Georgie Fame and The Blue Flames – Yeh Yeh

“Yeh, Yeh” – Single by Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames, released on December 4, 1964. Songwriters: Rodgers Grant, Pat Patrick, Jon Hendricks.

This song hit #1 in UK due to heavy airplay at Radio Caroline, a pirate radio station broadcasting from ships in international waters that was formed for the expressed purpose of playing this.

“Yeh, Yeh” (in some territories released as “Yeah, yeh, yeh”) is a Latin soul tune that was written as an instrumental by Rodgers Grant and Pat Patrick, and first recorded by Mongo Santamaría on his 1963 album Watermelon Man! Lyrics were written for it shortly thereafter by Jon Hendricks of the vocal group Lambert, Hendricks & Ross.

The song was taken to the top of the UK Singles Chart in January 1965 by Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames (b/w “Preach and Teach”, Columbia DB 7428), breaking The Beatles’ long-term hold on the number one spot of five weeks with “I Feel Fine”, and a month later appeared on the US Billboard pop singles chart to peak at #21. The US single edited out the saxophone solo break.

Interviewed after the 2003 Jools Holland Spring Hootennany, where he had played a “dynamite version” of the song, Fame explained that the arrangement had been written by Tubby Hayes.

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Georgie Fame - Yeh Yeh

Georgie Fame - Yeh Yeh 102:44

Georgie Fame’s real name: Clive Powell. In 1960 Powell had his name changed by his manager Larry Parnes to Georgie Fame, and was then put in charge of Billy Fury’s backing band, the Famous Flames (not to be confused with James Brown’s first group). He was 17 at the time.

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