Mark is a little under the weather today, so for our Song of the Week this week we're reprising a live-performance video edition by an artist featured on this weekend's episode of Mark Steyn on the Town: the indestructible hitmaker Peter Noone and his group Herman's Hermits.
As Steyn wrote over six years ago, after the death of a marvellous pop composer, Les Reed:
Les and Geoff [Stephens] went on to write many other songs, including their masterpiece, 'There's a Kind of Hush (All Over the World Tonight)', which Herman's Hermits made a monster hit all over the world now and forever. I love the melody Reed came up with, and maybe we'll do that for a Song of the Week in the weeks ahead.
And so Mark did, sitting down with Peter Noone to talk about the song, its writers and producer, and the original recording session. Peter performs the song acoustically and then we catch him live on stage singing the number with a full complement of Hermits, as he does somewhere in the world every other night of the year. We think you'll appreciate these twin performances of a classic British Invasion pop song. To enjoy, simply click below:
Peter Noone with Herman's Hermits:
Vance Brescia, Billy Sullivan, guitars;
Rich Spina, keyboards;
and Dave Ferrara, drums.
If you get the chance to see Peter live, don't miss it: It's not just the music, but a lot of big laughs too, including some excellent musical gags.
Steyn's Song of the Week is made possible through The Mark Steyn Club. In this ninth year, we're grateful to all our First Month Founding Members still with us as we cruise toward our first decade. Among those members is Mark's fellow Torontonian, Sarah:
Love the Song of the Week - Mark writes so evocatively and wittily about making music.
Thank you, Sarah - and we hope you enjoy our video and audio Songs of the Week, too. Among the pleasures of Steyn Club membership is that you can enjoy our TV content in any medium you desire: video, audio or text. So, if you'd rather sample our Song of the Week in audio only, please log-in here. You can find more non-visual content from The Mark Steyn Show over in our Audio & Transcripts department. For more on The Mark Steyn Club, see here.
~There's more live music from Mark's shows over the years in his best-of-the-guests special with Andrew Lloyd Webber, Everything But The Girl, Stubby Kaye and many more, and in his previous best-of-the-guests special with performances from Liza Minnelli, Paul Simon, Loudon Wainwright III and likewise many more. And there's more video entertainment from Steyn's Song of the Week below:
#336: Tal Bachman gets his kicks on "Route 66"
#314: Patsy Gallant sings "L'Hymne à l'amour"
#311: Paul Sorvino recalls and sings "O Sole Mio"
#303: Carol Welsman sings and plays "The Glory of Love"
#297: Robert Davi swings "At Long Last Love"
#292: Don Black reminisces about "Born Free", with Robert Davi
#291: Tim Rice recalls "A Winter's Tale", with Emma Kershaw
#289: The Klezmer Conservatory Band perform "Dance Me To The End Of Love"
#288: Cheryl Bentyne sings "This Masquerade"
#287: Maria Muldaur sings "Aba Daba Honeymoon"