Singing For His Supper

Early in 1964 (it seems like only 47 years ago) I went to my local record shop and spent 6/8d on a copy of Hi-Heel Sneakers. The singer was called Tommy Tucker and the label was Pye International (bright orange and yellow). It sounds as wonderful today as it did then (can we say the same about Dominique by The Singing Nun?).

I was reminded of the record (which I still have) as it was played on Radio 2's Sounds of the Sixties
last Saturday. The presenter remarked that over 200 cover versions of the song had been recorded by such artistes as Elvis Presley, The Everly Brothers, Jerry Lee Lewis and Stevie Wonder. This must have worked wonders for Mr Tucker's bank balance as he was able to retire from the music business around 1970 (and possibly return to his real name - Robert Higginbotham).  

As a poet, I occasionally feel, when looking at my bank balance, that my choice of career was perhaps fiscally unsound. Hi-Heel Sneakers consists of two verses, an instrumental break, then another verse.
This third verse is just a repeat of the first verse, so Tucker composed only two verses. These verses follow a traditional 12-bar blues format, so each is made up of one line which is repeated, then a third rhyming line.  So, in total, Tucker wrote four lines, and those four lines caused him to top the charts in the USA and, as I said, were recorded by over 200 singers. Astute, lucky, or what?

A great record, though. And encouraging to know that a living can be made out of a few words (although, I suspect, some music helps).

Incidentally (for literary critics everywhere) Tucker ryhmed 'night' with 'fight' and 'head' with 'dead'.

If you don't know the song, perhaps you can guess the rest.

Now, where's my guitar?

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