THE NEW VAUDEVILLE BAND - Finchley Central

(Alan Klein / Geoff Stephens)

The New Vaudeville Band - 1967

Finchley Central is two and sixpence
From Golders Green on the Northern Line
And on the platform, by the kiosk
That's where you said you'd be mine

There we made a date
For hours I waited
But I'm blowed, you never showed

At Finchley Central, ten long stations
From Golders Green, change at Camden Town
I thought I'd made you, but I'm afraid you
And it let me down


The New Vaudeville Band could almost be described as the band that never was- or at least nearly never was. They were almost entirely the brainchild of Tin Pan Alley songwriter Geoff Stephens. He had written a good song, 'Winchester Cathedral' and thought it would sound best if played in the fashion of a 1930s dance band. So he hired a group of session musicians and recorded it. The idea of an old jazz band wasn't new; an established band- the Temperance Seven- had played similar old time music four years or so earlier, but Geoff's record was an enormous success. In fact it was so successful that it reached #1 in the USA, and #2 in Germany. Unfortunately, following this sudden high profile, Geoff was expected to take his band on concert tours!

Musicians were quickly gathered together largely through the efforts of Henri Harrison- including a vocalist, Alan Klein, who had not been on the original hit (sometimes alleged to be John Carter from the Ivy League/ Flowerpot Men, but I am assured that it was John Smith that did this session, a singer who called himself Bobby Dean at the time- nevertheless probably better known as 'John Smith and the New Sound' especially in France and Germany where they had some success on vinyl in their own right). To cloud the issue the new singer was cast as 'Tristram- Seventh Earl Of Cricklewood'. This was presumably designed to sound ultra-English for the American market. Alan Klein and the band went on the road, while Geoff stayed in his office in Denmark Street to keep writing the songs (he probably did so with an English travel book by his side!) and the band managed to squeeze out a few more hits before the novelty wore off. The band became a particular success in America and spent most of its later existence there, finally breaking up during the 1970s.

• Category

  Music

[MrSaneperson]

is the vocal on this, supposed to echo like that??it just doesnt sound right to me...i have never heard the original before..

[lindyhoppers]

No echo.

That's the singer singing thru' a vintage conical megaphone...

[MrHosepipe123]

I was lucky enough to have a ride over this section of line in the cab of my friends train just before he retired. For film of this go to GOOGLE type in...mrhosepipe123.....(all one word) and see this along with other videos of mine.

[lindyhoppers]

loved your films taken on the first car so you can see all --- any chance to film Finchley Central as it is today?

[michael CLIFFORD]

Nicely done for a roman. lol.

[lindyhoppers]

ah ah, thank you very much!

;-)

this is a little hommage of mine to the NVB, I have this 45 rpm since I was a kid...

[lindyhoppers]

You're very welcome!

I was wondering why there wasn't a video posted yet of this great song so, I made it. But I'm from Rome, not from Northern London, I hope I captured the atmosphere...

[alberto21606]

2&6pens now its more like a fiver inflation

[SammyCool321]

RIP Thatcher

[alan pianosmith]

Geoff Stephens... most underrated writer in his generation

[Molly Gilligan]

Yes everyone, this is who Viv Stanshall was copying .. but I love them both!

[Christopher Woods]

As lindy wrote, this isn't echoey. The singer sang through his hands to emulate an old-style megaphone, all part of the gag.

[TheDBALLYN]

What a flood of memories this brought back ! Not long after this was a hit, I was seeing a girl who live just a short walk from FC station, but I had to travel from Buckhurst Hill on the Central Line ! That was a LONG tube ride - but always worth it. Thanks for posting this.

[Paul Landry]

The joke is that both Finchley Central and Golders Green stations are in fact very close together, barely two miles apart, so so a short bus ride would be a lot more practical than a very long circuitous tube ride on two separate branches on the Northern Line. Highly amusing fact made into a song.

[throovest]

Brill production, too! Spiffing, what!?