From: dmaclaug@agsm.ucla.edu (saki)
Subject: Re: Dueling "World Without Love"s
Summary: Rydell vs. Asher/Waller 
Organization: UCLA, Anderson Graduate School Of Management
Distribution: usa
Date: 27 Jul 92 21:43:55 PDT

In article <22562@hacgate.SCG.HAC.COM> rlich@atr-19.UUCP () writes:
> You said there's no WWL demo cause, basically, Paul could've leaned over
> the dinner table and sung it to Peter and Jane Asher, by nature of their
> living arrangement.  Now you say there's a BOBBY RYDELL version?  Was
> Bobby there, passing the potatoes?  How could HE get a single charted be-
> fore Peter and Gordon?

Potatoes? Heavens...not in the Asher household; rice pilaf surely, this
is a high-class establishment.

Rydell's and Peter & Gordon's versions of "World Without Love"
emerged into the teeming world of Billboard charts, remarkably,
on the same day: 9 May 1964. But this is the U.S. we're talking
about. Peter & Gordon actually charted in England with the song
a full two months beforehand, in March 1964. While Other Groups
(to wit, not the Fabs) were making headway on home territory,
our own sweet Boys were almost by themselves for a few weeks in
the U.S., at the forefront of the British Invasion (which, it is
entirely arguable, they made possible).

People like Bobby Rydell (who had made an early name for himself
as a singer in the latter-day Paul Whiteman Orchestra, doing
impressions of Louis Prima---a sure way to fame :-) were aware
of the foreshocks coming from the vicinity of Britain...or if
they weren't, their managers certainly were. My feeling is that
Rydell's people probably got a copy of the British single of
"World Without Love" and had him record it in time to show those
Brits who the true chart-toppers were. Oh well...did anyone ever
hear another word from Mr. Rydell? :-)

My local station preferred Rydell's version to P & G only for a
few days; that was long enough for me to remember it though. Recent
email from a reader suggests that I wasn't the only person to
notice this strange musical aberration.

Remember too that the late great Del Shannon recorded "From Me To
You" in June 1963 (it spent a paltry 4 weeks on the charts, highest
position being 77) after having toured with the Beatles and other
British acts in April 1963. Del probably didn't require a demo of
the song, either. :-)

> And WHY, then, can demos of Nobody I Know and Woman be found? (but not
> I Don't Want to See You Again), all Macca tunes for P&G?

Maybe I've been paying less attention than I need to...just where
are these demos to be found?

> And my last riddle - WHAT THE HEY DOES SAKI's .SIG MEAN?!

This seems to be a subject of considerable debate. The gentleman
who suggested that it was an early press release is most nearly
right. Actually, my last few .sigs come from a letter Paul wrote
in late 1959 or early 1960, possibly before when the group was
between names, touting the foursome as the latest thing. A handwritten
copy can be perused in its fragmented form in Hunter Davies' 1985
edition of the authorized biography.

--
"Modern music is, however, the groups' delight, and as if to prove the
point, John and Paul have written over 50 tunes, ballads & faster
numbers, during the last three years!"_________________________________
                                        saki (dmaclaug@agsm.ucla.edu)
Newsgroups: rec.music.beatles