The song I know most by them is Hold Tight but after finding that one I found this odd song by them. It was their only #1 song in the UK. It also did well in New Zealand peaking at #1, #10 in Canada, and #123 in the Billboard 100 in 1968. The song was written by Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley.
You know…before we continue. Sometimes a band’s name can help and maybe hurt them a little. In this case, the word HINDER comes into play… although I do get a laugh out of it…I had to serach my own site to find their correct name again.
David John Harman (Dave Dee), Trevor Leonard Ward-Davies (Dozy), John Dymond (Beaky), Michael Wilson (Mick) and Ian Frederick Stephen Amey (Tich), who were childhood friends from Wiltshire (same area as the Troggs) formed a group in 1961. They were originally called Dave Dee and the Bostons. A few years later they changed their names to Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich.
Songwriter Ken Howard who recorded them: “We changed their name to Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich, because they were their actual nicknames and because we wanted to stress their very distinct personalities in a climate which regarded bands as collectives”.
They never made it big in America but they were huge in the UK. They had thirteen UK Top forty hits, eight UK Top 10’s, and one Number 1 with this song. In New Zealand, the band had three number-one hits, and seven other songs reached the top ten.
I heard them a bit through the 80s and 90s but not much. Quentin Tarantino must have liked them because he featured Hold Tight in his movie Death Proof during the infamous crash scene.
The group re-formed in the 1990s with Dee as lead vocalist once again. Dave Dee performed his last gig in Eisenburg, Germany on September 20, 2008, and died at Kingston Hospital, southwest London, in January 2009 at the age of 65, following a three-year battle with cancer.
The Legend Of Xanadu
Esta es la leyenda de Xanadu
You’ll hear my voice, on the wind, ‘cross the sand
If you should return To that black barren land that bears the name of XanaduCursed without hope, was the love that I sought
Lost from the start Was the duel that was s’pposed to win her heart in XanaduAnd the foot prints leave no traces
Only shadows move in places where we used to go And the buildings open to the sky All echo when the vultures cry as if to show Our love was for a day Then doomed to pass away In Xanadu, in Xanadu, in XanaduIn Xanadu, in Xanadu, in Xanadu
What was it to you that a man laid down his life for your love
Were those clear eyes of yours ever Filled with the pain and the tears and the grief Did you ever give your self to any one man in this whole wide world Or did you love me and will you find your way back one day to XanaduYou’ll hear my voice, on the wind, ‘cross the sand
If you should return To that black barren land that bears the name of XanaduIn Xanadu, in Xanadu, in Xanadu, in Xanadu