The furthest abroad my mother ever got was to the Channel Islands on a family holiday in the 1960s, and later in life it was impossible to get her to step outside of West London, let alone England. But she had so many groovy sun n’ samba records like this I like to think that when she listened to them she dreamed of exotic locations, sandy beaches, the warm sun, and tanned hunks handing her chilled cocktails. But then it was back to the two kids and the council flat.
I’m not so contrarian that I’m going to claim this is better than The Beatles’ original, but this is the first version I knew so it always sounds to me like it’s the Fab Four who are doing the cover.
Download: The Fool On The Hill – Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66 (mp3)
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Sweet memories. My Mum only left the UK mainland once, also to the Channel Islands coincidently. It was 1991 and the only time her and Dad ever flew. Dad took me to Belgium by ferry once in 1968, the only other time he ever left the country, and it was he, not her, who would’ve liked to have travelled further afield. Mum was singularly unimpressed with flying. Years later, after she had died, I found her diary entry for the day of her outbound flight, ‘….didn’t think much of that..’
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Great post
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I know how you feel, I always thought the Beatles had copied Herb Alpert with “A Taste of Honey.” Not to mention that Herb’s album with that song has the most memorable cover of all time…
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all the sergio versions are better than the beadles. norwegian wood is huge
x
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