Song #44: The New Vaudeville Band - "Winchester Cathedral"

Song #44: The New Vaudeville Band - "Winchester Cathedral" (1966)

"Winchester Cathedral" - Single

"Oh-bo-de-o-do. Oh-bo-de-o-do. Oh-bo-de-o-do-de-do. Duh."

"Winchester Cathedral" is one of the later entries to this blog series, mainly because I didn't first stumble upon the song until June 6th, 2014. That was the day I graduated high school, and vividly remember, pacing around the living room all dressed up in my business formal attire, with my gown, beautifully ironed thanks to mom, hanging on the mantle in the livingroom. My dad, has passive as ever, was drinking Banquet Coors in a bottle, listening to classic sixties and seventies music, baffled by my nervousness. "What the hell are you so nervous for?," he asked. "Ya ain't doing anything but walking across the stage."

My mom was in the livingroom with us, as we were all waiting for my grandmother to arrive. The New Vaudeville Band's song "Winchester Cathedral" came one of the TV music stations, to which it seemed everything in me stopped, and it was only me and the song at this very moment. "Winchester Cathedral" may be one of the most genial and relaxing songs I've ever heard. It has one of the most giddy, peaceful instrumentals I've heard, replicates a style and an era known for its bleeding-heart conservatism in terms of appearance and manner, and features unique vocal and pitch styles that fittingly replicate an era. It took me out of an anxious state and brought me to a calmer one. After hearing it, I immediately took out my phone and downloaded it; this was going to be the theme song for the evening (that and "IDGAF" by Snootie Wild).

The song has a wild history to it, to boot, which I educated myself on on break from work this past week. The song was recorded by session musicians, who formed a British novelty group called The New Vaudeville Band by the song's composer, a guy by the name of Geoff Stephens. Stephens loved the vaudevillian/British music hall era, so he wanted to have a contemporary song replicate the stylistic and auditory structure that a tune from that period would. Lead singer John Carter performed singing through his hands, imitating the sound of a megaphone, a popular sound throughout that particular era. Once the song was a charttopping hit in both the United States and United Kingdom, a formal group had to be established so a tour could commence.

"Winchester Cathedral" is the perfect example of a sleeper hit, originally recorded for fun and a cheeky release (similar to C.W. McCall's "Convoy"), but upon unpredicted success, became a memorable tune for the era. The fact that the song is a stylistic and musical masterpiece only adds to that great story of unexpected fame (not to mention, the opening eight seconds and the closing eight seconds of the song, may be two of my most favorite moments of any song ever).

Give "Winchester Cathedral" a listen, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKc1OCJ7iXk