Uh-huh, It Was The Manfreds!

Yes folks, my new band. Manfred Mann. They are FAB! I have two of their Greatest Hits CDs and have looked all over the internet for these two crappy pics! Be grateful, I am!

Manfred Mann consisted originally of keyboard player Mike Lubowitz, aka Manfred Mann, who came from South Africa, and made a band with drummer Mike Hugg in 1962. After a bit of kerfuffle and chopping and changing they added a bassist called Tom McGuinness, a guitarist called Mike Vickers and a singer called Paul Jones

So you can see better how totally *thud* he actually IS!

Who, as you can see, is gorgeous. They had millions of groovy songs, my favourite one of which was The One in the Middle which is a jazzy kind of song about Manfred Mann. Very funny. Here are the lyrics:Let me tell you 'bout the Manfreds
The music that they're puttin' down
They started to play on a rainy day
And the people came from miles around
Chorus
They didn't come for the rhythm
They didn't come for the beat
The people of the town came just to stand around
And see the singer lookin' sweet
Mike Hugg plays the drums, yeah,
Tom McGuinness plays it down on bass
But the one in the middle sings hey-diddle-diddle
And he's just a pretty face
Repeat Chorus
They couldn't have!
Manfred Mann plays the organ
Mike Vickers plays guitar
And there's a geezer called Paul
Who's so thin and so tall
And he so wants to be a star
They didn't come for the rhythm
They did not come for the beat
Lordy, no!
The people of the town came just to stand around
And see the singer lookin' sweet
See the singer lookin'
See the singer lookin'
See the singer lookin'
Watch me now, see the singer lookin'
Oh! Oh yeah!
See the singer lookin'
Mmmhmmmhmhmmhmm yeah
See the singer lookin'...
Sweet.

What a fantastic song! They're great.

Here's a pic of how Paul looks now. Still drop dead gorgeous for a 59 year old!

And then he left! NO!!!!!! And so did Mike Vickers. Tom McGuinness started to play lead guitar finally because he wasn't a bassist really. A bit like Paul McCartney. Maybe it's a "Mc" thing! So they needed a new singer AND a new bassist! First of all they got a guy named Jack Bruce, but he left at the same time that Paul did (well, Mike Vickers left first, y'see). After that, they got Klaus Voorman on bass, who is a very cool guy, and was friends with The Beatles AND Keith Moon (what a life!) and on vocals they got the totally gorgeous Mike D'Abo who I can't find a picture of! NOOOOOOOOO!!!! Sorry, I'll try harder! They had a load more hits, my favourite of which is My Name Is Jack. Here are the lyrics to it!

My name is Jack and I live in the back
Of the Greta Garbo Home
With friends I will remember
Wherever I may roam...

Chorus
And my name's Jack
And I live in the back
Of the Greta Garbo Home for Wayward Boys and Girls!
(We all love Jack
And we live in the back
Of the Greta Garbo Home for Wayward Boys and Girls)

There goes Fred with his hands on his head
Cos he thinks he's heard the bomb
And here comes Superman
Who really puts it on
There's lots of fun and I love to run
Up and down the stairs
I make as much noise as I want
And no-one ever cares

Repeat Chorus

There's Karl over there with his funny old hair
And he's never sad at all
And when I grow up I want to run
As fast as my friend Paul
There's the prettiest girl in the whole wide world
And her name is Merridy Mend
And here comes Ma with brother Tom
Who's prob'ly my best friend (Tom's my best)
My best friend (Tom's my, my best friend)

Repeat Chorus

My name is Jack
And I live in the back
Of the Greta Garbo Home...

Repeat Chorus to Fade

Which is also a great song. Now, I've searched everywhere, and this is the best I can do for a Mike D'Abo picture, which is a shame cos he's drop dead gorgeous! But this'll have to do for the time being I'm afraid!

Sorry it's a REALLY bad pic of him, but it's the best I can do!

Mike is stood at the end, pouting, on the left hand side! The blondish looking one! What do you think?

See, you get SOME rock dudes who really REALLY improve with age, like wine or cheese (although cheese is really gross, but anyway). Then you get the ones who don't...
And the best photo I've got of him is this one here where he's about nine million years old! Sorry! Thank you, Sarah for supplying my new pics, which are courtesy of Crossfire Publications

In 1969, shortly after the success of their 13th top 10 single, Ragamuffin Man, Manfred Mann split up for the oddest of reasons. They got fed up of having hit records! No joke! That's what Tom McGuinness said in the liner notes for one of the Greatest Hits albums! Some people, eh?

Thank you to The Blues Band, AllMusic and Paul Jones' Radio 2 page for the pictures!

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