So good, it’s bad. So bad, it’s good.

I’ve always been fascinated by this song. Barry Ryan was a 60s teen idol who first found fame with his twin brother as one half of Paul & Barry Ryan. Then in late ’68, he stormed the charts with this. It was a stupendously histrionic production with which Barry’s vocals simply couldn’t cope. It’s all over the place. Barry starts well, gets lost around the middle in sorrowful introspection and by the end, he’s screaming like a maniac. That’s what makes it so bad. It’s also what makes it so good. Because this performance conveys the true lunacy of love. Passionate, irrational and all-consuming, it’s more like an opera than a pop song. It was a massive hit so Barry Ryan should have gone on to become a huge star but he never did. After Eloise, he seemed like a spent force. Well, are you surprised?