A song that sounds a bit like a horse. Check.

A guy that sounds a bit like a cowboy. Check.

A high voice. Check.

I thought I'd struggle with pre 1965 songs but when you have heaters such as Johnny Remember Me then I should have had no fear.

Johnny Remember Me by John Leyton

Interestingly, and I only found this out recently, John Leyton was actually an actor. He was starring in the ITV drama series Harpers West One, where he played a pop singer named Johnny Saint-Cyr. He sung it on an episode, this caused sales of the song and it went to number 1.

The song actually came about because songwriter Geoff Goddard woke up inspired in the middle of the night, rushed to a tape recorder he kept by his bed, and hummed the whole thing into existence. It then produced by Joe Meek, who did what Joe Meek did best and turned the drum track into that galloping rhythm.*

The high pitched backing vocals are then sung by session singer Lissa Gray.

At the time, on the TV show Juke Box Jury, (the brilliant comic) Spike Milligan criticised it as the son of Ghost Riders of the Storm. As someone who has included versions of that song 3 times in a 1000 song list, I celebrate this!

Unbelievably, as I write this in 2026, John is now 90 and still going strong.

But it's in. It was covered by Jimmy Somerville, it's a bit weird, it's atmospheric, it's dark and it was pop.

* (John Leyton actually appeared as a cameo in the 2009 film about Joe Meek. I haven't included Joe Meeks most famous song Telstar. I find it too annoying unfortunately.)