"Applejack" is an instrumental by

Jet Harris Jet, Jets, or The Jet(s) may refer to: Aerospace * Jet aircraft, an aircraft propelled by jet engines ** Jet airliner ** Jet engine ** Jet fuel * Jet Airways, an Indian airline * Wind Jet (ICAO: JET), an Italian airline * Journey to Enceladus a ...

and

Tony Meehan Daniel Joseph Anthony Meehan (2 March 1943 – 28 November 2005), professionally known as Tony Meehan, was a founder member of the British group the Drifters, with Jet Harris, Hank Marvin and Bruce Welch, which would evolve into the Shadows. ...

, released as a single in August 1963. It peaked at number 4 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

Background and release

"Applejack" was written by

Les Vandyke John Worsley (21 June 1931 – 6 August 2021), more widely known under the pseudonyms Les Vandyke and Johnny Worth, was an English popular music songwriter from the 1950s to the 1980s, who started his career as a singer. As "Les Vandyke", he wr ...

and Meehan's then-wife Bridget de Mare. It was Vandyke's only instrumental hit. Along with the B-side "The Tall Texan", written by Meehan, it was recorded at

Decca Studios Decca Studios was a recording facility at 165 Broadhurst Gardens, West Hampstead, North London, England, controlled by Decca Records from 1937 to 1980. The building was once West Hampstead Town Hall, and had been converted to a recording studio b ...

in July 1963. Neither side feature Harris playing, who was suffering from health problems. Instead, like with their previous single "

Scarlett O'Hara Katie Scarlett O'Hara Hamilton Kennedy Butler is a fictional character and the protagonist in Margaret Mitchell's 1936 novel ''Gone with the Wind'' and in the 1939 film of the same name, where she is portrayed by Vivien Leigh. She also is the m ...

Joe Moretti Joseph Edward Moretti (10 May 1938 – 9 February 2012) was a Scottish guitarist renowned for his work on seminal UK rock and roll records such as Vince Taylor's "Brand New Cadillac" and Johnny Kidd & the Pirates' "Shakin' All Over". He lived ...

plays lead guitar. Because of the success of "

Diamonds Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the chemically stable form of carbon at room temperature and pressure, b ...

", which Harris played on, Decca kept Harris name on the follow-up records in order to help them sell. In September 1963, Harris was involved in a car accident, with his chauffeur-driven

limousine A limousine ( or ), or limo () for short, is a large, chauffeur-driven luxury vehicle with a partition between the driver compartment and the passenger compartment. A very long wheelbase luxury sedan (with more than four doors) driven by a prof ...

colliding with a Midland Red bus. He was knocked unconscious and suffered severe head injuries. The accident also made public the fact that Harris was having an affair with singer

Billie Davis Carol Hedges (born 22 December 1945) who was known professionally as Billie Davis, is an English singer who had hits in the 1960s, and is best remembered for the UK hit version of the song, " Tell Him" (1963) and "I Want You to Be My Baby" (1 ...

, who was with him in the limousine. However, with "Applejack" climbing up the charts, Harris and Meehan had been booked to perform on ''

Ready Steady Go! ''Ready Steady Go!'' (or ''RSG!'') was a British rock/pop music television programme broadcast every Friday evening from 9 August 1963 until 23 December 1966. It was conceived by Elkan Allan, head of Rediffusion TV. Allan wanted a light enter ...

''. Their manager still wanted them to perform, but Harris was still suffering shock from the accident and after turning up for a pre-show rehearsal and doing a run-through, he took off, leaving Meehan to do the show by himself. Harris was later found hiding in

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Whilst Harris and Meehan did not release anymore singles together, the band that had actually played on "Scarlett O'Hara" and "Applejack" would go on to release one further single, "Son of Mexico", solely under Meehan's name, which peaked at number 39 on the charts. Harris would go on to record another single, "Big Bad Bass", as a comeback in early 1964, but it failed to chart.

Track listing

7": Decca / F 11710 # "Applejack" – 2:05 # "The Tall Texan" – 2:16

Personnel

– drums,

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though ...

triangle A triangle is a polygon with three Edge (geometry), edges and three Vertex (geometry), vertices. It is one of the basic shapes in geometry. A triangle with vertices ''A'', ''B'', and ''C'' is denoted \triangle ABC. In Euclidean geometry, an ...

– acoustic lead guitar *

John Paul Jones John Paul Jones (born John Paul; July 6, 1747 July 18, 1792) was a Scottish-American naval captain who was the United States' first well-known naval commander in the American Revolutionary War. He made many friends among U.S political elites ( ...

– electric bass guitar * Glenn and Chris Hughes –

baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass. It is the lowest-pitched saxophone in common use - the bass, contra ...

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...

, brass, piano There is also acoustic rhythm guitar and backing vocals by unknown musicians

Charts

References

{{authority control 1963 singles 1960s instrumentals Songs written by Les Vandyke 1963 songs Rock instrumentals Decca Records singles