"F.B.I." is an instrumental rock tune recorded by the British group the Shadows and released as a single in February 1961. It spent 19 weeks in the UK Singles Chart reaching number 6 in mid-February and mid-March 1961.[2]
Release and reception
"F.B.I." was written by the Shadows' Hank Marvin, Bruce Welch and Jet Harris, but due to complicated publishing contracts it was credited to their manager Peter Gormley.[3] The actual composers' names never appeared on the credits. It was released as a single by EMI on the Columbia label, with the B-side "Midnight", written by Marvin and Welch.[4] It was released in the United States and Canada in July 1961 on Atlantic Records with "The Frightened City", written by Norrie Paramor, as the B-side.[5]
Reviewing for Disc, Don Nicholl described "F.B.I." as "a quick moving melody that may not quite live up to the implications of the title – but which is a very contagious thing all the same". He also wrote the "Midnight" "seems pretty obviously to have been inspired (consciously or not) by "Sleep Walker". The same sliding electric guitar technique is used for a similarly lazy melody".[6]
A cover version of "F.B.I." with "Wheels" as the B-side (cat. WB 436) was released in February 1961 on the UK Embassy Records budget label – sold exclusively in Woolworths stores. It was credited to "Bud Ashton" (a generic pseudonym used to represent whatever session musician had actually made the recording).[14]
