The Magic Lanterns - No Milk Today (1968)

This group didn’t get a Top 30 hit until 1968 when they had already been together for six years. In total, the band was able to scrape together three charting songs in the US as well as three in their native UK. But prior to their charting days (which at one point featured Godley & Creme), the band was still hard at work, hoping to make a name for themselves in their home of Warrington, Lancashire. Although the band never really hit the big time, they put together a handful of songs that are definitely worth listening to.

The song heard below was written by Graham Gouldman in 1966 for the band The Hollies, still featuring Graham Nash. Its lyrics, although seemingly strange, had very little to do with milk. Gouldman has been quoted as stating that his father was largely responsible for the message of the song. He said that he and his father had seen a sign on a neighbor’s home, “no milk today,” indicating to the neighborhood milkman that the home wouldn’t need their daily milk delivered for whatever reason. It was expressed to Gouldman by his father that there could be various reasons why the house didn’t require milk on that day. One such reason he hypothesized was that the man who lived in the house had recently been left by his significant other, resulting in less need for milk and adding much depth to the simple sign.

When the song had been passed up by The Hollies, it was given to Herman’s Hermits. It was the second hit song Gouldman had written for Herman’s Hermits (the first being “Listen People,” reaching number three), reaching number seven on the charts. The version of the song heard below was covered by The Magic Lanterns in 1968 for their debut album, Lit Up – with The Magic Lanterns, recorded on CBS Records for distribution in the UK. The most obvious difference made by The Magic Lanterns in their cover is the increase and decrease of tempo.



The Magic Lanterns - No Milk Today (1968)

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Lyrics:

No milk today
My love has gone away
The bottles stand forlorn
Greeting the summer dawn

“No milk today”
It seems a common sight
The people passing by
Don't know the reason why

How could they know
Just what this message means?
The end of my hopes
The end of all my dreams

How could they know
The palace there had been?
Behind the door
Where my love has been

No milk today
It wasn't always so
The company was gay
We'd turn night into day

As music played
The faster did we dance
We felt it both at once
The start of our romance

How could they know
Just what this message means?
The end of my hope
The end of all my dreams
(Hey!)

How could they know
A palace there had been?
Behind the door
Where my love has been

No milk today
It wasn't always so
The company was gay
We'd turn night into day

As music played
The faster did we dance
We felt it both at once
The start of our romance

How could they know
Just what this message means?
The end of my hope
The end of all my dreams
(Hey!)

How could they know
A palace there had been?
Behind the door
Where my love has been

No milk today
My love has gone away
The bottles stand forlorn
Greeting the summer dawn

“No milk today”
It seems a common sight
The people passing by
Don't know the reason why

Herman's Hermits - East West (1966)

Originally known as Herman & The Hermits, this band out of Manchester, England originally found the majority of their success in the United States where teenage girls yearned for lead singer Peter Noone and his intentionally exaggerated his Mancunian accent. In 1965 alone, the band had three Top 3 songs in the United States: “Can’t You Hear My Heartbeat” (January), “Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter” (March), and “I’m Henry VIII, I Am” (June). The group continued to be successful in the United States all throughout 1966 and shortly into 1967 with their last big US hit “There’s a Kind of Hush.” After that song’s release in February 1967, the band’s popularity in the US began to sink as it simultaneously rose in the United Kingdom. They had seven songs in the Top 15 on the UK charts from January 1968 through November 1970, but they knew things were dwindling down. Noone split from the band in 1970 and the rest of the Hermits continued on until 1973, failing to have any success. These days, Peter Noone continues to tour and make guest appearances on both sides of the pond.

After releasing “No Milk Today” in October 1966 to the UK, Herman’s Hermits was looking for their next big single. Although they wouldn’t really shine again until 1967’s “There’s a Kind of Hush” in February, they released the song heard below in the interim. Written by Graham Gouldman (a future member of 10cc), this song was released in December 1966 and reached number twenty-seven in the US, thirty-three in the UK, and number five in New Zealand. It was backed by the B-Side “What Is Wrong-What Is Right.”



Herman's Hermits - East West (1966)

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Lyrics:

East, west over the ocean
Perpetual motion, traveling around
No rest, singing and playing
Night-out and day-in, doing the rounds
What a great life it must seem
(What a great life it must seem)

Swell joints, everything classy
Nothing that's passé, only the best
Lush girls ogling and eyeing
Crying and sighing, this is success
What a great life it must seem
(What a great life it must seem)

But when I hear young voices singing out
The bells at home come ringing out
When I feel all alone
Then I think of my home

Mom, dad all ‘round the fire
In festive attire, keeping the day
Aunts, kids, all the relations
Congratulations, this is success
What a great life it must seem
(What a great life it must seem)

But when I hear young voices singing out
Then the bells at home start ringing out
When I feel all alone
Then I long for my home