45 RPM Singles. Did you play the B-side?

Cafe Society
61

I once had a recording of “She Belong to Me” by Harry wilcox Jr., written by Robert Zimmerman. My memory is that this was the B side, but I could have b een wrong because I can’t remember what was on the other wide.

I dragged this 45 out some years ago to prove that (1) it had a copywrite date of 1962 and (2) the credit was to R. Zimmerman and not Bob Dylan. I don’t know if this counts because R. Zimmerman was not a legend (or maybe he burst on the scene that way; eyewitnesses seem to think so).

More legends: At one time I had a45–I think maybe my last 45 ever–of something called “Zig Zag” by George Harrison. I don’t remember what was on the other side but again I somehow think “Zig Zag” was the B side. Sure wish I could find that one.

62

“Zig Zag” was the B-side of “When We Was Fab.”

63

I always loved B sides. Best I ever remember was “The House that Jack Built” which was the flip of “I Say A Little Prayer for You” by Aretha Franklin. Rollicking good tune!

mm

64

Another good one was “The Road To Alaska” which was a Bee-Gees B side (of either “Lonley Days” or “Run to me” IIRC). Great Robin Gibb vocal and a completely out of Bee Gees character hard rock guitar solo. What an awesome, underrated, under credited group they are/were

mm

65

“Run to Me”

66

For years in interviews Siouxsie (& the Banshees) had said she preferred recording B sides – more scope to experiment and let rip. I’d heard some but had not really taken a great deal of notice until they released a whole box set of them a few months back - “Downside Up”.
Listening to every B-side presented as a whole is impressive. Some of the experimentation is a bit self-indulgent, but overall its a very good listen and includes some cracking tunes.

67

:smack:

Squeeze - b side of Sunday St. - ‘Maidstone’

Just great.

MiM

68

It’s kinda weird how the dominos in my brain just got fell.

Mentioning Siouxsie => Brings to mind their 2 singles compliations (Once & Twice Upon a Time) => The (underrated) Fall’s 2 singles compilations (458489 A-Sides / B-Sides) => Probably my fave B-Side of all time:

The Fall’s Cab It Up

69

This is from the liner notes from a boxed set of Flamingo CDs that I have in front of me. It’s my only cite.

In early 1966, they re-cut “I Only Have Eyes For You”.
It was the flip, however, that got the action: “The Boogaloo Party,” a
catchy dance tune sung mostly in unison, became their first R&B charter in six years (#22, #93 Pop). Trivia question: Out of all the fantastic Flamingos recordings ever made, which is the only single ever to make the British charts? Right! “The Boogaloo Party” (#26, and it took three and a half years to get there, charting in June of 1969).
Also, I read the following:

I Only Have Eyes For You / Goodnight Sweetheart…End 1046 4/59
I Only Have Eyes For You / At The Prom…End 1046 5/59
I Only Have Eyes For You/Love Walked In…End 1046 12/64
Boogaloo Party / I Only Have Eyes For You…Phlps 40347 8/66

Boogaloo Party being the A side, is how it is listed. Thus, my original post.

70

NOW you’re givin’ us the info, ltfire. Cool, but dammit!: From what you posted, the '59 release of I Only Have Eyes For You could have one of two B sides. You’re gonna make me dig through those boxes and pull out a scratched-up 45 just to satiffy my curiosity.

71

Heres a web site that lists the B side as “Good Night Sweetheart”. I’ve filled in a lot of holes in my collection here.
http://www.oldies.com/search/index.cfm

The copy I have on my juke box…believe it or not, just to prove the truth…has “At The Prom” as a B side. I didnt get it at any web site, I picked it up way back when because it has an old girl friends name on it , with a heart. Must have gotten layed to it but I’m foggy on the details.
:smiley:

72

(bolding mine)

I envy you the fog. I ain’t a bit foggy about the girl I associate with I Only Have Eyes For You. I blew that deal, just to show her how hard-headed I could be. In my case, foggy would be better.

Thanks for the link.

73

Yes, I played the “B” side on every one I bought (for 89c to $1.00), often just once, but sometimes the DJ’s would start playing the B sides enough so that they also became popular. From box 1 of my half vast collection, I offer the following ones of which the B sides gained pop status as well as the A sides. Sorry if the younger ones of you do not recognize the titles or even most of the artists, but the other fogies might get some pleasant memories. Mostly chronological (by purchase date-mid-'50’s). I also have one of those RCA Victor changers, about 10" x 8" x 6" high, plus the fat spindle that held a dozen 45’s. It has a Ding Dong School promo label but it died years ago. I know, TMI.
Dragnet/Dancing in the Dark – Ray Anthony
Somebody Bad Stole De Wedding Bell/Baubles, Bangles and Beads – Georgia Gibbs
Ricochet/Too Young to Tango – Teresa Brewer
You’ll Never Walk Alone/I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Cry Over You – Roy Hamilton
Ebb Tide/If I Could Make You Mine – Vic Damone
Crazy Mixed-Up Song/What Shall We Do With a Lonesome Lover – Peter Lind Hayes & Mary Healey
Secret Love/The Deadwood Stage – Doris Day
Make Love to Me/Adi-Adios Amigo – Jo Stafford
Cross Over the Bridge/My Restless Lover – Patti Page
A Girl, A Girl/Anema E Core – Eddie Fisher
The Man Upstairs/If You Love Me – Kay Starr
The Man with the Banjo/Man, Man Is For the Woman Made – The Ames Brothers
Isle of Capri/Love I You – The Capris
Gilly Gilly Ossenfeffer Katzenellen Bogen by the Sea/I Hear it Everywhere – The Four Lads (the “B” side wasn’t that popular but I just had to tell you kids about the “A” title)
I Need You Now/Heaven Was Never Like This – Eddie Fisher (Liz Taylor’s 3rd? husband; Carrie’s dad)
The Crazy Otto/Humoresque – Johnny Maddox
Dance with Me, Henry!/Ballin’ the Jack – Georgia Gibbs
Love Me or Leave Me/Something’s Gotta Give – Sammy Davis, Jr.
Unchained Melody/From Here to Eternity – Roy Hamilton
No, Not Much/I’ll Never Know – The Four Lads
Hot Diggity/Juke Box Baby – Perry Como
The Magic Touch – Winner Take All – The Platters
All Shook Up/That’s When Your Heartache Begins – Elvis
Hound Dog/Don’t Be Cruel – Elvis
Love me Tender/Any Way You Want Me – Elvis
Carmen’s Boogie/A Story Untold – The Crew-Cuts
I’m So Glad/Se De Boom Run Dun – Mickey and Sylvia

74

By the way, Gilly, Gilly, Ossenfeffer, Katzenellen Bogen by the Sea made it onto “The Very Best of The Four Lads-Moments To Remember” cd as track #5 (of 21) Taragon Records TARCD-1079 in 2000.

75

Speaking of Elvis, I discovered his version of “Wooden Heart” on the flipside of “Puppet on a String”.

Tom Petty (a big Elvis fan) did a decent cover for his box set.

76

the flip side of “light my fire” by the doors is “the crystal ship” a very creepy drug related song that sticks in your memory.

77

Wow, it’s nice to see a bunch of people into B-sides!

Speaking of Elvis, a good number of his B-sides are really fine performances, even if they didn’t make any charts. “There Goes My Everything” was the A-side, but on the flip was “I Really Don’t Want To Know”, which might be my favorite Elvis record.

Steppenwolf had a single called “Ride With Me” that had a non-LP B-side, “For Madmen Only”. It’s mainly an epic guitar noise freakout, but still otherwise unreleased.

The B-side of “School’s Out” by Alice Cooper is unique to the 45. Titled “Gutter Cat,” it’s actually a skillful edit of two of the LP tracks, with an extra overdub of synthesizer lead.

On the other side of “Sylvia’s Mother” by Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show, is perhaps their greatest druggie song, “Makin’ It Natural” - in which they get to imitate John Denver at the end. Hey, it was current humor at the time!

B-side of “Crocodile Rock” by Elton John is “Elderberry Wine”, which could have been an A-side if it wasn’t about getting drunk. Also, the B-side of “Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting” has two songs, “Jack Rabbit” and “Whenever You’re Ready (We’ll Go Steady Again” that were unavailable for years and years. Now they’re bonus tracks.

The B-side of “We’re An American Band” by Grand Funk got more jukebox play in my area than the A-side. “Creepin’” is an 8:00-plus album track, of which they could only fit about 6 1/2 minutes on the single. We liked it anyway!

B-side of “Higher Ground” by Stevie Wonder is an amazing song called “Too High”.

We used to hear all these songs before we had enough money to buy the albums. Then, eventually we could afford to do that, and discovered that lots of the B-sides were not on them. And that’s why I’m still collecting records!

78

Odd, because I think it’s one of the best songs the Beatles recorded - and still a total obscurity. It’s certainly on the Rarities LP on the Capitol label which you should be able to track down in a decent sized record store, and I should think it would have to be out on CD by now, on one of the Anthology releases if nowhere else.

I’m surprised so many people are panning B-sides; in the 50s & especially 60s the songs tended to be a whole lot more inetresting & usually better, if not big hits or as familiar.

I believe Bo Diddley’s “I’m a Man” is the flip of “Bo Diddley.”

Wasn’t “Wipeout” the B-side of “Surfer Joe”?

Also B-sides:

Stone Free - Jimi Hendrix Experience

Big Black Smoke - The Kinks

I’ll Feel A Whole Lot Better - Byrds

The Warmth Of The Sun - Beach Boys

Not Fade Away - Buddy Holly

The list could go on and on…

79

It (“The Inner Light”) is on the second Past Masters volume.

80

Yes. It was on Dot 16479. According to the Billboard book, there were two previous issues which are worth quite a bit of money (well, as of 1996 when the book was written):

DFS 11 - $2000
Princess 50 - $150