Transcript: Transcript Tony Burrows – the Voice Behind the Hits and the Secret Story of 70s Pop

Welcome to a breath of fresh air with Sandy Kaye. Hello and a very big welcome to the show. If you’re a first time listener or viewer, I’m sure you’re going to enjoy yourself over the next hour and hopefully come back to check out some of our other fabulous conversations with the music makers from the 60s, 70s and 80s.

 

Of course, if you’re already an avid devotee, I’m so glad you’re back again. And please don’t forget, I always want to hear from you with any comments, feedback or suggestions for artists that you might like to hear interviewed. Simply get in touch with me through the website at breathoffreshair.com.au. Now, today’s guest is someone whose name you’re probably unfamiliar with, but whose voice you’re bound to know very well.

 

If you’re wondering why, it’s because he was a session singer who during 1970 alone, appeared as the voice on four top charting singles, all by different acts. This was the biggest selling of them. Out front is Tony Burrows, a now 84 year old English pop singer and recording artist.

 

As a prolific session musician, Tony was involved in several transatlantic hit singles throughout the late 60s and early 70s. Most of which were one hit wonders. I caught up with Tony from his home in the UK and he tells us he’s never even had the opportunity to put out a song in his own name.

 

I’m sure you’re going to find the reasons why fascinating. Sandy, alright, how are you doing? I am fantastic. It’s great to meet you.

 

It’s taken us a little while to get here, but we finally did, and I’m very, very grateful to you. You’re very welcome. Thank you.

 

You look incredible. What’s your secret? Um, I’ve got something in the asthma, right? And you’re not going to share what that is? You feel fine? That’s great. You’re obviously doing the right things.

 

You must look after yourself and eat well and exercise and sleep well. Do you do all of that? Well, I’ve got to tell you, my wife makes sure that I look after myself, because I’m not that good at it. Well, isn’t that good? They say behind every good man is a great woman, don’t they? Well, exactly that.

 

I quite agree. So Tony, we haven’t heard a lot from you since the 70s, and I know that you don’t want to go over all of those days in great detail, and I certainly respect that. So tell us what you’ve been doing ever since.

 

I know you moved into commercials and into producing other people’s records, didn’t you? Yes, yes, I did. I’ve kept busy, I must admit. I’ve, you know, I’ve enjoyed myself.

 

I tend to go to America once a year or once every two years and still sing the same old songs. Do you? You do go and perform there? Yes, I do. I’m actually more well known in America than I am in the UK.

 

How did that happen? I don’t know. I don’t know. Probably because they never let me record under my own name.

 

I was always a group. You don’t sound very happy about that. Was there a bit of resentment all these years later? No, no, I’m fine with that.

 

Edison Lighthouse, all right, the obvious, the big one, I tried to find myself out of the contract because I said, I don’t want to be another group. I’ve been a group all my life. I would like to do something on my own.

 

And Tony McCauley said, no, no, it’s got to be a group record. I said, OK, well, I won’t even do it. I’ll do the television, but I don’t actually ever want to perform live at Edison Lighthouse.

 

And I never did, to be quite honest. I did Top of the Pops and all those sort of things. But I said, no, you can buy me out.

 

And I crossed a figure and he said, I’m not going to pay you that. And I said, well, I thought it was quite reasonable. But anyway, I still get royalties.

 

I still get, you know, I mean. Yeah, you drove a good deal with that one, didn’t you? To ensure that you did get royalties all these years later. Well, sure, I insisted when I started doing sessions that I would always have to have a royalty if I was featured.

 

And I’ve done that all the way through. It’s up to you, Petula, to do the things you want to do with your life. It’s up to you to choose, I only hope you do it right.

 

It’s up to you, Petula, to do the things you want to do with your life. Well, do you want my love, Petula? Now it’s up to you. You were much smarter than many of them, weren’t you? Because many people got totally ripped off.

 

Absolutely. Yes, they did. And they’re still getting ripped off now.

 

Yeah. I read that at the moment, Love Grows by Edison Lighthouse, with you singing, has been watched more than two billion times on the social media app TikTok, and it’s still trending globally. That’s insane.

 

It is insane. I made that record 53 years ago. Come on.

 

I mean, it’s ridiculous. You wouldn’t be complaining about it, though, would you, given that you’re No, no. I’m quite happy about it, I’ve got to say.

 

I’m quite happy about it. Well, what do you think its resurgence is due to? Why that song? TikTok. Yeah, it was one person.

 

It was one person. Liked the lyrics and reacted to it. And it was just one person.

 

I mean, it’s crazy. I believe it’s actually four billion now, to be quite honest. And it was always a very catchy tune.

 

We all liked it. We loved it when we were growing up. So why wouldn’t kids today feel exactly the same way? And I suppose it’s got something to do with the fact that it’s such a happy up song, isn’t it? Yeah, I think I enjoy doing it.

 

Obviously, I enjoy doing the all. But that was your favorite song, wasn’t it? Well, it was the most successful. She talks kind of lazy and people say she’s crazy and her life’s a mystery.

 

Oh, but love grows where my road’s where it goes and nobody knows who I’ll be. There’s something about her head on the line. It’s a feeling that’s fine.

 

And I just gotta say, hey! She’s really got a magic spell and it’s working so well that I can’t get away. I’m a lucky fella and I just gotta tell her that I love her endlessly because love grows where my road’s where it goes and nobody knows who I’ll be. I know that you didn’t write it, but do you know who it was written about? Was it written about someone real or was it all made up? I’m afraid it was totally made up.

 

In actual fact, it should have been Eddie Stump Lighthouse and somebody mispronounced it on the record table and it ended up as Henderson Lighthouse. Is that right? It was a typo? Yes, it is. And who came up with the name for the band? I don’t know.

 

To be quite honest, I really don’t know. I think it was a record company. Right.

 

Certainly as a teenager growing up with that song, we thought Edison Lighthouse. You’re not old enough, Sandy. You’re not old enough.

 

Oh, yes, I am. But we thought it was a regular band also. But it was a group of studio musicians with you at the head that were under the umbrella of this name, right? That’s absolutely right.

 

Yeah, I believe the actual group were called Greenfield Hammer, and they came from Slough in Middlesex, and they mimed on the record. And I sang live with the studio band. I mean, you know, the television.

 

Wow. Who knew? Was it kept a secret at the time? No, they actually went out and worked live as Edison Lighthouse. But I was never a part of it, to be quite honest.

 

You didn’t want to be? No. No, I’ve done it. I’ve worked, you know, for oh, ten years touring and with the Ivy League and the Firebolt Men and all these sort of things.

 

And I decided I made a decision to concentrate on studio music. And so that’s what I did. Toss it and turn it.

 

I’m tossing and turning all night. In my memory, there is confusion. Was that you and me or an illusion? Was I really holding you tight? Did I really kiss you goodnight? Toss it and turn it.

 

I’m tossing and turning all night. What you gonna do at night? Nobody to hold you tight. Are you lonely? Don’t you know that I get lonely too? And I’m blaming you.

 

Fortunately, 12 months later, I had five records in the charts. I mean, it was crazy. I actually think my favorite song was United We Stand with Sonny and me doing the leads.

 

And that was brilliant. But yeah, of course, it’s my favorite because it’s the most successful. So Tony Burrows, though you never charted a record under your own name, you do hold the unusual honor of having four records in the British Top Ten all at once, all under different names.

 

Tell us a little bit about that. Oh, wow. I said before that I worked with the Ivy League and also the Firebolt Men.

 

Let’s go to San Francisco. Let’s go to San Francisco. San Francisco, let’s go.

 

Strawberry pie. Sunshine. Sunshine.

 

And that takes your mind off to the sky. Lots of sunny people. Time walking hand in hand.

 

They’re not worthy people. They have found their land. Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go.

 

San Francisco, let’s go. Go, go, go, San Francisco. Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go.

 

Go, go, go, go. I worked live with the Flowerpot Men for probably three years, decided I’d had enough then and I wanted to concentrate on studio work. So I went back to studio work.

 

The Flowerpot Men was actually the first hit by the White Planes. Very confusing. Oh, it’s all very incestuous as well.

 

The record manager said, I’ve got all these records recorded but I haven’t got a group. And I said, okay, well, you know, what can we do about it? And he said, well, can I release them under a different name? And that was the first record was Baby Loves Loving by the White Planes. My baby loves loving.

 

My baby loves loving. She’s got what it takes and she knows how to use it. My baby loves loving.

 

My baby loves loving. She’s got what it takes and she knows how to use it. I was lonely once in this great big world kissing no other man without a smile.

 

And I loved you then when you came my way but you’re proud of me as am today. My baby loves loving. My baby loves loving.

 

She’s got what it takes and she knows how to use it. My baby loves loving. My baby loves loving.

 

She’s got what it takes and she knows how to use it. She’s the only one who makes me feel so good. It’s probably my love so I’ll knock on wood.

 

All my sorrow and fears seem to fly away. But your love got me in here to stay. My baby loves loving.

 

My baby loves loving. She’s got what it takes. Oh me.

 

It was a name from New York. Oh, White Plains, New York. Yeah, okay.

 

There you go. And so that’s what they released. And lo and behold, the first record was a hit.

 

And so I had to go back and, you know, and start recording as White Plains. That started it, to be quite honest. So that was your first hit.

 

That was the first song that you’d released as White Plains. Yes. And it went to the top ten.

 

There was something about you that whatever you touched just went gangbusters, didn’t it?

 

This is a breath of fresh air with Sandy Kaye. It’s a beautiful day. It didn’t matter what you recorded, it was a smash hit.

 

Why is that? Well, that’s very nice of you to say so. I don’t know why. I also really enjoyed what I was doing.

 

Perhaps that came over. I don’t know. It’s not like records these days, I’ve got to say.

 

It was fun, and I enjoyed it. Parting in your hair, it’s hardly ever there. Wash your face, shabby in your dress.

 

Always look a mess, don’t you care. Mama’s there to see you, always look your best. Change your dirty vest.

 

When you grow, you’ll be a king. Never do a thing. Four and twenty blackbirds sing along.

 

Royal gifts they all will bring. When you are a king, everywhere you go. People bowing low.

 

Carriages to take you anywhere. Feet won’t ever touch a thing. When you are a king.

 

So the four that you had in the British Top Ten all at once, Love Grows, My Baby Loves Lovin’, that crazy song Gimme Dat Ding that you recorded under the name of the Pipkins. Tell me a little bit about that song and that band. Okay, okay.

 

The Pipkins. It was a Freddie and the Dreamers album. I was doing backing vocals with Roger Greenamite and it was the only song that Freddie didn’t do.

 

And John Burgess, the producer, said, I think it’s got something, really. It was actually two takes. We did it all in two takes.

 

I had a really rough throat and so I did the That’s right, that’s right, I’m sad and blue. I mean, it was just crazy. And Roger did the Iowa.

 

And lo and behold, it was a hit. That’s right, that’s right, I’m sad and blue Because I can’t do the boogaloo I’m lost, I’m lost, can’t do my thing And that’s why I sing Gimme Gimme Dat Ding Gimme dat, gimme dat, gimme gimme gimme dat Gimme dat, gimme dat, gimme gimme dat Gimme dat, gimme dat, gimme gimme dat Gimme gimme gimme dat Sing it one more time, mama. Gimme dat, gimme dat, gimme gimme gimme dat Gimme dat, gimme dat, gimme gimme dat Gimme dat, gimme dat, gimme gimme dat Gimme gimme gimme dat Well, you ain’t doing that bad at all.

 

All my birds of metronome without a bell for me You’re right, you’re right, it’s no use at all. How can anybody ever tell he’s gone again? Gimmie dat ding had originally been written for a children’s TV show under with the title of Gimme Dat Click. The lyrics tell a story of a metronome trying to get his ding back from a piano named Undercog.

 

It was written by Albert Hammond and Mike Hazelwood, who also wrote the song The Air That I Breathe. Due to the fast talking and the Wolfman Jack-like spoken word intro, some people consider the song to be one of the first ever rap records. Gimme Dat Ding hit number six on the UK singles chart, number nine on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US, and went number one in New Zealand.

 

I can’t believe it either. You were shocked, yeah? Yeah, I was shocked. I mean, it was banned in Italy because they thought it was rude.

 

Really? Yes. And that, of course, made it a hit. That’s crazy.

 

So that was the third song that you had on the charts at that time. And of course, the final one was Brotherhood of Man’s United We Stand, which was a huge hit in the UK, the US, and of course here in Australia too, I’m sure right around the world. Of all the other songs that you did, that song, I guess, had the most meaning lyrically, didn’t it? Yes, it did.

 

Yes, it did. The other ones were fun. And I think especially in this dreadful time, time, United We Stand is a very pertinent remark.

 

I agree. Who was the Brotherhood of Man then? Okay, Roger Greenaway again. Roger Greenaway creeps up all the time.

 

Roger Greenaway and Tony Burrows had both been members of the vocal group, The Kestrels, in the early 60s and The Pipkins in 1970, both bands acting as stepping stones for their successful careers as singers, songwriters, and studio session vocalists. I started singing with a group when I was 16, okay? And many, many years ago, and we’re still good friends. I mean, that’s the great part.

 

I was Sue, Sonny, Roger Greenaway, and Johnny Goodison, who wrote the song. And I thought it was just a wonderful, wonderful song. And I enjoyed doing it, obviously.

 

♪ There’s nowhere in the world that I would rather be ♪ ♪ Than with you, my love ♪ ♪ And there’s nothing in the world I’d rather see ♪ ♪ Than your smile, my love ♪ ♪ For united we stand, divided we fall ♪ ♪ And if our backs should ever be against the wall ♪ ♪ We’ll be together, together, you and I ♪ ♪ For united we stand, divided we fall ♪ ♪ And if our backs should ever be against the wall ♪ ♪ We’ll be together, together, you and I ♪ Did you go out and play live with him? I did television, again. It was so difficult because I was doing sessions all the time. Three hour session was 10 till one, then two till five, and then seven till 10.

 

and when can you make it? And that was seven days a week. And it was crazy. I didn’t stop working.

 

And so I couldn’t, I couldn’t really stop and take a breath and go out and put these bands live. I guess the solution was, and you had the best of both worlds then, was to continue as a sought after studio singer and then do your television shows with them. But I guess what ended up as a result of that was that people all over the world missed out on live appearances from you.

 

Yes, I did very, very few live appearances. The only ones that I do are in America, to be quite honest. So there was a bit of an aura of mystery about you, was there? Well, yes.

 

That’s a very nice way of putting it, but actually they didn’t know who I was. Which meant that you could walk down the street and not be recognised, except if you opened your mouth, then you would. Oh yes, I could.

 

And I didn’t have to put up with all the rest of the rubbish, to be quite honest. But if you opened your mouth to speak, they would pick the voice because the voice was certainly very well known, wasn’t it? Probably, yes. There were a couple of occasions.

 

I remember an occasion on the tube. I used to travel on the tube and do my sessions and what have you. And I unfortunately got in a carriage with some sort of 14, 15 year old girls, loads of them.

 

And so, I think I know who that is. I think I know who it is. And I had to get off the tube in the next station and run away, to be quite honest.

 

You were scared of them? That was the only time it really happened, yeah. What do you think they might have done to you if you’d stayed on the train? I don’t know. I don’t know what they would have done to be quite honest.

 

I had to run away, I’ll tell you that. ♪ With gentle sway into the coming night ♪ ♪ A guiding light appears ♪ ♪ For dangerous ways I’ve thought of coming here ♪ ♪ Don’t reach out ♪ ♪ And won’t you just sit down tonight ♪ Time to go! ♪ Reach out your hand to the one you love ♪ ♪ Reach out your hand to the one you love ♪ ♪ Do you know how to reach out? Don’t wear a frown! Reach out! ♪ Ian Anderson from Jethro Tull tells a similar story about how he always travels on the train too by himself. And people look at him and think, oh gosh, he looks like that guy from Jethro Tull.

 

Couldn’t be him, he’d never travel on the train. So nobody ever bothers him. Exactly, that’s exactly what happened.

 

That’s very funny. So just taking a further step backwards, your first group was called The Kestrels and a gentleman that we’ve had a chat to fairly recently by the name of Roger Cook joined you in that. Really? Yes, what a lovely man Roger is.

 

It was terrific chatting with him too. That was a vocal harmony group. And the only time that you actually did anything in your own name, well, it wasn’t even your own name that you used, you used the name Tony Bond to release something, didn’t you? Tell me how the name Tony Bond came about for you.

 

Goodness me, I’m surprised you’ve managed to unearth that. Johnny Keating, who was a very, very big arranger and Tony DeMatta, who was a Decca executive, decided that I would be able to sing some solo songs. I was still in the band.

 

I was still in The Kestrels, but they decided that they would like to use me. And so I don’t know where Tony Bond came from, but it was probably Tony DeMatta, to be quite honest, and said, well, we’re going to call you Tony Bond. And oh, okay, I’ll go along with it.

 

You know, I don’t mind. Oh, girls were made to love and kiss. And who am I to interfere with this? Is it well, now who can tell? But I know the good God made them so Am I ashamed to follow nature’s way? Shall I be blamed if God has made me gay? But does it pay? Now tell me who can say I’m a man and kiss them when I can Am I ashamed to follow nature’s way? Shall I be blamed if God has made me gay? Does it pay? Now who can say? That was right around the time that the Ian Fleming-spawned secret agent James Bond and the movie starring Sean Connery were all happening, wasn’t it? Sure it was, yeah.

 

It was, goodness me, it was, might have been 1966. But I mean, seriously, Tony Bond, there’s nothing wrong with your name, Tony Burrows. Well, I didn’t think so either, but they decided in their, whatever that word is.

 

Right. Decided it was going to be better with Tony Bond and I don’t know why, but there you go. You sound like it was an awful lot of fun, even though the times were very much controlled by record companies and producers, you probably didn’t get to do exactly what you wanted to do.

 

But did you have a lot of fun? Sandy, it’s been a wonderful experience. I’ve got to say, I’ve never had a proper job. I started singing at 16.

 

That’s probably not strictly true. I worked, because I was old enough to do national service, we all, the Kestrels all worked together in the army. But just for 18 months, I worked in an envelope department at ESA Robinson’s.

 

So you got a taste of a regular job. Okay, and that’s where I met Roger Reaway and Roger Banks, who were the original members of the Kestrels. I decided when we came out of the army, we decided that we had to go to London and try, you know, try and make it work.

 

And we did. An interesting thing about you though, Tony Burrows, was that while the British invasion was happening and infiltrating America with British sounding music, you kind of went with an American sound, didn’t you? Yes, yes, I think so. Well, I suppose so.

 

We worked with the Beatles. We did one night stands and we went to Ireland with the Beatles. I mean, that was a wonderful, ridiculous time to be quite honest.

 

This is a breath of fresh air with Sandy Kaye. It’s a beautiful day. Just one permanent scream from the start for the next two hours.

 

They actually paid us extra money to go on immediately before the Beatles. And they paid us extra because nobody heard anything and we could talk amongst ourselves and, you know, it was just crazy. And you didn’t have to worry about the girls clawing away at you, did you? No, no, no, no, no, we certainly didn’t.

 

That’s hilarious. She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah You think you’ve lost your love Well, I saw her yesterday It’s you she’s thinking of And she told me what to say She says she loves you And you know that can’t be bad She loves you And you know you should be glad You’re kind of an eight-hit wonder, really, aren’t you? Yes, yes, I suppose I am. I’m not sure that that was a wonderful achievement.

 

I would like to have had more success but I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t go out and work live and that was basically the problem. But it was only you that was stopping yourself going out and working live, wasn’t it? Because you wanted to continue as a studio musician.

 

I suppose that’s true but I would then have had to make a choice about who I was going to work with. Oh, that would have been difficult, would it? It was difficult. I’ve got to say it was very, very difficult.

 

Of those eight hits that you had, we’ve talked about the one that you did with the Flowerpot Men, Let’s Go to San Francisco, which was huge. We’ve talked about the Pipkins and Gimme Dat Ding, which was also huge and very strange. We’ve talked about My Baby Loves Lovin’ from White Plains.

 

We’ve talked about United We Stand from The Brotherhood of Man and, of course, Love Grows from Edison Lighthouse. We haven’t mentioned Melanie Makes Me Smile, which I think was actually one of my favourite songs from you. And most of these songs were written by Tony McCullough, weren’t they? Yes, they were.

 

I had a really good relationship with Tony McCullough. Incidentally, I’ve got to tell you that I once did three different performances on Top of the Pops and the producer came to me after the show and said, Tony, I’m sorry, you’re not going to be able to be used again. And I said, excuse me, you asked me to do the show.

 

They were all, you know, we did three hits and you asked me. And he said, I’m sorry, the word has come down from above, from the BBC, you’re not to be used again. Why? And I didn’t get a play on the BBC for two years after that.

 

Why? Don’t ask me. I don’t know. Because I suppose they thought it was some sort of, I don’t know really why, but they said, words come down from above, you’re not to be used again.

 

You didn’t ask them why? Well, yes, I did, but they said, well, they think it’s a con. Why? You’ve asked me to do this show. Yeah, anyway, that’s why.

 

Oh, how strange. So I was barred from the BBC for two years. Oh, you naughty boy.

 

Wow. Yes, I know. Thrown out of the BBC.

 

How awful. Yeah, and that was really the Tony Macaulay period, because after, you know, Edison Lighthouse, Melanie Makes Me Smile was a minor hit in America. And with my melody and my own world base, a little light comes shining down upon my face.

 

I feel it, feel it, shining in my face. I just had to hold her head up on my shoulder and tell her that I’m feeling low. And I got no place I can go.

 

And I said, darling, I need you. And she looked her head up kind of slow. It was top 40, but probably on the back of the Edison Lighthouse one.

 

Yeah, I think it was huge here. Yeah. We all loved that one.

 

And, of course, it was recorded by The Strangers originally, wasn’t it? Well, I recorded it originally. Oh, you recorded originally in The Strangers, followed up with a cover version. It was Melanie Makes Me Smile.

 

Oh, it was yours. It was Tony Macaulay’s song, yeah. Right.

 

You recorded Melanie Makes Me Smile under your own name? Yes, I did. Good one. Well, yeah, one of the few.

 

The last song you ever put out through the 70s was Beach Baby. Oh, okay. Tell me a little bit about that one.

 

Okay. Beach Baby was a record written by John Carter. John Carter and Jill, his wife, he actually played me a demo of him singing it with a guitar.

 

And he played me the demo over the phone, and I said, I think that’s got something. And it ended up as this great big orchestra, and overdubs and overdubs. There were only three of the songs on the original recording.

 

Really? For such a big sound. Yeah, yeah. Well, we overdubbed all sorts of things, and I seem to remember I sang a bass line.

 

Anyway, that’s by the by. And, of course, it was a hit. It was a hit all over the world.

 

But Brian Wilson was played a blind date in Australia, which I have a recording of, and he said, who is this? And Brian Wilson said, I have absolutely no idea who it is, but it’s definitely West Coast America. And I thought, oh, goodness me. I mean, that’s why we did it.

 

It was a tribute to the Beach Boys, to be quite honest. They still play it. The Beach Boys, when they do concerts, they still play Beach Baby before the shows, which I’m so impressed with.

 

Yeah. So that was the last song that you had a hit with in 1975. What happened then? Why did it all come to a sudden stop at that point? You tell me, Sandy.

 

Okay, I will. I have absolutely no idea. I have absolutely no idea.

 

But, you know, I think the music moved on, didn’t it? From what I know about you, you also turned your attention to different things at that time, didn’t you? Because that’s when you started getting more into commercials. In fact, it was around that time when you sung the Coca-Cola ad that was huge right around the world. Written by Roger Goodall Hagen and Roger Cook, of course.

 

I like to teach the world to sing. Sing with me. Perfect harmony.

 

Perfect harmony. I like to buy the world a Coke and keep it company. That’s the real thing.

 

I like to teach the world to sing. Sing with me. Perfect harmony.

 

Perfect harmony. And I like to buy the world a Coke and keep it company. It’s the real thing.

 

It’s the real thing. It’s what the world wants today. You were a force to be reckoned with, the three of you, weren’t you? Yeah, I suppose so, yeah.

 

How did you feel time and time again when every song that you sung, everything just went globally huge? I’m very lucky, aren’t I? I’m just lucky. It worked out. The writers were brilliant.

 

I can’t tell you. I’m brilliant. I’m not going to say I’m brilliant.

 

I’m not. I was very lucky. There’s more to that than simply luck, I would say.

 

You did backup vocals for people like Elton John and Rod Stewart in the studio too, didn’t you? Yeah, yeah, I did, and Tom and Cliff. Yes, I did. I mean, that’s what I used to do and I did it.

 

Which was your favourite song to sing in the studio with those guys? I think it’s Elton John. Really? I think it has to be Elton John. Why? I mean, I worked live with Elton and, yes, I mean, it was Elton John.

 

And it’s your voice we hear on Tiny Dancer. Yes, it is. Well, wonderful.

 

From the close of Tiny Dancer Out from the high when she’s a-blendin’ The honey when she’s a-blendin’ The high that seems to soar above You must have seen her You have so much to be proud of and yet you’re so humble. Tony Burrows, I’ll let you go. You’ve been so generous with your time.

 

It’s been a great, great pleasure to talk to you as well. You talked me into it, but I did. I did talk you into it.

 

Do you miss those days, the heady days of the 70s? Yeah, of course I do. Of course I do. Yeah, it was very exciting.

 

I worked with all sorts of people. James lost. And we did all sorts of things.

 

You know, it was just wonderful. Is your voice still as strong as it ever was? She ain’t got the money or clothes It got high, you know, by the way. Oh, it is.

 

Okay, it’s still there. Oh, the love grows Where my road, where it goes And nobody knows I’d be She talks kind of lazy And people say she’s crazy And her life’s a mystery Oh, but love grows Where my road, where it goes And nobody knows I’d be There’s something about her head on mine It’s a feeling that’s fine And I just gotta say She’s really gotta make it this far And it’s working so well That I can’t get away I just gotta tell her That I love her endlessly Tony Burrows, thank you so very, very much for your time. What a pleasure to chat with you.

 

Sandy, it’s been my pleasure, I can assure you. It’s a beautiful day You’ve been listening to A Breath of Fresh Air with Sandy Kay. Beautiful day Oh, baby, any day that you’re gone away It’s a beautiful day