Recorded - 1966
Released - August 1966 (UK), October 1966 (US)
#1 for weeks of December 3, 17 and 24, 1966.
Our next song on Dr. Rock's H.O.M. is an example of why the Grammy awards should never be taken that seriously. In many ways, The Grammy's are just like the Billboard Hot 100: They both feature a mix of deserved classics and mediocre and/or awful hits. The 1967 Grammy awards had six songs up for the nomination for "Best rock and roll song". This included "Good Vibrations" and "Eleanor Rigby", both of which are among the top songs ever recorded. There was also "Cherish", "Monday Monday", and "Last Train To Clarksville" which are all good, but not the best of '66. Then there was "Winchester Cathedral", a song that has been mostly forgotten in today's society and isn't even remotely rock and roll. Guess which song won?
The New Vaudeville Band weren't even an actual band. In fact, it was just a bunch of British session musicians put together by the song's composer and producer Geoff Stevens for the sole purpose of recording "Winchester Cathedral". The song features singer John Carter, who by coincidence was in numerous ersatz "Bands" over the 1960's and 1970's that were put together strictly to record a certain song. He was also in The Ivy League, a Beach Boys influenced British singing trio.
"Winchester Cathedral", done in a very vaudevillian style (Surprise surprise!), sounds woefully out of place in 1966. The song features a buildup of a very easy-listening sounding melody. It takes a whole minute for the lead vocals to come in. By that point, I'm downright bored, and unimpressed. Even the song's muted trumpet parts don't appeal to me due to the fact that they come across as extremely schmaltzy.
John Carter apparently sung the vocals with his hands cupped over his mouth, in order to imitate classic 1920's era singers such as Rudy Vallee. However, this "Imitation" sounds more like he is holding his nose while singing. The song reaches new levels of cheesiness when Carter starts singing some "Bo-De-Ho-Ho" lines towards the end. When you combine this with the nasally vocal, it sounds pretty bad. This is a shame as he has proven he can sing decently in several of his other vocal projects.
I feel that the real problem of "Winchester Cathedral" is that it takes itself too seriously. Compare this song to something like The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, a group that included future Monty Python actor Neil Innes. The Bonzo's specialized in this vaudeville style, yet with a comedic and often humorous touch. The New Vaudeville Band, on the other hand, is too serious and as a result, the song is rather un-enjoyable for me.
Final Verdict - "Winchester Cathedral" is a novelty song without the humor or biting satire that usually makes a novelty song enjoyable. It is extremely schmaltzy and I'm still baffled that this was considered the best "Rock and roll" song by the Grammy awards committee. Needless to say, this is a thumbs down for me.
Coming Up Next - "Good Vibrations" by The Beach Boys.
Until Next Time - I'm Dr. Rock, and I've heard enough vaudeville for one day -
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