{"id":3712,"date":"2013-04-07T13:14:06","date_gmt":"2013-04-07T18:14:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/?p=3712"},"modified":"2013-08-03T14:12:02","modified_gmt":"2013-08-03T19:12:02","slug":"the-drifters-if-you-dont-come-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/?p=3712","title":{"rendered":"The Drifters – If You Don’t Come Back"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Example\"
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Drifters<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Example\"
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Listen\/Download The Drifters – If You Don’t Come Back<\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/del><\/p>\n

Greetings all<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

I have something very cool to get the week started.<\/p>\n

To repeat a story that has been told here many times (in many ways<\/em>) before, I first encountered the song I bring you today in a much different form.<\/p>\n

Thanks to my time as part of the 80s mod\/garage scene, and due to the fact that I had friends with xcellent musical taste and healthy record collections, I first heard a grip of R&B and soul songs as filtered through the prism of the British Invasion (R&B, beat, mod etc).<\/p>\n

More often than not, the distance between the original presentation and the cover was fairly small, i.e. white acts trying to replicate the sounds they heard on imported 45s and LPs as closely as possible.<\/p>\n

Occasionally, that distance was expanded considerably.<\/em><\/p>\n

The first time I heard \u2018If You Don\u2019t Come Back\u2019 it was via the 1968 psyched out cover version by Gary Walker and the Rain.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The Rain was Gary Walker\u2019s band following the dissolution of the Walker Brothers<\/strong>, and included in its ranks guitarist Joey Molland<\/strong> who would later go on to join Badfinger.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Their sole LP \u2018Album #1\u2019 \u2013 only ever legitimately released in Japan, but heavily bootlegged<\/em> \u2013 is one of the truly great psych albums of the day.<\/p>\n

That said, I always dug \u2018If You Don\u2019t Come Back\u2019 but it was years before I discovered that it was a cover of a record originally recorded by the Drifters<\/strong> in 1963.<\/p>\n

Written by Jerry Leiber<\/strong> and Mike Stoller,<\/strong> and recorded not long after they started working with the Drifters, \u2018If You Don\u2019t Come Back\u2019 has lyrical echoes of the kind of tunes the pair had been recording with the Coasters.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Leiber and Stoller manage to take a song that would have worked in a more humorous setting with the Coasters, and tone it down a little, giving the Drifters record (with a lead vocal by Johnny Moore<\/strong>) a bit of an edge.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s one of the rougher, more soulful things the Drifters ever laid down, with a great guitar\/horn riff repeated in the verse and some cool group harmonies in the chorus. The lyrics are brilliant.<\/p>\n

“Well a noise woke me up this morning
\nI looked through the venetian blind
\nThe car was gone and you were gone
\nAnd I almost lost my mind<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you don’t come back<\/strong>
\n If you don’t come back today baby, well<\/strong>
\n They can call up the people from the crazy house<\/strong>
\n And take this crazy man away<\/strong><\/p>\n

I threw myself up against the wall now<\/strong>
\n I tore my clothes and I sobbed<\/strong>
\n I ran out on the street in my stockinged feet<\/strong>
\n Calling “Police, I been robbed!”<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chorus<\/b><\/p>\n

Mrs Brown been talking about me<\/strong>
\n To the people way across the street<\/strong>
\n Said “I cooked that boy a bucket of stew<\/strong>
\n But the poor thing just won’t eat”<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chorus<\/b><\/p>\n

Well the doctor came up to see me<\/strong>
\nCheck me with a fine tooth comb<\/strong>
\nYou ain’t sick, but you’re gonna die<\/strong>
\nIf you don’t get your baby back home<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Interestingly, there\u2019s a fantastic version of the song by an earlier British group. The Undertakers<\/strong> (featuring Jackie Lomax<\/strong>) recorded a blistering cover of \u2018If You Don\u2019t Come Back\u2019 (billed as the \u2018Takers) in 1964.<\/a> Whether or not this was the version that inspired Gary Walker and the Rain, I cannot say, but it is certainly worth hearing.<\/p>\n

I hope you dig the track, and I\u2019ll see you all on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Keep the faith<\/strong><\/p>\n

Larry<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Example\"<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

PS Please to forgive the roughness of this 45. The person that sold it to me had an odd way of grading records…<\/strong>
\n___________________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived!<\/strong><\/p>\n

The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock.<\/strong><\/p>\n

They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US).<\/strong><\/p>\n

Click here to go to the ordering page.<\/strong><\/a>
\nAlso, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Example\"<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Example\"<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.<\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Drifters Listen\/Download The Drifters – If You Don’t Come Back Greetings all I have something very cool to get the week started. To repeat a story that has been told here many times (in many ways) before, I first encountered the song I bring you today in a much different form. Thanks to my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[58,14,87,12,18],"tags":[166,164],"class_list":["post-3712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cover-songs","category-funky16corners","category-leiber-and-stoller","category-soul","category-soul-45","tag-funky16corners","tag-soul"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMKgo-XS","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3712"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3712\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4091,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3712\/revisions\/4091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/funky16corners.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}