Badfinger – Dennis

Badfinger has always been one of my favorite bands. They had a brilliant songwriter Pete Ham and a very good one Tommy Evans. No Matter What is considered one of the earliest power pop songs.

Badfinger is the band that got me into power pop. After reading about them my interest widened into Big Star and then the Raspberries. If any of you readers have a time machine I could use…take me back to January 19, 1973, at the Chicago Aragon Ballroom…where The Raspberries opened up for Badfinger. That would be a power pop dream.

This song was featured on their 1974 album Wish You Were Here. It was written by Pete Ham and he is the lead vocalist. Dennis is on many “Badfinger Best” lists…in some number 1 over Baby Blue, Day After Day, and No Matter What. The melody in this song is very good.

The album was released in late 1974 and was pulled in early 1975 before it had time to do anything because of litigation between Badfinger’s manager (Stan Polley) and the Warner Brothers. It was released and pulled in a matter of weeks. Warner Brothers saw the money was missing (Polley took it all out of trust) and yanked the album off of the shelves. It was rising in the charts when it was pulled. They recorded another album right after this called Head First but because of litigation, it wasn’t released until 2000.

The band was basically broke. With all of their self-written hits, they should have been set financially for years.

Pete Ham didn’t have the money to pay his mortgage and with a baby on the way drunk and depressed at the fatal age (for rock stars) of 27 Ham hanged himself at the age of 27 in his garage studio in 1975. In 1983 after scrambling for gigs, Tom Evans broke and was not able to get to any of the royalties due him from co-writing Without You with Pete…hanged himself also.

Dennis

Deeper waters flowedRecently it showedTryin’ to cover your headTryin’ to frighten youTryin’ to fight with youReally gettin’ you scaredBut don’t you worry, you love of minePretty soon it will all be fineAnd we’ll just go on

Higher hills to climbClimbin’ all the timeTryin’ to find a way throughFallin’ down again, on the ground againWonderin’ what you can doBut don’t you worry, you love of oursThey look like weeds, but they’re really flowersAnd they’ll soon be gone

You won’t stand up, you won’t sit downYour head’s a mile above the groundAnd though we tend to scold you nowI couldn’t start to tell you howWe couldn’t start to tell you howThere’s just no way to say how much we love you

You, little Dennis, youYou’re full of new surpriseLove youYou, little Dennis with the rascal in your eyesYou’re a prize

It could be bad, it could be worseYou’re taking out your mother’s purseAnd though you cried when you got toldThe money there was for the oldTo keep their dogs from getting coldThe only thing that can’t be sold is love

You, little Dennis, youYou’re full of new surpriseLove youYou, little Dennis with the rascal in your eyes

Will you pick up your toys?Will you be a good boy?Will you please, please?

There’s a wayThere’s a wayIf you’ll playIf you’ll stayThere’s a way throughThere’s a way toTake away blueTake away blue

There’s a wayThere’s a wayIf you’ll playIf you’ll stayThere’s a way throughThere’s a way toTake away blueTake away blue

There’s a wayThere’s a wayIf you’ll playIf you’ll stayThere’s a way throughThere’s a way to

…

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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.

34 thoughts on “Badfinger – Dennis”

  1. What a sad story. Both hung themselves?!? Ugh. Horrible!

    And of course it doesn’t give me much hope in the music business. I think it supports my bleak outlook on it. So sad.

    I never knew the music of Badfinger. But I feel terrible for artists that write and get so many great songs produced and then get screwed over by record labels, managers, etc.

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    1. Yes it did happen…a crooked manager took everything they had.
      Shelia…you probably have heard of them…I’m almost positive. Their hits were “No Matter What”, Day After Day, Baby Blue, and Come and Get It….Baby Blue was used at the end of Breaking Bad.
      I would bet a grand you heard ALL of those.

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  3. It certainly is one of the most tragic stories in rock history. Two highly talented people who got a raw deal. I knew some of the story but didn’t realize don’t know this song but it certainly demonstrates the range they had as writers and performers.

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      1. I wouldn’t put it up there with the big singles, but then again… first time hearing it. It does show again that they had talent though and were more than just one or two songs

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  6. ‘Dennis’ has all the marks of their hits, very good; changes in tempo, and it all holds together.

    Stan Polley- scum of the earth. If the Vatican’s right he’s one who should be in perpetual purgatory, with no hope for parole.

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    1. I agree on Polley… he took it all…I mean most smart crooked managers would skim some but to take it all and to stop their career? They could have earned so much more.

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  7. Nice melody. I think I have this on a hits CD, but still not as familiar with it as their big ones. Without knowing all the details of what happened to them, something seems strange to me. I don’t want to put blame where it doesn’t belong, but with as closely as they worked with Paul McCartney and George Harrison, you would think that maybe they would have tried to lend a hand. Especially with the music scene in Britain being smaller, maybe it was an open secret. It’s just sad that it got to the point that it did, but maybe I’m way off base.

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    1. I always wondered if Ham or Evans ever reached out to them. I don’t think they did after they left Apple.
      I’ve read a bio of them before….what makes it worse is Pete Ham seemed like such a great nice (too nice) guy. No one had a bad word to say about him…the others yes some…but not Ham.

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      1. A few months ago I saw a small clip on YouTube where George briefly mentioned Pete Ham hanging himself, but I can’t remember exactly.

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      2. Yea…he was drinking that night with Evans and tried to call the manager Polley…but of course got nothing. His daughter was due in a few months.
        His daughter has grown up and seems to be doing well….she is very pretty.

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