I cycled home through Clapton today. Down to Millfields Park, along the River Lea towards Tottenham and through Hornsey to Muswell Hill. Clapton was the childhood home of Helen Shapiro. It was where she lived when this topped the charts in 1961. Helen Shapiro was a huge star in that strange time between rock n roll and The Beatles, and when she made this wonderful record, she was just 14. She came from a respectable Jewish family. Apart from her talent, there was nothing precocious about Helen. And yet at 14, she was singing longingly and knowingly about the pain of unrequited love. Nobody thought there was anything untoward about this. Her voice was mature enough to carry the song so her age was neither here nor there. Nowadays, this would be considered “inappropriate”. And I still can’t decide which era is right and which is wrong.
Did no one at the time think this was odd?

- Happy Birthda...16th Aug 2014
- I always like...14th Aug 2014
- The Railway i...12th Aug 2014
- The British o...11th Aug 2014
- John Bishop o...10th Aug 2014
- The Black Alb...9th Aug 2014
- The second fr...8th Aug 2014
- The day the p...6th Aug 2014
- 100 years sin...5th Aug 2014
- I went to see...4th Aug 2014
- RIP Mike Smith.3rd Aug 2014
- To Paul Conwa...2nd Aug 2014
- One of the gr...1st Aug 2014
- Enjoy this so...30th Jul 2014
- Written about...29th Jul 2014 prev next