The Boston Crabs
Sam
I'm new to this group and was wondering if anyone remembers 'The Boston
Crabs'? I'm sure they were in the charts (The Hit Parade) in 1965 or
1966. I remember the radio DJ announcing "You Didn't Have To Be So Nice"
by The Boston Crabs. Checking on the Internet I see that this song was
on the flip side of their cover of "Gin House". So, was it a cover of
the Lovin' Spoonful song of the same title? Anybody got the single?
I'd be grateful for any light that can be shed on this.
Thanks
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John ffitch
I rather liked their version of "You Didn't Have To Be So Nice" which
was played on Radio London (the pirate) but they dropped it eventually
when teh world bought the Loving Spoonfull
==John ff
Sam
this clear memory of it being played on 'Pick Of The Pops' (Sunday
afternoon, Alan Freeman), probably in the New Releases or the Chart
Climbers section. And ... is it the same song as the one by the Lovin'
Spoonful? I guess it must be. John Sebastian wrote it. I wonder how the
Boston Crabs picked it up? Didn't one of the BCs play in a band with Syd
Barrett before pink Floyd?
Have you got the BCs version of 'You Didn't Have To Be So Nice'? And is
it the B-side of 'Gin House'? In which case why were the Beeb playing a
B-side? 'Gin House' too unpalatable?
In article <yvik6wd...@jpff.cs.bath.ac.uk>, John ffitch
<jp...@cs.bath.ac.uk> writes
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ppint.
> In article <yvik6wd...@jpff.cs.bath.ac.uk>,
> John ffitch <jp...@cs.bath.ac.uk> writes
>
>>The Bobon Crabs were a Cambridge University band in 1965-1967
>>I rather liked their version of "You Didn't Have To Be So Nice" which
>>was played on Radio London (the pirate) but they dropped it eventually
>>when teh world bought the Loving Spoonfull
>
- i don't; but i didn't listen much to the light programme/
radio 1, not whilst radios london & caroline were on the air.
>I have this clear memory of it being played on 'Pick Of The Pops'
>(Sunday afternoon, Alan Freeman), probably in the New Releases or
>the Chart Climbers section.
- why not write in to The Sounds of the Sixties and ask -
both for one or both sides to be played, and for "avids"
to say whether they recall this?
>And ... is it the same song as the one by the Lovin' Spoonful? I
>guess it must be.
- no need to guess; yes, it is.
>John Sebastian wrote it.
- yup;
>I wonder how the Boston Crabs picked it up?
- john sebastian was a recognised singer-song-writer
by the time the lovin' spoonful was formed; with zal
yanovsky, denny dougherty & cass elliot, he'd been
recorded as a mugwump...
- this song was also later recorded by the group, the
glass menagerie, and released as one of their a-sides
(pye 7N17568), another good version, well worth track-
ing down.
>Didn't one of the BCs play in a band with Syd Barrett before pink
>Floyd?
- sorry, i've no idea where my books of pete frame's
rock family trees are at the moment, so i can't look
this up in any printed reference work; but a web site
gives geoff mott as playing with syd barrett & others
in the group, "Geoff Mott & the Mottoes", in 1962.
>
>Have you got the BCs version of 'You Didn't Have To Be So Nice'?
- yup; columbia DB7830, 1966;
>And is it the B-side of 'Gin House'? In which case why were the
>Beeb playing a B-side? 'Gin House' too unpalatable?
>
- "Gin House Blues" was the b-side; you can check which
is which by comparing the matrix numbers: the lower number
is the a-side, unless the record was flipped - which did
happen occasionally, usually when a dj spotted the b-side
possessd a real groove that the official, record company-
designated a-side lacked, and played this insistantly -
sometimes even incessantly - usually against the playlist
directions of the station manager (ashore); if other djs
picked up on this, the record co. would sometimes make it
official. i don't recall any light programme radio shows
doing anything as revolutionary as flipping a single...
- hth, hand - tdwsc!
- love, ppint.
--
"I was a philistine and enjoyed it anyway"
- helen highwater on afp, 28/2/96 [2/28/96 for merkins]
Sam
you are, absolutely brilliant. You have cleared up years and years of
speculation about this song. I remember it so clearly from my early
youth but I've never heard it since. I've only recently acquired the
version by The Lovin' Spoonful and now I'm desperate to hear (re-hear!)
the version by the Boston Crabs. All I have to do now is find it. Any
chance of you bunging me an mp3 of it? Cheeky of me I know, but what the
hell I've waited since 1966 to hear it?!
You've made the business of A and B side clear too. 'Gin House' is often
listed as the A side, but I knew it wasn't because, as you correctly
say, the Beeb never flipped records.
Many thanks again.
Sam
In article <cfrku2$cgv$1$8300...@news.demon.co.uk>, ppint.
<"v$af$ppint"@i-m-t.demon.co.uk> writes
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