The Four Pennies - Black Girl (1965)_HQ

[TheTabellarius]

For those uneducated before Rock & roll all the groups (Beatles, Rolling Stones etc) listened to & played American blues by Black Artists. The foundation of R&R music.

[Ramonezs]

The Four Pennies - Cotton Picker (1965)_HQ

[TheDonaldido]

1:24, some dance moves, you know...

[jduff59]

Fantastic, too bad they had such a lame name and goodie-two-shoe look,, they didn't stand a chance of breaking into the USA

[OlymPigs2010]

.....I once heard Long john Baldry do this song in Sydney with just an acoustic guitar and it was riveting!!!

[ukmaturemale]

great voice great version, always loved this song, came out when i was 18 brings back great memories.just played nirvanas version, also very good but like this better

[lkijju]

not that i didn't know this wasn't the original.

[lkijju]

@paul1948ish, I know mate. I was born the year after you. lol, was just doing a bit of trolling I think they call it. :-)

[mrstevehartman]

Beatle wannbeas !

[didleybopp]

Interesting version reminds me of a saying attributed to muddy waters regarding the curious attraction of 1960s English pop bands towards American slave music: "Them white boys wanna play the blues so bad. And they do." The rhythm here stonks on every 1/4 note - no swing to it. It's in compound meter, but rather than give it the 6/8 they emphasize the 2/4 feel which makes it un-funky but on the other hand, is maybe the difference between folk and rock. 4 on the floor baby!

[kitschnight]

o Nirvana tocou no CD Umplugged

[lkijju]

great cover of the Nirvana classic ;-)

[GuilhermeBlassioli]

@lkijju wouldn't even check those top comments. Oh well.

[paul1948ish]

@lkijju = covers are usually done after the original, not the other way round - Lionel Morton had a lovely wife as well

[Getoofmycloud]

Hey i love the vocals on this the sounds is great in truth,but Lionel's Choirboy straightness comes out when he tries to do some dance moves in this vid,that alone does tell you why they did not last that long,and nver repeated these sucesses this was there second hit and they still all look very uncomfortable in front of the camera,maybe they just didnt have that X factor needed to make it big,but still a great group to listen to and i am from there hometown,so well done you lads.

[this0033]

I saw these play live, one of the best live performances I've ever seen. Lionel Morton was a class singer.

[1Museguy]

Lionel was a trained chorister and his songs reflect great vocal control he learned in choir. He always has great range, and runs the gamut from this song to Juliet, which did nothing in the US, for some reason.

[dsjump]

Yeah...marketing....that's what put the Beatles on top. That and management. Come on, people, the dumps are overflowing with records by artists "technically" superior to the Beatles

[1Museguy]

Lionel Moron is a trained Chorister, which one can hear in some of his songs, and for some reason, the US did not like Juliet. I cannot fathom why. He was be better as a trained singer than any of the Beatles, but....he did not have the marketing power the Beatles had.

[boothl232]

The announcer is DJ Jimmy Savile - just so there's no confusion with people thing he's Frederic Goode

[boothl232]

The song is a version of In The Pines and "black" was changed to "little" for a lot of the later versions. An old Appalachian song.

I've seen the movie this is from it's Pop Gear by Frederic Goode and it had almost all of the British Invasion groups including The Beatles

[stratogustav]

Kurt Cobain knew where the good music was at.

[harvey1954]

Black Irish refers to Spanish sailors from the Armada whose ships sunk during the battle. Those that made it to the Irish shore ended up marrying the women with whom they shared the same religious faith and hatred of the English. It has nothing to do with Romans or the Spanish invading Ireland. The Armada was launched to replace the Protestant Queen Elizabeth with a Catholic one, Mary Queen of Scots (until Lizzie had her shortened). Black Girl is an old Ledbelly tune.

[crazypainter56]

the animals were on this show --I think

[alonenjersey]

@crazypainter56 Yes along with Sounds Incorporated, Herman's Hermits, Peter & Gordon,etc.

[BLEACH01Z]

ohhhh its not racist

[mikepd]

I would love to get a recording of this. Do's anyone know if they released this?

[doglips1958]

@mikepd You could pick up a 45 on Ebay without any difficulty.

[kyolym]

how did they get such great quality clear videos like this?

[lindab19531]

The band used to practice around the corner from where I lived. We (10/11 yr old kids) used to go and pester them while they were working,

[birdmanofbooze]

@lindab19531 where was that?

[lindab19531]

@birdmanofbooze It was in an old school building on Apple Street in Blackburn.

[kpitt1204]

Never heard the song, but they ARE giving it their all!

[cjm52]

This title would be politically incorrect today and be banned as racist !!

The worlds gone mad as i am just a simple honky !

[leach1527]

Wow, probably haven't heard this since it first came out. I wasn't aware that this, like so much stuff at the time, wasn't an original. Great rendition though.

[CaneCompany]

love this version

[Rabidburt]

Buncha eunuchs, with no business singing about a time and place they knew nothing about. . .Leadbelly woulda cut their throats as they slept. . .

[ArthurNibble]

Lionel Morton - leader of The Four Pennies and probably the only 'Play School' presenter to have had a record banned by BBC radio due to its 'gory' content.

[BlackCountryPuddler]

Way in front of their time.

[groovibri]

One of the great lost records of the Sixties . What a brave song to sing, up there with the Animals "House of the Rising Sun"

Have always loved this record, thanks for posting

[kealoa]

@groovibri House of the rising sun - all about a notorious brothel - one of my favourite songs to play on the organ.

[whigwood]

Black Girl?........Gulladd!

[kf001u1894]

First heard this 1965,other side of Juliet,liked it from first hearing,liked it better than Juliet..

[ironbuttermilk]

Man, that guitarist had some terrible acne, poor kid.

[fifer50]

As with all music,the version of your era sounds best. I agree with bangsmoke,but I was a teenager in the 60's

[bangsmoke]

I think this is easily the definitive version of this song, as so many people have done it. And that includes Nirvana.

[geribeatle]

What are the lyrics of the verse right before the solo? I can't figure it out :-(

[austin27332]

lol no worries man, that has been known to happen.. LOL

[austin27332]

this is nowhere near as good as Nirvana's cover. Kurt Cobian sung that song with such passion in the Unplugged set.. This is nowhere near as good a cover. no comparison.

[austin27332]

are you out of your mind??? Leadbellys version was almost 30 years before this, and this song actually originated in the 1870's in the southern appilations of the USA. Please do you research before you spew garbage.

[superfuzzbigmuff87]

I apologise i was miss informed by some idiot.

[thePharoah90650]

@austin27332 ... actually goes-back even-farther than-That , to an Irish FolkSong ... "Black Girl" refers-to an Irish-Girl with Brunette-Hair , as-in "Black-Irish" , a Result of Roman Soldiers messin'-about with Strawberry-Blonde Irish-Girls ... ahhh (Some of) My Family's Ancestry.

[friding999]

@thePharoah90650 ,I agree it could be Black Irish but i would say it was the invasion of Ireland by the Portuguese or Spanish who put the colouring there not the Romans.(Irish romany,,Gypsies, are very very dark skinned)..

[thePharoah90650]

@friding999 Thanks !!! ... Ya-learn Somethin'-New , Every-Day !!!

[northcity23]

@austin27332 *appalachians, fuck face

[johnny10301968]

@superfuzzbigmuff87 No it's a cover.

[bellsmyre49]

Masterpiece - totally destroys Nirvana's version.

Folk rockers before the Byrds

[TheBeatlesLove1967]

I agree. I like this version better than Nirvana's version too.

[CrankCase08]

I think the Byrds' style is more closely related the The Searchers.

[nerdyharry]

nah

[gregssa]

@bellsmyre49 A masterpiece? Totally destroys Nirvana's version? Really? It seems quaintly trill and overly busy. I don't get the feeling that they understood what they were singing about. I don't know about the rest of their work but calling them folk rockers seems off too.

[sixtiesrecords]

Brilliant !!

[charlesskiporr]

Great clip from Pop Gear.... an old Ledbelly tune, traditional but updated. This band was on the leading edge of the British Invasion. Not much of a splash in the US, but still a good band, certainly representative of the times.

[jfab64]

I like how the song builds up after the instrumental. Very Kinks-like in that regard.

Nirvana also did a great rendition of this, as did Marianne Faithfull.

[alonenjersey]

True. But Mr. Noone had the better hair.

[johnny10301968]

This is the cover of a Leadbelly song.

[OutbackBros]

It was only last week that I was having an impromptu Jam with Mike the bass Guitarist! - He was wearing a "Four Pennies" T-Shirt!

[alonenjersey]

Lead singer sounds a little like Peter Noone.

[senseit2007]

..but with better looking teeth :D

[PsychedelicGuy]

My all time favorite non psychedelic band. Every song they recorded was amazing!