"Captain of Your Ship" is a

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' (G ...

song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetitio ...

, first recorded by the US

girl group A girl group is a music act featuring several female singers who generally harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female pop music singing groups, many of who ...

Reparata and the Delrons, and released as a

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

in 1968 on the Bell record label. It was written by

Kenny Young Kenny Young (born Shalom Giskan, April 14, 1941 – April 14, 2020) was an American songwriter, musician, producer and environmental campaigner who wrote and in some cases produced hit songs for The Drifters, Ronnie Dove, Herman's Hermits, Mark ...

and Ben Yardley. It reached No. 13 on the UK chart.

Background

The song is unusual in its atmospheric use of

sound effects A sound effect (or audio effect) is an artificially created or enhanced sound, or sound process used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media. Traditi ...

(

foghorn A foghorn or fog signal is a device that uses sound to warn vehicles of navigational hazards such as rocky coastlines, or boats of the presence of other vessels, in foggy conditions. The term is most often used in relation to marine transport. W ...

, ship's bell,

Morse code Morse code is a method used in telecommunication to encode text characters as standardized sequences of two different signal durations, called ''dots'' and ''dashes'', or ''dits'' and ''dahs''. Morse code is named after Samuel Morse, one of ...

) and features

psychedelic Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary states of consciousness (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips").Pollan, Michael (2018). ''How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of ...

instrumentation and treatments including

electric sitar An electric sitar is a type of electric guitar designed to mimic the sound of the sitar, a traditional musical instrument of India. Depending on the manufacturer and model, these instruments bear varying degrees of resemblance to the traditional ...

, backwards

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

, filtered vocals and phasing. Lead singer Mary Aiese O'Leary told ''

Mojo Mojo may refer to: *Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * MOJO HD, an American television network * ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film * '' ...

'' magazine in May 2008, "I thought it was horrible — the foghorn, the way they had changed my voice with effects. But I grew to like it, and it afforded the opportunity to go over to London ... In America, it fizzled. People in England liked quirkier stuff, and 'Captain of Your Ship' was quirky." Some sources wrongly credit Lorraine Mazzola with the lead vocal on the recording of "Captain of Your Ship". However a filmed live performance from German television, widely available on video sharing websites, shows Mary Aiese singing lead. The confusion may have arisen because Mazzola did become lead singer of the live group the following year, when Mary Aiese took a break from performing live. The filmed performance, with an introduction in German by Dave Lee Travis, appears to be the only existing archive television footage of the group from their 1960s heyday. The song only made No. 127 in the U.S. national charts, but it became the group's biggest hit when it made No. 13 in 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 ...

. Following the success of the single, the group toured the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, with the backing group

Clouds In meteorology, a cloud is an aerosol consisting of a visible mass of miniature liquid droplets, frozen crystals, or other particles suspended in the atmosphere of a planetary body or similar space. Water or various other chemicals may com ...

. Young said of this period: "I accompanied them to ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...

'' ... nd..attended the reception for their hit single "Captain of Your Ship", along with

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

and

Ringo Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the ...

at the Revolution Club in London. I met half the Beatles at our own reception..." The single had releases in many European countries, as well as Australia and

Rhodesia Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...

. The B-side "Toom-Toom is a Little Boy" appears on a rare EP released in pre-revolutionary Iran in 1968, alongside tracks by

Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich were an English rock band active during the 1960s. Formed in Salisbury in 1964, the band consisted of David John Harman (Dave Dee), Trevor Leonard Ward-Davies (Dozy), John Dymond (Beaky), Michael Wilson (Mick) ...

, Otis Redding and Tommy James. "Captain of Your Ship" remains a popular oldie in the UK, and it has been re-released there three times. It was first re-released on Bell Records in 1972 to coincide with the release of a new cover version by Reparata of " Octopus's Garden", then again as B-side in January 1985 on the Old Gold label as OG 9504, with the A-side, "Keep On", by Bruce Channel. Most recently, it was included as the B-side on a March 2016 UK re-release of Reparata and the Delrons' "Panic" on the Outta Sight label, which specialises in Northern Soul reissues.

Versions

Also in 1968, the JSO (John Schroeder Orchestra) released a version of the song. The song appeared in the 1990s in an advert for Müller Rice with changed lyrics. In the same year it was sampled in

Betty Boo Alison Moira Clarkson (born 6 March 1970 in Kensington, London), better known as Betty Boo, is an English singer, songwriter and rapper. She first came to mainstream prominence in the late 1980s following a collaboration with the Beatmasters ...

's ''Doin' The Do''.

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Captain Of Your Ship 1968 singles Songs written by Kenny Young 1968 songs Bell Records singles