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LITTLE PATTIE
Dance Puppet Dance (Les Vandyke) Australia 1965 #12 Sydney #44 Melbourne #25 Brisbane Teenaged pop star Little Pattie's real name was Patricia Amphlett (she is a cousin of Divinyls singer Chrissie Amphlett). Her career kicked off at the end of 1963 with a double-sided surf craze hit, He's My Blonde-Headed, Stompie Wompie, Real Gone Surfer Boy backed with Stompin' At Maroubra. She later moved on from the surf novelty with a number of well-chosen and well-produced songs: see, for example, Little Things Like That and Pushin' A Good Thing Too Far. Further reading: 1. The definitive source on Little Pattie is Graeme Browne's booklet on her career, available through OzMusicBooks. 2. Little Pattie: Stories and Thoughts at Long Way to the Top. 3. Little Pattie entry at Wikipedia. 4. Patricia Thelma 'Little Pattie' Amphlett, OAM at Australian War Memorial's Who’s Who in Australian Military History. 5. Citation for OAM for services to the entertainment industry, 2003.
DAVE DUGGAN
Dance Puppet Dance (Les Vandyke) UK 1963 Original version
Single on Columbia #7040, with Geoff Love And His Orchestra. B-side: Just One More Dance (wr. Pilgrim). This is a real obscurity, rarely mentioned anywhere, even on Les Vandyke song lists, although you might find the single listed with some vinyl record dealers. Listen: Dave Duggan - Dance Puppet Dance.mp3 British songwriter, singer and film composer Les Vandyke (b. Yani Skoradalides, 1931) also used the names John Skoradalides, Johnny Worth and John Worsley. He wrote many well-known songs of the 60s and 70s including significant hits for Adam Faith (What Do You Want, Poor Me) and Eden Kane (Well I Ask You, Forget Me Not). Ex-Shadows Jet Harris & Tony Meehan had a UK hit with his Applejack (1963, #4 UK). See also Doin' The Mod, a Les Vandyke song covered by Melbourne's Flies. Thanks to Gerard Peet for the discovery, and to Duane Hobden for confirmation. References: 1. New Musical Express record reviews, 17 May 1963, republished here. 2. Discussion at Avro Community. 3. Label detail from Duane. 4. Further details from catalogue at nyvli.com (April 2010). 5. Les Vandyke bio at All Music Guide. 6. 45rpm.org.uk's account of Les Vandyke's career, including a label shot of his early single, as Johnny Worth, on the UK budget label Embassy. 7. John Worsley film scores listed at IMDb.
PARACHUTE EXPRESS
Dance Puppet Dance (Donny Becker - Janice Hubbard - Stephen Schwartz) USA 1991 Red herring Same title but not the same song as 'Dance Puppet Dance' by Little Pattie. On 1991 album Feel The Music by children's group, on Disney label. Corrections or comments? Contact the writer. |
