| Have
You Got A Copy Of Adge’s ‘Little Darlin’? |
|
On
May 20th 1972 the ‘Record Mirror’ reported:
Adge
Cutler and The Wurzels: “Little Darlin; Mother Nature
Calling” (CBS 8067). These ‘country hicksters’
take the oldie and invest it with a lot of down-to-earth humour.
Look for no message; just enjoy an infectious sense of rural
spirits. With the falsetto, then deep down, patches. And the
flip is darned near as good. - CHART
CHANCE
Issued
on the CBS label in May 1972 (and re-issued in the summer of
1974 following Adge’s death), this single was not a typical
Wurzels song! and apart from a Benny Hill-style spoken bit in
the middle, it doesn't sound like Adge Cutler and The Wurzels
at all. Originally a hit in 1957 for the American group The
Diamonds this single is a fairly straight cover of the original
- apart from the spoken bit by Adge of course!. The song was
written by Maurice Williams who originally recorded it in the
USA with his group The Gladiolas.
Pete Budd recalls that the producer Roger Easterby ( of Chicory
Tip etc ) contacted Adge in the belief that 'Little Darlin'
would have a much bigger crossover appeal than many of his previous
songs. Commercially, he thought it would be a big hit. Unfortunately
this hope didn't materialise and the single failed to chart.
The 'b' side of this single - 'Mother Nature Calling' was written
by band members Reg Quantrell and Tony Baylis. The song has
never been re-released - and is a wonderful little skip-along
fun number by the band - definitely worth a listen!
Professor
Wurzel says: - Take a look in your record collection –
have you got an unusual version of Adge’s ‘Little
Darlin’?. So far we have tracked down these...
From
left to right we have the French release (who is that band pictured!?!),
German, Dutch, German again and finally the plain UK release.
This is the only Wurzel record to date to have been released
in so many different sleeves – but have you got one that
we haven’t?
Our
latest find here at wurzelworld.com is what appears to be a
very rare JAPANESE release!!
Found in the hands of a Japanese record collector this
is a highly unusual and unexpected find. The cartoon front shows
a couple of colourful chickens, one being ridden by a child.
Inside are the lyrics to both sides of the record in English,
a black and white photo of the band and a large amount of Japanese
text. Maybe it’s the lyrics – but maybe not!
If
you can help us then please drop me a line! professorwurzel@hotmail.com
