Beat
The song “Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter” by Herman’s Hermits is a fine example of British sixties music. In 1963 British singer-songwriter Trevor Peacock wrote a song for The Lads, a popular BBC TV show. The song was “Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got A Lovely Daughter” and told a lighthearted tale of an adolescent’s heartbreak over losing his girl. Introduced on the show by actor Tom Courtenay, it was released a single on UK Decca and achieved moderate sales in the UK.
In 1964, producer Mickie Most was looking for a song to complete Herman’s Hermits’ first album for MGM Records and friend Trevor Peacock suggested using “Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter.” By this time the song was part of British popular culture where it was played by bands at girls’ birthday parties, substituting the name of “Mrs. Brown” with the last name of the birthday girl, i.e. “Mrs. Smith” or “Mrs. Jones.” The recording took only two takes and featured Keith Hopwood playing a muted rhythm guitar (to simulate a banjo) and backing vocals by Karl Green and Keith Hopwood.
The song was intended for what was called an “album cut” and never intended to be a single. It achieved the lowly position of last cut on the album. However, after an American DJ started giving it airplay in 1965, MGM Records issued it as a 45 and became the bands first #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 where it remained for three weeks. In 1968 Herman’s Hermits starred in the film Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter.
Herman’s Hermits were Peter Noone, Keith Hopwood, Karl Green, Derek Leckenby, and Barry Whitwam.
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[…] For other songs by Herman’s Hermits: “Silhouettes” and “Mrs. Brown You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter.” […]
Never understood why the Hermits made the lyrics so silly. “Ain’t no use to pine” only comes right at the end and only rhymes then. The endings are:
“I know it’s rough, but there”
“but nobody’s to blame”
As far as I know Trevor Peacock never objected, maybe the royalties soothed his feelings!