MARTY RHONE
She's Coming Home
(Robin Shaw - Micky Keene aka Mickey Keen [Robin Scrimshaw - Michael Wiltshire])
Australia 1968
#33 Brisbane

A rewrite, with some nifty lyric changes, of The Nashville Teens' I'm Coming Home.

Marty Rhone: singer, songwriter and actor, real name Carl Van Rhoon (b.1948), also teamed by Spin Records with Sydney band The Soul Agents.

His biggest success as a solo artist came in the 70s, with such hits as Denim And Lace (1975) and his co-composition Mean Pair Of Jeans (1977). See also his minor hit No No No No No (1967).

Further reading: 1. Howlspace’s Marty Rhone & The Soul Agents page. 2. History of Spin Records at Milesago. 3. The still-active Marty Rhone's website at MartyRhone.com. 4. Marty's YouTube channel - MartyRhoneDotCom - has videos of his recent work.

Thanks to Mike Robbins, and to Mat Van Rhoon for updates.
GUS BACKUS
I'm Coming Home
(Robin Shaw - Micky Keene aka Mickey Keen [Robin Scrimshaw - Michael Wiltshire])
Germany (recorded in UK)

Recorded 1967, released 1995.

Gus Backus was a New Yorker (b.1937) who went to Germany as a serviceman and stayed on to become a popular pop and rock singer.

I'm Coming Home was released in 1995 on the Bear Family album My Chick Is Fine, taking its name from a US single Gus Backus cut for Carlton while home on leave in the US in 1958.

At the same session as I'm Coming Home Gus Backus recorded Lost And Found, presumably the Robin Shaw - Micky Keene composition recorded in 1969 by Australia's Ram Jam Big Band.

Reference: Biography of Gus Backus at All Music Guide (most bios I've seen on the Net are copied & pasted from this one). Bruce Eder also reviews My Chick Is Fine (approvingly) at All Music Guide.
THE NASHVILLE TEENS
I'm Coming Home
(Robin Shaw - Micky Keene aka Mickey Keen [Robin Scrimshaw - Michael Wiltshire])
UK 1967
Original version

Single on Decca by band originally from Weybridge, Surrey, formed 1962, best known for their hit version of John D. Loudermilk's Tobacco Road.

British songwriters Robin Shaw and Micky Keene (real names Robin Scrimshaw & Michael Wiltshire) were associates of prolific songwriter-producer John Carter. As Carter Shaw Keen they recorded some Shaw-Keene compositions, as did another John Carter project, Ministry of Sound.

From 1965, Micky Keene (also spelt Mickey Keen), guitarist, and Robin Shaw, bassist, were in the band Division Two that released an album and also backed John Carter's Ivy League.1 Robin Shaw recorded with The Flowerpot Men (Let's Go To San Francisco), White Plains (My Baby Loves Lovin') and First Class (Beach Baby). These were all John Carter studio projects that also involved his frequent collaborator Ken Lewis and the ubiquitous session singer Tony Burrows.2

I believe this is the first released version of I'm Coming Home, but considering the number of bands and studio projects that Shaw & Keene were a part of, perhaps we should not rule out entirely the possibility of an earlier version.

Other Shaw-Keene compositions recorded by Australian artists include:
• Normie Rowe - Ooh La La and Mary Mary (1966, recorded in UK).
• Johnny Devlin - You Gotta Tell Me (1967, recorded in UK, co-wr. V. McKenna);
• The Ram Jam Big Band - Lost And Found (1969), probably the same song recorded by Gus Backus in 1967 (see below).

References: 1. The Mickey Keen Info Page on Division Two and Ivy League; see also this YouTube video of Ivy League and Division Two at a 1965 NME concert. 2. Hiroshi Asada's family tree shows Robin Shaw sessions. 3. Nashville Teens bio & discography at British Beat Boom.

Red herrings: There are numerous different songs entitled I'm Coming Home or I'm Comin' Home. Those listed here are the only ones I've found that are the Shaw-Keene composition. Tom Jones's 1967 hit I'm Coming Home, for example, is a different song.

 

 

THE ZOMBIES
She's Coming Home
(Rod Argent)
UK 1965
Red herring

Same title but not the same song as 'She's Coming Home' by Marty Rhone.

Single on Decca.

Further reading: Song review by Matthew Greenwald at All Music Guide.
BLUES MAGOOS
She's Coming Home
(Roger Atkins - Helen Miller)
USA 1966
Red herring

Same title but not the same song as 'She's Coming Home' by Marty Rhone.

On Mercury album Psychedelic Lollipop by psych-rock band from The Bronx.
RAYMOND PARKER
She's Coming Home
(Raymond Parker)
USA 1966
Red herring

Same title but not the same song as 'She's Coming Home' by Marty Rhone.

Single on NOLA.

Later versions:

MINISTRY OF SOUND
I'm Coming Home
(Robin Shaw - Micky Keene aka Mickey Keen [Robin Scrimshaw - Michael Wiltshire])
UK 2005
Later version

Recorded 1966-1968 but unreleased until 2005 on Midsummer Nights Dreaming/Men from the Ministry, a mock repackaging of two 60s albums that never existed. In reality, Ministry Of Sound only ever released one single during the 60s, White Collar Worker/Back Seat Driver (1966, both written by Robin Shaw & Micky Keene).

Ministry Of Sound was a studio project of producer-songwriter John Carter, recorded with the participation of Robin Shaw & Micky Keene.

See also Normie Rowe - Ooh La La.

Essential reading: Richie Unterberger's review of Midsummer Nights Dreaming/Men from the Ministry and his biography of Ministry of Sound, both at All Music Guide.
See also Wikipedia entry on John Carter.

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