March 29, 2017

The Pattens - Jump (1966)

This Wheaton, Illinois band only ever released two singles. Their first single featured the A-Side “Shame Shame Shame” backed with a cover of Gene Vincent’s 1958 song “Say Mama.” Its release date is unknown, although it was most likely released sometime in 1965 or early 1966.

The band’s second single was definitely released in 1966. It featured the A-Side “You Should Know” and was backed with the B-Side “Jump.” Although “You Should Know” was credited by The Pattens as having been written by a “R. Kahler” (perhaps a member of the band?), the very same song was recorded and released a year prior in 1965 by another local Wheaton band, The Escavels. The Escavels claim the song was actually written by their band’s Stan Sherbino with some help from his bandmates Ken Utterback and Tony Pavilonis.

Before a case of “he said, she said” is brought about regarding the true authorship of the song, it should be noted that The Pattens don’t exactly have a reputation for giving original authors their due. The Pattens credited their second single’s B-Side, heard below, to a “Ren Shawel.” It can hardly be considered a mistake when you find out that that song, too, had been previously recorded and released by another band. In 1964, The Toggery Five (all the way over in Manchester, England) released “I’m Gonna Jump,” which is the same exact song, and was written by member Frank Renshaw.

Although it cannot be determined if this lack of credit was the ill-intentions of the band, somebody at Stature Records, or some unknown third party, it certainly appears that The Pattens' “Jump” was avoiding giving credit to The Toggery Five by slightly changing the name of the song and crediting its authorship to “Ren Shawel” rather than The Toggery Five’s true author, Frank Renshaw.

album art

The Pattens - Jump (1966)

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Lyrics:

I saw you yesterday and I died
I saw you yesterday and I knew that you’d lied
I saw you walking with a guy holding his hand
I saw you kissing him and giving in to all his command

Don't you know I'm gonna jump, girl?
Yes, jump
Jump in that river, yes, I’m gonna die

You said you loved me; all the time you were faking
You didn't tell me about the guys that you were making with
And now I know all about your game called “tantalize”
And now I'm broken up- and it’s your fault- and I hope you’re satisfied

Don't you know I'm gonna jump, girl?
Yes, jump
Jump in that river, yes, I’m gonna die

Don't you know I'm gonna jump, girl?
Yes, jump
Jump in that river, yes, I’m gonna die

Don't you know I'm gonna jump?
Don't you know I'm gonna jump?

4 comments:

  1. R Kahler was Ron Kahler, local Wheaton record store and music shop owner. He was also the drummer for the Pattens. They frequently played the Wheaton youth center as did the Escavels.

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  2. Thank you, anonymous stranger!

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  3. Actually, Thank you! I knew all of these guys mentioned in your summary and certainly never thought I would find anything online about them or those days. It was a fabulous time to live and town to live in too!

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  4. Actually, thank you! I knew all the guys mentioned in your summary and never thought I'd see anything on line about them or their music. It was truly a fabulous time to live and a great place to live in

    ReplyDelete