New Vaudeville Band ( The ) - Winchester Cathedral

First performance: 30/09/1967

Coverinfo

Bruce used the song only once:
 
 
1967-09-30 Left Foot (The), Freehold, NJ 
 
He covered the song with the Castiles at the end of The Beatles' With a little help from my friends .George Theiss takes the lead vocal on this song. 'With a little help from my friends' incorporates a brief instrumental rendition of "Winchester Cathedral". Bruce covered the song in september 1967 with the Castiles at the band’s second gig in the 'left foot' in Freehold. Only 26 minutes of the band’s 60-minute performance exists on the original master tape. The tape included 'one by one'. Keep in mind that only a small amount of setlists of the early years has surfaced, so it may have been played a lot more. One show, double bill, with The Castiles headlining. This was the band’s second gig at the club (see September 16). The 13-song mentioned setlist represents The Castiles’ complete performance at this show, in the correct song sequence. This was The Castiles’ final appearance at The Left Foot. Although having only opened in September 1967, The Left Foot’s popularity dropped dramatically in March 1968 when the larger, trendier Freehold Hullabaloo club opened nearby. The Left Foot closed for good in April 1968.
 
 
 
 

Songinfo

Winchester Cathedral" is a song by The New Vaudeville Band, a British novelty group established by the song's composer, Geoff Stephens, and was released in late 1966 by Fontana Records. Stephens was a big fan of tunes from the British music hall era (or what Americans would call "vaudeville"), so he wrote "Winchester Cathedral" in that vein, complete with a Rudy Vallée soundalike (John Carter) singing through his hands to imitate a megaphone sound. Although the song was recorded entirely by session musicians, when it became an international hit, an actual band had to be assembled, with Fontana trying unsuccessfully to recruit the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. 
 
 
 

Other cover versions

Bruce on the artist

Lyrics

Winchester Cathedral
You're bringin' me down
You stood and you watched as
My baby left town
You could've done something
But you didn't try
You didn't do nothing
You let her walk by
Now everyone knows
Just how much I needed that gal
She wouldn't have gone far away
If only you'd started ringing your bell
Winchester Cathedral
You're bringin' me down
You stood there and watched as
My baby left town
"a-vo-dee-oh-doe,
a-vo-dee-oh-doe,
a-vo-dee-oh-doe-dee-oh-doe