BOBBY COOKSON
I Could Have Loved You So Well
(Barry Mann - Gerry Goffin)
Australia 1963
#14 Melbourne

Single on Astor by Melbourne singer and guitarist who was with The Premiers before going solo. Bobby Cookson had - as Ian McFarlane puts it - "a powerful Roy Orbison-style voice which made him a popular attraction".

Bobby Cookson released nine singles 1961-1965, either solo or with The Premiers. He charted in Melbourne with Flutter Flutter (1961, #20), Timber (1962, #29), I Could Have Loved You So Well (1963, #14) and Rona (1963, #28), all on Astor.

His last single was on the new Go!! label, Funny Man (1965), the song that was later a hit in Australia for Ross D. Wylie.

The Premiers also recorded under their own name (Mary Had A Little Lamb, 1963, #37 Melbourne) and backed Betty McQuade, although not at the time of Midnight Bus.

Listen to Bobby Cookson - I Could Have Loved You So Well at MPH's Bobby Cookson page.

References: 1. Gavin Ryan's Melbourne chart book. 2. First Wave and Second Wave discographies. 3. Go!! discography at Global Dog. 4. Ian McFarlane, Encyclopedia of Australian Rock & Pop. 5. Spencer et al, Who's Who of Australian Rock.
Further reading: 1. Notes on a 2004 Premiers reunion (without Bobby Cookson) at the Peter Doyle website. 2. Bobby Cookson & The Premiers just squeezing into the Top 100 at 5AD Adelaide December 1961 (ARSA page).
3. Image at State Library of Victoria.
Suggestion from Bruce R. Gillespie.
RAY PETERSON
I Could Have Loved You So Well
(Barry Mann - Gerry Goffin)
USA 1962
Original version

Texas-born singer and label owner (1939-2005) best known for Tell Laura I Love Her (1960, #7 USA) and the Phil Spector-produced Corinna, Corinna (1960, #9 USA).

Single on Ray Peterson's own label, Dunes, formed after the success of Tell Laura I Love Her.

Each of the writers is better known in a songwriting partnership with his wife:
Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil and Carole King & Gerry Goffin.

I Could Have Loved You So Well was also recorded, for example, by Patty Lemann (1965) and Jack Bedient (1966/7).

References: 1. Barry Mann song list at Hiroto Yanagida's Magic Town. 2. All Music Guide's Ray Peterson biography.
Further reading: Biographies of Barry Mann and Gerry Goffin at All Music Guide.

Corrections or comments? Contact the writer.