm sure this is how all slave owners ended up. For, not only did they enslave people, they changed the course of history and thru that change caused more future suffering. "Master Jack" is the English Crown. I was spiritually aware when I was a kid(1969), and I am still aware.

  • Master Jack ..... that sounds funny

  • I know this song from so many years ago. I have the 45.

    Very provocitive and very classic.

  • the bouys did timothy

  • Great song, a very good group, the voices and instruments blend nicely.

  • Whatever the song may mean... I love  to sing it so much as a kid ..and I am just so glad I can hear it again.. Thanks for sharing!

  • I've loved this song since the first time I heard it, about 30+ years ago. I never knew it had Political meaning either, I took it as an abstract song. Like someone just beginning to live, Now that I've read the other comments I can hear both meanings. Beautiful. And both meanings are the same really. I also use some of the verses for my own heart.

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  • just love this song ...voice and instruments are in perfect harmony

  • I was only ten when this song first came out. I love this song.

  • I first heard this song when I four yrs old and it made me cry. When I listen to it now, it still provokes thought and feeling. Now I wonder who "Master Jack" is. What makes him a master? Is it the "master/slave" thing? "Took a 'colored' ribbon" , " sold them to the people on the street". I appreciate this from a young person's point of view to observe and not embrace the spectacle; "No hard feelings if I never come back". Yes, this indeed is a statement of the way of life in that place then.

  • I heard this as a wee lad, today I feel each word! I feel now this day so sorry fer that Lady! she really suffered ( as many Ladies these days)

  • I remember listening to this as a kid. I didn't understand much of it, I only knew she was going to go out and find out for herself if what she learned from this man was right. I thought that was good. And I liked it.

  • @EinahTeb I was about 8 when this was a hit.I later considered it an allusion to emergence of femininsm.

  • Wow I didn't pick up on this political part at all, here I thought it was about a dominant lifestyle.. Go figure

  • I really like that style of electric guitar that was used back in the mid sixties and earlier. I'm adding this one to my favorites list. Of course I'm always a sucker for a good ballad.

  • Brings back many memories! Vier latte en 'n platte!  Carl Enslin. Boksburg.

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  • Man, does she look like Karen Carpenter, or what? The flip hairdo gives it away, plus she's a little bit heavier. But then...so is everyone else.  (Oooops!)

  • I always loved this song--made me kind of sad, but has always been a favorite.

  • A bit of skiffle and a touch of Freight Train by nancy whiskey, great anyway and the smile to camera, this lady can be seen fronting Clout from the 70's

  • @Richpete001 >>this lady can be seen fronting Clout from the 70's << She's not in any of the videos of Clout that I could find on youtube, (but it's the first I've heard that group and I do like it). But if you search Glenys Lynne you will find other videos including later ones so you can see how she aged. Not terrible, but too bad beauty and youth doesn't last forever. She reminds me a little of Barbara Feldon.

  • I have the original LP, the group wasn't pushing an agenda, just singing. Their "Mister Nico" was a statement about victims of progress, just like, "They paved Paradise and put in a Parking Lot". The quality of my LP is far better than the audio of this Vid. Liked the group then, still do.

    On the politics of South Africa, they should be far better off but I don't see it. White domination had to end. Trading one yoke for another hasn't given Black Citizens what they hoped for, a shame.

  • The last time I saw this was on "American Bandstand" back in the sixties. It made an impact from when I was a little kid, so I thought I would do a search on Youtube, and here it is....so, thank you for sharing this. Beautiful song.......

  • Is the band South African?

  • i was reminded of my simplier life at a very young age what way to remember of my youth

  • is it reading too much into it to think that perhaps the blue and white that the men are wearing and the orange that glennys is wearing symbolize the colors of the old South African flag?

  • am I reading too much into it to think that the men in blue and white and Glennys in orange represents the old South African flag?

  • Karen Carpenter looked so much like her it is scary.

  • When I first listen to this song in the sixties, I thought Master Jack was a haunting song. Haunting because I did not understand. Today, this song should be the anthem for every citizen. I now get the message. It also doesn't detract that Jill is very pretty and owns the perfect voice for this song.

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  • Holy shit people....reading thru these comments I can't help but wonder..how the fuck did a beautiful girl singing a hauntingly melodic song turn into a trash fest?? I wish this group woulda come out with some more hits..I never even knew who this singer was..but I do remember loving this song. HMMM..guess I'm just another ignerint American....siigh

  • I worked in the anti-apartheid movement from 1965 until Nelson Mandela became President. I'm Canadian and I think, on the whole, we are not as ignorant (uneducated) as the "Americans."

  • @simayana Buddy, could you please go work on the AIDS epidemic, unemployment, murder rate and lack of housing? Cheers ;)

  • @EffLabels Are you implying that I haven't been working on these? Or are you suggesting that a difficult slavery is better than difficult freedom?

  • @simayana You call baby-rape, no economic power and murder 'freedom'Intresting lol But glad to hear you're working on it.

  • @EffLabels I'm too exhausted to respond maybe another time. C'est la lutte finale...

  • @simayana lol truth hurts 'freedom fighter' ;)

  • @EffLabels However painful it is, truth must be faced. Of course, those evils exist everywhere, especially among the unprivileged classes. They are caused primarily by ignorance, frustration, deprivation and exploitation. I have friends from several colour/ethnic communities in South Africa (No Boers, though). All agree that, as bad as things are now, they would not return to apartheid. (Thanks for the compliment. Shall I trade in my AK47 for a computer and a high speed "Net hookup?)

    I

  • @simayana That;s intresting I have black friends who say they rather have the old south africa back due to the fact that they had employment and food I would love to know the ages of your 'friends' In-fact there is a documentry on here featuring black south africans who mention how they prefered the 'old south africa'. You happily fought against the so-called ignorance of the white man who built the inforstructre of Africa, now why not go fight against the current goverment enslaving their own.

  • @simayana Do yourself a favour and type in yotube:

    Black man says: Bring back Apartheid

    Youll find a few videos of the same nature.

  • @EffLabels A few Jews supported Hitler, a few Sikhs supported Indira Gandhi, a few AfricanAmericans supported the Ku Klux Klan. There are always a few.

    BTW, I never fought against the ignorance of the white man, so-called or otherwise. No, the white man knew exactly what he was doing and why. Many names can be given to this; ignorance isn't one of them.

    I'm curious. Are you an Afrikaaner or another sort of South African? Or from somewhere else?