Day 5 of Mayhem’s 12 Days Of Christmas is here and the Bearded Weirdo in the red costume will be here soon too. Regular readers will know that this year, once again, the theme is the classic cumulative song “The Twelve Days Of Christmas”. What gift was presented on the fifth day of Christmas? It was of course Five Gold Rings. Presumably this had nothing to do with the Olympics. Todays song is another rather tenuously linked tune, although maybe a fraction less so. It is Freda Payne with “Band Of Gold”. I am happy to say that as a mobile DJ for many, many years I never played this at a wedding!
“Band Of Gold” is the title track of her 1970 album of the same name. The song was a huge hit (number 1 in the UK, number 3 in the USA and top 5 in Australia, Canada and the Netherlands. The song was written by former Motown stalwarts Holland Dozier Holland (under the pseudonym Edythe Wayne) and Ron Dunbar. HDH had to use a false name as they were in the middle of a contractual lawsuit with Motown. Initially Payne turned the song down, before eventually relenting and making it something very special. The bass is worth the listening journey alone, that was played by Bob Babbit. Freda’s younger sister, Scherrie Payne, who went on to sing with the Supremes sang backing vocals and the lead guitar was played by Ray Parker Jr. To be fair if you need great lead guitar, who you gonna call?
There will be a playlist of all twelve songs when we get to the final one? In fact that playlist is under the streaming Christmas tree already. I will unwrap it soon for you! What do you think tomorrows song will be?
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