Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying

Thanks for this one, Kath. I'm also working on "You'll Never Walk Alone" at the moment - Greybeard sent me a good tab for that.

:D :D :D

Vic

Good work Vic. Yet another song that's easy to play and will make my wife melt. It seems easy enough, but when I went on youtube to play with it ,it seemed much harder to follow their beat.

Thanks Kathy,

I use to play this with a guy at open mic about 4or 5 years ago.
This will refresh my memory.

John

Good work Vic. Yet another song that's easy to play and will make my wife melt. It seems easy enough, but when I went on youtube to play with it ,it seemed much harder to follow their beat.

LOL! Don't thank me, thank Kath......

:D :D :D

Vic

Sorry Kathy. It seemed like one of Vic's. This is a great song and quite easy to play. Thanks

I LOVE THIS SONG. (The Rickie Lee Jones version is my fav)
Thanks so much Kath!

I play this one a lot - I jazz it up a bit by changing the speed.

Oh!! Thanks for this one Kath,

A lot of Gerry Marden's songs never got the credit they deserved.

It was a great shame that the Pacemakers couldn't evolve with the music trends during the later part of the sixties and that Gerry turned to light entertainment. But perhaps in a way it was good their type of music didn't change as when I listen to either of their only two original albums nowadays I'm transported right back to that fantastic Merseyside beat era that I grew up with on radio and TV.

And it's also good that Gerry went back to his music and still tours today albeit with a new Pacemakers lineup.
I do wish more of his own original songs like "It's Gonna Be Allright" "Shes The Only Girl For Me" etc were available as tabs (Does anyone know where they can be obtained?)

Thanks again,

Chris

Amazing! Beautiful and pensive chords and lyrics. This is a very beautiful song and brings back precious memories. Gerry and the Pacemakers was one of the groups that came in with a huge wave of British bands in what I think is referred to as 'The British Invasion' . The 1960's was an extraordinary historical era in music and consciousness. In fact it was the early 60's era, starting with the increasing popularity of folk music that created the huge interest in guitar playing, guitar manufacturing and sales which has continued to present. I could write more on this but I won't.

At the time this song reached the charts in 1964 there was a tremendous amount of competition from numerous British and American bands. imagine having to compete with the Beatles for radio time. Nevertheless this song reached number 4 on the national music charts and a year later, 1965 "Ferry Cross the Mersey" reached number 6 on the national charts.
Things were alot different back then- all we had was AM Radio or television shows like the Ed Sullivan show that featured a rock star/band now and then or the TV show American Bandstand to hear rock music or see the actual bands playing - FM radio existed but until later 1960s was reserved to classical music and educational programs. So everyone who listened to rock radio stations on AM would have very likely heard these two songs many times over and instantly recognize them as well as the group name 'Gerry and the Pacemakers' .

Here is a wikipedia article, brief history of Gerry and the Pacemakers ... They rivalled the Beatles early in their career, playing in the same areas of Hamburg, Germany and Liverpool, England... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerry_and_the_Pacemakers

I learned to play this song entirely by ear when it was on AM radio 'top 40' (top 40 songs on the national charts) in 1964. I was 14 then. I remember being proud that I got it right. This was no doubt quite a common method to learn back then, which is; I listened very carefully to the guitar parts when songs came on the radio and then tried to duplicate the guitar parts from memory. The discipline was listening very carefully and memorizing what I heard, then trying to duplicate that afterward. Not everyone could afford to buy records, or even have a record player, (I didn't) let alone afford guitar lessons!! In my hometown I wasn't even aware of such a thing as 'guitar lessons' or 'guitar teachers'. The record store (45rpm 'singles' and 33-1/3 rpm vinyl record albums) also sold some music books so I did buy a chord book and a few song books. Song books back then didn't use 'tablature' only standard notation and chords, so we would get the chords then learn to play by listening to the radio or records.

Learning to play by ear from the radio (or from records) was a valuable skill which seems to have diminished a great deal in these modern times with the common use of and dependency upon tablature. Learning to play by ear is still a valuable skill. I think it brings you much closer to your instrument and that relationship is more of sound and feeling, allows for more exploration and creativity and much less mechanical than tabs. Often I would discover things by accident and develop them from there. I think it is conducive to playing with more feeling and more creativity. I was just listening to recordings by a professional guitar instructor playing acoustic bottleneck blues and to me his playing, although technically very skilled, sounded very mechanical and lacking in feeling which I think is due to the technical approach to learning guitar. Now that I have wandered off topic I'll conclude this by saying that it might be a good idea to set aside the struggling with music books and tabs and just play your guitar, explore, discover a few things on your own. This is practicing too. Listen to some songs you like and try to figure them out. You'll have some fun with your instrument and learn some things all on your own. Maybe everyone does that anyway, if not I think they should

Back to the topic; I haven't had a TV set since 1989 but within the past 2 weeks I was at a neighbor's apartment and there was a special on TV featuring 'Gerry and The Pacemakers' performing their old songs. They were playing 'Don't Let The sun Catch You Crying' . I had never seen them before and now they are up in their years (older than me even) they could call themselves 'Gerry and Our Pacemakers'. (I'm sure that's an old joke with those guys) However;

One thing I love about music and the love of music is that you never get old. It's like magic.

...
...And it's also good that Gerry went back to music and still tours today albeit with a new Pacemakers lineup.
I do wish more of his own original songs like "It's Gonna Be Allright" "Shes The Only Girl For Me" etc were available as tabs (Does anyone know where they can be obtained?)

Thanks again,

Chris

You might get lucky with Google, type in 'band name' or 'song name' followed by 'chords' or 'tabs'

Here is Gerry and the Pacemakers Myspace site, maybe you can ask Gerry. there are also some videos so maybe you can see the songs performed:
http://www.myspace.com/gerrysgang

Try YouTube, you might find a live performance to watch or someone else playing one of these songs

I read that they have been featured on several national public television (PBS) specials here in the usa, the last was the one I saw last week and these might be viewable online or available as DVDs. You might be able to rent the DVDs and actually see how they played the songs.

Lastly, (or firstly or secondly) listen to the songs and see if you can figure them out. That would be a fun and fluid way to do it, just get your guitar tuned up to theirs and try to play along or figure out one chord at a time. Then, eventually when and if you do find tabs/chords you can compare.

Wow, I had been up all night (typical insomnia) when I wrote that long post- under those circumstances I tend to write too much or wonder off topic so I'm sorry about that. First time I'd seen this 'easy songs' section.

Don't apologise phangeaux, you ramble on! we all tend to on this site.

I'm glad so many appreciate Gerry Marsden around the world. Thanks for all the good info on finding Gerry's songs. I too have often spent hours looking up old video clips of Gerry and the Pacemakers on Youtube. That myspace site I find confusing though.s

Al the best,

Chris

I too have often spent hours looking up old video clips of Gerry and the Pacemakers on Youtube.

Sigh - me too. "Ferry Across The Mersey" will always have a special place in my musical heart - I have vivid memories of singing it, as a six/seven-year-old, on a ferry across the Mersey - day trip to New Brighton with mum and dad. Hey, if you're going to sing in public, there's nothing like doing it in the right place at the right time. But where was Mr Epstein that day?

Just a bit of trivia re G&TP; they were the first band ever to have their first three singles all reach #1 in the British Charts - a feat that wouldn't be repeated till 1985, when Frankie Goes To Hollywood (another Liverpool band!) managed it.

:D :D :D

Vic

Hey Vic,

You live close by.
Pick up that guitar mate, go get on that ferry and belt out that song. They still sail don't they? What a place to do your own open mic!

You never know Gerry himself might be on the ferry at the same time and he might appreciate it or, better still join in with you. He still lives in Liverpool doesn't he?

Talking of which, we need an ESD tab of "Fery Cross The Mersey". Any chances of that Vic?

All the best,

Chris