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.
Badfinger
Day After Day
At No.10, on the the U.K. Top 50 Singles Chart the day I am born, is Badfinger with “Day After Day”.
As I reach the Top 10 Singles in the U.K. Chart,..
…I find Badfinger have just about made it to the No.10 position with this single, which would be the first of two weeks they would sit here.
This talented Welsh band,..
…who had formed in Swansea, were no strangers anymore to the upper echelons of the U.K. Singles Chart, having taken up residency there twice before in the not too distant past.
After previously calling themselves the Iveys (after a road named Ivey Place in their home town), the band eventually moved down to London for a better chance to seek fame and fortune.
It was while playing the London gig circuit, that they came to the attention of the Kinks’ Ray Davies who produced a demo of three of their songs, one of them entitled “Sausage and Eggs” which hinted at their desire to become a ‘name’ in the music world.
The group were playing at the Marquee in the West End…
…when the Beatles’ roadie and friend Mal Evans, along with the Beatles’ Apple label A&R head Peter Asher, became so impressed with their performance, that Mal arranged with all four members of the Beatles to get this new band signed to their Apple label. Thus the Iveys became the first act to join the Apple roster in which no Beatles member appeared in the group’s line-up.
Their first single, produced by legendary producer Tony Visconti soon followed, entitled “Maybe Tomorrow”.
Although it sold successfully…
…in some European territories, and also in Japan, it failed to show up at all in the U.K. Charts.
It wasn’t long though before the new signing began to feel frustrated, due to the fact that any new material brought to the table was getting rejected as it was deemed not good enough.
This was brought to the attention of the Beatles’ Paul McCartney when he read an interview with Iveys member and fellow bass player Ron Griffiths in ‘Disc & Music Echo’ magazine, expressing the group’s letdown.
Paul decided to offer the Iveys a song, which he’d written for a film currently being produced starring Beatles drummer Ringo Starr and Peter Sellers, “The Magic Christian”; and, even though the band initially requested to put their own musical stamp on the recording, Paul was authoritative with his decision, to get the band to record it just as he envisaged it.
Paul was happy for them to do whatever they liked with the rest of their forthcoming album, but this single was to be their breakthrough hit, so it was best to leave this one to the composer’s judgement.
While all this was going on,..
…they also came to a mutual agreement with their new label, who asked them to strongly consider a change of identity, due to the Iveys’ name now sounding too outdated at the end of the decade.
After a few suggestions batted around by the label’s staff, it was eventually the idea of Paul McCartney’s friend, and now head of the whole Apple Corporation, Neil Aspinall, who won the day with ‘Badfinger’, a word he’d remembered from the demo version of the Beatles’ “With A Little Help From My Friends” track, named at the time “Bad Finger Boogie” (due to the way John Lennon was pounding the piano with a damaged digit), which they’d recorded a few years previously for their ‘Sgt. Pepper’ album.
Someone must have been thinking…
…if we’re going to make some changes, we’d better make them all now.
Just as the band was teetering on the edge of success, Ron Griffiths, the bass player, had the rug pulled out from underneath him.
As a new dad, he had felt the weight of responsibility more than most within the band, and with tensions building from his wife, the band, and especially their manager (who really wasn’t helping matters), Ron decided to leave before he was pushed.
The band rushed to find a replacement before the imminent new single was ready, and this they did with their new signing Joey Molland.
And so, with a new guitarist in the ranks, and with a new band name (from John Lennon’s bad finger), and armed with a new song composed by Paul McCartney, for a film starring Ringo Starr, the new single was released to the public.
And “Come and Get It” is exactly what the public did, sending the song into the Top 5 of the U.K. Singles Chart at the very beginning of the new decade.
With that single eventually generating over 1 million units sold,..
…the band could now request a little more artistic freedom with their next release.
Written by the main songwriter in the group, who fellow songwriter Paul McCartney acknowledges as a “great writer”, Pete Ham, their next single “No Matter What” would almost match the same chart position as their previous outing, hitting No.5, a year after their first success.
And now, with yet another year just beginning,..
…it was almost turning into a tradition that another Badfinger single, their third, would be hitting the charts in as many years.
So far there had been one member of the Beatles which hadn’t contributed up till now. However, with this new release, this had changed.
George Harrison was asked to assist with producing the band’s next album, which he gladly undertook, while juggling work on his own “Concert for Bangla Desh” endeavour. And it was during these studio sessions that he took the opportunity to add his new signature slide guitar style to their next single.
With George, came the opportunity to enlist the talents of one of his friends. The inspirational American musician and fellow songwriter Leon Russell, who played piano on this new Pete Ham composition.
And to give the song an ultimate polish, the final remix of the song was undertaken by the innovative producing talent of Todd Rundgren, another American singer, songwriter and accomplished musician.
With the new single already released in the United States,..
…it was now time to see how this latest outing would fare back in the U.K..
They had initially entered at the lower end of the chart, at No.45 on the 23rd of January 1972, had broken the Top 30 the following week, and the Top 20 the week after that.
As it progresses through this month of February, it begins to slow down in its progress, until this week, when it hits the Top 10, and also its peak position.
After sitting at this No.10 position for the next couple of weeks, it will start its descent back down the chart through March until, after completing 11 weeks in total, the single will end its run after Saturday the 8th of April.
The “A” Side
The “B” Side
Badfinger – Day After Day (Promotional Video)
Badfinger – Day After Day (TV Appearance)
Badfinger – Sweet Tuesday Morning (TV Performance)
Badfinger – Day After Day (“Set of 6” TV Performance)
Badfinger – Day After Day (TV appearance)
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