Baby Let Your Hair Down - GRAHAM CHAPMAN (1966) - Pop Archives - Sources of Australian Pop Records from the 50s, 60s and 70s

GRAHAM CHAPMAN
Baby Let Your Hair Down
(Bobby Hart - Bill Barberis)
Australia 1966

Single on Kommotion. The label shows Graeme Chapman.

Graham Chapman (1949-2009) was a British-born singer whose family had emigrated to Brisbane. He recorded seven singles 1966-1971 on Kommotion, Columbia and HMV, notably Gee I'm Gonna Miss You (1968, #18 Sydney #1 Brisbane).

In the mid-70s Graham Chapman moved to New Zealand and soon after became lead singer of Salty Dogg, a band that released two singles and an album 1976-1977. After Salty Dogg broke up he stayed on in New Zealand for a while before returning to Sydney where he worked in the clubs for many years as a singer and compere. See the Salty Dogg page at Bruce Sergent's NZ Music site, and gallery at the site of Salty Dogg member Mike Harvey.

On CD: Anthologised on Ace Records' Of Hopes & Dreams & Tombstones: Beat 'n' R&B from Down Under [Ace Records]

Further reading: An entry at this page (writer and sources not given) gives Chapman's birth details as 9 February 1949 in Watford and states that he was groomed as a new pop star after Normie Rowe was conscripted.

Thanks to Mike Harvey and Bruce Sergent.

Suggestion and version alerts from Philippe.

LES GAELIC
Gardez les cheveux longs (Baby Let Your Hair Down)
(Bobby Hart - Bill Barberis - G. Bertret)
France 1966

Version with French lyrics ("keep your long hair") on 1966 EP Gardez les cheveux longs.

Les Gaëlic were a five-piece rhythm & blues band formed in Rennes, capital of the French region of Bretagne (Brittany). They recorded on Disques Festival: no connection with the Australian label Festival.

On the same Les Gaëlic EP was a French version of Graham Gouldman's You Stole My Love, also recorded in Australia by Mike Furber & The Bowery Boys.

References, further reading: 1. Listing at encyclopedisque.fr; includes sleeve shots. 2. Disques Festival discography at RateYourMusic.com.

BOBBY HART
Baby Let Your Hair Down
(Bobby Hart - Bill Barberis)
USA 1965
Original version

Single on DCP by Bobby Hart, best known as one half of singing and writing duo Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart.

Boyce & Hart had some success with their own records, including I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight (1968, #8 USA) and Alice Long (You're Still My Favorite Girlfriend) (1968, #27 USA), and they worked on The Monkees' TV series, notably as the composers of (Theme From) The Monkees and Last Train To Clarksville.

See also Opportunity, a Bobby Hart co-write that was a #1 hit in New Zealand for Mr Lee Grant.

Further reading: 1. Boyce & Hart Artist Biography by Richie Unterberger at All Music. 2. Boyce & Hart official website. 3. Boyce & Hart Discography at Wikipedia.

Later versions:

LES KITSCHENETTE'S
Garder Les Cheveux Courts
France 2014
Later version

On EP 2e Etage: Lingerie Pour Hommes.

The hair is short (courts) in this Gaelic-inflected variation by French 60s revivalists from Saint-Malo in Brittany.

Linguists will notice that the form of the verb is garder, instead of gardez on the earlier French version by Les Gaëlic (above).

Further reading: Les Kitschenettes at Discogs.comme.

Merci à Philippe de me signaler cette version.

DON ADAMS & THE GREENFIELD EXPRESS
Baby Let Your Long Hair Down
(Rory Bourke - Eddie Rabbitt)
USA 1974
Red herring

SIMILAR TITLE BUT NOT THE SAME SONG AS
BABY LET YOUR HAIR DOWN BY GRAHAM CHAPMAN.

Single on Atlantic, co-written by pop-country singer-songwriter Eddie Rabbitt (1941-1998) who co-wrote (for example) Elvis Presley's Kentucky Rain (1970, #16 USA, co-wr. Dick Heard), and had several mainstream chart hits of his own including Drivin' My Life Away (1980, #5 USA), I Love A Rainy Night (1980, #1) and Step By Step (1981, #5).

Rabbitt's co-writer here, Nashville songwriter Rory Bourke (b.1942), wrote a number of songs recorded by well-known country artists, including Charlie Rich's biggest crossover hit, The Most Wonderful Girl (1973, #1 USA, co-wr. Norris Wilson & Billy Sherrill).