Whistling Jack Smith-"I Was Kaiser..."
Printed From: Top 40 Music on CD
Category: Top 40 Music On Compact Disc
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URL: https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4665
Printed Date: 05 August 2025 at 11:38pm
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Topic: Whistling Jack Smith-"I Was Kaiser..."
Posted By: jimct
Subject: Whistling Jack Smith-"I Was Kaiser..."
Date Posted: 27 February 2009 at 8:54pm
| My commercial 45, confirmed as Deram 85005, has a listed time of (2:22), but an actual time of (2:26). The only two current database CDs that include this song (from Eric and Collector's Choice) run only (2:18), and Pat already indicates "LP version" for both of these. Since this "group" was simply a concoction of studio musicians by Brits Roger Greenaway & Roger Cook, perhaps maybe an import CD might contain the full 45 length for this song. I will keep my eyes peeled. |
Replies:
Posted By: Yah Shure
Date Posted: 27 February 2009 at 9:38pm
| It would be great to have the superior 45 version on CD, but I've often wondered if it was strictly a mono production. Why else would they have gone to the trouble of re-recording the song in stereo for the Deram I Was Kaiser Bill's Batman LP? |
Posted By: jimct
Date Posted: 27 February 2009 at 10:04pm
| Yah Shure, I omitted the fact that both of the shorter, CD versions do appear in stereo, while the longer, 1967 45 length is in mono. My only issue is that my 45 runs :08 longer than either of the stereo CDs do. |
Posted By: Yah Shure
Date Posted: 27 February 2009 at 10:24pm
| Jim, thanks for adding the explanation, but I am aware of the CD versions being in stereo, as I have the Collectors Choice disc. But it isn't a length issue; the U.S. 45 is a completely different take than the U.S. LP version. Aside from the different whistling and backing tracks involved, the one and only spoken word is also different, when it appears at the pause. It's "hey!" on the 45, and "oy!" on the LP/CDs. |
Posted By: jimct
Date Posted: 28 February 2009 at 12:27am
| I appreciate your specific explanation, Yah Shure. I did not know that "LP version" in the database meant that the 45 was a completely different take, in this case. I had never noticed those differences between the 45 and CD versions before, so thanks for pointing them out to me! |
Posted By: Yah Shure
Date Posted: 28 February 2009 at 9:14am
|
No problem, Jim! I first noticed the difference when I played the song from the 1968 Parrot compilation LP The Greatest Hits From England, Vol. 2 at my college station.
One thing is for certain: we can all be thankful that this LP title track http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh240/YahShure/PatBoone-IWasKaiserBillsBatman.jpg - cover version never made it beyond the unnumbered promo stage for 45 purposes (although it's not anywhere near as bad as one might expect from this artist.) :) |
Posted By: jimct
Date Posted: 15 April 2010 at 11:58am
| Pat, in continuing my 1967 research today, I stumbled upon the fact that the db was never updated with the "listed (2:22); actual (2:26)" timing info I first posted in early 2009. |
Posted By: Hykker
Date Posted: 15 April 2010 at 12:29pm
| I'd forgotten about Pat Boone's cover of this (will he ever learn?)! There was a 3rd version of this released around the same time by the Carnaby Street Set on Columbia. Clearly someone thought whistled tunes were going to be the next big thing! |
Posted By: jimct
Date Posted: 15 April 2010 at 12:47pm
| Steve, my local Top 40 station actually added the Carnaby Street Set version (Columbia 44092) first, on 4/8/67. Then they listed both versions together for the next two weeks, before exclusively switching over to the eventual hit version. It was so very common for UK hits to be quickly covered by U.S. acts, to try to have the big hit over here (and vice versa). Sometimes it worked, and sometimes it didn't. Thanks for reminding me about that one! |
Posted By: Hykker
Date Posted: 15 April 2010 at 4:31pm
| Another interesting thing about this song is that it's the only Deram single I've ever seen with the multi-tone orange swirl label on promo copies like other London subsidiary labels. Mine's a stock copy, but in high school a friend of mine won a copy from the local station and it's on the orange label. By the summer of '67 their promos were the stock label with "promotional copy" printed on it. I wonder why Deram was different from other London labels. |
Posted By: Yah Shure
Date Posted: 15 April 2010 at 4:35pm
Well, the folks at Jubilee Records certainly thought so! Take one part "Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead" (the label's big hit that year - hey, it worked once!) and add one part "I Was Kaiser Bill's Batman." Graft the results onto Mats Olsson's 1965 Swedish instrumental "Lappland," and the resulting Frankenstein by http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLf-vfQXnj8 - The Baltimore & Ohio Marching Band skyrockets all the way to... number 94!!! How could it have failed? Must've been that kazoo! By comparison, it almost makes Pat Boone look like he knew what he was doing. :) |
Hykker wrote:Posted By: Yah Shure
Date Posted: 15 April 2010 at 7:02pm
Steve, the first U.S. Deram 45 (#7501) was Cat Stevens' 1966 #118 bubbler, "I Love My Dog." My http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh240/YahShure/CatStevens-ILoveMyDogDJ.jpg - promo copy was also printed on the standard London/Parrot/Press, et al. orange swirl promo label, using only plain block "DERAM" letters for a logo. This is strictly a guess, but it could be that, unlike the color-intensive Parrot & Press stock labels, the Deram stock label had a significant amount of plain white background, perhaps enough so that less ink was used on the stocks than on the initial run of 1966-early '67 orange-swirl Deram promos. Too bad Stevens didn't cut this one as "Walkin' My Dog Named Cat." :) BTW, for whatever reason Deram utilized concurrent 45 numbering systems - the 7500 and 85000 series - by the time my promo copy of Stevens' Matthew And Son" (7505) bubbled under in March of '67, it was already on the more familiar http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh240/YahShure/CatStevens-MathewAndSonDJ.jpg - brown and white promo label . This was over a month before Whistling Jack Smith (85005) charted. Looks like there was some overlap. |
Posted By: Todd Ireland
Date Posted: 16 April 2010 at 10:39pm
Jim, I'm delighted to hear you've resumed your 1967 research and long-term goal to uncover more vinyl 45 "listed vs. actual" run time discrepencies! As you well know, this information is especially valuable to those of us seeking 45 versions on CD in their correct lengths. I currently have questions regarding run time info for numerous '50s and '60s Top 40 hits, so I will look forward to picking your brain as well as that of other message board members having expertise in this era! |