Date: Dec 3, 1966
Weeks: 3
This isn't quite the type of song I expected to find in the middle of the 60s. I suppose it's not too far off some songs that were popular at the time, but it's not exactly the sound of the 60s one usually hears. When I hear a song that seems so out of place, the most logical assumption is that it's from a movie that was popular at the time. That doesn't seem to be the case here, though. It turns out it's just a throwback song, with maybe a touch of novelty song for good measure.
Novelty songs tend to be funnier than this song is, although I suppose it's light and fluffy and a bit funny. The lyrics are about the singer regretting that the woman he loved left town, and he blames Winchester Cathedral for failing to ring its bells and distract her from her departure. Possibly I'm being overly literal here, and this is actually an expression of his regret that she left because he wouldn't commit to marrying her (the bells indicating the wedding). I suppose when I look at it that way, it's kind of cleverly and even humorously written. It's a really dry, kind of obscure sort of joke, the kind that I'm not entirely sure is a joke, but there you go.
The music is definitely vaudeville throwback, and seems out of place in the 60s. But it's not bad. It's kind of a charming throwback, and I feel like it's not the only song from the era that did this. It kind of reminds me of the song from Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, a legendarily bad movie from 1964. Anyway, the guitar and percussion style is overwhelmingly vaudeville, which makes it a type of song I hadn't anticipated hearing on this Billboard list.
My verdict: Don't like it. Like the vaudeville songs on which it's based, it's pleasant enough, but it doesn't really motivate me to want to listen to it repeatedly.
Hooray for Santy Claus!
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