Today, or hereabouts, marks fifty years since the Wurzels had a UK Number One with Combine Harvester, their parody of Melanie's earlier hit Brand New Key, although memory insists that the group originally sang a rather different version in live performance, conveying the information that, rather than pristine farming machinery their lead singer was merely in possession of a Brand New Pair of Underpants.
Let me say at once that I haven't heard the alternative lyrics for myself but I'm pretty sure that the existence of this ur-Harvester was reported in the music press at the time - or in one paper, at least. At the time I read most of them, however, and as I can't be certain of the date, nor how many of those publications might yet be waiting for me in digitised form in the British Library or elsewhere, it's not a search I feel particularly eager to begin - and if they haven't been digitised and I have to go through page after yellowing page, fuggedaboutit.
Once, when researching The Book What I Cowrote, I spent a fruitless day at the former newspaper library in Colindale, leafing through copies of the variety artists' newspaper The Performer. Okay, it was enjoyable enough, I suppose, as all sorts of interesting titbits presented themselves along the way, including a joke about the near-miraculous way in which a certain comedian of the time had saved himself from drowning ("He clawed the d*mn pier"), but not a trace could be found of the vital clue which had been the purpose of my quest.
It had been a fair journey too, and I had been reluctant to go in the first place, anticipating such a result, until my wily psittacine subject wore me down, assuring me it was "all in a good cause." One fellow-writer later commended said subject for his "impeccable" research, even telling him that they must, on occasion, have been in Colindale at the same time, too immersed in their respective investigations to be aware of each other's presence ... but no more o'that.
Let's fast forward to 2022 when, not having given them much thought in the intervening years, my thoughts turned once again to Somerset undergarments when I happened to purchase a Wurzels songbook from a well-known auction website.
As this was on behalf of an employer in the educational field I was prompted to search out more
information about the songs in the book, which led to my discovering the Wurzels' official website. This contains some fascinating details about many of them, thanks to the industry of one "Professor Wurzel"; I didn't appreciate, for example, just how many of the group's songs had their origins, however distantly, in traditional numbers, in the folk tradition of numerous regional variants and reworkings.
I told the Professor of my lingering memory of an earlier version of the de-Safkaed ditty, asking whether he could confirm its existence and, if so, whether those ruder lyrics had been the group's own invention or whether they could also be be attributed to Brendan Grace, as their hit record had been?
Who, you ask? Brendan Grace, an Irish comedian, had taken Combine Harvester into the charts in Ireland the previous year; the Wurzels' version had been a cover. Talk about regional variants ...
The professor, who kindly treating my enquiry with the importance I felt it merited, looked through all the notes and archives, and told me:
Firstly, so far as I am aware, the performance of the song at gigs did not happen until after the recording was made and released. Secondly - I can find nothing to support the press report regarding underpants!!! Generally both now and in the past, the Wurzels' performances were strictly prepared and choreographed and very rarely have they deviated from the set list and lyrics. I would suggest that if the press report was correct it was perhaps a one-off private intimate gig which was a bit informal - but to be honest I find it unlikely!So there - unless anyone reading this also happens to remember a news item in Sounds, the NME, Melody Maker, Disc or possibly Record Mirror - the matter must, I suppose, be left. All I can say is that I'm sure this isn't a case of false memory syndrome on my part. Could it have been a bit of mischievousness on a journalist's or an overzealous PR's part, on the grounds that any mention in the press, even of authorship of a bogus bawdy ballad, is better than none at all?
I also mentioned to the professor that I remembered Ian Whitcomb saying that he had written the song Wurzel Fudge for the group, but it hadn't been accepted. The professor (otherwise known as Jonathan) said he thought that Adge Cutler's archives did indeed have a set of the Wurzel Fudge lyrics, sent to the group's leader around 1973, along with several other possible songs from him and some other writers who wanted their work promoted. Sadly, it wasn't Ian Whitcomb at his best, as the professor agreed: "bit of a dire song ..." But you can check for yourself at the end.
For those who haven't heard Brendan Grace's original Combine Harvester, the Wurzels are pretty faithful to his lyrics, though leaving out some details such as "lashings of hair oil" in preparation for the dance and other small matters. An interesting sociological essay could perhaps be written about those minor differences - but not, please God, by me ...
Incidentally, on both the Brendan Grace and the Wurzels singles the composition is credited solely to "Melanie" or "Safka" (her surname), though presumably Grace must be earning money from his spoof as I read somewhere that the proceeds from the Wurzels' version paid for his children's education - and looking at the songbook's catalogue entry I see that Combine Harvester is jointly credited there to Melanie Safka and Brendan O'Shaughnessy, presumably Grace's real name. I suppose that at that some point Melanie could have withheld permission for the parody to be released; the Goons, after all, were once prevented from releasing their version of Unchained Melody because the publishers feared it would devalue the song. I wonder, however, whether Melanie ever imagined that her song would become a huge hit twice over in its new comic cladding?
For those not familiar with the Wurzels' history they were originally the backing band for the charismatic singer Adge Cutler, mentioned above. Cutler had been a roadie for trad jazz star Acker Bilk, and had had success in the sixties and early seventies, singing what has been dubbed "scrumpy and western", extolling the virtues of cider drinking (Drink Up Thy Zider) and other country pursuits. After he died in a car accident in 1974 the remaining group carried on singing his songs - and adding more to the canon, including a second novelty hit, I Am a Cider Drinker - the group's own reworking, this time, of Una Paloma Blanca, a huge international hit for the George Baker Selection. The original was apparently about a poor South American farmer dreaming of being, well, free as a bird, as the Threetles would say.
Let's remember Adge Cutler with the song Chitterling (yes, as in the chitlin' circuit) as this is the first time I recall hearing the group:
And we'll end proceedings with what might be called Safka's Metamorphosis, though it seems more respectful to go backwards and end with Melanie's original vision: we'll start with the Wurzels' original promo film, therefore, before entering a state of Grace and finally reminding ourselves of the source.
The idea of possessing a key for someone's door is a common blues image but the Melanie song isn't salacious, managing to seem both decorous and feisty at the same time - you couldn't imagine that sarcastic line "Some people say I done alright for a girl" being sung by her near-contemporary Mary Hopkin, for example.
I once had a friend who was very keen on Melanie and bought the live album Leftover Wine, which I borrowed. Not sure how I'd feel about it now but not long before the singer's death I listened to an interview which suggested that she was still taking pleasure in performing and still had an appreciative audience. And there is certainly still a freshness in Brand New Key which survives any parody.
I was going to end at this point but looking at the official Wurzels website I see that they have embraced AI - "Agricultural Intelligence" in their case:
"We decided to explore this new artificial world so we let it analyse our catalogue of Wurzel songs and give us some lyrical inspiration for a new release."
With so much conversation in the media about the various issues with using AI to create entertainment content, there are real concerns over plagiarism of artists' and writers' copyrights.
"Stars like them young 'uns Elton and Macca are right to be concerned, we don’t agree with plagiarism in any form without some form of remuneration and credit and so in this case we have strived to only plagiarise ourselves!" added Tommy Banner.
"Also, within seconds it came up with some great alternatives so we decided to turn the whole thing on its head and start again with AI being the subject!"
You can listen to the result by entering Wurzel World, below, if you dare. Good to see that Adge Cutler is represented in the video - I suppose you could say this is their version of the Threetles' Free as a Bird ...
Related posts and links:
They Turned Me On - Part One: Ian Whitcomb
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