Pop Music

The song “The Knight in Rusty Armour,” written by Charles J Mills and Mike Leander, was released in 1966 as a single and on Peter and Gordon’s 1966 album titled Knight in Rusty Armour. The album rose to #15 on the U.S. charts. It was their retro slightly risqué follow-up to the retro and slightly risqué song “Lady Godiva.”

Peter and Gordon were Peter Asher and Gordon Waller , who formed as a duo in the early 1960s. They were school friends at Westminster, one of the top private schools in Britain. Peter and his sister Jane Asher were child actors in the 1950s, notably for appearing as siblings in an episode of the TV series The Adventures of Robin Hood. Jane dated Paul McCartney, and that liaison turned out to be good fortune for Peter and Gordon. Paul gave them the song “World Without Love,” which sky-rocketed to #1 in the U.K. and U.S. in 1964. They had other big hits with “Nobody I Know,” I Don’t Want to See You Again,” “I Go to Pieces,” “True Love Way,” and “To Know You is to Love You,” among others. They broke up in 1968. Gordon went solo, and Peter became head of A&R for Apple Records.

Here are the lyrics to “The Knight in Rusty Armour” by Peter and Gordon:

Long ago in days of old
There lived a knight who
Wasn’t quite as bold
As a knight should be

He rode an old grey mare called Bess
Searchin’ for a damsel in distress
Just to see if he
Could set her free

See the knight in rusty armour ride
To her aid
Trusty sword is hanging at his side
With a rusty blade
Up the tower steps he sneaked
But as he moved
His rusty armour squeaked
Such a mournful note

And all the sentries at their posts
Thought it must have been the castle ghost
They jumped for their lives In the moat

So the knight in rusty armour won
His fair maid
Had no need to draw his trusty sword
With a rusty blade

As he bent to kiss his bride
He found that he was
Rusted up inside In his battle dress
And I can’t guess

How they still got married
And had twins
They came in tins
Every suit of armour ever made
Has a kink
Chain mail pants with a missing link

If you are interested in reading about and listening to other songs by Peter and Gordon: “Lady Godiva” and “A World Without Love.”

Check Out The Groove Pad for More 1960s Music

The Pass the Paisley Groove Pad is a resting stop, a place to chill out and listen to the featured song on the stereo. If the mood strikes you, click on the juke box to access and listen to the 50+ free online songs there. The TV has several channels, with selections updated twice a week. Every now and then, Pass the Paisley hosts an all-request of 1960s and 1970s songs for a Be-In at the juke box in the Groove Pad. Keep on truckin’. Hope you enjoyed “The Knight in Rusty Armour” by Peter and Gordon.