Frank Ifield, born in Coundon, Coventry 30 November 1937, to Australian parents. Ifield emigrated to Dural, 50 km (31 mi) from Sydney, with his parents in 1946. At the age of 13 he recorded “Did You See My Daddy Over There?“, and by 19 was the No. 1 recording star in Australia and New Zealand. He returned to the UK in 1959 after being demobbed from his National Service which had interrupted his musical career.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Ifield
Frank gained a two-year contract with Norrie Paramor, A&R man for Columbia EMI after appearing on BBC TV. His first single was ‘Lucky Devil‘ in 1960 and it made the lower regions of the UK pop charts and with it came his first major booking – a summer season in the Isle of Jersey with comedians Mike & Bernie Winters. http://www.frankifield.com/bio.html
Note – Youtube of the various versions of Tobacco Road below this article.
Mama died and my daddy got drunk.
Left me here to die alone
In the middle of Tobacco Road.
Growin’ up rusty shack,
All I had was hangin’ on my back.
Only you know how I loathe
This place called Tobacco Road.
But it’s home, the only life I ever known.
Only you know how I loathe Tobacco Road.
Gonna leave, get a job
With the help and the grace from above.
Save some money, get rich and old,
Bring it back to Tobacco Road.
But it’s home, the only life I ever known.
Only you know how I loathe Tobacco Road.
Bring that dynamite and a crane,
Blow it up, start all over again.
Build a town, be proud to show.
Gives the name Tobacco Road
Tobacco Road is a blues song written and first recorded by John D. Loudermilk in 1960.
Most people will know the song as a hit by The Nashville Teens and produced by Micky Most in 1964 and an uptempo version many would regard as the best. The Nashville Teens version went to no 6 on the UK chart (No 5 in the NME chart) and No 14 in the US.
Originally framed as a folk song, Tobacco Road was a semi-autobiographical tale of growing up in Durham, North Carolina. Released on Columbia Records, it was not a hit for Loudermilk, achieving only minor chart success in Australia. His original version was issued in 1960 as the B Side to Midnight Bus. Other artists, however, immediately began recording and performing the song.
Midnight Bus – JD Loudermilk
Loudermilk himself said in American Songwriter Magazine January/February 1988): “I got the idea for writing that song from a road in our town that was called Tobacco Road because it was where they rolled the hogsheads full of Tobacco down to the river to be loaded onto barges. Along that road were a lot of real tough, seedy-type people, and your folks would have just died if they thought you ever went down there.“
“The English group The Nashville Teens’ garage rock / blues rock rendering was a bold effort featuring prominent piano, electric guitar, and bass drum parts and a dual lead vocal. Mickie Most produced it with the same tough-edged-pop feel that he brought to The Animals’ hits. ” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobacco_Road_(song)
