Winchester Cathedral (song)

For the Crosby, Stills & Nash song "Cathedral", see CSN (album).
"Winchester Cathedral"
Single by the New Vaudeville Band
from the album Winchester Cathedral
B-side"Wait for Me Baby"
Released26 August 1966[1]
StudioAdvision, London
Genre
Length2:20
LabelFontana
Songwriter(s)Geoff Stephens
Producer(s)Geoff Stephens
The New Vaudeville Band singles chronology
"Winchester Cathedral"
(1966) 		"Peek-a-Boo"
(1967)

"Winchester Cathedral" is a song by the New Vaudeville Band, a British novelty group established by the song's composer, Geoff Stephens, and was released in late 1966 by Fontana Records.

It reached number 1 in Canada on the RPM 100 chart, co-charting with the Dana Rollin version,[5] and shortly thereafter in the U.S. on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Stephens was a big fan of tunes from the British music hall era (or what Americans would call "vaudeville"), so he wrote "Winchester Cathedral" in that vein, complete with a Rudy Vallée soundalike[6] (John Carter) singing through his hands to imitate a megaphone sound.[7] Although the song was recorded entirely by session musicians, when it became an international hit, an actual band had to be assembled, with Fontana trying unsuccessfully to recruit the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band.[8] The recording is one of the few charting songs to feature a bassoon.[9] The band toured extensively under the tutelage of Peter Grant, who later went on to manage The Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin.[7]

The song won the 1967 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary (R&R) Recording.[10] An initial long-playing album including the song was issued in late 1966 by Fontana Records, also titled Winchester Cathedral. Stephens received the 1966 Ivor Novello Award for "Best Song Musically and Lyrically".[11]

In 2016, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the song's release, a new version by Geoff Stephens was released on CD by Signum Classics, sung by members of the Winchester Cathedral Choir.[12] The premier performance of this version was to take place during a Gala Concert in Winchester Cathedral on March 12, 2016 to help raise funds for the Cathedral's Appeal.

  1. ^ "Newies from Spencer, Sandie and Wilson Pickett" (PDF). Record Mirror. 20 August 1966. p. 4. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  2. ^ Fleiner, Carey (2017). The Kinks: A Thoroughly English Phenomenon. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. chap. 7. ISBN 978-1-4422-3542-7.
  3. ^ Breihan, Tom (September 27, 2018). "The Number Ones: The New Vaudeville Band's "Winchester Cathedral"". Stereogum. Retrieved June 14, 2023. But the New Vaudeville Band's "Winchester Cathedral" is as pure a shot of old-school music hall as you'll ever find in this column...
  4. ^ Lanza, Joseph (1 February 2005). "The Doodletown Dimension". Vanilla Pop: Sweet Sounds from Frankie Avalon to ABBA. Chicago Review Press. p. 143. ISBN 1-55652-543-5.
  5. ^ "RPM Top 100 Singles - November 28, 1966" (PDF).
  6. ^ Gilliland, John (1969). "Show 38 – The Rubberization of Soul: The great pop music renaissance. [Part 4]" (audio). Pop Chronicles. University of North Texas Libraries.
  7. ^ a b "Biography by Steve Huey". AllMusic.com. Retrieved 11 March 2009.
  8. ^ Unterberger, Richie (2000). Urban Spacemen and Wayfaring Strangers. Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN 9781617744815.
  9. ^ "Best Songs with Bassoon". Democratic Underground. Retrieved 2016-09-30.
  10. ^ "Winchester Cathedral by New Vaudeville Band Songfacts". Songfacts.com. 1966-12-03. Retrieved 2012-12-31.
  11. ^ Lister, David, Pop ballads bite back in lyrical fashion, The Independent, 28 May 1994
  12. ^ "'Winchester Cathedral' re-released - Winchester Cathedral". 4 March 2016. Archived from the original on 2018-01-17. Retrieved 2 March 2018.