Knickerbockers -- "Lies" (1966)

Lies, lies

I can't believe a word you say

2 or 3 lines certainly lies now and then, but most of the time you can believe every word it says.

But you certainly can't believe a word it says WHEN THE POST IS DATED APRIL FIRST.

FYI, April Fools' Day may have originated in France.  Today, April Fools' is known in France as le poisson d'Avril -- "the April fish."  The traditional French le poisson d'Avril prank is to stick a paper fish on someone's back.  I'm not making this up -- it comes straight off the National Geographic website.

Vintage French le poisson d'Avril card

(Now where were we?  I remember -- I was berating you for falling for a pretty lame April Fools' hoax.)

For goodness' sakes, people -- do I have to hit you over the head?  First of all, I referred to April Fools' Day in my March 30 post.  (That's called "foreshadowing.")   And my next post is dated April 1 -- go ahead, click here and look at the date that right's there at the top of the post.  It's as plain as the nose on your face.

I think what made so many readers accept all that crap about an unreleased Beatles record was my skillful use of misdirection.  I started out with one of my pedantic little sermonettes -- no news there, huh?  Once you got through that, there was some BS'ing about what makes a Beatles record a Beatles record -- not exactly profound stuff, but it sounded kind of deep.  

The effect of all this was to numb your brain until you were almost asleep and your anti-hoax defenses were down.  Obviously it worked like a charm.

Here's the American sign language sign for how many of my readers figured the joke out:

Get the picture?  (Yes, we see.)

"Have You Heard the Word?" was written by two Australians, Steve Kipner and Steve Groves, who came to England in 1969 after being signed to a record deal by Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees.  (The Bee Gees got their start in Australia, and were briefly managed by a songwriter/producer/entrepreneur named Nat Kipner, who was Steve's father.) 

Kipner and Grove -- who later recorded the 1971 hit single "Toast and Marmalade for Tea" under the name Tin Tin, and opened for the Bee Gees on their 1972 American tour -- were rehearsing song one day when Gibb dropped by the studio with his wife, pop star Lulu (remember "To Sir With Love"?), and her brother, Billy Laurie.  Gibb also brought a bottle of Johnnie Walker.

Mr. and Mrs. Maurice Gibb

After finishing off the scotch, the boys gathered around the microphone and recorded the song -- pretending to be the Beatles.  

It was all just for grins, but someone took the tape and cut a 45, which was sold in record shops in the UK.  The performers were identified on the record as "The Fut," but the word on the street was that the single was really a Beatles song.  

John and Yoko in 1968

"Have You Heard the Word?" has been included on a number of Beatles bootleg albums over the years.  After John Lennon's death, Yoko Ono filed for a U.S. copyright for the song under his name.  Apparently she believed it really was one of his songs.  (If it fooled Yoko, I guess you shouldn't feel so bad for falling for this April Fool's joke.)

"Lies" was a 1966 hit for the Knickerbockers.  A lot of people believed that "Lies" was an undercover Beatles release, and for good reason -- it sounds exactly like the early Beatles, despite the fact that the Knickerbockers hailed from Bergenfield, New Jersey.  (They took their name from a local street -- Knickerbocker Road, which today is New Jersey Route 505.) 

Here's "Lies" -- listen to it with your eyes closed, and you'll swear it's the Beatles.

Click here to buy the song from Amazon: