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PAUL RUMBOL:
CLIFF RICHARD & THE SHADOWS ON RADIO LUXEMBOURG



#53: WILLIE DID THE CHA-CHA
(Brooks Otis)
1960

Another Johnny Otis composition that was a favourite in Cliff's live act during the early 1960s and is similar to Willie And The Hand Jive in tempo. The song gave Cliff, Hank and Bruce the opportunity to try out some slick new footwork during the instrumental break.

This is one of the superior quality Luxembourg recordings, being found in the collection of an English fan transferring his old reel-to-reel recordings to CD format during 2003. Although the song was never officially recorded at any other studio or featured in any other radio show, Cliff performed it twice in his television shows, mainly for the reason that like Hand Jive it was a visual showpiece with Cliff, Bruce and Hank aligned up front at the microphone and breaking into a new variation of the "Shadow Walk" during the instrumental solo.

Cliff and The Shadows performed it on their first television spectacular for the ATV network on Saturday 19 March 1960 and on their own television show (again for ATV) on 15 September 1965. Both shows still exist as 16mm telerecordings but have never been seen.

MC: sound quality not too bad at all, but what a laboured song, not a patch on The Hand Jive according to J Otis. No wonder this one never emerged from Abbey Road for public consumption.



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