Requiem (For a Girl Born of the Wrong Times) was recorded by singer Betty Barnes, a white soul/pop singer who issued several 45s in the late 1960s, recording first for RCA and then Kapp. Barnes’s best-known single is the Northern Soul classic Walking Down Broadway, but I cannot imagine anyone dancing to Requiem (For a Girl Born of the Wrong Times) at a Wigan all-niter.
A Betty Barnes (from Austin, Texas) recorded a couple of hillbilly singles in the mid-50s for TNT and had some success as a songwriter (penning the November 1957 single for Jimmy Dee, Don't Cry No More), and a second singer by the same name (from Pittsburgh, according to Billboard) issued a single in 1962 on Bodway: see the comment below from Bob at Dead Wax for more details on those.
Composed by songsmiths Lor Crane & Bernice Ross, the
flip side was simply an instrumental version of the plug track, with our Betty’s
voice wiped: the demo copy features the same song on both sides. Ms Ross, who
scored top ten hits in 1964 with the Danny Williams single White on White,
and in 1965 with Don’t Just Stand There for Patty Duke, also wrote a
Spanish version of the lyrics, but I’ve yet to track down a recording of that
version.
Kapp clearly realised fairly quickly that they’d picked a
wrong ‘un: Betty’s follow-up, Destiny’s Child, was issued in July and
plugged mercilessly as her debut for the label. The powers that be at the
company obviously wanted to forget that this particular slice of bad taste
existed. Perhaps unsurprisingly, in 2006 the track turned up on the Ace Records
compilation Dead! The Grim Reaper's Greatest Hits.
Brilliantly creepy and completely mad, Requiem (For a Girl
Born of the Wrong Times) was not a hit, and does not appear to have been
issued outside of the USA and Canada. But here it is now, just for you.
Enjoy!
Download Requiem HERE
I thought of Kenny Everett's World's Worst Wireless Show when I heard this!
ReplyDeleteSame Betty Barnes on TNT and much later on RCA and Kapp ? That's rather surprising. I suppose, because you're a serious researcher, that you have found some evidence somewhere.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, the Betty Barnes on TNT was West Austin, Texas, housewife Vivian Worden. Originally from the mountains of Virginia near Roanoke, Worden moved to Austin in 1953 and soon got recording and publishing deals with San Antonio-based TNT. It's surely intriguing to see her on two major East Coast labels. Her husband was an IRS accountant. Did the folks at RCA or a Kapp needed his help ? That's would be an explanation for the signing of Betty ? No, I'm rambling.
Finally, my research yesterday tells me that Betty Barnes on Bodway is another Betty : Elizabeth Bodway Bilotta, from Pittsburgh, on the Bodway label owned by her husband.
Cheers for the additional info, Bob. I'll update the post!
DeleteBut seeing a picture of the Texas artist and the RCA/Kapp artist, I find some resemblance. Then, who knows for sure ?
DeleteI belive that our Miss Barnes may have been known to her family as Betty Corrado. Her daughter uses that name on YouTube, and her two Kapp 45s are credited to 'Corrado Productions', but I've found no further evidence.
DeleteThanks. Betty Barnes Corrado was married to Fred L. Corrado, a wealthy businessman. So, and that will be my last word on the subject, we can assume that we have here an artist a la Dora Hall. Indeed Corrado productions is nowhere else to be found...
DeleteI think that the girl who narrated the song actually committed suicide based on my interpretation. What do you think, Daryll?
ReplyDeleteYou may well be right. How deliciously twisted!
DeleteThe lyrics were too sad. I hated it at the beginning, and the end made me hate it even more. I'm never listening to that song again.
DeleteAnd by the way, Daryll, the songwriter’s name was Beverly Ross, not Bernice Ross.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the official copyright registration for the song (Catalog of Copyright Entries, Third Series. Part 5: Music Jan-June 1968: Vol 22 No 1 Sec 1-2), it's Bernice.
DeleteJust looked it up and you’re right. Thanks, Daryll!
Delete