Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Hermann's Corner - Destiny's Children(Fall Of The Queen)

 

A: Hey Hermann, what's up?

H: 2 sheep, 2 chickens, 2 wild boars...

A: You what? You're into the Ark-building business now?

H: No Anders.. breakfast!

A: Ah.. I should have known.. As fascinating that is Hermann, I think what people really want to hear is if you have an interesting band for us today.

H: Indeed I have.. As I went on to hide from the prosecu..(couching)..sorry.. went on for a walkabout through the South American jungle I stumbled upon a group of natives living in the most primitive way you could imagine. They would tell the tales of a group such obscure that they were barely heard of in the western civilization.. They were called The Destiny's Children.

A: But there were two Destiny's Children wasn't there? Both brilliant groups though.

H: You're right about that Anders.. One of them were from Phoenix, Arizona and released a killer single For Me/The Collectors in 1966. This is a brilliant 2-sider.
However the Destiny's Children I want to talk about is the group from Pasadena, Texas who released the single "Your First Time" in 1966 on the Ventrual(V-730) label, having "Fall Of The Queen" as the b-side.





As you can see on the label J. McClain and P. Wade are credited as songwriters. If you have any knowledge about these guys(those names might be pseudonyms though), I'd be very thankful if anybody that might knew who they where got in touch. As I Hermann don't want to give away my current location, a comment on the article or a mail to Anders(anders543210(at)gmail.com) would be great.

Regarding the a-side "Your First Time", the song was written by the producer of the session, Huey P. Meaux of Crazy Cajun Music.

That's about all the info there is about "Fall Of The Queen" so far, except that the song was first time re-released on the Sixties Rebellion #2 compilation as late as 1993. The a-side "Your First Time" seem to be even more obscure regarding garage compilations and reissues, and I have to admit I've never got to hear before. The single is not even listed as sold on E-bay through Popsike, where even ridiculous rare singles like The Keggs or The Starfyres are presented with a few sales.




Ad from the 29'th of June 1966.


Not much facts here.. This is not an easy group to research, as it seems nobody knows too much about them except about their release.
 
"Fall Of The Queen" is as punk rock as gets. The drumming is basic pounding on the drum-skins, followed by a bass picking the simplest line possible. There's the obligatory organ too, making "96 tears" sound like a Led Zeppelin jam. The intro and the bridges have single-note guitar picking. The verses have a Louie Louie simplicity, while on the chorus the guitar just let simple chords ring for a while before changing slowly to the next chord. 

A Neanderthal would shrug his shoulders to how primitive this music is. But I'm in the opinion that the simplest is often the best. What's most apparent however is the aggressive vocals who are overpowering the song, with shouting out the very simple but powerful lyrics.

The vocalist sound like he has been eating Keith Richards for breakfast.
The lyrics describes - wait for it... - a relationship that have gone bad. The strong words describes the girlfriend as the queen, who have been found out of(as no good), kind of like in the emperors new clothes. The angry boyfriend tells her to go home and cry, because he don't care about seeing her anymore, as he's fed up with her. Classic adolescent rage.


Oh look
Your crown is broken
So see
You're not so big

Queen
Of all you saw
Time 
Has called your
Time has called your fall


Go Home
Cry your eyes out
Your time
Have gone

Queen
Each must obey
Must
Do what you
Do what you say

Oh yeah girl

Cry by yourself now

Well I'm glad
Your reign is over
So now
I can go home

Queen
Your jewels are glass
You
Have failed
You have failed at last

Cry Girl
Cry by yourself now
You're all alone
Nobody cares
  

Destiny's Children discography:

Your First Time / Fall Of The Queen (1966), Ventural V-730


Reissues("Fall Of The Queen") : 
Sixties Rebellion #2 (LP), Way Back MMLP 6607 (1993)
Sixties Rebellion (CD), Music Maniac MMCD 66006 (1993)
Teenage Shutdown #10 The World Ain't Round, It's Square! (CD & LP), TS-6610 (1998)
Gravel #2 (CD), Kumquat May KMGR 00002 (2005)