Songs Lyrics and YT- Youtube Music Videos

The Tornados - Telstar

The Tornados - Telstar Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos
Album: Telstar
Released: 1962

Telstar Lyrics

Telstar Song Chart

An instrumental with space sound effects, this is about the Telstar communications satellite, which was launched shortly before this song was written.

This Instrumental hit was followed quickly by vocal versions in the UK first by a singer who called himself Kenny Hollywood and then by a young studio singer named Margie Singleton. When it topped the chart in the US, Bobby Rydell also did a cover (he had big hits with "Sway" and "The Cha Char"). There are also versions in French by Les Compagnons, in German by Camillo Felgen, and 2 Spanish versions by Alberto Cortez and The Latin Quartet, titled "Magica Estrella." (thanks, Geoff - Sydney, Australia)

This was the best-selling British single of 1962. It was also the first song by a British group to hit #1 in the US. This did not happen again until The Beatles "I Want To Hold Your Hand" in 1964.

Producer Joe Meek was intrigued by the sound of the organ on Dave "Baby" Cortez' #1 hit, "The Happy Organ" - so entrapped by it that he tried to duplicate it with the Clavioline keyboard on "Telstar," which was played by a studio musician named Geoff Goddard, who also supplied the "humming" vocal you hear at the end of the song.

A French composer named Jean Ledrut sued Meek for plagiarism, claiming that the tune from "Telstar" had been lifted from the score of the 1960 film Austerlitz, for which Ledrut wrote the score. The suit was resolved in Meek's favor, but not until about a year after his death. (thanks, Sam - Lincoln, NE, for above 2)

Joe Meek idolized Buddy Holly and claimed he could make contact with Holly's spirit. Meek committed suicide on February 3, 1967, the eighth anniversary of "The day the music died."

After the Tornadoes had laid down track for this song, Meek wanted to give it more, so after the band left the studio at the end of the day, he played around with effects to get it just right. Latter when he played the demo to the lads, they were not sure. The beginning was just Joe being his creative self, however, the "Ah Ah" voiceover in the final part was a bit much and they expressed some dismay. This mixture of music and voice was usual and had not been done in a Pop tune, yet this track exploded on the music scene. (thanks, Geoff - Sydney, Australia)

The Tornados - a journeyman club band - disliked the song, but Meek added his own distinctive magic at his home-cooked studio above a leather shop in northern London. An overdubbed Clavioline keyboard provoked spooked space effects, while a backwards tape of a flushing toilet evoked all the majesty of a spacebound rocket. (from The Observer Music Monthly)

Joe Meek took a tape of "Try Once More," which he had written with songwriter Geoff Goddard, to Alan Caddy and Clem Cattini of The Tornados. Joe sang wordless vocals over Geoff's backing track. Clem Cattini recalled, "He played us this tape of him singing and the music didn't really sound right. It had all wrong time and key signatures. So we listened to the tape to get the idea and basically re-wrote the music."

The book 1000 UK #1 Hits by Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh explains that The Tornados received little money from the song. Meek had leased the record to Decca Records and having negotiated a 5% royalty of the record's sales he banked 29,000 pounds, very little of which was passed on to The Tornados.

Joe Meek experimented with other various non musical elements in his many instrumental tracks over the years played by his group the Tornadoes in its various forms. Examples are found in some of the following tunes:
"Aqua Marina" - Bubbling noises like fish under water.
"Early Bird" - Rocket blasting off sound.
"Hot Pot" - Strange animal sounds.
"Is that a ship I hear" - Seagulls crying.
"Jungle Fever" (this is the B side of Telstar) - Strange animal sounds.
"Life on Venus" - Voice over to start the track.
"Night Rider" - Horse neighing.
"Red Rocket" - Voice over to start the track giving the blastoff countdown.
"Robot" - Weird gun firing sounds. Actually the sound of fencing wire being plucked like a guitar string amplified and played at higher speed.
"Stingray" - Bubble noise, like under water and explosions with a voice over to start the track. (thanks, Geoff - Sydney, Australia)

Joe Meek recorded this in his home studio above a leather shop on London's Holloway Road.

The rhythm guitarist on this track was George Bellamy of The Tornados, who is the father of Muse lead singer Matthew Bellamy.