Herman’s Hermits: “Sleepy Joe” (1968)
I’ve been meaning to tell you about a very special song. It’s very old, very obscure, and very English. It was cherished by my dad and, three generations later, a favorite of my granddaughter.
When I was about four years old, my dad’s 45 collection contained my two favorite songs. Unfortunately, my small but growing assortment of singles and LP’s did not.
My dad, who preferred putting a stack of albums on the turntable (yeah, I know–but everybody did it back then) did not regularly want to break out the 45’s, which obviously required more frequent attention.
So I nagged him with regularity to hear the Cowsills’ “Indian Lake” and Herman’s Hermits’ “Sleepy Joe”.
And once in a while he relented and busted out the little records with the big holes.
“Sleepy Joe” is just the type of song that was about to go out of style in ’68, and perhaps had already done so in the US.
Despite reaching #4 in New Zealand, #9 in Canada and Ireland, #10 in Norway, #12 in the UK, #17 in Sweden et cetera, the song only peaked at #61 in the US, and was the last of the band’s songs to even reach the top 100 here.
So in June of 2023 when I took my musically eclectic, oldies-informed 5-year-old granddaughter to see Peter Noone and (a version of) Herman’s Hermits, I let her know up front we’d probably not hear “Sleepy Joe”. She was not pleased. She loved the song as much as I had at her age.
Peter Noone sang all the other hits of course, and even gave us unexpected cover versions of songs like “Daydream Believer”, which was one of our favorite car trip sing-alongs.
It was a terrific show and my granddaughter’s joy as she sang along, her face lit up at seeing a live performance by the guy she’d only seen in YouTube videos, was exceeded only by my own.
Peter Noone is the consummate entertainer, and always recognizes his younger fans at his shows. And he actually paused his performance to give a certain starstruck young fan an autographed t-shirt and CD:
Then at a post-concert meet and greet in the lobby, of course my granddaughter wanted to join the line.
Despite it being well past her bedtime with a long drive home ahead, she insisted on speaking with her musical hero. She had a question for the gregarious Hermit.
“Why no ‘Sleepy Joe’?”, she asked.
Peter gave the response I expected, which is to say he didn’t believe many people in America knew that song.
But learning it was a favorite of hers, he offered to sing an impromptu a cappella verse of the song for her there in the lobby while a line of fans watched, not seeming to mind a bit.
Amazing. Unforgettable.
There are lots of reasons why Peter Noone still has a large, loyal following 60 years after his group’s songs were hits–why he still headlines shows rather than simply being part of a nostalgia package tour with four other acts.
I’d submit one reason is that Herman’s Hermits had a lot more hits than most realize. And Noone’s shows bring back one feel-good memory after another.
It’s the wide-eyed innocence of songs like “I’m Into Something Good”, “Can’t You Hear My Heartbeat” and “There’s a Kind of Hush”. It’s the cheeky British charm of “I’m Henry the VIII, I Am” and the Mancunian “Mrs. Brown You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter”.
And the pathos of a ballad like “No Milk Today”, written by Graham Gouldman, with arrangement by John Paul Jones–a minor pop masterpiece.
But as much as anything, the concert venues still fill for Peter Noone because he knows how to make his fans–especially the youngest ones–feel special.
Whether it’s a 5-year-old in 1969 or a 5-year-old in 2023.
See also: Songs You May Have Missed #728 | Every Moment Has A Song
Every Moment Has A Song 