Why was this song a hit?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Manslick
  • Start date Start date
Manslick said:
I'm Henery the Eighth, I am,
Henery the Eighth I am, I am!
I got married to the widow next door,
She'd been married seven times before.
And every one was an Henery
She wouldn't have a Willie or a Sam
I'm her eighth old man named Henery
Henery the Eighth, I am!

From Wikipedia
"I'm Henery the Eighth, I Am" (also "I'm Henery the VIII, I Am" or "I'm Henry VIII, I Am"; spelled "Henery" in references to the Herman's Hermits version) is a 1910 British music hall song by Fred Murray and R. P. Weston. It was a signature song of music hall star Harry Champion and became the fastest-selling song in history to that point when revived in 1965 by Herman's Hermits,becoming the group's second number-one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The lead solo on the Hermits' version was played by the group's lead guitarist Derek "Lek" Leckenby.

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We all talk about lyrics, structure etc and it's nice to discuss these things, but why was Henery a hit?

It has no structure other than one verse which is the same as the first.

And what other quirky tunes like this one were hits?
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I LOVE THAT SONG!!!!!!! When I was in grade school it would always come on when I got home and turned on my radio.

You forgot the most important line.

"SECOND VERSE, SAME AS THE FIRST"

Ever read Beatles lyrics? My heart went BOOM when I crossed that ROOM.

How about-when I call you up your line's engaged, I have had enough so act your age. I think the Beatles were totally sarcastic in everything they wrote.


Here is a lyric from my era-cheer up sleepy jean, oh what can it mean to a daydream believer I'm the homecoming queen.

Do you know what the writer of that lyric said that the lyric meant-he said it meant absolutely nothing, it just sounded good when he sang it.
 
How about-when I call you up your line's engaged, I have had enough so act your age. I think the Beatles were totally sarcastic in everything they wrote.
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In their first three years, there are snippets of good lyrics from the Beatles hidden among the rushes {'She loves you', 'Don't bother me', 'I call your name' for example}, that are quite revealing in retrospectively deep ways but it's not really till they got threatened by Dylan, the Stones, the Who and the Byrds lyrically (Dylan really did galvanize popular music lyric writing) that they actually started saying what they meant and what they were feeling in song. That lyric above (and 'I'm looking through you') is notable coz it's a McCartney lyric, not his usual sweet boy fare, but an angry poke :mad: at his then girlfriend Jane. It's Dylanesque in it's mid 60s viciousness.


misterbill said:
Here is a lyric from my era-cheer up sleepy jean, oh what can it mean to a daydream believer I'm the homecoming queen.

Do you know what the writer of that lyric said that the lyric meant-he said it meant absolutely nothing, it just sounded good when he sang it.
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I think it's "and a homecoming queen"
I always loved "Daydream believer". In fact, while my earliest song memory is the Stones' "Get off of my cloud" from when I was 2, my first musical and telly love was the Monkees. The lyric of "Daydream" is so ridiculous. It's lyrics like that that give ammunition to those who feel lyrics don't matter. In a way, they have a valid point, sometimes. Whereas the lyrics to "Henery the eighth I am" are obviously clever and thought out with funny little word plays and innuendo. But "Daydream"'s hook is so fantastic and the whole melody so arresting that the lyric really doesn't matter ! And I never feel dumb singing it, for some odd reason.
 
misterbill said:
Here is a lyric from my era-cheer up sleepy jean, oh what can it mean to a daydream believer I'm the homecoming queen.

Do you know what the writer of that lyric said that the lyric meant-he said it meant absolutely nothing, it just sounded good when he sang it.
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Jon Anderson of Yes said the same thing. Absolutely nothing - hua - good god yall.
 
moresound said:
Who I really feel sorry for is Willie or Sam! I'm sure that if she really got to know them that she may have chosen one of them over a Henry. :laughings:
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Willie, Sam! Poor bastards - their namesake forever the blunt of ridicule.

But if it went … wouldn’t have a Trevor or a Todd, well then the rhyme woulda just had to have changed.

Say …

She wouldn't have a Trevor or a Todd
I'm her eighth old man named Henery
Henery the Eighth, I’m odd!

:drunk:
 
I remember seeing Steve Martin on tv once, he was at I believe a university graduation, sharing his wisdom with the students. He took a crumpled piece of paper out of his pocket and read the words to one of his songs:

Born in Arizona,
Moved to Babylonia
King Tut
Funky Tut
 
Manslick said:
Willie, Sam! Poor bastards - their namesake forever the blunt of ridicule.

But if it went … wouldn’t have a Trevor or a Todd, well then the rhyme woulda just had to have changed.

Say …

She wouldn't have a Trevor or a Todd
I'm her eighth old man named Henery
Henery the Eighth, I’m odd!

:drunk:
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So now we are to pick on Trevor and Todd?
I'll have to admit my first name is Henry and when that song came out and for years and years after that is all I heard from people. That and that dam candy bar "Oh Henry."
It's a pretty rare name, but has it's place in history and the candy store.:laughings:
Notable listing also is an old show called Henry,Henry Aldrich
 
moresound said:
It's a pretty rare name, but has it's place in history and the candy store.:laughings:
Notable listing also is an old show called Henry,Henry Aldrich
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Not to mention that band of anarchistic prog rockers, Henry Cow.
 
moresound said:
So now we are to pick on Trevor and Todd?
I'll have to admit my first name is Henry and when that song came out and for years and years after that is all I heard from people. That and that dam candy bar "Oh Henry."
It's a pretty rare name, but has it's place in history and the candy store.:laughings:
Notable listing also is an old show called Henry,Henry Aldrich
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Zup Hank? :p
 
dintymoore said:
Why are any of Lady Gaga's songs hits?
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The other night Jay Leno was talking about people who play music to their newborns so their brains develop faster.

Used to be they played Mozart and the like.

Now days it’s Lady Ga Ga. :laughings:
 
timkroeger said:
We Will Rock You by Queen was a similar thing where people could just participate in the performance by stomping and clapping along the tune. I'd say We Will Rock You didn't have the typical hit structure, either. Just drums and vocals for almost the whole song then go out with a guitar solo. Nice. I was never the stomper/clapper, I would always wait for the solo and do some air guitar... Yay!
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Manslick said:
Yep - We will rock you is another good one, though very different than Henry. I wonder how many people even know all the words.

Buddy you’re an old man, poor man
Pleadin' with your eyes gonna make you some peace some day
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Kind of deep.


I agree it’s the beat that grabs you and man, don’t you hear it at almost every game? Damn what a cash cow.
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Has anyone ever heard Queen's hard rock version of "We will rock you" ? It's the opening track on their 1979 "Live Killers" LP. I've never met anyone that knows it ! Everybody knows the "BOOM BOOM BAF !" single, it's been co-opted by churches, sports crowds, kids, governments, partygoers, pubcrawlers and striking pickets the world over. But I don't know anyone that knows the heavy rock version. It's a fantastic song, just heavy guitar, bass and drums, none of the smooth lushness that Queen so often and beautifully mixed with the heaviness, the solo wails over just bass and drum backing, positively no overdubs !! Coz it's on the album first, I heard it before the single version which doesn't appear till side 4. So I always heard the "BOOM BOOM BAF !!" one as the poor relation and the heavy rock one as the superior athlete. But it could never have been a hit like it's less adventurous, but wiser, more savvy kid brother.
 
if you're lookin for it,,,,,but i don't think i would have caught on without you suggesting it....

hard rock we will rock you is fantastic!!!!,,pure class!!!!!


while we're appreciating Queen (which doesn't happen often enough), does anyone know 'my melancholy blues'??? love it,,,,,just one of those personal favourites that people don't seem to know that well....
 
Manslick said:
I just heard it on http://www.lala.com/#album/432627039298791846.

Quite different. I like live records. Well until Bohemian Rhapsody WTF.
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I love Bohemian Rhapsody and for me, nothing could ever beat the original {my kids love and spent a month singing the recent Muppets' version}. But the 'Live Killers' version is pretty good - up to the middle bit. They just play the single over the PA from there and I hate it. Maybe I'm a hard taskmaster, but they could've done a call and response thingy in the middle. I saw some group do it on one of those Pop idol type programmes ! You know, the sleeve notes actually commends them for playing the single.

Manslick said:
Speaking of Bohemian Rhapsody, does the piano riff in this http://popup.lala.com/popup/937030227622701690 sound similar to Bohemian Rhapsody?
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It definitely has the same kind of relaxed feel.
 
dintymoore said:
Of all the songs I ever heard, none brings up the question "why the fuck was that a hit?" as much as this tune, perhaps the worst song ever written:




Even at the time when it came out, when I was 13, me and my friend couldn't believe that that song made any airplay, let alone be a huge hit, which it was. I have played it at gigs as a joke.

I still say that it was the shittiest song that ever became a massive hit. And this was in the day when the quality of the song had some bearing on if it was a hit.
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Notwithstanding Gary Glitter's paedophile escapades, this was a brilliant song and a good example, like "Henery the eighth" of how a song just catches on inexplicably. I was 9 when this came out but it launched Glitter onto three years of enjoyable singable hits. My little sister was a big fan. I thought his songs were neat.
This particular one just evokes a feeling coz there really are no words. The guitars on the single really stand out.
 
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