The Newbeats: I Like Bread and Butter (1964)

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The Newbeats: I Like Bread and Butter (1964)

This should come with a consumer warning: It's one of those songs you wake up with nagging away in the back of your brain, the song you can't shake and sticks with you all day.

So you have been warned.

The Newbeats from Shreveport, Louisiana were never destined for greatness or longevity. There was only so much you could do after a novelty hit sung in an irritating falsetto. But they did pretty well in a very short period.

Bread and Butter went to number two in the US charts and got them airplay around the world, and in early '65 they joined a package tour of Australia and New Zealand with the Rolling Stones, Roy Orbison and Kiwi heroes Ray Columbus and the Invaders. And they appeared on Top of the Pops.

Despite failing to seriously damage the charts again (although the Motown-influenced and somewhat better Run Baby Run was a minor hit), the Newbeats carried on until '74. Needless to say this song was subsequently licensed to a bread company for use in an advertisement.

If there is something more interesting about the Newbeats it is that their singer -- he of the annoying voice, centre in the photo -- went on to write one of the biggest hits of all time.

And that story is told here

For more oddities, one-offs or songs with an interesting backstory use the RSS feed for daily updates, and check the massive back-catalogue at From the Vaults.

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