THE SEEKERS – "I'll Never Find Another You"

Only the flimsiest of efforts made here to disguise the fact that “you” is shorthand for “Jesus”. “There’s a new world somewhere, they call the promised land” – and if that doesn’t tip you off, the stern, sandalled, campfire atmosphere will. This particular youth group leader has a lovely, steely voice, and certainly there are worse routes to redemption available, but after a fine run of #1s this is still too medicinal for me.

Score: 4

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THE KINKS – "Tired Of Waiting For You"

TOM JONES – "It's Not Unusual"

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Gregory SInner

23 September 2008 18:39

My ten favourite names:
1.Berneice(Berneice Hott of Hillsboro Texas)
2.Clemence(from The Blue Spoon Sauk Prairie)
3.Mary Alice(Mary Alice Williams)
4.Audrey(my mother Audrey Schneider)
5.Philip(Prince Philip I have an A&E video & want $89.00 carriage house clock from Old Durham Road)
6.Gregury(When I was young man….now that I am old.)
7.Rob(Rob Lowe)
8.
9.
10.

Tooncgull

25 September 2009 23:12

Was a sucker for Seekers harmonies – but we knew this song as the “Lonely Ram Song”…. (“…and I know I’ll never find another ewe”)

Oh how we chortled.

Billy Smart

2 January 2011 11:10

TOTPWatch: The Seekers thrice performed ‘I’ll Never Find Another You’ on Top Of The Pops;

28 January 1965. Also in the studio that week were; Cliff Bennett & The Rebel Rousers, Del Shannon, The Righteous Brothers and Them. Jimmy Saville was the host.

11 February 1965. Also in the studio that week were; The Hollies, Wayne Fontana & The Mindbenders, The Ivy League, Tom Jones and Hermans Hermits. Alan Freeman was the host. Alan Freeman, David Jacobs, Pete Murray and Jimmy Saville were the hosts.

25 December 1965. Also in the studio that Christmas were; Georgie Fame & The Blue Flames, Jackie Trent, The Hollies, The Kinks, The Walker Brothers and Unit 4 + 2.

None of these programmes survive.

Paulito

15 January 2011 00:06

On a particularly grisly note, the Seekers were apparently the Moors murderers’ favourite pop combo.

crag

14 April 2011 09:53

DESERT ISLAND DISCS WATCH:

Tony Greig-Cricketer(1976).

Lena

25 July 2011 11:02

British Invasion pt. weird: http://musicsoundsbetterwithtwo.blogspot.com/2011/07/one-of-these-men-is-not-like-others.html Merci for reading as ever!

wichita lineman

25 July 2011 13:39

Wow, very little comment on this. It reminds me strongly of sunday lunch, possibly being the most played record on Family Favourites in the late 60s. I’m not really sure why my parents listened to it as 80% of the songs played wouldn’t have been up their street. Maybe for the same reason we all watched TOTP together, and I continued to do so…

I love the huge acoustic 12 string intro of INFAY, and the tune is undeniable. I’m not sure if the lyric is Christian in spite of the campfire atmos; it certainly has that love = heaven schtick which was so prevalent in Pre Rock (eg Don Cornell’s Hold My Hand), but it’s not a huge leap from that to the heaven/childhood lyrics common in R&R ballads (Angel Baby by Rosie & the Originals being the archetype).

Do I love the record though? No. Judith Durham’s voice doesn’t grate as much as Joan Baez, but it’s so pleased with its own purity and pitch that I can’t enjoy it. Even on her minor Wigan Casino “hit” she struggles to relax, relishing the long held notes. This showboating is something Popular will be dealing with a lot quite soon, and I’m sure those entries will stir more debate than the saintly Seekers.

lonepilgrim

21 October 2011 15:10

The number two record by Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders, celebrated by Lena above, got to number 1 in the US, as noted here:
http://nohardchords.wordpress.com/2011/10/20/133-wayne-fontana-and-the-mindbenders-game-of-love/

wichita lineman

27 April 2012 11:18

Elvis wanted to cover this, personally submitting it for a session in August 1967. The session was cancelled – other songs he submitted at this time but never recorded include Nat King Cole’s Ramblin’ Rose, Roy Hamilton’s Don’t Let Go, John D Loudermilk’s Great Snowman and the Ink Spots’ I Want To Thank You Folks. Intriguing, but not the Jimmy Webb/Beatles/Dylan covers you might have hoped for.

swanstep

21 March 2014 12:52

INFAY suffers a little by comparison with The Seekers’ similar, but perkier, more deftly arranged follow-up single, ‘A World of Our Own’, so it can feel like a case of ‘the wrong song getting to #1′. Still, I like INFAY a lot – the guitar hook’s great, the harmonies are killer, and the basic arc of the tune is well-crafted. Like wichita, I don’t see the lyrics’ religious interpretation as essential (and at least half of the lyrics are a very poor fit for it), rather I suspect the writer has one eye on publishing in America, anticipating a dual-use of the song by religious-minded groups there. It’ll be a stretch for them but they’ll manage it, whereas it’s not at all painful for us, as it were, to hear the ‘promised land’, ‘guide’, etc. couplets metaphorically but secularly:
6

P.S. This is the third #1 in a row I’ve rated significantly higher than Tom: I have 10-9-6 where he has 8-6-4. At least we agree on the order!

MikeMCSG

17 April 2014 12:04

That might be because their previous single was “Myra” , one you don’t hear often ( not surprisingly ) but it’s not very good anyway.

lonepilgrim

23 July 2015 20:57

I like this as I have fond memories of listening to the Seekers when I was young and I even got to sing ‘Georgy Girl’ as part of my Junior School choir. There’s something very reassuring about their harmonies which sound inclusive and welcoming. Wiki informs me that the song was written by Dusty Springfield’s brother Tom (and that his real name was the awesome ‘Dionysius P. A. O’Brien’).

Gareth Parker

29 April 2021 23:11

I’ve always found the Seekers to be rather limp and insipid. 2/10 for this one.

Huw Thomas

6 August 2022 12:26

Farewell Judith Durham, a big part of Aussie pop history and the voice of a 60s that hasn’t hardened into myth and reverance. My grandad, born 1944, has insisted before that the Seekers and the New Seekers were either bigger or better than the Beatles. S
Some sort of legacy is that the magic of charity shops mean no one in Britain is ever too far away from a copy of “I’ll Never Find Another You” or “The Carnival is Over”.

wpDiscuz

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THE SEEKERS – "I'll Never Find Another You"

THE KINKS – "Tired Of Waiting For You"

TOM JONES – "It's Not Unusual"

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