Actually, I’m pretty sure an earlier post had it right – B-side of “Immigrant Song”. It certainly fits in with Zep III’s mostly-folksy feel.
You got it, anagrammer.
I remember one early Paul McCartney and Wings song A side.
It started out as Hi Hi Hi, but this was banned as someone thought it had drug referances, so they flipped it and made the B side into the A side.
That song was CMoon.
Marvin Gaye’s ‘Too busy thinking about my baby’ had a great B side which became a major hit for Paul Young ‘Wherever I lay my hat’
Very good call, and agreed. At least “We’re All Alone” was available on Silk Degrees.
Rats! :smack: All these years I would have sworn that it was the flip to “Whole Lotta Love”. I went and dragged out my pile of 45s and, sure enough, it’s on “Immigrant Song”. Thanks for straightening me out!
If I remember right, Rubber Ball was Bobby Vee’s big hit, but Run to Him on the B-side was my favorite.
My daughter has custody of all my 45’s (50’s and 60’s, country and rock & roll), and back then, the B-sides were very listenable. Either that, or we were poor, and deluded ourselves into thinking that we were getting our money’s worth by enjoying both sides.
I’m trying to remember what a 45 cost in the 50’s. Seems like it might have been a buck. Anybody remember for sure? That seems like a lot of money.
Even though I’ve never bought a 45 rpm record and really can’t stand John Cougar’s music, I do recall really liking a b-side song of his that used to get airplay on FM.
A remake of James Brown’s Cold Sweat in a duet with Tina Turner. A quick search on AMG confirms it’s rare, OOP & not available in digital format.
I remember being pissed when the price went from 88 cents to 98 cents, so your “buck” memory is real close. Maybe after they went to 98 cents, it was about $1.03 after tax was added. 33 & 1/3 Lp’s were $3.98.
And you liked “Run to Him” better than “Rubber Ball”? :eek: You are one weird chick!
I remember playing the Rolling Stones “Who’s Driving Your Plane?” more often than the A-side “Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby (Standing in the Shadows)?” The A-side was just too out-there for me (at the time).
I’ll take that as a compliment. 
I hated the “Bouncy Bouncy” background chant in Rubber Ball. Embarrassing and silly, IMHO.
Yeh, price was 89 to 99 cents per 45. I have a ton with picture sleeves, with little price stickers on them. I never wanted to tear the things off so I wouldn’t rip the sleeve.
I have a 45 of ‘Old Man River’, by the Flamingos. Half the song on each side. How annoying to have to flip it to hear the whole thing. It runs close to 8 minutes. I finally got it in its entirety on the CD, ‘The Flamingos…For Collectors Only’.
A slight hijack, to say: I’ve been a Beatles fan since they were on Ed Sullivan, and I’ve been listening to Oldies/Classic Rock format stations forever…and I have NEVER heard “The Inner Light”. Not once.
“Rain”, though, is cool. I had Paperback Writer on 45, so I’m familiar with it (and have heard it on the radio, once or twice, in the past 40 years.)
Okay, now you have me digging into my archives of trivia.
In 1966, the Flamingos issued a song called ‘The Boogaloo Party’. It charted at # 22 on the R&B charts. It was their only record to also make the British charts.
The ‘B’ side is probably the most played doo wop song of all time.
‘I Only Have Eyes For You’.
The Inner Light is a lovely George Harrison song from 1968. The words are from a Buddhist poem – “Without going out of my door…I can know all things on earth…”. Just three instruments, I think – an Indian guitar-like thing, an Indian violin-like thing, and tabla.
Oh - also and Indian flute.
A George Harrison song
'nuff said!
I’m not tracking you here. The Flamingos’ “I Only Have Eyes For You” was a hit in the Summer of '59. I’m not sure what was on the B side. (Maybe “Moonrise”?) Are you saying that they made another record in '66 and put their big hit from '59, “I Only Have Eyes For You”, on the B side? That would have been most unusual!
Please do. 
Yeah, and wimpy lyrics too. But “Rubber Ball” is a bouncy tune, none the less. Speakin’ of wimpy lyrics, “Run To Him” just makes me wanna, well, grab ol’ Bobby Vee by the throat and yell “Grow a set!” in his face.
According to my source:
“I Only Have Eyes For You”/“At the Prom” - End Records 1046
There’s no entry for a 1966 re-release, but there is a 1966 entry for the Lettermen (it tanked at #72).
Always listened to the b-sides, at least once. Agreed that in many cases (most) they were throwaway tracks. However, the exceptions are many and often hugely worthwhile. As mentioned earlier, The Beatles and later McCartney & Wings released so many great songs as b-sides that many became hits in their own right, thus creating the concept of the “double a-side.” Elvis Presley had a bunch of these as well, although he was no stranger to the throwaway b-side too.
I especially loved the otherwise unreleased gems that sometimes showed up on b-sides of singles. One of Joni Mitchell’s best songs ever, “Urge for Going” only existed as the b-side of “You Turn Me On I’m a Radio” (1972) for 24 years until the Hits and Misses cd collections were released (1996).
Someone mentioned “Silver Spring” (1977) by Fleetwood Mac, which only existed as the b-side of “Go Your Own Way” for many years and that version is still the best.
Elton John’s “Skyline Pigeon” was on the b-side of “Daniel,” apparently recorded at the time as the Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player album (1973), and this definitive version was a far cry from the earlier harpsichord version found on Empty Sky (1969).
Procul Harum’s classic “A Whiter Shade of Pale” single had a great b-side, “Homburg” (1967) which was a rarity for many years.
These are just a few examples off the top of my head. I think there are enough of these that with a little research, an interesting book could be written on the subject. Nice thread.
Please please please spell it right: it’s Procol Harum.
And no, “Homburg” was not the B-side to “A Whiter Shade of Pale”; it was the follow-up single. The B-side of “Whiter Shade” was “Lime Street Blues,” a nifty little rocker that contrasts quite effectively with the A-side. B-side of “Homburg” was the jaunty music-hall number “Good Captain Clack.”
Other Procol Harum B-sides of note: “In the Wee Small Hours of Sixpence” (B of “Quite Rightly So”), which would have fit nicely on either of the first two albums; “Long Gone Geek” (U.K. B-side of “A Salty Dog”), a grinding, hard rock wild west tale; “Luskus Delph” (U.K. B-side of “Conquistador”), a wonderful live version from the Edmonton Symphony concert; “Drunk Again” (U.K. B-side of “Nothing But the Truth”), another great riff-rock number; and “Blue Danube” (French-only release, B-side of “Adagio di Albinoni”), a full-lenght arrangement of the Strauss waltz, recorded live. All of these were unavailable on LP at the time they were released. (All have subsequently appeared on various compilations and CD reissues.)