Billy J. Kramer & The Dakotas - I Call Your Name (1964)

[Fuzzbrain61]

Rare clip pf a young Mick Green (of the Pirates) on white Telecaster. Twanging solo!

[jraad2005]

now i know why lennon was dissatisfied with this version.

[beatleswithwords]

it's like the beatles without all the charisma ;)

Very cool upload, thanks for sharing!!!

[jillzi7]

@beatleswithwords YOU SO NAILED THE SENTIMENT....

[AbuAvital]

Mamas & Papas did a great rendering

[longbongotimee]

@AbuAvital i agree

[utubemusiccritic]

Not bad, but Lennon in the role of Billy would be dynamite.

[alanvking]

@utubemusiccritic Apparently and according to rumour Lennon took over from Billy as the onject of Brian Epstein's affections. Kramer went in 1963 on a scouting trip to the States with Eppy.

[fgonzalezcuba2008]

I ve ask myself if they are really from north or south Dakota or are they British?

[gerryono]

@fgonzalezcuba2008

From liverpool like the Beatles, Dakota is just a stage name

[Tastyedd]

@gerryono

The Dakotas were from Manchester. Billy J was from Liverpool though.

[Studmasterify]

@fgonzalezcuba2008 The British luved anything American in the early sixty. What should they call themselves? Billy J Kramer and the Northumberlands

[memorylane1980s]

Thx for putting this vid up, brings back lots of memories, I played this stuff in the sixties and proud to have lived it. Thx dude!

[TheBabyboomkidof53]

george harrisons, guitar solo was done on his newly aquiered rickenbacker 360 electric 12 string, he got in america on the first visit for the beatles recording of this song. the used a ska beat in it. kramers version is more standard rock including the guitar solo here.its a matter of taste but I like the beatles best I think. kramers did'nt chart well in the u.s. market.

[Mingowildcat]

@TheBabyboomkidof53 - Interesting background.  Thanks.

[talbot809]

I heard Lennon wrote it when he was only sixteen and then he brushed it up with Mc Cartney to record it, is this true?

[OropherThranduil]

@talbot809

he wrote it before the beatles were formed around sixteen, yeah, but in 63 he gave it billy, but then he thought billys version sucks bollocks and recorded it with the beatles.

[talbot809]

@OropherThranduil Thanks a lot for the information, personally I think it's a good version but of course the one of The Beatles is the best.

[OropherThranduil]

@talbot809

it's an okay version, but yeah, nobody plays beatles music like the beatles.

except for joes with a little help from my friends i think nobody ever did their songs better than them.

and joe only achieved that trough wokring out an completely other arrangement.

[talbot809]

@OropherThranduil Yep, ur right, I love Cocker's version of a little help from my friends but i can't imagine him singing that at the Beatles style, it would had been an artistical suicide for him and that comes from a Joe's fan.

[OropherThranduil]

@talbot809

just like ringo doing it joes style would suck.

but i think john or paul could have pulled it off in joes style.

[talbot809]

@OropherThranduil mmm I don't know, i cannot imagine them performing at joe's style, honestly that air guitar, air piano or air sax and all those movements are trademark, not mentioning his singing, if u think it over they never even tried to do it, and that comes from a GREAT Beatles fan.........

[OropherThranduil]

@talbot809

i'm talking about the singing style, not the perforiming style.

and i think the paul who pulled off helter skelter, oh darling, carry that weight, i'm down and doing long tall sally over the whole song a completel octave higher than little richard could pull it off.

and i think john could have also pulled that singing off.

[orriblebob]

Cracking solo from Mick Green

[twoslices]

This has got some balls ,great guitar sound

[73849309378]

The Buckinghams do a great version of it too.

[TonyHickschick]

I didn't know the Beatles gave Billy J. Krammer this song, as the Beatles did record it on an early album. In the early days I thought they only gave away songs they didn't want to record.

[rogerhgrew]

@TonyHickschick It was the B side of either "Do you want to know a secret" or "Bad to me" - I can't remember which. The Beatles version first came out on aUK EP in 1964, a year after the Billy J Kramer cersion.  .

[Ribzypunk]

Nice lead at 1:13, but the signature guitar lick the Beatles used at about 40 seconds in ( A A B CE E B C etc) is sorely missed. Even The Mama's and Papa's used it....hmmm

And it doesn't swing during the break.

[hopop313]

The guitar tone sounds a little ahead of time.

[ceira7]

poor man's Billy Fury.

[schnibbitz]

@ceira7

you said it Ceira. Fury was the best rocker the UK had by far.

[glamrockerqueen1]

mick green makes this. what a telecaster sound

[solitudesblind]

Terrid. Missing all the pathos of Lennon's vocal performance.

[alyneday]

this music was made for john lennon and he give to Billy J. Kramer like "bad to me" and others.... the beatles was the nest in the world

[lyndloo]

One of my favs from Billy J ! love it so much ..A great sound from the 60s' ... thank you xx Lyndloo..

[LightSnowOvernight]

i agree about the guitarist...all their songs had nice guitar solos - not flashy but perfect for the melodies

[peacemanken]

Dam! I wish I had teeth that white lol woohoo This shit all rocks we know who made it and does it the best:)

[calculaterwatch]

yea we do

[jtoshawa]

What a great era for rock 'n roll.....we'll never see the like again....

[avlisk]

If you can find the Mamas and Papas version, it's great. A cover version that really does it differently and makes it theirs. Similar to what Joe Cocker did with A Little Help From Me Friends.

[rosmia2]

I guess Billy hadn't gotten the memo on the new hairstyle.

[calculaterwatch]

but it is still kinda bad ass in his own way

[timotastic]

Thx god, he didn't..! =)

[wrightchix]

Yeah, he got a memo, from Pete Best.

Kidingly

[stingrae1995]

Lennon didn't like this version? I wonder why. It sounds pretty similar to his.

[glamrockerqueen1]

Mick Green (ex Johnny Kidd and The Pirates playing lead guitar on a Fender telecaster here. Hear him on YT playing an instrumental called 'Oyez' also by The Dakotas. A tremendous player who greatly influenced not only me but Wilko Johnson od Dr Feelgood and many, many others. A brilliant solo for its time and so distinctive of Mick.

[robertlaberge]

The guitar part is way out coooool!

right from the start.

[Chimbo65]

Good version with Billy.

The Beatles themselves also did it on EP

along with Long Tall Sally,Slow Down

and Matchbox

[banouk89]

Beatles !!!! Les meilleurs !!

Cette reprise est pas mal ;)

[Tundramensch]

The Buckinghams from Chicago did the best version of this song ever. The problem is trying to find a copy on 45 rpm. Anyone care to post it?

[Revolver8566]

i see why lennon was dissatisfied with this arrangement.

[joeyd1957]

'This sound quality is poor. Bilyl J had a great voice. John and Paul helped him out, and wrote a few for him. He is not the Beatles but he was as good as any of the other great Invasion artists.

[Revolver8566]

perhaps you misunderstood. not the sound quality. the arrangement. the whole way it is performed. im not knocking him as an artist, but i dont like his version

[joeyd1957]

Got ya.

[libraryquiet]

Hey joey1957. Have you no ears?!

[tonyrob1945]

Micky Green's Fender Telecaster gives earthy sound under rated guitarist of the 60's

[chris393s]

wow, i find this version a lot better than the beatles. This one is a lot fuller the beatles sounds especially thin especially George's Rickenbacker which I think was his first studio use of that guitar

[Revolver8566]

you cant do that was the first song to feature georges rickenbacker.

[VinylRecords60]

This is for sure the best Beatles cover there is (even though it's not really a cover because Lennon gave the song to Kramer)

[OropherThranduil]

@VinylRecords60

lennon thought it sucks.

that's why he wanted to record it with the beatles.

[utubemusiccritic]

This is pretty good, but Lennon's version is tops. It's tough to beat Lennon in any case.

[kevintarzandotier]

it's quite sad that this kind of solo singers doesn't exist (commercially) anymore. I mean, the only thing that solo singers does these days, is bad and fast produced r'n'b. They should make these kind of things like "Billy J Kramer and The Dakota" with the same kind of name. with the lead singers name and then the band behind him like: "Eric Barone and the Odd Sox" i dont know if eric barone is and artist, but that kind of band name. that make this kind of music as well

[frankenstein909]

Thank-you so much for posting. It is one of my favorite Beatles songs, and it is so neat to hear this cover of it :-)

[megeler]

did you know that Lennon wrote the song ecspecially for the dakotas, and when they released it lennon thought their version of it was horrible so then he did the song with the beatles.

[alabmawhitman]

lol really..thats funny