First, I want to tell you the readers that I really appreciate you. No matter what curve I throw at you all (Pub rock, surf music, western swing, country, folk, Texas songwriters, etc)…you always respond and try songs you’ve never heard before. You don’t care if the song is popular or not; you just want good songs. I just hope I can keep finding songs worth your time.
I’ve always been interested in The Move, especially Roy Wood. They could write a catchy pop song and still experiment without losing the melody. This one might be my favorite because it shows every side of the band at once. It’s psychedelic without being over the top, pop without being lightweight, and it has that Roy Wood touch. If you’ve only heard Electric Light Orchestra, do yourself a favor and spend some time with The Move. You’ll hear where so many of those great ideas began.
The Move formed in 1965 and was very successful until Roy Wood (lead singer and songwriter), Jeff Lynne (who joined in 1969), and Bev Bevan formed ELO in 1972. While most groups concentrated on albums, The Move seemed to have a gift for releasing one great single after another. During this period, Roy Wood became the band’s creative driving force, writing ambitious songs while experimenting with strings, layered harmonies, and unusual arrangements.
This was written by Roy Wood during a difficult period when he was reportedly frustrated with the music business and the direction of the band. Rather than writing another upbeat pop song, he came up with something moodier. The record blends melancholy lyrics with one of the catchiest melodies of the late 1960s. Its rich harmonies, cello, and piano gave it a sound unlike anything else on the radio.
It was released in late 1968; it became The Move’s only number-one single on the UK Singles Chart. Ironically, just as the band reached the top, they were already evolving toward a new chapter. Not long afterward, Jeff Lynne joined and then Lynne and Wood eventually launched Electric Light Orchestra. They carried many of the ideas first explored in The Move.
Blackberry Way
Blackberry Way
Absolutely pouring down with rain
It’s a terrible day
Up with a lark
Silly girl I don’t know what to say
She was running away
So now I’m standing on the corner
Lost, in the things that I said
What am I supposed to do now-w
Goodbye Blackberry Way
I can’t see you
I don’t need you
Goodbye Blackberry Way
Sure to want me back another day
Gone to the park
Overgrowing but the trees are bare
There’s a memory there
Boats on the lake
Unattended now, they’re all to drown
I’m incredibly down
Just like myself they are neglected
Turn, with my eyes to the wall
What am I supposed to do now-w
Goodbye Blackberry Way
I can’t see you
I don’t need you
Goodbye Blackberry Way
Sure to want me back another day
Ooo-black, Ooo-black, ooo-ooo
Ahhh-hhh-hhh
Ooo-black, Ooo-black, ooo-ooo
Ahhh-hhh-hhh
Run for the train
Look behind you for she may be there
Say I think you’re the girl
Blackberry Way
See the battlefields of care or sins
Cast to the winds
So full of emptiness without her
Lost in the words that I said
What am I supposed to do now-w
Goodbye Blackberry Way
I can’t see you
I don’t need you
Goodbye Blackberry Way
Sure to want me back another day
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Always cool! Always awesome brother Max! Love and Light God Bless ❤️✨🙏💯🎸💥
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Thanks dude!
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You’re very welcome my brother Max! #GoodWorks 💯👀
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Classic pop, I loved this track at the time and beyond Move when I had a hat trick of fave acts in ELO, Roy Wood and Wizzard. This record is very Beatles-ish, a sort of darker Penny Lane and it seems a run-through for the first brilliant ELO record 10538 Overture – and Jeff Lynne was still nowhere to be seen in The Move at this point.
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I first heard this maybe on Life On Mars or some other BBC program…I love it. Yea I wish Lynne and Wood would have stayed together in ELO
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Excellent discussion of The Move. They made some great singles, as Max made clear they were a singles band in a time of lps, and were a lot more than just a stepping stone to ELO
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Yes they were Arthur…the released some great pop/rock singles.
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The Move were one of those retroactive discoveries. Due to exploring JeffLynn’s past. But I really didn’t listen to the music! This is great stuff. A shame Wood and Lynn didn’t get along. There could have been some amazing music. Not that I don’t love ELO.
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catchy song, a bit reminiscent of ‘Penny Lane’. I’ve heard this song and of The Move but only through my researching for pieces about ELO. North American radio didn’t seem to ever find them. Obviously a fair bit of talent in the band though and I believe several early ELO songs like ‘Do ya’ were just re-recordings of The Move songs, right?
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Yes…Do Ya was a Move song…they have a lot of good songs that I like. They could write great melodies
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seems like it. Wood and Bevan were both big talents in their own right
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I often thought if there was no ‘Move’ there’d be no ELO
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I agree! I like the Move a lot…I wished Wood would have stayed.
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You’ve picked a song I’ve loved from the very first moment I heard it on the radio back in Germany. I’m pretty my first exposure to “Blackberry Way” was the Sunday night oldies show on my go-to German pop radio station, hosted by the great Frank Laufenberg. Not only was a widely recognized music expert, who among others had published a rock almanac, but I also liked his taste.
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Cool! Glad I hit memory lane for ya! I remembered this song in a show or movie…I love it.
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Never explored their music but was on board with early ELO. That live cut from Jool’s show is quite a production.
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Yea…Wood had some good music. He was darker than Lynne and I wished he would have stayed with ELO
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I have heard of The Move song Flowers in the Rain, but this one was new to me.
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They wrote the song “Do Ya” that is really good.
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The Move also did the classic “Brontosaurus” which I may not spell correctly but the record rocks big time.
I am of the opinion that Wood moving away from Lynne was the greatest thing that happened to Lynne. Nothing against either one of them, but those first two ELO records (with Wood and Lynne) just aren’t the ELO we all know and love
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Max, I am one of those who only knows Electric Light Orchestra of the two groups, but I absolutely get that canvassing The Move’s catalog of songs now would be a great way to hear that genesis of ELO.
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Yes…you will hear it…and Roy Wood was part of ELO for a time. It all started here.
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A lot of talent in The Move, though I prefer The Move itself to all the others that came later. A great singles group, ‘Fire Brigade’ ‘Flowers In The Rain’ ‘I Can Hear The Grass Grow,’ and then outta left field ‘Brontosaurus’ which has a lot of proto-Metal in there. (Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend must have heard ‘Do Ya’ and said ‘do ya think this next Move sounds a little familiar?’)
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Yea! I can see that with that song. I’m loving what I’m hearing obbverse. All are likable…the only one I’ve posted so far is Do Ya…and I want to start covering more.
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I’ve been checking out some Move albums recently – they’re one of the best British 60s bands outside of the big names. Blackberry Way is maybe my favourite too.
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From all I’ve heard…I’m really impressed by Wood. I’m going to check more of them as well.
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Wood has a well-regarded solo.album too, Boulders. And that Christmas song!
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Oh yes…I forget bout that Christmas song!
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Great tune, knew nothing about The Move as the precursor to ELO. This def has an ELO flavor to it, also Beatles.
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