Herman's Hermits: "Dandy"

November 14, 1966 (1 week)

With the rise of The Monkees in the latter part of 1966, how much did the landscape of the British Invasion was altered? Beatlemania was done, the Merseybeat groups had faded and the harder rock combos from the south of England had shifted to darker and/or more cynical content. Peter and Gordon and Herman's Hermits still remained but even they must have known they were on borrowed time.

In what seems like a surprisingly cagey move to remain relevant, Peter Noone's Hermits chose to follow the tougher crowd from down south. Ray Davies had already become a respected songwriter in the midst of The Kinks' golden age but few recognized his potential as a hit maker for others. Having a Top 40 hit with a Lennon-McCartney castoff was easy but what about someone doing some sharp and witty social commentary from one of The Beatles' chief competitors? That took guts. (Say what you will about Noone's weak singing voice but he was able to spot talent in others; his one real solo hit was with "Oh You Pretty Thing" written by David Bowie, who in 1971 was still known primarily as a one-hit wonder)

Plundering The Kinks' back catalog for material proved to be fruitful for those few who've bothered having a go. Covers by the likes of The Pretenders ("Stop Your Sobbing") The Jam ("David Watts") and Kristy McColl ("Days") are at the very least tasteful. Even Herman's Hermits managed not to completely mess up "Dandy". That said, improving upon a Ray Davies original is damn-near impossible and if superior talents like Chrissy Hynde and Paul Weller weren't able to do so then there would have been little hope for Noone and his chums (who, lest we forget, may or may not have played on this).

I recently wrote a little on "Dandy" in my review of The Kinks' magnificent "Sunny Afternoon", feeling that the two songs go together as a commentary on members of the aristocracy who idle their lives away on leisure and various indulgences. In the case of "Dandy", it's all about getting in as much illicit sex as his dick can handle (the character in "Sunny Afternoon", meanwhile, is reaping what he sowed by becoming a shell of his former self). Noone was a popular pinup back in his day and it's quite possible he may have indulged in what was being made available to him. As such, I hear his version of "Dandy" as slightly more of a celebration of his lifestyle. (Take note of his perked up vocal as he repeats the title of the song at the start of each verse: "Dandy, DANDY!")

Barring the odd superfluous string section, the two versions are more or less musically identical so all that is left is to further knock Noone's flawed reading. Flawed? I could stand to be a little more generous, couldn't I? Okay, let's say that Noone took to the song in his naive manner for better or worse. On the one hand, he has considerably more spirit than the dry Davies; on the other, he strips away any depth to the character. Even when Noone tries to sing it properly, he still misses the mark: Davies' garbled attempt to do everything possible to get a rhyme out of the lines "pouring out your charm / to meet you own demarnds" is corrected by the lead Hermit but at the cost of its humour.

With scores of 4, 4, 3, and 4 you certainly can't accuse Herman's Hermits of being inconsistent. They manage to pull their average up just slightly with what is their finest RPM chart topper to date. Despite my misgivings above, "Dandy" is Ray Davis at the top of his game and that's reason enough to put it above the poor offerings that came before it. We're just about done with Peter Noone on this blog and I can't say I'm going to miss the cheeky bugger.

Score: 5