Future Coronation Street actor delivers triumphant song-poem about a lovely horse
Label: Jet
Year of Release: 1975
As I already mentioned on our last blog entry about Red Rum, there have been quite a number of songs dedicated to his equine greatness. If the idea of people entering recording studios to sing songs about horses seems odd from a twenty-first century perspective, it's worth noting that Mr Rum was a beacon of cheer during the bleakness of the mid-seventies. Winning endless races and returning money on housewife's bets (and indeed those of vicars, plumbers, retired people and anyone willing to take a punt) he was afforded a celebrity status usually bestowed on top footballers or athletes. The fact he was a horse, and therefore incapable of saying or doing anything daft in interviews, probably helped keep him popular.
Len Marten, on the other hand, was a long-time jobbing actor who had served in the theatre and on the TV series "The Charlie Chester Show". He also dabbled in DJ'ing, songwriting, and television production. The media renaissance man also somehow managed to put this single out as one of the earliest releases on Don Arden's Jet Records label.
Don Arden was a notoriously unsentimental chap known for dangling business rivals out of high windows, but he certainly knew the marketplace. He could doubtless smell the money in a quick release celebrating Red Rum, but - like so many others who gambled on the equine in music form - he couldn't have been more wrong. "Champion Red Rum" sold terribly, but while it's an absurd use of vinyl, it's not a truly awful affair. Len narrates dreamily about the horse's "guts and heart" while his backing band jangle away in the background, and the chorus turns the ditty into a groovy pub swingalong (I'd be interested to know whether any of the backing group are Wizzard - those horns and the Don Arden connection suggest it's a possibility).
The flip is mentioned elsewhere online as being a surprisingly touching lament to the futility of war. To be honest, it's extremely close in tone to Dave Allen's "Good Earth", being another example of a sentimental song-poem. It does nothing for me, but you're free to disagree.
Following the failure of this single Marten's career continued unscathed, with him producing "Opportunity Knocks" and slipping out an entire LP "Goodnight My Love" on Line Records; presumably Arden passed on the opportunity to give him his 33rpm moment and Line were only too happy to step in to help. He managed a stint as the character Tom Hopwood on "Coronation Street" in the mid-eighties and was last seen on television in an episode of "After Henry" in 1990.
Sadly, he passed away the same year leaving this record and a considerable quantity of greater achievements behind him.
If the previews aren't working properly, please go right to the source.
1 comment:
lol! perhaps they jumped the gun, Rummy had won only a mere 2 Nationals at the time of release (the 3rd was in '77).
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