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PAUL RUMBOL:
CLIFF RICHARD & THE SHADOWS ON RADIO LUXEMBOURG



#44: THE SNAKE AND THE BOOKWORM
(Doc Pomus/ Mort Shuman)
1960

This song was recorded on 26 July 1959 at Abbey Road for inclusion on the Cliff Sings album released in November 1959 (mono: there is also a stereo version recorded on 6 September 1959 and released on the EP Cliff Sings No. 1 in February 1960). An obscure song, it was a B-side originally recorded by The Coasters in the fifties and in tempo is similar to both Willie And The Hand Jive and Willie Did The Cha-Cha – although not an Otis composition like these two.

The track recorded for Luxembourg in 1960 is very similar to the arrangement of the officially released version by EMI in November 1959; the quality however is only poor to average.

MC: what a desperately trivial song, surely Johnny Otis must have been laughing up his sleeve at such ineptitude. The RL take is mercifully swathed in atmospheric mush.



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