It’s easy to imagine the process that produces a hit pop song is carefully planned and executed, from the first thought bubble in the songwriter’s mind to the final edit and cut in the studio.
But in fact, many songs take a very different path from that envisaged by the writer at the time of the song’s creation. Such was the case for Melbourne’s Russell Morris, whose debut single The Real Thing – a pleasant but unexceptional pop tune intended for another artist – was handed to him by his zealous manager. It became a monster hit and an Australian rock classic, after undergoing a stunning studio transformation.
The Real Thing was written in 1968 by Dutch-born singer, songwriter and TV host Johnny Young for his friend, Melbourne singer Ronnie Burns. It was intended as a spacey acoustic ballad in the style of Donovan’s The Hurdy Gurdy Man and The Beatles Strawberry Fields Forever and was written as a comment on Coca-Cola’s The Real Thing advertising campaign, which was omnipresent at the time.
Check out our gig guide, our festival guide, our live music venue guide and our nightclub guide. Follow us on Instagram here.
Young had been in London staying in an upstairs room at friend Barry Gibb and his wife Maureen’s three-storey London apartment. He was looking to expand into songwriting now that his solo singing career was fading.
By asking lots of questions, Young received invaluable songwriting tips and advice from the legendary Bee Gee. “I asked him questions. What are the rules? No rules!’’, Young told Gary Dunn on interview show The Profile.
Young heeded the advice, returning to Australia to write The Real Thing, along with a string of other hits such as The Girl That I Love, Russell Morris’ second single and also a #1 hit; Ronnie Burns’ Smiley (peaked at #2); and Ross D Wyllie’s The Star (peaked at #1).
If the song was written for a mate, how did it end up a hit for someone else? The indefatigable Ian ‘’Molly’’ Meldrum got involved, that’s how! Meldrum was managing Russell Morris, and looking for a song to launch Morris’ solo career.
He overheard Young playing the song backstage at a recording of the pop show Uptight. Legend has it that Meldrum turned up at Young’s door in the middle of the night with a tape recorder to secure a demo recording of the song.
The Real Thing was recorded in early 1969 at Armstrong Studios in Melbourne, with Ian Meldrum producing and John L Sayers as engineer. The backing band comprised members of leading Melbourne band The Groop: Brian Cadd on piano and Hammond organ, Don Mudie on bass, and Richard Wright on drums.
The distinctive acoustic guitar introduction was composed and played by Zoot’s Roger Hicks, while accomplished journeyman guitarist Billy Green played electric lead guitar and sitar. Additional vocals were provided by The Wild Cherries’ Danny Robinson, and The Chiffons – Maureen Elkner, Sue Brady and Judy Condon.
Initially intended to run to the standard three and a half minutes and to the usual singles budget, The Real Thing began to take on a life of its own when the rocking backing band continued to jam and Meldrum and Sayers left the tape running.
The exciting result was to form the basis of the song as we know it, with engineer and producer introducing some of the latest recording techniques such as tape loops and flanging to produce a whirling concoction of jet-like distortion and overdubbed special effects, including an air-raid siren, an atomic bomb explosion, and a WWII recording of the Hitler Youth choir singing ‘’Die Jugend Marschiert’’ (Youth On the March), complete with a shouted ‘’Sieg Heil’’.
Johnny Young’s original chorus of ‘’oh now- na now now’’ became ‘’oom mow- ma mow mow’’ in keeping with the song’s new spaced-out theme. The result is a stunning – albeit expensive – psychedelic pop masterpiece that runs to nearly seven minutes. It’s believed the single cost a record A$10,000 to produce, about the budget for an entire album at the time.
Released in early 1969, the song first charted on 5 April and stayed in the national charts for 23 weeks, reaching number 1 on 17 May. It also topped the charts in Chicago, Houston and New York on the small US Diamond label.
The song has been covered by Midnight Oil and Kylie Minogue amongst others, and was featured on the 2000 Australian film The Dish. In 2001 it was named in the Top 30 Australian Songs of All Time by the Australian Performing Rights Association (APRA). It was added to the Sounds of Australia registry at the National Film and Sound Archive in 2013.
To keep up with Russell Morris, head here.