Out of Toon Part 1 - The Barrie Brothers verses Geordie

Harry and the Barries

Many reasons have been put forward for why Newcastle performed so badly in the 1974 FA Cup Final. They did not prepare properly, coach Keith Burkinshaw fell out with some players, the team selection was wrong and even the purple and green tracksuits. To some extent they all played a part, but we feel that the most important factor was the insipid Official Cup Final Song

The words and music for Howway the Lads (price £0.50 plus 10p postage) were provided by the legendary Harry Herring who also performed on the record with those wacky funsters "The Barrie Brothers". The composition was arranged by Ken Shaw and produced at Impulse Studios in the Toon

Now wor Harry is a thespian no less (equity number F8506 if you are interested) who has starred in such roles as Ted Boneo in Byker grove and I Squeezem the Bank Manager in Supergran. He has even played alongside that local lovee Alan Shearer in that Macdonald's advert

Harry (5' 7" with blue eyes) can be heard making good use of his "native geordie" accent on the spoken "conversation" towards the end of the two minute twenty second disc

The Barrie Brothers were one of the top bands on the local club circuit, veterans of Opportunity Knocks and they came from SUNDERLAND. Not only that but they use the "b side" to promote one of their own god awful records

The song itself starts with a couple of bars of the Blaydon Races, but degenerates into a folksy singalong which does nothing to inspire. Although it does include the immortal line "From Forest Hall to Timbuktu, every Geordie's proud of you".

The Geordie Boys

So was their an alternative? There most certainly was. Newcastle had it's own chart topping band Geordie fronted by future AC/DC front man Brian Johnson. The band which also featured guitarist Vic Malcolm, bassist Tom Hill and drummer Brian Gibson released their first single in 1972.. 'Don't Do That', peaked at No. 32 in the British charts and was followed a few months later by their biggest hit 'All Because Of You' (No 6) and another Top 20 hit with 'Can You Do It'.

Their lyrics and songs ,as befitting the era were tailor made for terrace anthems. Here's a few choice lines from one of their compositions

Can you do it, can you do it Do it like you did last night Can you squeeze me, can you tease me Oh yeah, sure felt nice Oh oh, sure felt awright Oh oh, sure felt awright So cum on, cum on, cum on, cum on keep grooving Cum on, cum on, cum on, cum on keep grooving

This was a band that could rock, boogie and stomp along with the best of the bands of the "glam" era. Surely a band which could come up with lyrics like these would have put the wind up those scallies from Merseyside. If United had teamed up with these true Toonsters we feel sure that we could have done it!