I don’t know how or when I first knew that in 1966 (a year a Kiwi should never be asked to articulate) this song was offered to Liverpool-born, New Zealand resident Tommy Adderley to record. Maybe he told me.

Until very recently I thought that he had also recorded the demo when he, Alison Durbin and the Mike Perjanik Band were in Sydney that year. But I was wrong. The record arrived at EMI as an import.

Bruce King (who was the drummer with the Perjanik Band in 1966): “He turned it down, to do on television, and to record, because he thought it was a novelty song. He was a jazz singer/pop singer. He didn’t want to be treated frivolously.” Some like Bruce believed this was the worst decision that Tommy made regarding his career. But because it was a catchy tune,  he was known to sing it all the time around the Kings Cross apartment he shared with his wife Colleen.

Some time later the song was offered to Johnny Farnham (who recorded it for EMI in September 1967) and the rest, as they say is history.

Photo: Tommy Adderley on a tour bus in NZ in 1965 (Bruce King)