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  • best ever instrumental pop tune !!!!!!!!

  • my last song...............

  • Brilliant to remember the first US sattelite? The Yanks were way behind then.. Who remembers the 'B - side of this record? Jungle Fever?

  • I was the only witness to a horrific car crash in ' 62, two young guy drag racing in a city. Telstar was playing on one of the car radios.when I walked up to it. I felt like those who died were being carried to heaven on the sound waves of this song, I was 12 yrs old at the time. I actually felt the touch of death itself but also the afterlife as well.....something there. I still get that same feeling of assention, chills and shivers every time I here this song.

  • @mike65nennen WOW, that is so crazy, I'm sitting here listening to this song, trying to visualize what you went through, like out of a screwed up movie. Man, thanks for sharing that, creepy!!!

  • I wonder how they made the spaceship noises back in 1962?

  • That's awesome that you showed a vinyl with a Trojan Records label on it, since Symarip did a Reggae cover under their Jamaican name The Pyramids in 1969 on the Trojan label.

  • love this tune remember my dad was in a band in the 60is and this was one of their opening songs love it....,...R.I.P DAD XXXXX

  • they just copied california music. case closed

  • The ghost of Joe Meek's landlord dislikes this.

    

  • in 1964 we lads would listen to this,taking turns in a chair eyes closed while being slowly tilted back heading for the MOON

  • I learned to dance to this song, in Southern California, when I was like 5. Love the Don Draper reference above.

  • I REMEMBER THIS BEING PLAYED AT STREATHAM ICE RINK, WHEN I WAS 3 OR 4, IT ALWAYS MAKES FEEL SAD, BUT I LOVE IT

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  • Don't waste your time or time will waste you :D

  • i hope that this song and the joe meek album "i hear a new world" convince people that the beatles are not the first who use electronic effects and concept albums.

  • @progreadicto That's true, Joe Meek isn't given much credit where it's due. He pioneered psychedelic/electronic music in a way that could appeal to consumers as early as 1959.

  • Matt bellamys dad was in this. amazing.

  • The wonderful Stargazing Live with Dara and Brian used a version of Telstar for their intro music. Without, to their shame, crediting the god who was Joe Meek. Still better little than nothing.

  • Roger LaVern turned up in a episode of the British hospital reality series, "24 Hours in the ER" as a patient a few days ago.

  • @JoeTownley -- actually, it was Roger Jackson, not Roger LaVern.

  • @Wombatius123  Born Roger Jackson but for some reason took the stage name LaVern. He didn't say why in the episode.

  • @JoeTownley --- Well, then, I stand corrected. Thank you for pointing it out - I did not know.

  • @Wombatius123 No problem. If you're a Tornados fan you'd find the episode interesting. He talked a lot about his career. To quote him, "I may look old and wrinkled now, but in my day I was quite..dangerous (telling laugh). It's on BBC America and they repeat the episodes frequently.

  • Ladies & Gentlemen, we have liftoff! Telstar into outer space!

  • This song is, of course, referring to the satellite "Telstar"(for whom it was named after)

  • Pretty sad song. Remember the songs of Kraftwerk's 1975 album Radioactivity,But is 13 years more old!!

  • I listen to this while I play fallout.

  • i can remember driving round in my dads cortina 1600e listening to this thinking it was great .

  • This song is 50 years old(1962-2012)

  • This song was playing on some ship tied up next to us when we assembled on the mess deck of the USS Canisteo in October 1962 when the Captain adressed the crew and told us to prepare for war.

    We did not go to war but it was touch and go for about 14 days.

    I always think of that day nearly 50 years ago when I hear this song.

    Oddly enough I worked for AT&T for 30 years..

  • @1XLINEMAN I would love to know the full story if you would not mind telling it .

  • My Dad said they were awesome! One of the members was responsible for Matt Bellamy! The father of all the Muse Music!

  • this is all guitar

  • yuri gagarin ftw

  • 601st thumbup

  • "Acker Bilk - Stranger on the Shore" was the first British single to be number one in the US.

  • @weeweeeewee Yes, but he wasn't a band. Telstar was "the first single by a British band to reach number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100"...

  • makes me think of a space ship taking off and flying through space.

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  • This epic song will never age, it just gets better each time you hear it. "superb sound"

  • Near the end of this song we hear the members of the band making noise

  • I want the 2 people who gave this a Thumbs Down to meet me in the back alley in 20 minutes.

  • Now we know why Matthew Bellamy is craaaazay :P...His dad was part of this band...How Awesome Is That!!! :)

  • I just watched a BBC program last night "24 Hours in the ER" and the guy that played the organ, Roger, for this was a patient...had to look it up!!!

  • I've always loved the electric guitar against the harp.

  • Heard this fantastic instrumental on the radio in '62 and rode my bike to Poplar Tunes and bought the 45 the same day!  64 and still rockin'!

  • May I recommend the book 'A Pop Revolution, the transatlantic music scene 1965 to 1969' by the invisible man. The author is a big fan of this instrumental.

  • Brilliant post, thank you.. Great music and video.

  • at 0:56 there is a picture of the band members standing.. can someone name the members from left to right please?

  • This was one of my first 5 singles bought at age 12 or so. I also bought sheet music and it had lyrics: Just remember 1st bit;

    Magic star above, send a message to my love,

    Tell her that I wait patiently

    Sad and so lonely,

    Dreaming of her only -etc.

    A golden oldie.

  • Is this what became "Born to Run"?

  • frig mad men is good

  • "High Chaparral"! sorry

  • @Rodrigoteacher I agree after hearing the High chapperal theme which was made in 67 this version 62 .Always thought it was the High chaparral theme now I know different thanks.

  • I have always thought that this tune directly inspired "The Grest Chaparral" music by David Rose. Maybe I´m wrong but we´re talkin' about the same decade.

  • @Rodrigoteacher I associate this with" The high chaparal" a cowboy series if thats any use!

  • reminds me of the end of mario

  • Nineteen-sixty-two was a pretty ecclectic year for music. The year's first Number One was the almost primitive "Lion Sleeps Tonight" by the Tokens, while the last chart-topper was this space-age instrumental classic. In between, were hits by Neil Sedaka, Ray Charles, Dee Dee Sharp, Little Eva, Mr. Aker Bilk, Bent Fabric, Gene Chandler, Bruce Chanel, Nat King Cole, Elvis Presley, David Rose, Connie Francis, Burl Ives, Sue Thompson, Henry Mancini, the Everly Brothers, and many, many others.

  • John shShoots on Gamestop!!!!!

  • i hear this song and iam 15 again on catalina island

    i miss those days the world was so different no computers then but a lot less stress in the world or so it seemed they hadnt killed jfk yet

  • @keno8spot OK

  • A historical sound, for a historical event. The music from a group of guys and a producer who just happened to mesh at the right time. For a one in a lifetime song and sound that captures a moment in time for all of us to enjoy.

  • I was born in late 1962, and so wouldn't have been old enough to remember this song when it first came out. But for some strange reason, this song has always given me a sense of what life in the late Fifties and early Sixties must have been like. I'd categorize 'Telstar' as one of the top ten songs that are emblematic of that time.

  • @SuperTekZone I was a year old in 1962 when this song was out, myself

  • @kjchicago1

    I was eleven and it rocked me!

  • Brilliant Single spent six months in uk chart . The Drummer Clem Cattini went on to appear on 44 UK Number 1's including Tom Jones Its Not Unusual. A record which probably won't ever be bettered.

  • nice souvenir .

  • could you mash up Time is running out with this. father and son mashup

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  • Does anyone know what kind of musical instrument they are using for this song- sounds like some kind of organ or electronic keyboard.

  • @mikesb69 It was a small synthesizer/organ called the Clavioline. I think they were made around 1958. My grandfather used to have one until it was damaged in bad weather. Great instrument :)

  • I was going to watch the movie telestar: The Joe Meek Story, i saw that Kevin Spacy was starring in this movie and when I saw it it was Brockback Mountain all over again! And now I can't hear this song without thinking about gay men having sex. OMG NO!!!!!

  • If you listen closely you can hear its influence on the theme music to the unintentially hilarious crackpot documentary film from Germany "Chariots of the Gods".

  • Wow! One of the surviving members of the Tornados was on a TV show from the UK called "24 Hours in ER" and I had to check them out! GREAT STUFF!

  • Great!!! This was my very first musical 'recall'(I was 3 years old) in my life!

  • first satellite for communications has been the ECHO 1. it was carried by an Atlas. anyway it was just a reflector for radio waves. Telstar was active and it amplified the input signal....

  • Memories??You bet. i first heard this neat song at age 6 right after Thanksgiving in 1962. It was 3 days before Christmas when my big brother came home and told me hey little bro, our song is #1 this week. Memories like this are what makes life good.

  • WHAT CAN I SAY,IT JUST TAKES ME BACK TO THOSE GREAT OLD DAYS OF MUSIC

  • This is one of the first songs I remember as a kid.I still like it

  • @naturelover1957 same vintage here (1957,a very good one... lol), same memories. what a hit, one of my favorites.

  • Wow! I have this on an original 45 RPM record. Mine is on the London Records label though, not Decca.

  • Don Draper looks into the Southern California sun....

  • This sounds like a song that could be in a Fallout game.

  • this is the music that will be playing at the pearly gates

  • 0:58 In the middle. : Matthew's father?

  • @baiba1988 yes he is, they are equal

  • To think that the most of the men who made this song are old or dead, and yet the Telestar 1 satalite is still in orbit as of today, it just shows you how time has forgoten it.

  • JFK in the Whitehouse times were good! Forget dem Ruskies! Never lasted!

  • Make up your own lyrics on this one folks.

  • That was...weird. In a really good way :D

  • Y en 6.20 la musica que llego para quedarse.

    Mexico City 1960

  • now you want find a anther like that every again.that was

    one of a kind old song.it take me back to that time.

  • In 1962 I was 11 years old with one ear nearly glued to the old vacuum-tube radio just HOPING to hear this one again...Thanks for the past-blaster! :)

  • George Bellamy was The Tornados' rhythm guitarist. His son, Matthew Bellamy, is in the alternative British rock band Muse, which cpvered The Tornados' 'Knights of Cydonia' on one of their albums.

  • such a great raymond scott vibe to it i love it!! :'-)) where most of the tornados's songs like this?

  • Love it, thanks!

  • I Thought the Ventures made this song since they have the same name on their song.  I do like the real old school electro music.

  • An excellent tune for me to remember my younger days while i was in junior high back in the late 70's. Happy Days. Thank You so much for sharing!

  • Holy crap! A wormhole to my childhood.

  • Ahhh, 1962. Who would've thought American astronauts would be chasing each other around wearing diapers? Joe Meek. Young techie. Dreamer. Beautiful man. Sorry you are gone, bro. Wish you were here.

  • That's because George Bellamy is Matthew Bellamy's father..he's the guitarist for The Tornados..Matthew did the song Knights of Cydonia to sound like this song in honor of his father..

  • Thank you for the great story! Who knew, that really sucked!

  • i freaking love this track. I have the old 45 that belonged to my Mum. having a listen in remembrance of her for for Mothers Day. <3

  • lol, retroknights of cydonia

  • Mad Men.

  • Lve this. Still have the DECCA 45 bought as a kid. Wish today that Hendrix and Husker Du had done covers of this.

  • THIS was the first British song to go #1 in America? Better things were to come........

  • I remember scrounging through my folks od 45's and put this song on and it blew my mind.

    As a kid,it spooked me out but the melody just sent tingles down the spine.

    1962 it was made?

    AMAZING!

  • OMG, I haven't heard this song since the 9 volt battery went dead on my transistor radio. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed it, and it still warms my soul today as it did yesterday...thanks.

  • This song is for me the best interpretation of the "60´s"!

  • can't stop lovin' this melody :3

  • @lukkasan who can blame you " What a classic " Damn!

  • All these years later and it still sounds beautiful and always will.

  • Um dos melhores rocks instrumentais dos anos 1960. Iradíssimo!

  • Love this version--thank you!!!

  • i want to beaten up those 2 , two lady gaga fans :-))))))))

    this record was for his time really the best

  • This is one of the first songs I can remember as a kid.I still think this song is cool.

  • RIP Joe Meek. This is so beautiful. Totally astonishing!

  • wow, takes me back to staring at that dimly-lit crimson curtain, before the movie played

  • Love this song! No wonder my dad loves this sort of music XD

  • this is the first record I remember as a child...... loved it....

  • I've done a 2011 version of telstar... please check it out. THE DUELLING PIANOS Telstar

  • I picture this tune in a movie. The hero is training. The tune and scene ends @ the event.

  • @delbard1 I can totally see that, lol.

  • A song that will always be fit for any time and age-loved it when i was a young lad,

    iam 62--and its, just as cool, now as it was then.

  • One of the best instrumental ever. I can hear it again and again, and you can cry on it :')

  • this song is so far ahead of anything muse have ever done it's not even funny

  • Wow, i dont know how i got to this video/song, I clicked a bunch of "favorites" links till i was taken here. Wow, this is a really good song. Made me almost cry. I dont know why, never heard this song before and i dont even listen to songs from the 50's. But wow, it really made me feel a feeling i cant explain. Thought i would just mention that because this song is truly amazing :)

  • @lifeoftheparty2121 I'm on my phone so I can't reply to you properly :') yeah, they are amazing! But would you believe my DT teacher told me they were squealy shit? I swear to god I could of slapped him..

  • According to something I read who knows where, this song was the #1 song in the U.S.A. from Britain.; Yes, that is a fact.: :)

  • this is and always be an amazing song.... thankyou ! from Lindie in Montana

  • omg this song is so good

  • o snap ... sample! hehe have this thing stuck in my head^^

  • Knights of Cydonia is a tribute to this song :D

  • This song was a true metaphor for love.

  • Thanks for the memories:)

  • i adore Georges sons band and wanted to listen to this song and have now fallen inlove

  • He also collected insects in jars, and ants were his favourite (though I’m terrified of ants)!! I know he’d be head-over-heels about the sounds of The Tornados. Often people were frustrated and impatient with him, but Jim was uncommonly patient and placid and always extremely polite, and altogether a very pleasant and likeable person.

  • He was a sleepwalker too – hummed and played an imaginary violin in his sleep. I bet he could beat me at chess, and he could probably beat the computer too. Jim had a collection of comics: sometimes about space and astronomy, other times it was ancient battles and weapons, or mythical creatures like fairies, unicorns, mer-people and enchanted stags.

  • He had a high, crystal clear singsong voice (until it deepened with age) and a slightly Northern lilt, and walked on tiptoes till he needed physiotherapy, and as he walked his head tilted into a slightly lopsided position and he never knew quite what to do with his arms, which hung limp and loose on either side, and he kept ‘bits and pieces’ behind his ear where he could find them – a bizarre sight he was indeed!

  • He usually just wore a sky blue T-shirt and slightly deeper blue jeans (just like other things, he sometimes had to be reminded about hygiene too)! Blue was very much Jim’s colour, and in his perception many of his favourite melodies were blue as well.

  • He dawdled and daydreamed and being a tall lad yet very underweight for his height (prone to forgetting meals and sleep without prompt), he would seem to drift or glide into the room as if by accident. He was very handsome and rather a girly-boy to look at, fair as the moon, with neat, smooth hair of rich chestnut colour, light bright blue eyes that sparkled and shone, and a few small freckles on his nose.

  • I bet Loony Luna Lovegood would like Telstar. So would Dreamy Jim, an imaginary character I made up many years ago that I used to portray through playing with my Dalmatian toys. He was a musical genius that worked much too hard in his specialist field. He's very, very clever, but my word was he absent-minded!

  • can you tell Knights of Cydonia by Muse is based on this? George Bellamy ftw :-)

  • This video is posted on Facebook page called "Golden Tunes - Sound of Oldies", so if you have fb account and some time, check it, i guess you will like it :) Page is for everyone who like like warm cozy sound of evergreen music.

  • Isn't it neat how George Bellamy's kid went on to be a famous musician? He's in a rock band called Muse, and his name's Mathew Bellamy. Like father like son!

  • In fact, now that I've done some research I don't think farthings were legally accepted after 1960. I doubt whether they could have bought a comic and ice-cream anyhow, being worth only a quarter of a penny. Perhaps they gave the imaginary big brother a shilling instead.

    "Right young man, here's a bob - now be off with you my lad, and spend it wisely!"

  • But she has only a big sister, not a brother, and Telstar really is my music more than it is hers, though I’d have been minus 29 years old if I’d been there to hear its birth! When I showed the lady my story she said, “Yerrs, I can see the link, you cheeky madam! Use my life, why don’t you?”

  • Mum in her flowery summer dress and Sunday hat was pouring out tea and Dad was trimming the grass with that old lawn mower they had, when this precious melody began on the radio. Now a grown woman with a partner, adult son and daughter and three young grandchildren, my giggly little Telstar toddler has recently celebrated reaching the ripe old age of 50 – that is the true side to it!

  • I wrote about Telstar in my creative writing classes, as a made-up early memory (first person) of one of my favourite people. As a summer-born girl of 1960, she was just a toddler when Telstar was created. The child had been given a bowl of water to play with, and splashed her toys around squealing with glee. Her big brother (and I later found out she does not have one in reality) had been given a farthing to spend and bought a space comic and an ice cream, which he'd got all over his face.

  • first song my dad hummed to me at 4 yrs old...and now i collect all rgm ...my dads still around 81 yrs young

  • I am born on the 18th of October too,that explain why I like it too

  • @koutsoumbos So, you and @babzybabie were both born on the 18th of October? Well, then, you must be an old fart, too!

  • Once you start humming this tune,You can't stop!

  • July 17, 1962; the day that I came into the world.

  • @babzybabie 18th october 1962! boy, you sure are an old fart, aren't you?

  • Damm good song was theme for a old western called High Chapperal or something like that

  • @babzybabie Happy Bitrhday!

  • ahhh!!! no mmz!!! diganme d la f0to, ¿kien es mi suegro? ¿kien es el padre d Matt?

  • I keep hearing that Joe Meek was a genius and a pioneer, but I don't understand what he actually did that was so innovative.

  • @BadGirlOfAutism Just listen to the music...

  • @BadGirlOfAutism I think it was his approach in the studio--very involved, hands on, using the new medium and different (at that time) new fangled high tech equip in new interesting ways. Producers didnt write songs and then record them like he did. They wore the lab coats and were more sterile and efficient engineer types. He also created sounds and effects which werent heard before. Its difficult to have perspective on this being exposed to whats come after Meek and seeing advances.

  • My mum and dad had this on an old 33 single; when I was about 4 they'd put it on the record player and I'd bop around the living room to it. Love it.

  • @BadGirlOfAutism singles were 45's. L.P's were 33's.

  • This was an awesome dancing song from the 1960's. I love the tune and would like to find it on a cd someday