Sadly for us.
But no I’m being unkind. Judge for yourself before making your own mind up.
Quick background:
Les Barrett was a Fulham Football club legend. Played 487 times for them between 1966 – 1977.
Sadly his Wikipedia entry is very short, but there is an excellent 2007 Where Are They Now ? article about the left winger on Fulham’s official website which talks about the time he decided to sing:
Fulham legend Les Barrett is pretty scathing about the record he made in the 60s – a catchy little number entitled “Julie Brown Loves Captain Cook”.
“I think I’d try and burn it if I ever heard it again,” he laughs when reminded of his brief foray into the Swinging London music scene. “I did it with my brother Paul. We’d never sung before we made the record, and we never sang again afterwards. I think it sold about 300!”
I cannot find any info about the song. I know who Captain Cook was but have no idea about this Julie Brown and why she was in love with him.
I’m assuming, by the way, that they are singing about the explorer… Would be nice to find out more about the song. If you can fill in the gaps add a comment below.
As to why it came to releasing a single:
…And with his youthful good looks and “cool” image it’s no wonder that there was an eager agent ready to turn Barrett into the next George Best, hence the record and a concerted, if short lived, effort to make him “showbiz”. Not that it was ever anything he yearned for himself. “I’m a very private person,” he says. “That wasn’t a life that particularly suited me. There was a lot of interest while I was playing First Division football, especially as I was at a London club, but when Fulham got relegated it all fizzled out pretty quickly.”
Again I can find nothing to tell me if the second song posted below was the B Side or if Les was fibbing and he did indeed go back into the studio. I think it was the former.
– More nostalgia about Les Barrett at The Hammy End Chronicle.
This is brilliant – I had no idea, clearly not been reading the club website closely enough. Thanks for the link too.
Yep,Leslies Brother. Our song was still in the top ten Soccer duets,in a copy from an article in the record collectors mag.dated year 2000.I was 16 then,les 20.I had fun,We also sung it on a live tv show.But the name escapes me.I have never seen a clip.We were also on tv demonstrating the Tri-ang toy Trend Trackers..
Great to see this.I am somehow related to the Barretts (I thinking mum was their first cousin). We have this song and I remember it being played a lot back in the day. For non singers, it was actually quite a good catchy tune.I even sent a link to a friend of a friend called Julie Brown who was very taken aback with it 🙂