The Medium - Edward Never Lies

Artist: The Medium
Single: Edward Never Lies
Label: CBS
Year of Release: 1968

Before I begin, I have a confession to make – strictly speaking I’m cheating slightly here, since I’m pulling this track off the obscurities compilation “Circus Days Volume 3”. However…

Sometimes you stumble upon a single that’s so utterly absurd that writing about it or critiquing it in depth is a waste of time, and really you have to let people hear it for themselves and form their own judgements. “Edward Never Lies” genuinely is a rum piece of work. Lyrically, this appears to be about stealing a girl from a mentally ill man called Edward (“no need to thank me for I’m doing/ what I think is best”).

Not that the good lady in question seems run of the mill herself. Oh no, indeed not. It would seem that she will only see suitors by day because “she’s frightened of the dark” and insists her boyfriends buy her the newest and finest quality dresses to wear, seemingly at daily intervals. Edward, the dupe that he is, seems keen to help his friend/ girlfriend-thief here – he knows her size, you see, and he never fibs about these things. Angelic singing voices periodically chip in to remind us of this. Whilst I can’t speak for the accuracy of the lead singer’s statements, it does seem as if Edward is the only sensible one to me, almost an idiot savant character who is quite happy to try and extract himself from the whole horrible mess he’s got himself into.

Musically it’s simple and jaunty, and in place resembles John Entwhistle’s songwriting work with The Who. Apparently The Medium (so called because they believed they had a close touch with the spirit world) didn’t quite manage to get all the various parts laid down in the studio to schedule, so The Tremeloes finished this track off quickly before down time. This also means that somewhere on this single lie the talents of Chesney Hawkes’ father Len “Chip” Hawkes. I think we’ll close this entry on that thought.

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