Songs from Call The Midwife - Series 9

Episode 1

Here we are in 1965 and two American bands? The first song was California Girls by The Beach Boys. Written by Dennis Wilson and Mike Love, it featured on the 1965  album Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!). 

The only other song was Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There is a Season) by The Byrds. Written by Pete Seeger and first released in 1959, a cover by The Byrds reached number one in the USA towards the end of 1965 but only 26 in the UK.

Episode 2

Only one song this week. I Think Of You by The Merseybeats. Written by Peter Lee Stirling in 1963, The Merseybeats' recording in 1964 reached No 5 in the UK charts.

Episode 3

I'm not sure what is happening with the choice of music in this series. The year 1965 was huge for British bands and what do we get?

I'm in the mood for Ska by Lord Tanamo and Patricia by Perez Prado. At least I knew the latter. Being an instrumental, it received huge exposure on programmes like quiz shows. It reached No 8 in the UK charts during a 16 week run.

Episode 4

The strange run of songs continue. Only one again this week with one instrumental.

I'll Be There by Gerry and The Pacemakers. A song written by Bobby Darin no less, a B-Side to a single he released in 1960. Gerry's cover made it into the UK charts in March 1965 reaching a highest position of No 15.

Las Vegas or the Theme Tune from Animal Magic by Laurie Johnson. The TV show aired from 1964 to 1967 and was hosted by Johnny Morris. The theme was played by the Group Forty Orchestra. Recently it became the theme music for the BBC series W1A.

Episode 5

It goes bad to worse. No songs for only the second time ever. At least Episode 4 of Series 7 was preceded with an episode that had ten songs.

Episode 6

Only one song again, but at least it was a number one. Tired of  Waiting by The Kinks was written by Ray Davies and reached the top of the UK charts in 1965.

Episode 7

One song each week is the new normal. This time it was You've Got Your Troubles by The Fortunes. It was written by the soon to be very successful songwriting duo of Roger Cook and Roger Greenaway. It reached number 2 in the UK chart in August 1965.

Episode 8

Three songs this week (actually two and an instrumental).

I Know A Place by Petula Clark. With music and lyrics by Tony Hatch, it made it to number 17 on the UK charts in 1965. It was more popular in the USA where it reached number 3 as the follow up to her chart topping Downtown.

Stranger on the Shore was a piece for the clarinet composed and played by Acker Bilk. In 1961 it topped the charts in both the UK and USA.

More sung by Andy Williams from his 1964 award winning album "Call Me Irresponsible" and Other Hit Songs from the Movies.Originally written as a film score by Riz Ortolani and Nino Oliveiro for the 1962 Italian Documentary "Mondo Cane", it was given lyrics by Marcello Ciorciolini and adapted into English by Norman Newell. It has been covered many times and is now a pop standard.

So some good songs to finish the series that ended in November 1965.