The Shame | Too Old To Go ‘Way Little Girl | Poppy | 1967

THE SHAME – ’Too Old To Go ‘Way Little Girl’/ ’Dreams Don’t Bother Me’ (Poppy POP 501) November 1967

A lot happening here and the production seems commercial with strong lead, whirring backing and plenty of power. Nice. (Record Mirror, 23/09/67)

The amazingly talented Janis Ian wrote “Don’t Go ‘Way Little Girl” which with some variations in the original text pops up by the SHAME who do it rather well with harsh guitar. (Penny Valentine, Disc, 23/09/67)

The Shame – ”Too Old To Go ’Way Little Girl” / ”Dreams Don’t Bother Me” (Poppy POP 501) November 1967

The Shame hailed from Bournemouth on the South Coast of England and released this one and only single. It was released in Britain on MGM during September 1967 then in USA on Poppy Records a few months later.

”Too Old To Go ’Way Little Girl” is a song written and recorded by a teenage girl called Janis Ian and was a track on her debut album from February 1967. This album got it’s first European reissue on CD from the mono masters on Now Sounds back in 2009.

The Shame’s take of ”Too Old To Go ’Way Little Girl” adds snaking psychedelic guitar leads, sitar,  mod-like drum action with turned-on vocals by Greg Lake. The other side ”Dreams Don’t Bother Me” was written by keyboardist John Dickenson and is pleasing psych pop with a lush organ sound throughout.

After this disc flopped Greg Lake and John Dickenson formed The Shy Limbs with Andrew McCulloch on drums. They then released the classic psychedelic 45 ”Reputation” / ”Love” on CBS. Guitarist Greg Lake would later form progressive  rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer after a stint with King Crimson.

The Shame | Too Old To Go ‘Way Little Girl | Poppy | 1967

BIOGRAPHY

THE SHAME

NOT many groups can claim to use only their own compositions for their stage act which by its showmanship is received enthusiastically wherever they play. Their first record “Don’t Go Away Little Girl”, a Janis Ian composition, is being released on September 22nd by M.G.M. Normally, the group will only use their own material; but Greg Lake, leader of the group, who counts Janis Ian, the 16 year old American prodigy, as one of the major influences on his musical career, insisted that the group used this controversial song for their first record.

BABYFACED Greg, vocalist and lead guitar for The Shame has been in showbusiness for seven years and is only 19. As well as vocalising for the group, he also plays mandolin, sitar and Spanish guitar. His first sitar solo, at the age of 12, went down “like a lead zeppelin” so he forgot all about his Grandfather’s sitar until the recent revival and interest in Indian music. In spite of his youthful looks, Greg is serious minded and wants to help pop music progress beyond its present shallow level.

TWENTY-ONE year old Judi Nims, drummer for The Shame, with five years in the business, is a modern jazz fan. He has built up a vast collection of jazz albums from earnings of the several lucrative pro-showbusiness Jobs he has held. Among these jobs he has been a dumper driver, draughtsman and graphic designer. His favourite band is The Modern Jazz Quartet, and he puts “authority” at the bottom of his popularity poll.

A romantic at heart

JOHN DICKENSON is the musical brains behind The Shame. He writes all the groups material and with a strong religious background so it’s not surprising that his first composition was, at the age of 15, a hymn. When he played this at school he accompanied himself on the organ. In common with many other organists, his musical training started at the age of seven with piano lessons, and even now he occasionally plays the piano and harpsicord. A romantic at heart, he looks to Dylan and Rogers and Hammerstein as his favourite composers.

MALCOLM EVILL, who really lives down to his name, plays apart from bass guitar, the honking horn, in fact his biggest idol is Honking Joe Symes, who he names as his favourite singer, composer and instrumentalist. It’s Malcolm’s professional ambition to meet Honking Joe Symes. Malcolm and Judi met up at Bournemouth College of Art, and have been playing with each other ever since. Twenty-one year old Malcolm started his musical education playing the Oboe at Wimborne Grammar School. His favourite actor is Terence Stamp, and his favourite female singer is Dionne Warwick.