{"id":16463,"date":"2019-05-02T05:30:14","date_gmt":"2019-05-02T09:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=16463"},"modified":"2021-04-07T21:57:05","modified_gmt":"2021-04-08T01:57:05","slug":"those-were-the-days-mary-hopkins-post-card-at-50","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2019\/05\/02\/those-were-the-days-mary-hopkins-post-card-at-50\/","title":{"rendered":"Those Were the Days: Mary Hopkin’s ‘Post Card’ at 50"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Mary Hopkin was a mere 18 years old when she was signed to the Beatles\u2019 fledgling record label in 1968. That experience wasn\u2019t her first as a recording artist; she had previously cut an EP of songs in the native language of her home country, Wales. When scenester\/model Twiggy saw Hopkin performing on the TV show Opportunity Knocks<\/i>\u2014a \u201860s predecessor to 21st<\/sup> century shows like The Voice<\/i> and America\u2019s Got Talent<\/i>\u2014she recommended Hopkin to Paul McCartney, who promptly signed the teenager to a record deal.<\/p>\n

McCartney brought Hopkin into the studio in July 1968 to cut a Gene Raskin song called \u201cThose Were the Days.\u201d Released in late August, the single rose to the number one spot in 17 countries worldwide. By February 1969 Hopkin released her full-length debut album, Post Card<\/i>, again with McCartney in the producer\u2019s chair and Ken Scott engineering.<\/p>\n

Post Card<\/i> was the seventh album released by Apple, and only the third not to be credited to the Beatles or one of their members (James Taylor and the Modern Jazz Quartet were the first two non-Beatles acts to release Apple LPs).<\/p>\n

Post Card<\/i> would be very much in keeping with the eclectic nature that was part of Apple Records\u2019 brief; alongside the MJQ\u2019s third-stream jazz, Taylor\u2019s singer-songwriter style, Ravi Shankar\u2019s Hindustani music, Billy Preston\u2019s gospel\/soul, the Yellow Submarine<\/i> soundtrack and John and Yoko\u2019s avant garde Wedding Album<\/i>, the recording and release of the Welsh waif\u2019s folk and vintage pop made for a kind of sense.<\/p>\n

Hopkin\u2019s Post Card<\/i> included 14 songs, chosen from a variety of sources. Unlike some other Apple releases\u2014Jackie Lomax\u2019s Is this What You Want?<\/i> for example, released weeks after Hopkin\u2019s debut\u2014Post Card<\/i> doesn\u2019t list any of the musicians involved, either on its LP jacket or a printed inner sleeve. It\u2019s widely accepted that McCartney and Donovan (Leitch) played on the record; bootleg tapes exist of the pair jamming on acoustic guitars in off-moments during the recording sessions.<\/p>\n

Donovan\u2019s \u201cLord of the Reedy River\u201d opens the vinyl album. Hopkin\u2019s high, crystalline voice is accompanied by little more than an acoustic guitar, with occasional strums of an electric. The tune has a contemplative, slightly mournful feel. Donovan would later record the song himself for his 1971 LP HMS Donovan<\/i>. Kate Bush covered the song a decade later in 1981.<\/p>\n

Another Donovan tune, \u201cHappiness Runs\u201d features some intricate picking, with Hopkin reaching into her upper vocal register. A economical flute, clarinet and and brass arrangement follows along, taking a more prominent role in the song\u2019s second half. A bass guitar (possibly McCartney) lays out a simple descending pattern. In the tune\u2019s second half, Hopkin\u2019s vocal is overdubbed several times for a pleasing chorus effect. Donovan would release his own recording of \u201cHappiness Runs\u201d a few months after Hopkin\u2019s version, on his August 1969 album Barabajagal<\/i>.<\/p>\n

British dance band composer Ray Noble wrote \u201cLove is the Sweetest Thing\u201d in 1932 for singer Al Bowlly; Hopkin was at least the 14th<\/sup> artist to cover the song, following versions by Bing Crosby, Dinah Washington, Mario Lanza and Mel Torm\u00e9. The Post Card<\/i> arrangement of the song is very much in a traditional vein, with syrupy strings evocative of formal dress and shipboard romance. McCartney had by this time expressed an affinity for this kind of prewar tune, with the White Album\u2019s \u201cHoney Pie.\u201d He\u2019d return to the style several times throughout his solo career, most notably on \u201cYou Gave Me the Answer\u201d on Venus and Mars<\/i> and \u201cBaby\u2019s Request\u201d from Back to the Egg<\/i>.<\/p>\n

English poet and children\u2019s writer Ted Hughes co-wrote \u201cY Blodyn Gwyn,\u201d Welsh for \u201cThe White Blonde.\u201d The song\u2019s melody is largely carried by a harp or dulcimer, and Hopkin\u2019s overdubbed voice features two vocal lines\u2014sung in Welsh\u2014weaving gracefully about each other.<\/p>\n

\"\"Five songs in, Post Card<\/i> takes a turn away from folk and standards and toward pop. \u201cThe Honeymoon Song\u201d was part of the Beatles\u2019 early repertoire; they performed it on BBC radio\u2019s Pop Go the Beatles<\/i> in July 1963. Hopkin\u2019s reading of the 1959 show tune is a shimmering piece of folk-pop. And though we can\u2019t be certain, once again it certainly sounds like McCartney on bass.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Puppy Song\u201d takes things back in a vintage pop song direction. The soft shoe number was written for Hopkin by the artist the Beatles had previously named their \u201cfavorite American group,\u201d Harry Nilsson. Nilsson cut his own version for Harry<\/i>, released in August 1969.<\/p>\n

A minimalist classical combo provides backing for the melancholy \u201cInchworm.\u201d As Hopkin trills along, cello and harmonium accompany her. A ghostly vocal chorus is mixed low in the arrangement of the 1952 Frank Loesser song, originally sung by Danny Kaye. As the song nears its end, lugubrious strings fade in and out of the mix.<\/p>\n

The third of three Donovan tunes on Post Card<\/i>, \u201cVoyage of the Moon\u201d opens the LP\u2019s second side. Hopkin sings the first 30 seconds of the song unaccompanied; after that she is joined by courtly acoustic guitar picking. The song ends with Hopkin solo singing once again.<\/p>\n

The Tin Pan Alley standard \u201cLullaby of the Leaves\u201d features some of the most interesting guitar work on Post Card<\/i>, with a Spanish-feeling melody that stands on its own, separate from Hopkin\u2019s lovely vocal. Easily the most complex musical piece on Post Card<\/i>, the song is one of the few in which vocals and instrumentation receive equal weight. Only as the song fades can a drum part be heard in the mix.<\/p>\n

In its original form, \u201cYoung Love\u201d was a typical 1950s pop song. Its arrangement for Post Card<\/i> is much more in the folk rock idiom, suggesting to listeners what Hopkin might have sounded backed by We Five. Backing vocals (perhaps by someone other than Hopkin) and a sprightly rhythm section make \u201cYoung Love\u201d a strong contender for the best tune on the record. Keen listeners might note a resemblance to phrasing and melody of the Beatles\u2019 \u201cGirl.\u201d<\/p>\n

The original UK pressing of Post Card<\/i> included another standard, \u201cSomeone to Watch Over Me.\u201d For the U.S. release, that song was dropped, replaced instead by \u201cThose Were the Days.\u201d In keeping with common British practice, the latter hit single was not included on the British LP. Hopkin\u2019s \u201cThose were the Days\u201d was itself the product of a new Raskin lyric set to a Russian folk tune. The song\u2019s gypsy\/folk arrangement, vaguely klezmer air and Hopkin\u2019s singalong delivery all combined to make the tune a hit. Producer McCartney got Hopkin to record several different vocal tracks of the song in various languages including Spanish, German, Italian and French.<\/p>\n

\"\"A prolific French songwriter nonetheless little-known outside his own country, Jean-Pierre Bourtayre wrote \u201cPrince en Avignon,\u201d a tribute to actor Gerard Phillippe. Hopkin sings the song in its original French. The sentimental arrangement is very much in the style of Fran\u00e7oise Hardy\u2019s pop songs of the era.<\/p>\n

Beatles producer George Martin composed \u201cThe Game,\u201d and reputedly plays piano on the recording. Penny whistles and recorders add texture to the wistful melody.<\/p>\n

Post Card<\/i> closes with \u201cThere\u2019s No Business Like Show Business,\u201d listed on the sleeve as \u201cShow Business.\u201d A finely textured arrangement folds in brass, strings and a rock rhythm section. Yet despite the spirited instrumental backing, Hopkin remains the star of the show for this perfect set-closer.<\/p>\n

Mary Hopkin would follow up Post Card<\/i> for Apple Records with Earth Song\/Ocean Song<\/i> in 1971, produced by new husband Tony Visconti. After that album\u2019s release, she left the label. Apple recycled\/compiled her material on The Best of Mary Hopkin<\/i> (UK only) and Those Were the Days<\/i>, both released in 1972. A 2010 expanded reissue of Post Card<\/i> restored the UK track running order, added \u201cThose Were the Days\u201d as the lead-off track, and added several bonus tracks including the non-English mixes of \u201cThose Were the Days\u201d plus a reading of \u201cTurn, Turn, Turn\u201d and a non-album single, a soaring version of Paul McCartney\u2019s \u201cGoodbye.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today at age 68 Hopkin is still active musically; her new recording of \u201cThose Were the Days\u201d was released in 2018 to celebrate the original’s 50th<\/sup> anniversary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mary Hopkin was a mere 18 years old when she was signed to the Beatles\u2019 fledgling record label in 1968. That experience wasn\u2019t her first as a recording artist; she […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16466,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,51,65],"tags":[3789,1423,1663],"class_list":["post-16463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-folk","category-pop","category-review","tag-donovan","tag-mary-hopkin","tag-paul-mccartney","cat-30-id","cat-51-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16463"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16463\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20834,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16463\/revisions\/20834"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}