Welcome to this week’s BROW, which turns out to not only be a triple feature, but also a salute to a very significant man in Beatles history known as Chris Barber. Read on…
One of the main things that inspired John Lennon to form up his band The Quarry Men was the “skiffle-craze”. When UK musician Lonnie Donnegan’s fast-tempoed skiffle account of Lead Belly’s Rock Island Line came out in 1955, John was motivated to get in on the action. When his mother Julia bought him his first guitar in early 1957, he realized that all he still needed to form up his band were his friends, a washboard and tea chest bass.
Rock Island Line was not only a gold record in the U.K., but also a top 10 hit in the U.S. and Lonnie Donnegan (aka “the king of skiffle”) recorded it in 1954 while a member of the Chris Barber Jazz Band. At the time, Chris Barber was an already-established jazz trombonist who was recently responsible for launching Donnegan’s career. So if not for Chris Barber, there would have been no stardom for Lonnie Donnegan, no “skiffle craze” and therefore, no Quarry Men. It’s very arguable that The Beatles, in turn, may have never existed.
So thank you Chris!
Years later, in 1967, The Beatles in a relatively small way returned the favor by giving Chris one of Paul McCartney’s instrumental compositions he had first recorded way back in 1962 called Catswalk.
The audio featured here is a 1962 Beatles rehearsal of the track actually recorded at The Cavern Club in Liverpool. As intended, Chris made a spiced-up jazz arrangement of the song, renamed it Cat Call and released it as a single in the U.K. in October of 1967. It’s interesting to hear the life Chris breathed into this simple little demo, so I’ve included a recording of it here too. Cat Call was also released again in April 1979 on the compilation album The Songs Lennon & McCartney Gave Away.
The Beatles - CatswalkThe Chris Barber Jazz Band - Cat Call (excerpt)
This is part of the orginal 45 version also on the Battersea Rain Dance LP*.
The Chris Barber Jazz Band - Cat Call
This version is from The Songs Lennon & McCartney Gave Away.
* Many thanks to Andreas Wandfluh, Archive and Web Team Member of the Big Chris Barber Band / Chris Barber’s Jazz Band, who has provided this recording to me and allowing me to update this post with more information.
Chris Barber
1979 Compilation LP: The Songs Lennon & McCartney Gave Away, released April 1979, w/Chris Barber pictured in lower right corner
Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? Then let me hear from you. Visit my Beatles collection web site (www.MyBeatlesCollection.com) and hit the “Tracks” button and search my collection, then drop me a comment here and let me know what you’d like me to feature. There’s over 7274 recordings to choose from.
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I'm Happy Nat and I'm glad you dropped in! Feel free to listen to the latest BROW (Beatles Rarity Of The Week), watch the latest VOW (Beatles Video of the Week), and join the discussion by leaving comments or 
Thank you so much for this – I had no idea someone recorded a version of Catswalk.
How does it even classify as jazz? It sounds like something from Sgt Pepper – audience noise and all!
Yeah it does sound a little “peppery”.
I’m happy to report that the official Chris Barber website has seen fit to link to this article on their website. You can check it out along with the rest of his website right here.
And how about Pete Best on those drums!
Speaking of drummers, Ringo’s new “Y Not” CD was released today. My copy arrived in the mail this afternoon and my impression is that it’s pretty good! Pretty short (10 relatively short tunes) but good nevertheless. He has some good collaborators with him on it including Paul McCartney, Edgar Winter, Billy Squier and Richard Marx (all of whom he’s played with in the most recent configuration of the All Starr Band), Joe Walsh (everyone knows Joe, but did you know he’s Ringo’s brother-in-law?), Steve Dudas and Gary Burr (both part of The Roundheads), Gary Wright, Benmont Tench (yes, the one from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers) and more. Pick up a copy…Y Not?
Dear Sirs
As an Archive and Web Team Member of the Big Chris Barber Band / Chris Barber’s Jazz Band I appreciate very much that you have posted Cat Call on this site. However, the version titled “Chris Barber Jazz Band – Cat Call” is NOT the version that had been released as a single in 1967 resp. on the 1968 LP “Battersea Rain Dance” of the Barber Band.
Please contact me and let me know where I can provide you the correct 1967 Cat Call version.
Best regards
Andreas Wandfluh, Switzerland
Clarification: The version of Cat Call heard here is taken from the compilation album The Songs Lennon & McCartney Gave Away mentioned and pictured in the post. Andreas Wandfluh has pointed out above that the single released in 1967 contained an alternate version of the song. Andreas, thank you for pointing this out.
For once, I actually own a bootleg of the Beatles version as well as the “Gave Away” LP. Must say that the songs they gave to Billy J. Kramer were good enough to keep and release as Beatles tracks.