Thank U Very Much (The Scaffold song)

"Thank U Very Much"
Cover of the single released in Denmark
Single by the Scaffold
B-side"Ide B the First"
Released3 November 1967 (1967-11-03)
Recorded1967
StudioEMI Studios
GenreNovelty[1]
Length2:27
LabelParlophone
Songwriter(s)Mike McGear
Producer(s)Tony Palmer
The Scaffold singles chronology
"Goodbat Nightman"
(1967) 		"Thank U Very Much"
(1967) 		"Do You Remember?"
(1968)

"Thank U Very Much" is a song by Liverpudlian comedy trio the Scaffold, released as a single in November 1967. It became their first hit, entering the top ten in the UK.[2]

Background and release

"Thank U Very Much" was a last attempt by the Scaffold to achieve a hit record. Written by Mike McGear, it was inspired by a telephone call he had with his brother Paul McCartney. McCartney had given McGear a Nikon camera for his birthday and when McGear called to thank him, he decided to sing 'Thank you very much for my Nikon camera. Thank you very much'. After the phone call, the tune stuck in his head and he recorded it on a Grundig tape recorder.[3][4] The song notably starts with the line 'Thank you very much for the Aintree Iron', which has caused much speculation over the meaning of Aintree Iron, with McGear having repeatedly refused to divulge its meaning.[5][6] The "Aintree Iron" was revealed by John Gorman on BBC Radio Merseyside in 2022 to be one of the first motorised taxi cabs in England.[citation needed]

During the recording of the song at EMI Studios, McCartney visited, and though he liked the song, he told McGear to change the title as it was "too oblique". McGear objected saying that the whole song was oblique.[3] In an interview upon the single's release, McGear said "we recorded it because we wanted to bring a spark of happiness into this hard, dull world of ours. Look at the records around you and there's no happy, bouncy get-it-down you ones. 'Thank U Very Much' is about drugs, women, sex and depravity".[7]

Released at the beginning of November 1967, "Thank U Very Much" didn't reach its peak on the UK charts until two months later at the beginning of January 1968. It performed best on the Record Retailer, peaking at number 4.[2] Released in the US in January 1968, the song peaked at number 69 on the Billboard Hot 100, though performed better on the Record World chart, achieving a peak at number 43.[8] Elsewhere, "Thank U Very Much" performed best in New Zealand where it was top the Listener chart.[9] The song was notably a favourite of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and of the then-Prime Minister Harold Wilson.[10]

Reviewing for Disc and Music Echo, Penny Valentine described "Thank U Very Much" as "a very well-recorded little send-up record about life today. It has a jolly metronome beat and, if anything they do is aimed at a commercial market, this is the nearest they've got yet".[11] Peter Jones for Record Mirror described it as "a great old send-up of those ever-so-grateful-for-things songs – and it's pushed along at such a rare old pace that it's very catchy indeed. Maybe it's too much of a novelty but given the dee-jay support it must do well".[12]

A 1968 broadcast of the radio series Round the Horne (Series 4, Episode 6) featured a version of the song with the words changed to those of movie stars. It includes references to John Wayne in "Tobruk" although he never appeared in the film.

In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Scaffold reworked "Thank U Very Much" using the original backing track and released it as a single in aid of the frontline healthcare workers, with the money raised going to the NHS Charities Together.[13][14]

Charts

Chart (1968) Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[15] 56
Canada Top Singles (RPM)[16] 12
Denmark (Danmarks Radio)[17] 8
Ireland (IRMA)[18] 18
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[19] 15
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[20] 13
New Zealand (Listener)[9] 1
Rhodesia (Lyons Maid)[21] 2
Sweden (Kvällstoppen)[22] 11
Sweden (Tio i Topp) 6
UK Melody Maker Top 30[23] 5
UK New Musical Express Top 30[24] 7
UK Record Retailer Top 50[2] 4
US Billboard Hot 100[25] 69
US Cash Box Top 100[26] 65
US Record World 100 Top Pops[8] 43

References

  1. ^ Lanza, Joesph (10 November 2020). "Shadows Over Sgt. Pepper". Easy-Listening Acid Trip - An Elevator Ride Through '60s Psychedelic Pop. Port Townsend: Feral House. p. 83.
  2. ^ a b c "SCAFFOLD | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company". www.officialcharts.com. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  3. ^ a b Flippo, Chet (1988). Yesterday: The Unauthorized Biography of Paul McCartney. New York: Doubleday. pp. 264–265. ISBN 0385234821.
  4. ^ "I wrote 'Thank U Very Much' while on the phone to Paul!". Sunday Express. 18 September 2022. Retrieved 12 October 2022 – via PressReader.
  5. ^ Crowley, Tony (30 September 2017). The Liverpool English Dictionary: A Record of the Language of Liverpool 1850–2015. Liverpool University Press. p. 20. ISBN 978-1-78694-833-5.
  6. ^ "What and where is the "Aintree Iron" mentioned in the song Lily The Pink by The Scaffold? | Notes and Queries | guardian.co.uk". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  7. ^ "Microbes, strait-jackets, nudity and the Scaffold" (PDF). Record Mirror. 4 November 1967. p. 4. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  8. ^ a b "100 Top Pops" (PDF). Record World. 9 March 1968. p. 27. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
  9. ^ a b "flavour of new zealand - search listener". www.flavourofnz.co.nz. Retrieved 12 August 2022.
  10. ^ Magazine, Wirral Life (20 November 2017). "An interview with Mike McCartney". Wirral Life Magazine. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  11. ^ "Quick Spins" (PDF). Disc and Music Echo. 28 October 1967. p. 15. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  12. ^ "New Singles" (PDF). Disc and Music Echo. 4 November 1967. p. 9. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  13. ^ "The Scaffold re-work 'Thank U Very Much' for the NHS to raise money for NHS Charities". Cherry Red Records. 10 April 2020. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  14. ^ Traynor, Luke (10 April 2020). "Scaffold release reworked version of 'Thank U Very Much' for the NHS". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  15. ^ Kent, David (2005). Australian Chart Book 1940–1969. Australian Chart Book Pty Ltd, Turramurra, N.S.W. ISBN 0-646-44439-5.
  16. ^ "Top RPM Singles: Issue 100179." RPM. Library and Archives Canada.
  17. ^ "danskehitlister.dk". Archived from the original on 9 April 2016. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  18. ^ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Thank You Very Much". Irish Singles Chart.
  19. ^ "Nederlandse Top 40 – The Scaffold" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40.
  20. ^ "The Scaffold – Thank U Very Much" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
  21. ^ Kimberley, C. Zimbabwe: Singles Chart Book. Harare: C. Kimberley, 2000
  22. ^ "Thank U Very Much av Scaffold". NostalgiListan (in Swedish). Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  23. ^ "Pop 30" (PDF). Melody Maker. 6 January 1968. p. 2. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  24. ^ "NME Top 30" (PDF). New Musical Express. 6 January 1968. p. 5. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
  25. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2009). Top Pop Singles 1955–2008. Record Research. p. 860. ISBN 9780898201802.
  26. ^ "Cash Box Top 100 Singles – Week ending March 2, 1968". Cash Box magazine. Retrieved 12 October 2022.