Long before becoming Fankie Goes to Hollywood and shortly after 
the end of Big in Japan (and the imaginary The cSausages form Mars, with Jayne Casey), Holly Johnson was simply Holly, trying to work his way as a solo artist.
In November 1979 he released his first single, recorded with Mick Reid (on guitar), Rob Jones (percussions), Pete Wylie (keyboards), and Lori Lartey (of Lori and the Chameleons, on backing vocals):
Yankee Rose (1979):
a. Yankee Rose
b1. Treasure Island
b2. Desperate Dan
Here are Holly Johnson’s memories of those days:
“One night I left Gerald's house and walked home in the dark - about ten miles or more. On the way I wrote a song in my head. It was called 'Treasure island' and summed up my feelings about the situation I had just walked out of.
`Wasn't it enough to hurt me with the fact You wanted me to lie and listen to the act?'
This was the first time an idea for a song had come to me in this way. Usually I would sit with my guitar trying to put a melody to poems that I had already written. Now the lyrics and the melody seemed to come to me all at once. Over the next few weeks I worked out a few simple chords on the guitar to accompany myself.” (A Bone in My Flute: 111)
“I seemed to drift without direction for a while after Big In Japan, though still wanting to be a star, still writing songs on my acoustic guitar in between my social activities. At this point, Jayne kindly persuaded Pete Fullwell to record a Holly single. I creamed my jeans. I was going to make my very own record. This is one of my few memories of feeling truly elated. I was given a whole day in Amazons' eight track studio, which I was determined to make the most of. I recorded three songs: `Treasure Island', `Yankee Rose' and `Desperate Dan'.
`Treasure Island' was meant to be the A side. Ian Broudie was going to produce it, but he had to drop out due to other commitments, though he did give me some good ideas for arrangements, bass lines, backing vocals, etc. I got Lori Larty, a good friend of mine at that time, to do backing vocals. Pete Wiley contributed a bit of guitar on `Treasure Island' but didn't really understand the calypso feel of the song. I also got Wah Heats' keyboard player to add a string synth line.
To create a cinematic sound-scape on `Yankee Rose' I got people in the studio to play Cowboys and Indians. Pete Fullwell got down on his hands and knees and made horse noises with coconut shells. It was a bit unorthodox but a lot of fun. I would point at one set of people like a conductor and they would do their allotted thing. Someone tinkled onn an out-of-tune saloon piano and Wiley played harmonica. I used a tape loop to create the cowboy-on-the-range bass line as it was too difficult for me to play the monotonous line over and over in perfect time. Lori's `Yankee Rose' vocal line was meant to conjure up memories of `Johnny Remember A4e% Her voice really added something special. Pete Fullwell thought 'Yankee Rose' the best of the three songs, and I let him persuade me that it should be the A side, although 'Treasure Island' was a better song in my opinion.”
“I think I got an extra afternoon to mix everything, then there it was. For the sleeve, Bob Wakelin, a cartoonist and illustrator, created a drawing of my head with a glinting tooth smile. Lynched cowboys formed the background. I did some publicity photographs and created a photocopied mail out. The single got a favourable review in either NIVE or Melody Maker, but without a band I had no way of promoting it by playing live dates. This was a problem which I knew had to be solved eventually.
(ABIMF: 126-127)
the end of Big in Japan (and the imaginary The cSausages form Mars, with Jayne Casey), Holly Johnson was simply Holly, trying to work his way as a solo artist.In November 1979 he released his first single, recorded with Mick Reid (on guitar), Rob Jones (percussions), Pete Wylie (keyboards), and Lori Lartey (of Lori and the Chameleons, on backing vocals):
Yankee Rose (1979):
a. Yankee Rose
b1. Treasure Island
b2. Desperate Dan
Here are Holly Johnson’s memories of those days:
“One night I left Gerald's house and walked home in the dark - about ten miles or more. On the way I wrote a song in my head. It was called 'Treasure island' and summed up my feelings about the situation I had just walked out of.
`Wasn't it enough to hurt me with the fact You wanted me to lie and listen to the act?'
This was the first time an idea for a song had come to me in this way. Usually I would sit with my guitar trying to put a melody to poems that I had already written. Now the lyrics and the melody seemed to come to me all at once. Over the next few weeks I worked out a few simple chords on the guitar to accompany myself.” (A Bone in My Flute: 111)
“I seemed to drift without direction for a while after Big In Japan, though still wanting to be a star, still writing songs on my acoustic guitar in between my social activities. At this point, Jayne kindly persuaded Pete Fullwell to record a Holly single. I creamed my jeans. I was going to make my very own record. This is one of my few memories of feeling truly elated. I was given a whole day in Amazons' eight track studio, which I was determined to make the most of. I recorded three songs: `Treasure Island', `Yankee Rose' and `Desperate Dan'.
`Treasure Island' was meant to be the A side. Ian Broudie was going to produce it, but he had to drop out due to other commitments, though he did give me some good ideas for arrangements, bass lines, backing vocals, etc. I got Lori Larty, a good friend of mine at that time, to do backing vocals. Pete Wiley contributed a bit of guitar on `Treasure Island' but didn't really understand the calypso feel of the song. I also got Wah Heats' keyboard player to add a string synth line.
To create a cinematic sound-scape on `Yankee Rose' I got people in the studio to play Cowboys and Indians. Pete Fullwell got down on his hands and knees and made horse noises with coconut shells. It was a bit unorthodox but a lot of fun. I would point at one set of people like a conductor and they would do their allotted thing. Someone tinkled onn an out-of-tune saloon piano and Wiley played harmonica. I used a tape loop to create the cowboy-on-the-range bass line as it was too difficult for me to play the monotonous line over and over in perfect time. Lori's `Yankee Rose' vocal line was meant to conjure up memories of `Johnny Remember A4e% Her voice really added something special. Pete Fullwell thought 'Yankee Rose' the best of the three songs, and I let him persuade me that it should be the A side, although 'Treasure Island' was a better song in my opinion.”
“I think I got an extra afternoon to mix everything, then there it was. For the sleeve, Bob Wakelin, a cartoonist and illustrator, created a drawing of my head with a glinting tooth smile. Lynched cowboys formed the background. I did some publicity photographs and created a photocopied mail out. The single got a favourable review in either NIVE or Melody Maker, but without a band I had no way of promoting it by playing live dates. This was a problem which I knew had to be solved eventually.
(ABIMF: 126-127)
1 commento:
Hi there,
Thank you for the hard work on your blog. However the link is dead on the Holly Johnson Yankee Rose single. Would love it if you could up this again as I have not heard this single in a very long time. Once again thank you for the hard work.
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