Jacqui and Bridie

Apologies for the brief hiatus, I was up a mountain in Morocco and blogging at 13,000 feet is no mean task.

I remember as a child being fascinated by the turntable on my parent hi-fi system.  We didn't actually have many LP discs (my dad being an ultra cool trendy 1980s guy had ditched them all in favour of tapes) but my mum had a small collection of folk music.

One disc in particular was a favourite of mine, had a cover of two ladies standing by the famous Peter Pan statue in Sefton Park, Liverpool (a copy of the one in London).  Their names were Jacqui and Bridie and they were Britains first female folk duo.


They ran a Folk Club in Liverpool in the 1960s, no mean feat considering the male dominated folk and pub scene at the time.

Sadly, Bridie passed away a few years ago and last year after 50 years Jacquie held the final Folk Club.

Whatever you think of their style and music they were a formidable presence in the Liverpool folk revival.  A two part documentary 'Pink and Pleasant Land' was filmed as part of the final Folk Club and I think it paints a fitting tribute to two figures that broke the mould.

The album is now quite rare, it was called 'Hello Friend' and if anyone has it i'd love to get a copy.

Not Only Bootleg But Also Not Beatles

Whilst travailing the backwaters of the internet in search of snippets for this blog, I came across the claim that there was an unreleased Beatles bootleg recording, done around 1967 of a song called 'The L.S. Bumblebee'.

I duly listened to it and wasn't convinced.  The Beatles influences where there, sitar drone, hallucinogenic lyrics etc... but it didn't sound like The Beatles.  Sure enough after a little bit of searching I discovered it was performed by none other than Peter Cook and Dudley Moore.

Cook and Moore are widely considered the most influential comedy act ever.  They spearheaded the satire boom of the 1960s and paved the way from everything from the Pythons to The Mighty Boosh.

I duly YouTube'd and found this extract from the series Not Only... But Also... showing the full L.S. Bumblebee sketch - keep an eye out for the surprise guest in the segment following the song!

John Lennon appeared no fewer than three times in Not Only... But Also...  in 1964, 1965 and 1966.  I'm still trying to find out his relationship with Cook and Moore but obviously it was more than just a casual acquaintanceship.  

The Beatles has performed in comedy before, most notably with Ken Dodd and Morecambe and Wise but this was as an ensemble.  Was Lennon's relationship with Cook and Moore more personal?  I can easily imagine Lennon's acerbic humour chiming with the satire, surrealism and musical comedy of Cook and Moore.

Whether Lennon personally had any influence on the LS Bumblebee song itself is doubtful, but in a time when  great performers are too often pigeon-holed into one area or another it is good to remind ourselves that crossovers in the 1960s were more common and often surprising than you'd think.