Austin Powers Presents: Hands Across the Water (and all over your mum's bum)…. Birds Across the Sky - a Shagadelic Valentine's Day Salute to Warbling Thrushes on Both Sides of the Pond!

 Allow myself to introduce..... myself. 

 I'm Austin Powers, super secret spy, 

 international man of mystery, 
 bon vivant, swinging playboy 
 and irresistible babe magnet. 

 London is my home, shag is my bag, 

 planet earth is my playground and 

 danger is my middle name, baby. 

Your regular host, Shady Del Knight, is indisposed. He's in Cabo playing
beach volleyball with the Swedish Bikini Team. Lucky bugger! Since our

boy Shady has his hands full, he asked me to pop over and fill in for him

again this year as host of his Valentine's Day dance potty. Shady wants

me to spin stacks o' wax. To each his own, mate, but I think you might

have more fun if I play vinyl phonograph records instead.  

These ditties by stateside sweeties and beauteous Britties are perfect

for V-Day because they teach you all about the birds and the bees.

Reminds me of the time a burly bloke in Liverpool accused me

of being the son-of-a-bee that pollinated his daughter.

 That's a gag, baby ... 

 I abso-bloody-lutely saw you 
 crack a smile just then, dove... 
 Go on now... admit it! 

Okay, enough levity. On with the show as I present a shagadelic
Valentine's Day salute to warbling thrushes on both sides of the

pond doing original songs along with some very groovy covers!

PETULA CLARK 

In the fall of 1968, English sparrow
Pet Clark released Petula, her last
album of original material produced
by Tony Hatch who, along with song-
writing partner Jackie Trent, was
responsible for several of Pet's
biggest hits. Here's one of the
Hatch - Trent compositions

from the album released that
year as a single. Petula Clark
sings-- "Don't Give Up!"

 "Don't Give Up" - Petula Clark 

 (Aug. 1968, highest chart pos. 

 #23 Canada, #27 Cash Box, 
 #37 Hot 100, from Sept. 1968 
 album Petula) 

THE SHANGRI-LAS

Now we're back in the U.S... back in the U.S... back in the U.S. of A., baby...

to hear one of the biggest and best by the drama queens of Queens, New York,

The Shangri-Las. In the summer of 1965, Mary Weiss and her streetwise

girl group appeared on Dick Clark's TV show Where The Action Is

and performed a song that cracked the top 20 earlier that year.

With Jeri Lyn Stapleton of The Action Kids dancers working it out on

the right, here are The Shangs and-- "Give Him A Great Big Kiss!"

You know you want to, baby - YEAH!

 "Give Him A Great Big Kiss" - The Shangri-Las 

 (Jan. 1965, highest chart pos. #15 Cash Box/#18 Hot 100,  

 perf. on July 29, 1965, ep. of Where The Action Is) 

LESLEY GORE

Hey now... it's time for me to introduce another

New York-based songstress, pop queen Lesley Gore.

 The poster above is fibbing, mate, because the seldom heard "Hey Now"

turned out to be one of the lowest charting non-hits of Lesley's career. 

The recording style is R&B influenced, a departure from Lesley's

earlier recordings. As such, it didn't tickle fan fancy. Sales also

suffered from controversy over the B side, "Sometimes I Wish

I Were a Boy," which some people thought contained misogynistic

lyrics. Just before Halloween, 1964, Lesley performed "Hey Now"

on the star-studded T.A.M.I. Show which alternately stood for

"Teenage Awards Music International" and "Teen Age Music

International," an event that was released as a film at the

end of the year. "Hey Now," here's Lesley! 

 "Hey Now" - Lesley Gore 

 (Oct. 1964, highest chart pos. #54 Cash Box/#76 Hot 100, 

 Oct. 28 & 29, 1964, perf. on T.A.M.I. Show, film released Dec, 29, 1964) 

FIRST TO ELEVEN

In 1980, the American new wave band Blondie scored the biggest hit

of their career with "Call Me," the theme from the movie American Gigolo.

The Blondie platter spent six weeks atop the U.S. pop chart. Fast forward

42 years to present and enjoy frontwoman Audra Miller and her popular

Erie, Pennsylvania, rock band First To Eleven aka F211, doing their

exciting cover of the Blondie classic-- "Call Me! 

 "Call Me" - Blondie cover by First To Eleven 

 (January 2022) 

THE SHIRELLES

In 1958, the song "Everybody Loves a Lover" was a big record for Doris Day,

the last major hit in the U.S. for the veteran singer and actress. In the fall of '62,

the New Jersey girl group The Shirelles released a cover that made the top 20

in the early weeks of 1963.  Here now are The Shirelles, one year later at

the start of '64 appearing in the UK TV movie It's Little Richard and

wowing the crowd with their New Orleans R&B-style

performance of-- "Everybody Loves A Lover!"

 "Everybody Loves A Lover" - The Shirelles 

 (Dec. 1962/Jan. 1963, highest chart pos. #15 R&B/#17 Cash Box, 

 #19 Hot 100, Jan. 8, 1964, perf. in UK TV movie It's Little Richard)  

THE PAPER DOLLS

The Paper Dolls were a Brit girl pop trio of the late 60s. Seeing

as how each bird had a nickname (lead zinger Susie 'Tiger' Mathis,

Pauline 'Spyder' Bennett and Sue 'Copper' Marshall)... the act

predated The Spice Girls and paved the way for future

girl-pop trios like Bananarama and Atomic Kitten. 

In 1963, "My Boyfriend's Back"

by the U.S. girl group The Angels

spent three weeks at the top of the

chart, earning it a spot high on

Billboard's list of 100 Greatest

Girl Group Songs of All Time.

Here now, for your listening

and dancing pleasure, are those

pretty Britties, The Paper Dolls,

with their toe-tapping cover

released in 1970.

"My Boyfriend's Back"

- The Paper Dolls

(Feb. 1970, uncharted)

PETULA CLARK

We started the party with a number by Petula Clark, and Pet gets the nod

to sing the last song of the night. Everybody knows Petula is one of

Britain's biggest singing stars, but you might not know that she is

also a gifted songwriter. Ironically, some of Petula's songs and

recordings were more popular in the U.S. and France than

they were back home in the UK.

Along with famed British composer Tony Hatch, Petula co-wrote "You're the One"

and it became a top 5 hit stateside for the vocal group The Vogues. Pet released

her own version of the song as a single and it fell short of the UK top 20.
The B side, an English version of a French song that Petula co-wrote
with French poet Pierre Delanoë, might have been a better choice

to promote as the A side. To wind up this year's V-Day bash

and send us running along home to mum, here's Pet Clark

 with her killer bee entitled-- "Gotta Tell The World,"

 "Gotta Tell the World" - Petula Clark 

 (Nov. 1965, B side of "You're the One") 

 I hope these super sounds put you in 

 a shagadelic mood, baby. Oh behave! 

 This is your old chum Austin Powers 

 international man of mystery 

 (and music history)... 

 saying ciao for now. 

 Let's do it again real soon, baby... 

 You know you want to... YEAH!