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Pretty girl

Dave Luther /Hogsnort Rupert's Original Flagon Band

This happy song was top NZ pop tune in 1970.
Intro: D D+a D D A D x2

  D
The other day as I made my way
  A               G        D
I heard the music start to play.

Happy sound, people all around,
  A               G       D
I knew that I was here to stay.
Em          G             A
Suddenly,   by the tree, goodness me...
A A A, G G G

Chorus:
 D
 Pretty girl, can I take you home
      A          G     D
 On a bright and sunny morning?

 We danced all night in the pale monnlight,
     A       G      D
 And now the day is dawning,

Inst. (Kazoo) = Intro.

She worked all week in a disco-teek,
She looked at me but she didn't speak.
The beat was good, and I knew I should
Have brought an extra pair of feet,
What a day, so I say, hip-hooray!...
Chorus

Inst.
 "Come on, my lover, give us a kiss!"
(Boom boom boom boom)
Chorus

I had to weep, 'cause I had to keep
On dancing in a tired heap.
The only sound was the aching ground:
The band had all gone home to sleep.
Day had come, gone the sun, oh what fun.....
Chorus x2

Thanks to Dexter Muir for these lyrics and chords.

Tune

Play this small 134 kb MP3 sound clip of Pretty Girl.

I have taken this clip from the compilation CD released in 1997 by EMI,
"New Zealand: Our Land, Our Music, Volume Two".
It is readily available from NZ record stores, and online, so if you want the whole song, buy this CD.

Hogsnort Rupert's Original Flagon Band

This Wellington novelty act was formed in 1968 by two Brits Dave Luther (Guitar/Vocals) and Alec Wishart(Percussion/Vocals). Dave had played with several skiffle groups in Britain in the late fifties prior to emigrating to New Zealand in 1966.

Alec was the friendly humorous front man and Dave was the one who had the ear for suitable sing-a-long melodies.

1970 was their golden year with three songs getting onto the hit parade, their biggest being "Pretty Girl" which went all the way to number one in August, staying there for three weeks. "Pretty Girl" was New Zealand's biggest selling hit of 1970. It was entered into the Loxene Golden Disc Awards in August 1970 and easily won the title.

They later simplified their name to just Hogsnort Rupert and became an electric band with another hit in November 1970, Auntie Alice Bought Us This.

For more details see this online extract from the pop encyclopedia Dreams, Fantasies And Nightmares, and also their web page in Bruce Sergent's wonderfully illustrated NZ record album site.

Other NZ skiffle bands

Skiffle This word word has been used since the early 1900s for the good-humoured music played by those too poor to buy instruments and who have used instead washtubs, jugs, washboards etc and other found instruments along with any improvised horns, reeds, or strings that were handy.

Skiffle music was used as entertainment at money-raising rent-parties in the Southern USA. MORE

Hogsnort Rupert were followed in 1973 by the zany Bulldogs Allstar Goodtime Band ("Miss September," "Everybody Knows") made up of Victoria Unversity students.

But NZ's greatest skiffle band was the 1980s street-busking Big Muffin Serious Band who made up to $200 an hour on the street with their tea-chest-and-three-ukulele rock band.

Their mime artist, 'The Naughty See Monkey' entranced the punters with his intensity when he did those wonderfully complicated riffs on his ukelele, playing counterpoint to lead electric ukuleleist Jim Fulton. I watched three full performances before I noticed that The Naughty See Monkey's ukulele had no strings - Jim was playing both parts!!!

And tea-chest player Graeme Cairns, whose McGillicuddy Serious Party was the political arm of the band.

The Big Muffin's biggest problem was getting the huge crowd that always collected to move away after The Naughty See Monkey had taken the hat around, so that they could attract another crowd and collect more money.

Making money on the street by skiffle band busking
  1. Have happy, lively tunes, like Pretty Girl, or Everyone Knows or Does Yor Chewing Gum Loose It's Flavour...... or the Fijian Chulu Chululu. Have songs with a lively chorus you can repeat lots of time with variation of instruments. And not too many long verses with unusal words.

  2. Change a few words on the occasional song to give some local humour, The Big Muffins did "They Call the Wind Maria Nor-wester" with a reference to NZ's searing wind on the Canterbury plains. And the Howard Morison Quartet did "My Old Man's a Dustman an All Black."

  3. Get players of basic non electric band instruments - lead, chord rhythm, percussion - as well as some instruments for tonal variety - tea chest bass, washboard, mouth organ, kazoo, comb and paper - and also 'instruments' for visual novelty, the Big Muffins had a hedge-clipper percussion, and a plastic saxophone, and a 'wind machine' for doing "They Call the Wind Nor-wester." These make good visual props.

  4. Other visual props help too; tall colorful hats, a foot-operated puppet, or one of the group doing mime, or magic tricks or juggling.

  5. Give some eye-contact to passers-by, and acknowledge their interest with a smile or nod towards them. Busking is entertainmant, so entertain the punters. Present yourself as a relaxed, happy, confident person and set out to make other people happy too. Too many buskers I've seen seem to be tense and serious, and frown obsessively at the fretboard of their guitar, whilst completely ignoring the passing throng.

  6. Gauge the punters' response to your music and adjust your playing accordingly. If your own newly-written songs you are singing are going down like lead balloons, then play/sing songs that the punters are familiar with.

  7. Having a variety of tunes you can play helps too. Look down the street and see who is approaching, and be ready to switch to a tune suitable for charming the money out of the old aunties who are coming towards you, or the teenagers, or the harassed mum with the little kids, or the businessmen with their Asian visitors.

  8. And lastly, practice lots. Lots. Practice the words, the chords, the instrumental breaks, the comedy chit-chat, the visual gags. Learn all the words and chord sequences. (No music book stand - what are you?) Get the rhythms tight and pulsing. Practice lots.


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    Page made 17th August, 2003,