The 20th of February 1972
Official U.K. Singles Chart results from Sunday the 20th to Saturday the 26th of February 1972
Cut-off for sales figures was up to the end of Saturday the 19th of February
Results counted from Sunday the 20th,
announced on Tuesday the 22nd,
and broadcast on B.B.C. Radio 1 on Sunday the 27th of February 1972.
T•Rex
Telegram Sam
At No.2, on the the U.K. Top 50 Singles Chart the day I am born, is T•Rex with “Telegram Sam”.
Although “Telegram Sam” had already been at the well deserved No.1 spot for 2 weeks,..
…between the 30th of January to the 12th of February. It was still selling so many bucket-loads immediately afterwards that it had comfortably sat at this current position, as the 2nd biggest selling single in the UK, for another couple of weeks.
T•Rex were Bolan’s band,..
…but the group, and especially Marc, had been through many changes to earn this place in the pantheon of Rock, Pop and Glam.
It had taken 8 years for Marc, since he’d begun recording professionally. However, for the moment where he first picks up an instrument and starts to play music, you have to go back much further, before he’d even reached the age of 10.
You have to go back to the home town where he’d been born. Hackney, East London, a place where he’d live until his 15th year, before moving to Wimbledon, South West London.
It was while at school that he began his own Skiffle group, which became known as ‘Susie and the Hula Hoops’. It also featured a young (but 1 year older than Marc) singer called Helen Shapiro who, once barely out of school, would go on to become a big star herself.
Before Marc’s music career began,..
…he’d first take on some acting for TV, before taking up modelling for a clothes catalogue.
When he did manage to make a record, he’d be 17, two years out of school (for defying the more authoritative teachers who attempted to cane him but lost), and had now found his first manager.
Being young and still impressionable, and unsure of his own musical personality, he chose someone else’s, and went for a Cliff Richard type vocal style instead.
At this point, he was still going by the name his parents had given him – Mark Feld.
It wouldn’t be long though…
…before he did decide to change his name, but to Toby Tyler.
With his new name, came a change of manager, a change of image, and a change of musical style, the last two being heavily influenced by Bob Dylan. So it would be no surprise that he’d end up covering one of his songs the next time he was offered studio time.
A month before his 18th birthday,..
…he had metamorphosed his name through Marc Bowland, to Marc Bolan, and with a change of record label, so began the mythical beginnings of a new musical sage, with a new single a couple of months later called “The Wizard”.
For this recording, he was very fortunate to have the backing of two much sought after session guitarists, known fondly in the music circles as Big Jim and Little Jim.
Big Jim was Jim Sullivan, who would be the most sought after of the two Jim’s. He’d already put his mark on countless hit records as far back as the end of the 1950’s and many had even made it to the top of the charts.
The other Jim was slightly younger but was sought after nonetheless. Again, appearing on many other hit records. He was more commonly known as Jimmy. And just like the guy they were backing for this single release, Jimmy’s best years were still to come. Jimmy Page.
All three guitarists…
…also recorded some demos not long after. “Reality” being one of them, and it’s apparent how he was still holding on to the Bob Dylan style.
By the time Marc was in his 19th year,..
…he began to really discover himself. Telling his next manager, SImon Napier-Bell (after going round his house unexpectedly and knocking on his door), that he was going to be a big star and could he make the neccessary arrangements to make this happen,.. for his own benefit,…please.
Simon, after having observed Marc sit cross-legged (his usual position) and play his guitar at his house, thought that maybe he might have a point here, and made some arrangements to get him in another studio session, which bore the fruit of another single. “Hippy Gumbo”.
And it was around this time…
…that Simon made a choice of which of his two other bands he was managing, Marc should be placed in.
Ultimately, it would be the group ‘John’s Children’ which would benefit from Marc’s talent, and not his other band ‘The Yardbirds’ (who would soon welcome Little Jim into their ranks).
Although shortlived, one of Marc’s contributions to the group was the single “Desdemona”, which got banned by the BBC, due to the lyric “lift up your skirt and fly”.
Soon feeling stifled in a group dynamic,..
…Marc decided he needed to become his own mysterious myth, and so put it upon himself to create one, as well as a band of his own manifestation to assist on his endeavour, a fellowship, where he would become the ringbearer (although he did not know the way just yet).
Still, a new group was visioned, and tasked with this quest, including one Steve Peregrin Took (as far as I know, not a direct descendant of the character in the ‘Lord of the Rings’, but he’d probably like to think he was), who would become Marc’s new percussionist.
Marc’s vision of the group however was bigger, and brasher, and he hoped they would really get noticed, and so he took it upon himself to first book a gig at a place called the Electric Garden, and then secondly place an advert for the actual musicians to join him and play at it.
For this new exciting venture a new name would be needed for this new exciting musical experience which would set all who witnessed it on fire with ecstasy. Something huge. Something Mesmerizing. Something that could give a big enough roar. Tyrannosaurus Rex.
Just like Noah and his Ark. If he envisioned it, and he placed the ad, they will come.
However, with Marc not quite getting his priorities in the right order, things didn’t quite go according to his prophecy.
Simon Napier-Bell picks up the story (taken from Dave Thompson’s book ‘T-Rex— Up Close And Personal’)…
“He got a gig at the Electric Garden then put an ad in Melody Maker to get the musicians. The paper came out on Wednesday, the day of the gig. At three o’clock he was interviewing musicians, at five he was getting ready to go on stage…. It was a disaster. He just got booed off the stage.”
It would seem…
…the ethereal universe had other plans for him first.
And so, it came to pass, that Marc would be guided to his initial fate of becoming an acoustic player, preaching to the masses with his guitar, distinct elvish looks, melodic tones and auras. With faithful Peregrin Took by his side with his bongos, Pixiphone, and various other percussive implements, they would set off on their journey to faraway melodious landscapes, including Middle Earth.
Back to Simon, to wrap up this event…
“He didn’t have the courage to try it again; it really had been a blow to his ego… Later he told everyone he’d been forced into going acoustic because Track Records had repossessed all his gear. In fact he’d been forced to go acoustic because he was scared to do anything else.”
Marc was now in his 21st year,..
…and along his new road he travelled, he met up with a record producer that would help carry his productions into a future far into the distance. A man named Tony Visconti, who would also help them secure a new record deal.
With an album title which took almost as long to read, as it did to play the record itself (in fact the title still holds the…er.. title of the longest titled record, ever), ‘My People Were Fair and Had Sky in Their Hair… But Now They’re Content to Wear Stars on Their Brows’, they would also secure the affections of radio DJ John Peel who would not only guest on their first album release, reading one of Marc’s small but elaborate stories on the track “Frowning Atahuallpa (my inca love)”, but also write an endearing passage on the back of the sleeve.
“Tyrannosaurus Rex rose out of the sad and scattered leaves of an older summer. During the hard, grey winter they were tended and strengthened by those who love them. They blossomed with the coming of spring, children rejoiced and the earth sang with them. It will be a long and ecstatic summer.”
They also released…
…their first single “Debora” at around this time.
By now,
…fully immersed in his own surreal folklore, and also adding Greek and Persian mythology into his elaborations, Marc’s following slowly began to grow.
And with the growing of ‘Tyrannosaurus Rex’s following also came Marc’s ever growing confidence, and the first idealizations of bringing back electric instrumentation and drums to his original vision, which had gone so badly wrong before.
This change can clearly be felt between their 3rd single, with it’s mantra-like connotations…
…and their 4th single,..
…which has a definite feel of a monster re-emerging (or rumbling) from the ashes.
However, with this new change of dynamic, came a shift in allegiance,..
…and this was no more evident than in the behaviors of his once faithful sidekick, Master Peregrin Took who, due to his own music writing ideas being vetoed by Marc, was gravitating to the more anarchic, less electric, and still hippie, UK Underground scene, and corresponding behavior which (by the time they got to the U.S. for a small tour), he’d succumbed to attempting to get any reaction from the audience, by taking his own belt and whipping himself with it, in a public act of self harm, much to the crowds displeasure.
By the time Marc had returned back to his home country around his 22nd birthday, he soon found a new percussionist (who just so happened to be a friend of his photographer housemate), in the guise of Mickey Finn, who, although he wasn’t as prolific a player as Steve, wasn’t behaving as chaotic. Apparently having a great motorcycle helped, and (also a big tick for Marc) he had a great look about him.
It was also around this time that Marc bought a white Fender Stratocaster, decorated with a paisley teardrop motif from none other than ex-Pink Floyd frontman Syd Barrett.
With his new axe, and at the closing of a rollercoaster of a decade, the two of them completed one final album as Tyrannosaurus Rex before a more concerted effort towards a more electric orientated sound at the dawning of a new decennium.
Peeling away the elaborateness of the groups former existence,..
…Marc decided to pare down the name of the band too, replacing the multi-syllable Tyranosaurus with just the initial letter ‘T’.
By the first summer of the 1970’s, Marc and Mickey released “Ride A White Swan” (a track that became one of my all time favourite songs when I heard it many years later), under their new moniker of T•Rex.
With the success that the single generated…
…(it got to No.2 in the U.K. Charts), Marc, for the first time in years, went on a recruitment drive to hire an electric bass player and a proper drummer, who came in the form of Steve Currie and Bill Legend respectively.
He also changed management once more and secured the talents of Tony Secunda to look after his best interests.
Once everyone was sufficiently rehearsed and bedded into Marc’s new vision, a new single was swiftly recorded and released (just over a year before I entered the world), with a much fuller, ambient and simplified feel.
With his new entourage, Marc was invited onto BBC’s ‘Top of the Pops’, but just before his appearance, his new manager’s wife, Chelita, dabbed a couple of glitter ‘tears’, just below his eyes.
The new sound, the new look, along with his new shiny jacket and satin trousers, would define this one moment as the dawn of Glam Rock.
After losing his former percussionist, due to the changes in the sound Marc was ascending to,..
…he was about to lose another friend.
John Peel, who had been championing Marc’s output at the end of the 1960’s was beginning to get evermore disgruntled with the musical trajectory Marc was heading for into the 1970’s.
The crux finally came when John received his advanced white labelled copy of the group’s new release in the Summer of 1971.
Playing it the one and only time on his show, John then made it clear, live on air to the whole nation of the U.K., how much he despised it.
Because of this, Marc never really spoke to John again.
Whatever John’s views of the band’s new release, they seemed to fall into the minority of what the public seemed to think of it.
When I finally heard it, probably at around the age of 7, I loved it. I still do. Even now I would still put it up there with the best music I’ve ever heard. Always will.
Their 3rd single “Get It On” (in the States, it would be relabeled ‘Bang A Gong (Get It On))’ was definitely a far cry from the more whimsical compositions of the group’s previous incarnation. A solid heavy rock composition which simmered a sensuous driven energy all over it.
Bearing more than a nod to Chuck Berry’s song ‘Little Queenie’ (hence Marc’s parting line at the fade out of the song), he also enlisted the piano talents of one or two session musicians, one of them strongly rumoured to be Rick Wakeman (who had featured prominently on Cat Steven’s single further down this chart), who, at that time was struggling to pay his rent. The other was a guy called Derek, but was better known as Blue Weaver, who at this time was in ‘The Strawbs’.
The story goes…
…that, when hearing the track, Rick told record producer Tony, that there was nothing for him to do on the song, to which Tony suggested he add a downward glissando (for those unsure of the piano technique, that’s where you run your fingers down the keys to a certain spot).
Rick argued that Tony could do that, to which Marc asked Rick if he wanted payment to keep his landlord happy, or not? It was probably the easiest £9 Rick ever made.
Just to confuse matters, when it came to the band performing on Top of the Pops again, he got one of his friends, who was grateful for some presence on TV at the time, to mime at the piano. Some guy called Elton John, who must have fallen back into the depths of obscurity after the transmission. I wonder what ever happened to him?
Anyway, both the single and the performance was more than enough to send the single sailing up to the top of the U.K. Chart.
And that should have been it,..
…prior to the current release around my day of birth.
Marc was offered the chance to start his own label under EMI, and was now making arrangements with any future releases to go through that avenue.
However, his previous label had other ideas, and so, as the nights began to draw in on the year of 1971, and with the music buying public in the throes of T•Rextasy (a term invented by Irish DJ BP Fallon), they cheekily released one more single without his permission.
Now the music charts, along with the music-buying public, can be a funny old thing when it comes to the festive period. All sense of normalcy tends to fly out the window.
What Marc’s previous record label failed to understand was that, if they had released this single at any other time of year, it too would have hit No.1. However, this was too close to the mad season, which meant it was pipped at the post by a milkman who got up especially early to catch the coveted top spot for Christmas.
Still,..
…”Jeepster” ended up having a very healthy run, only leaving the chart literally the day before I came into the world.
And so I finally come back to this moment of my birth in February 1972,..
…and here is Marc, far away from the crossed legged elvin sage of yore. Now strutting the stage as an impish Rock God who’s fully aware of his well deserved place, and enjoying every moment in it.
“Telegram Sam”, the first single to be released on his new T.Rex Wax Co. label, is apparently an affectionate nod to his manager Tony Secunda. The “Main Man” of the lyric, and the guy who was taking care of, not just the business side of things, but also looking after the artist’s more leisurely pursuits shall we say. And, along with a myriad of other eccentric characters, Marc also mentions himself directly, further along in the song.
The single had shot into the U.K. Singles Chart at No.3,..
…on the 23rd of January, this year of 1972, and by the end of that first month of the year, will have trounced everything else in its path to hit the coveted No.1 spot, where it would stay for 2 weeks (luckily no milkmen were around this time).
The week before I am born (with “Jeepster” enjoying it’s final week at the farther reaches of the chart), “Telegram Sam” drops one place to No.2. A place where he will stay for another week while I struggle into the world.
After this week, the single will take a dramatic drop to No.14, before leaving the Top 20 after the 5th of March, and begin to settle into the lower echelons for the rest of that month.
This T-Rex 3-track single will eventually stay for total of 12 weeks, leaving after the 15th of April.
But that wouldn’t be the end of this single’s U.K. Chart run.
Looking far ahead, after another 10 years, when the Chart has grown to encompass the much broader Top 100 singles, this single will return for another couple of weeks, from the 21st of March to the 3rd of April 1982, where it gets primarily to No.71, and then a couple of places higher to No.69 for the second and final week.
Just as a quick aside,..
…and on a personal level, I found out from my Dad, probably about 20-odd years later, that he really liked T-Rex’s music, and (in his words,) “really rated” Marc.
That was a bit of a shock to me, considering everyone thought he liked music from before Elvis even appeared, with artists such as Hoagy Carmichael, and never got his head out of all the war films he used to watch.
To find out he was a Bolan fan was fantastic.
In my opinion,..
…looking back through the archives of musical time, this wasn’t quite the era of Bowie. Not just yet anyway, but it wasn’t far away. This was the age of Bolan. And with me growing into existence with this music in the air…
…what a time to be born.
The “A” Side
The “B” Side
T•Rex – Telegram Sam (TV Appearance)
T•Rex – Cadilac (TV Appearance)
T•Rex – Telegram Sam (“Top Of The Pops” TV Appearance)
T•Rex – Cadilac (Live Performance)
T•Rex – Baby Strange (Live Performance)
T•Rex – Telegram Sam (Live Performance)
T•Rex – Cadilac (Live Performance)
T•Rex – Baby Strange (Live Performance)
T•Rex – Telegram Sam (Promotional Video)
Many thanks go to the following YouTube Channels for providing the chance to hear this music, and watch the footage, once again.
Please show your appreciation by visiting their channel:
Grab Your Binoculars, Come Follow Me…
What is it…?
Why am I…?
How do I…?
When am I…?
