Manfred Mann – Pretty Flamingo

Sometimes I need a British mid-sixties pop song and voila here we are with Manfred Mann’s Pretty Flamingo. I know most of the English invasion bands plus American acts from my friend’s dad’s record collection that we went through as teenagers. Roy Orbison, The Beatles, The Stones, Kinks, Animals, and more. I don’t remember many Mandred Mann singles except Do Wah Diddy Diddy. Maybe we missed this one but it’s a good one.

One of the most interesting footnotes about this song is the bass player. No other than Jack Bruce was playing bass on this song. It was the only number 1 song he ever played on. He had briefly joined Manfred Mann. He soon would leave and joined Cream.

Pretty Flamingo was written by Mark Barkan from a Philadelphia band called The Deep. Barkan also wrote songs for many other artists including The Archies and The Monkees. The song peaked at #1 in the UK, #2 in Canada, #1 in New Zealand, and #29 on the Billboard 100. It was released as a non-album single in 1966.

Manfred Mann’s record producer John Burgess: “‘Pretty Flamingo’ was the first song that was brought to the band from someone other than ourselves. I didn’t like it much as it didn’t have a black flavour, but I see now that it could have been done by The Drifters. Ben E King could have done a great job on it.”

This video will take you on a trip to the sixties.

On our block all of the guys call her flamingo
‘Cause her hair glows like the sun
And her eyes can light the skies
When she moves she walks so fine like a flamingo
Crimson dress that clings so tight
She’s out of reach and out of sight
When she walks by, she brightens up the neighborhood
Oh, every guy would make her his if he just could
If she just would

Some sweet day, I’ll make her mine, pretty flamingo
Then every guy will envy me
‘Cause paradise is where I’ll be

Pretty flamingo
Pretty flamingo
When she walks by she brightens up the neighborhood
Oh, every guy would make her his if he just could, ha
If she just would

Some sweet day, I’ll make her mine, pretty flamingo
Then every guy will envy me
‘Cause paradise is where I’ll be

Sha, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, pretty flamingo
Some day, I’ll make her mine (sha, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, pretty flamingo)
Yes I will, yes I will, I’ll make her mine (sha, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, pretty flamingo)

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

61 thoughts on “Manfred Mann – Pretty Flamingo”

  1. On what would have been my late mother’s 98th birthday, you choose one of her favourite records!

    Even though in her early forties when this was released she loved her pop music and ensured that I liked it too. I can still hear her singing it.

    I’ll go before I get all emotional!

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      2. That is cool that she was in her early 40s and liked current pop music. That could not have been a usual thing back then.

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      3. Yes, although quite a few thirties/forties women seemed to like it. Radios and pop music were everywhere – in houses and workplaces – and pop culture/The Beatles etc was not just restricted to the young, particularly if someone had a young outlook.

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      4. That is really cool…I read about “the generation gap” constantly about the sixties…it’s great that at the time that was happening. I have heard the stories about hearing songs down the streets because of all of the radios.

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      5. It’s true – there were always radios coming from houses, pop music and particularly Beatles songs were everywhere – which was ideal for us kids due to some of the more puerile, easily sung lyrics (Submarine, She Loves You). Other songs too with equally infantile-ish lyrics such as Simon Says by 1910 Fruitgum Company and Arthur Brown’s Fire were popular. Bubblegum pop was pretty ubiquitous.

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      6. Thats a dream world for me. It sounds like it was good for communities and being together. Now…everything is so separated, boxed in, and classified.

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      7. The Beatles, The Monkees, Batman and Thunderbirds along with playing, totally unsupervised on the local building sites (which built new houses) after the builders had gone for the weekend. That was my life around 66-67.

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      8. I read where Graham Nash said he would walk down the streets and hear Sgt Peppers the day it was released wafting out of the buildings . I mean…even when I was a kid that didn’t happen here with any music. What a cool enviroment.

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      1. I was surprised that it only got to #29 here but went to #1 in Canada…ususally the charts were closer than that on international songs.

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  3. Never knew Bruce was in Manfred Mann, and even more surprising that he only had on #1 while in Manfred Mann. So funny, and why I don’t care that much about the charts. It’s a good song and it seems vaguely familiar which means I probably heard it at some point. Cute time capsule video also.

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    1. I wanted to jump through that video and experience the atmosphere back then. It’s one of their songs that doesn’t get played as much. Strange a number 1 in Canada but 29 here.

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      2. Oh yes….and from what Paul said and I’ve read before…what a cool atmosphere where songs were just drifting out from windows everywhere…. sounds really cool. A togetherness we don’t have today.

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  4. Love that tune! My longtime German music buddy is a fan of early Manfred Mann. He has told me more than once to fugetabout Manfred Mann’s Earth Band and listen to early Manfred Mann instead.

    I like generally like the ’70s output by the Earth Band. I love their album “Watch.” That’s my story and I’m sticking with it!

    That said, I also dig Mann’s early tunes like this one, “Do Wah Diddy Diddy”, “Sha La La” and “Smokestack Lightning”!

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    1. LOL…it was like two different bands really…completely. I also liked Quinn the Eskimo by them also…I believe that was just Manfred Mann…

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      2. I’ll check Watch out. I know Springsteen probably appreciated them covering Blinded By The Light…that gave him a huge spotlight.

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      3. It was actually Manfred Mann’s Earth Band who unknowingly introduced me to great early Springsteen songs like “Blinded By the Light” and “Spirit in the Night”. In my youthful innocence, I thought they were all their songs. It really wasn’t until I got Springsteen’s “Live 1975–85” that the light bulb went on in my brain or whatever it is I have underneath my skull!

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      4. Yea…I didn’t hear Springsteen’s version until the 80s but I must admit I like Springsteen’s lowfi sound more but yea…probably the first Springsteen song I ever heard but never knew it was him that wrote it.

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      5. While it took me a while, I’ve come around and now love Springsteen’s originals. I also still enjoy the renditions by Manfred Mann’s Earth Band.

        The biggest shocker on “Live 1975–85” was Springsteen’s version of “Fire.” I loved the rendition by the Pointer Sisters and at first was very underwhelmed by Springsteen’s version. 🙂

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      6. I do enjoy their version don’t get me wrong…I just love his first album…crude sounding but that adds to the songs to me. They are tough and raw…like “It’s Hard To Be A Saint in the City”….

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      8. I hope Springsteen is alright….I read yesterday where he had to cancel some Philly gigs…probably a cold or something. You will see the best he has to offer in Jersey!

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      9. Oh jeez, I guess I have to keep fingers crossed. It’s still about two weeks out.

        When I saw Springsteen live in New Jersey in August 2016 during the River Tour, he played for 4 hours with no break! I understand he hasn’t been doing this during the current tour, and I would never expect that kind of lengthy performance from a 73-year-old artist, even though he seems to be in admirable shape.

        It’s think it’s going to be more like 2.5 hours, which is pretty long. And, who knows, maybe he’ll stretch it a little since it’s his home state. I’d be totally fine with 2.5 hours!

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      10. I bet it will be around 3 hours…McCartney was around 3 hours but he didn’t jump about like Springsteen does. Hopefully he will be alright by then…I’m sure he will be.
        When I saw them in 2000 it was around 3.5 to 4 hours long.

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      11. Like the different versions of Mac. Christian pointed out a few of the good songs they had. Their cover of ‘If You Gotta Go’ grabs me also. Very cool that you’re bringing these tunes out for folks. Amazing the connections people have. Why they call you “The Man Of Wax”

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      12. I love that title CB I’ll have to copywrite that!
        This was one band I wasn’t as familiar with…Quinn the Eskimo and Do Wah… are the two I knew the most from this version.
        I will check them out. I’m happy to explore more.

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      13. The Paul Jones lineup is the one i dig. He went onto form The Blues Band which I also like.
        (Baseball reference. Listening to a Wide Spread Panic cut this morning and they referenced Willie Mays. I always like those lyrics and I know you do)

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    1. It is…isn’t it strange Randy that it went to #1 in Canda but #29 here? I know there are other songs that do that sometimes but this was international… maybe it’s just me.

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      1. I think you had it right in your post it peaked at #2 but nevertheless that is quite a difference but not unusual for the two charts. There was less of a difference over time but back them there was a stronger British influence, we being one of the colonies and all.

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      2. Dang it! I had just looked up another song that peaked #1 in Canada…sorry about that…my mind was on that one! It was Rock On by David Essex by the way.

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  6. A good song & a big hit…weird it seems to me to be totally forgotten by oldies radio, ’60s compilation sets etc. I don’t think I’d ever heard it til I started writing a blog about Mann himself a few years ago.

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  7. I haven’t thought of that song in decades, but I remember it well. I read somewhere, a long time ago, that Manfred Mann was a jazz-inspired band at the start and then became more British invasion in the end. Do Wah Diddy was their biggest hit, and they hated the song, but it made them a butt load of cash and got them on the charts. Jack Bruce loved the guy’s voice and playing. Cream would not have been Cream without him.

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    1. Bruce was a really vocalist and as you know…a hell of a bass player. Him, Entwistle, and McCartneys are the ones I learned from when starting.

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  9. A lot of great comments and personal memories seem to cling to this song. The video IS a look at the swinging 60s, and for my two bits that statue of Eros in London always reminds me of the desire to see that 60s Pop art Carnaby Street world.
    This was HUGE in NZ, and 60s MM was a pop machine here then. They seemed to have a new hit out every other month for years. I liked ‘My Name Is Jack’ and ‘Semi-Detatched Suburban Mr Jones’ too, but some were …nah… ‘Fox On The Run’ ‘Ragamuffin Man,’ but, its all down to individual choice, is it not? Paul Jones had a few hits back then too, before his Blues Band days,’I’ve Been A Bad Bad Boy’ and ‘High Time.’
    They were two way different MM bands, one pure Pop the other Serious Rock Band maturer.

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    1. I fell in love with that video. I’ve also seen some clips from Carnaby Street in the 60s as well…what I wouldn’t give to enjoy that in that atmosphere once.
      I’m going to dig some more in them…they are one band I never really explored but I love this. Thanks for the suggestions…
      Manfred Mann’s bands kind of reminds me of the “Hey Carrie Anne” Hollies to the “The Air that I Breathe” Hollies.

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  10. I just want to crawl into that video and be one of the people on those London streets back in the 60s. This song gets occasional play on Radio Caroline, so it’s not a forgotten one for me like it would be otherwise. I love the 60s feel of it. I never knew Jack Bruce spent some time with Manfred Mann.

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    1. Thats what I said earlier in the comments. Just to get to feel that atmosphere…. just once. I didn’t know about Jack Bruce either until I wrote it.

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