Cry for a Shadow
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"Cry for a Shadow" is an early Beatles instrumental. It was recorded on June 22, 1961 at the Friedrich-Ebert-Halle, Hamburg-Harburg, Germany while they were performing as Tony Sheridan's backup band for a few tracks. It was written by George Harrison with John Lennon as a parody of The Shadows style. (The Shadows, who backed Cliff Richard were the biggest British instrumental rock & roll group at the time of the recording.) It imitates the lead guitar with typical Hank Marvin licks, the melodic bass fills, and even has an imitation during the second middle 8 of the famous Jet Harris yell. It is the only Beatles track to be credited to Lennon and Harrison alone.
It was intended to be released as the b-side of "Why," another Sheridan song with The Beatles, but the record company chose to release another song instead. In early 1964), as The Beatles were gaining popularity, the record company decided to release it--with "Why" changed to the b-side. According to Bill Harry, editor of the Mersey Beat newspaper, Cry for a Shadow's original title was "Beatle Bop". [1] [2]
It was also released much later in 1995 as part of the Anthology 1 compilation.
"Cry for a Shadow" is also the name of a song from Beat Happening's 1991 album Dreamy.
In 1996, San Francisco new wave group Translator was paid its highest compliment when Beatles fans mistook their cover of "Cry for a Shadow" for a new recording by the Fab Four from the Anthology sessions. [3] Coincidently, the producer of the cover, David Kahne, would later produce records for Paul McCartney. [4]
[edit] Personnel
[edit] References
- ^ History of The Beatles' Singles. Retrieved on 2005-10-07.
- ^ Cross, Craig. Cry for a Shadow. Retrieved on 2005-10-07.
- ^ Cry for a Shadow cover: AMG Translator Biography. Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
- ^ McCartney's Memory Almost Full credits. Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
