While Sonny & Cher are seen as freaks in the United States mid-1965, it's love at first sight across the Atlantic. The more fashionable (and broader-minded) British response to their promotional visit breaks precedents when they're re-booked (for a month) on TOP OF THE POPS; and a press deluge sends their popularity and record sales skyrocketing. Sonny & Cher are the stylish, imaginative and original vanguards for the countercultural revolution to follow: to all appearances they define equal partnership with an anti-establishment take on gender and politics.

For the next year England serves as a base for Sonny & Cher's American Invasion of Europe via music and fashion. Used to a four-boy rock lineup of dubious musical pedigree, musically savvy Londoners enthuse over Sonny & Cher's added piano and second drummer in concert; as well as their ability to recreate their hits live. On continental Europe, French and Italian covers of the Sonny & Cher records are charting in the six-figure range as fast Sonny is making them. Of course he's been making them for years, and when the re-issues hit the stores in 1965 teenyboppers dont have a clue what label they actually record for, but they sure as hell know what Sonny & Cher look like.

FABULOUS magazine - as guest-edited by Donovan - dispatches The Zombies' Colin Blunstone and a Marianne Faithfull look-alike model (right, below) to the streets of London for a fashion spread on The Sonny & Cher Look: if it can't be bought, designers re-create it. The unique style however is nobody's vision but Sonny & Cher's. A rebellious teenager's refusal to wear dresses or go to a beauty parlor could spell disaster: in Cher's case - adapting boys' clothes for night and stripper makeup for daywear - it means millions of girls will take to wearing pants formally; and an archetype of brunette beauty will challenge Eurocentric ideals forever.

 

 

Although "Sonny & Cher" and "Cher" now have exclusive duo and solo contracts respectively with Atco/Atlantic and Imperial/Liberty, the fruits of their earlier labors appear with astonishing speed as cash-ins and otherwise. Since the release of "Baby Don't Go" in '64, Sonny has been recording other acts with Charlie Greene and Brian Stone - unsure and unaware that Sonny & Cher are soon destined for the bigtime.

The Standells VeeJay 643 "The Boy Next Door" (SB/G) / "BJ Quetzal "(SB, G&S) (inst.) Prod SB (rel 1/65)
The Standells VeeJay 679 "Big Boss Man" / "Dont Say Goodbye" Prod SB All 3 vocal cuts on THE STANDELLS RARITIES Rhino LP 115 (1984)

Reb Foster Loma 2008 "Something You Got" / Reb & The Rousers: "Quetzal & Jude" (inst) (both Arr Prod SB for York-Pala
The Fiends GNP Crecendo " The Addams Family" (inst) / "Quetzal Quake" (SB, G&S) (inst)
The Pastel Six Chattagoochee 696 "I Cant Dance" / "Red River Quetzal" (inst)
Cookie Jackson Uptown 700 "I'm Gonna Shout It On The Mountain" (SB,G&S) / "Uptown Jerk" (SB, G&S)
BJ & The ProfitsUptown 705 "Its Gonna Rain Outside" (SB) / "I Lost All Faith" (SB, G&S)
Sonny Bono VeeJay 710 "Midnight Surf (Theme For Valora)" (SB,G&S) (inst) / "Ride The Wild Quetzal" (inst rel 11-65)
Joey Paige Tollie 9045 "Cause Im In Love With You" / "Yeah Yeah Yeah" (SB) (both Arr Prod SB. Eng Stan Ross rel 1-66)

Reprise Records catches the Sonny & Cher wave by re-releasing "Baby Don't Go" in August 1965, scoring an international hit. By this time they are quite aware of the provenance of their three Caesar & Cleo tracks, which Sonny dismisses as "demos". But Reprise's attempts to follow-up the "Baby Don't Go" windfall will be restricted to the names and signatures on the Caesar & Cleo contract, and won't cruise up the charts as Sonny & Cher product. Not for lack of effort though: Reprise aggressively distributes 45s, an EP and an album which even touts a throwaway B-side instrumental as a Sonny & Cher recording. Vault's Caesar & Cleo track is however re-released as a Sonny & Cher 45 and quickly acquired by Atco for inclusion on the first Sonny & Cher LP, but Sonny's old Don Christy effort from 1962 "I'll Change"doesn't change into a 1965 hit.

Sonny & Cher Reprise 0392 "Baby Dont Go" (SB) / "Walkin The Quetzal" (SB/G&S) (inst)

Sonny & Cher Vault 916 "The Letter" / "Spring Fever"(formerly "String Fever") (SC) (inst)

Salvatore Bono & Cher la Piere aka Caesar & Cleo Reprise 0419 " Love Is Strange" / "Let The Good Times Roll" (some w/ PS)

Sonny Highland 1160 "I'll Change" / "Try It Out On Me" (formerly Rush 1001)

 

 

 

 

 

Sonny & Cher's musical success in Europe won't come automatically: every regional market presents obstacles from government control of media and virtual monopolies of radio and juke-boxes by record companies; to consumer preference for local language and interpretation. The pre-rock Old Guard still dominates Euro charts in 1965, and so-called Beat Music is generally meeting with strong resistance. A loud youth culture - or more correctly, a savvy anti-bourgeois movement - demands artists like The Rolling Stones, The Beatles and Dylan. Sonny & Cher's continental breakout in late 1966 will be due to quality music as much as to image and teenybopper appeal. "I Got You Babe" won't be their defining moment of stardom in Southern Europe, but as Ahmet Ertegun launches the Atco label in France with it he puts the nation on notice: "Sonny, Cher, and Sonny & Cher have conquered the United States and England, and quickly - let us not doubt it - will conquer France and every other country!" And voila the label's in the black from day one - thanks to Sonny et "Dear", and the associated cash-flow from cover versions.

 

Europe's Romance languages and musical sensibilities inhibit the creation of original rock and beat records; but good local lyricists - along with excellent arrangers and producers - are well able to transform melodically strong Anglo pop-rock songs into brilliant Italian and French/Canadian records. Sonny's musical imagination and influences (from childhood tarantella to Harold Battiste's World Music via Phil Spector) may not greatly move Americans but the opposite applies to Europeans. And it won't be any of Sonny & Cher's Top Ten hits which invade the world of Ye-Ye: French superstar Sylvie Vartan cuts a perfect beat-ish "Baby Don't Go" in late-65 (as "C'etait Trop Beau") ; evidencing an adaptability which will ensure her amazing longeivity from Ye-Ye into the 21st Century. "Sing C'est La Vie" is bigger than "I Got You Babe" in Australia; and Frank Alamo ends his career as a YeYe Boy on a high point with the song, prior to army service. An accompanying color video ensures that neither Frank nor "Sing C'est La Vie" will be quickly forgotten by his French or Quebecois fan base. French Canadians get their own Sonny & Cher in the form of Tony & Nanette when Tony Roman jump-starts Nanette Workman's career with a Bonoesque cover of Sonny & Cher's rock'n'roll take on "Et Maintenant", to be followed by similar efforts with "Petit Homme" and "Les Petites Choses". As "Ya Te Tengo", "I Got You Babe" does service across the Spanish-speaking world as everything from a wistful ye-ye groove to a throbbing tit-shaker.

 

 

 

Italian cover versions kick off in 1966 with back-to-back releases of "I Got You Babe" and "Just You" (as "Sei Contento" and "Ancora Sempre e Solo Te" respectively) from folkies Jonathan & Michelle; to much the same disinterest as Gidiuli's version of "I Got You Babe". I Ragazzi del Sole however break through with "Laugh At Me", as "Non Ridere di Me". But the sensational Patty Pravo's solidly in-the-pocket version of "But You're Mine" ("Ragazzo Triste") hits a home-run, dramatically redefining the original without reinventing it. She doesn't need to since it's pure canzone in form anyhow, and she takes ownership of it for one of her all-time career-defining anthems. (Decades later inmates will deliver an impromptu acapella performance welcoming La Pravo to the slammer for a brief stay behind bars.)

 

 

I Nomadi's straight-ahead protest take on "The Revolution Kind" ("Come Potete Giudicar") launches a long career for a group which will remain committed to apolitical social justice senza apologia, unlike the writer of their breakthrough hit. Sonnys original cop-out English lyric is ignored in translation, but Come Potete Giudicar button pins - the bumper stickers of Italo-rebels - are omnipresent. Nomadi's massively popular 45 even features "You Dont Love Me" (from Sonny & Chers LP) on the B-Side. European superstars Petula Clark ("Where Do You Go","Bang Bang"), Dalida ("Bang Bang", "Little Man", "Mama"), Paul Mauriat ("Bang Bang", "Mama") and Milva ("Little Man") all add Sonny Bono songs to their hits repertoires, and to their albums which are racking up millions in multilingual sales worldwide. Superb lyricists like Mogol, Miki Del Prete and Allesandro Colombini provide translations or new lyrics for Sonny & Cher recordings - songs destined to be beat standards, or sentimental favorites in the hands of Eurodivas like the semi-tragic Dalida.

 

Late in 1966 Cher squares off against no less than four versions of "Bang Bang" in Italy alone. Equipe 84 define the song as an epic spaghetti western, and blast Cher out of the Top 10 on their way to a shoot-out with Sinatra's "Strangers" for the top slot. After months in second place they only enjoy top gun status for a couple of weeks. Dalida (re-invented as a Nancy Sinatra look-alike) blows them all away with her tortured "Bang Bang": she replaces Equipe 84 at Number One, after refusing to perform on any venue with singers of rival versions. (Some chart compilers give up tracking sales and airplay, and award everybody who's recorded "Bang Bang" top honors.) With Quebecoise competition from Claire Lepage and an alternate lyric, Sheila takes the song to the top in France, and her movie the following year is called... yep..."Bang-Bang. Some snicker when Ahmet Ertegun pronounces it "one the greatest post-WW2 songs ever written", but they haven't seen the sales figures from Europe, and can't know its golden future as Sonny's most valued copyright. Dalida will finish 1967 as she started: sitting squarely on top of the Italian charts with yet another Cher cover from Sonny's trusty upright ("Mama"), delivering a repeat performance of hand-wrenching High Melodrama.

 

 

Sonny & Cher arrive in London mid-summer 1966 to begin a European tour at the onset of the Continental "Bang Bang" furor, and Sonny's timing couldn't be better. He brings an unfinished track to London, lays down overdubs and vocals and rush-releases it. "Little Man" is a worldwide smash (without visiting the U.S. Top Ten), and Sonny & Cher need to lay down French vocals to compete with two lyrically different French versions (Dalida's "Petit Homme", Erick Saint -Laurent's "Les Enfants Qui Jouent"). It's the same deal in Italy: their "Piccolo Ragazzo" will chart behind Milva's and ahead of I Rogers' versions. As an orchestrated schlager , "Little Man" cracks the massive easy-listening market; cheerily greeting fans picking up their new James Last and Franck Pourcel albums.

 

 

January 1967's San Remo Song Festival is anti-climactic for Sonny & Cher inasmuch as neither Cher nor the duo make it to the finals with their entries; or feature prominently in the predictable notoriety of the proceedings. Harold Battiste conducts the orchestra for Chers "Ma Piano" and Sonny & Cher's "Il Cammino di Ogni Speranza. Both songs are also respectively performed by soundtrack singer Nico Fidenco and star Beat Girl Caterina Caselli - according to but one tradition of the festival. San Remo has an established reputation for scandal, controversy and dramatic outrages, often directed at co-performers. Dirty record company politics see Cher narrowly get to perform "Ma Piano" ("Slowly") at the expense of I Nomadi. Neither is wanted by the composer or his cohort Fidenco, who derides Cher's phonetic (though excellent) delivery of their shared tune - rather than the lousy and quickly-forgotten song it actually is. La Caselli blames the shared "Il Cammino" ("The Way of Every Hope") defeat on teetotalling Sonny & Cher's inebriation and worse. But it's the ubiquitous Dalida's recently fianced Luigi Tenco who puts sour grapes and grappa into reasonable perspective by blowing his brains out with a handgun following his loss. Tenco's "protest suicide" defines San Remo '67: the festival della canzone begins its decline, Il Cult di Tenco is born and "Bang Bang" is already in Dalida's tragedienne repertoire, albeit with a new resonance.

 

Sonny & Cher enjoy the average twenty-month lifespan of most hit acts of the pop-rock era, with a remarkable twist: as American and British Top 40 tastes dispense with Sonny and Cher, their original records become demos for European superstars and even hits behind the Iron Curtain. The flash of songwriting magic Sonny Bono showed in 1965 will be rewarded in Europe for as long as he focuses on writing strong, original material. He doesn't however, and despite Italian lyrics by Mogol, "Caro Cara" is shallow and out-dated Ye Ye music but its the best offering from the GOOD TIMES soundtrack. Cher's final stateside smash of the Sixties "You Better Sit Down Kids" ("Bambini Miei Cari") surprisingly ends up as a European B-Side. By 1968 the Italian Jobs are finito and The French Connection's vaporized, but Sonny has made his mark: few Anglo rock composers will see their ditties morph so very successfully into the diverse Beat or dramatic tearjerker idioms of French, and especially Italian, popular song. Even fewer will do it on the strength of a five-chord mastery of the piano.

 

 

The Pro-Bono Project was begun by noted musicologist Phil X Milstein in 2005 as a collection of Sonny's more quirky 60's musical projects like the Quetzal instrumentals which graced many of Sonny & Cher's 45 B-sides. Over time, and with ongoing global contributions, the Project has grown into an archive of hundreds of cover recordings, pre- and post-Cher recordings and compositions, serious soundalikes and not-so-serious spoofs and spins on Sonny & Cher. This site is indebted to Phil's research and generosity - without which the following (UNDER CONSTRUCTION) listing of 60's international cover versions and forgotten gems would be considerably less complete. Additions & corrections are welcome!

 

"BABY DON'T GO"

James Last DE LP Polydor 104 678 1966 from "This Is James Last"aka "Beat In Sweet"
Jimmy & Pat US Hit 224 1965 budget "soundalike"
Sylvie Vartan FR EP RCA Victor 86 125 M 1965 as "C'etait Trop Beau"
Those Fantabulous Strings US LP Metro M/MS 557 1965 inst.,from "...play The Sonny & Cher Hits"

 

"BANG BANG"

Ann Burton NL LP CBS 52807 1969 from "Ballads And Burton"
Ajda Pekkan TU 45 Regal 5002 1966 sung in English
Beau Brummels, The US LP Warner Bros W/S 1644 1966 from "Beau Brummels '66"
Cem Karaca w/ Apaslar TU EP Sayan Seri FS 127 1967  
Clair Lepage CA 45 Teledisc TD21 1966 alt French lyric to Sheila version
Cliff Richard UK LP Columbia SCX 6435 1970 from "Tracks 'n' Grooves"
Dalida FR 45 Barclay 60738 1966  
Dalida IT 45 Barclay BN 6097 1966  
Djordje Marjnovik YU EP RTB PGP 50111   sung in Serbian, sampled by U Ime Igre 2005
Enrico Ciacci
 IT LP RCA Italiana S 18 1967 from "Chittara Sessantasette"
Equipe 84 IT 45 Ricordi SRL 10.438 1966  
I Corvi IT 45 Ariston AR 0161 1966  
Kinita SP EP Philips 436 824 1966 sung in Spanish
Lili Ivanova USSR LP Melodia 1967 sung in Bulgarian, from "Poet"
Los Mac's CH LP 1968 from "Los Macs"
Majda Sepe YU EP Jugoton EPY 3857 1967  
Maritza Fabiani
 BR 45 Polydor CSPN 51.000 1966 sung in Potuguese - lyric by Carlos Wallace
Milena Cantu IT 45 Clan ACC 24038 1966  
Nancy Sinatra US LP Reprise 1966 from "How Does That Grab You?"
Petula Clark FR EP Vogue HV 27 159 1966  
Powers Of Blue US LP MTA 5002 1967 from "Flip Out"
Sandy (Posey) US 45 Hit 250(?) 1966 budget "soundalike" - same # as Roamers/Joanne Kay re-issue
Sheila FR EP Phillips 437.233 1966  
Terry Reid US LP Epic 2647 1968 from "Bang, Bang You're Terry Reid"
Xavier Cugat US LP Decca 1966 from "Bang Bang"

 

 

"BUT YOU'RE MINE"

Benny & Petra GER 45 Columbia 23124 1966 as "Wir gehen Unser Weg Allein" (Benny Quick & Petra Prinz)
Patty Pravo IT 45 Arc AN 4097 1966 as "Ragazzo Triste"

 

 

"I GOT YOU BABE"

Aranbee Pop Symphony Orch.
 UK LP Immediate ILLP/..SP 003 1966 from "Today's Pop Symphony"
Benny & Petra DE 45 Columbia 23124 1966 as "Bleib Bei Mir Babe" (Benny Quick & Petra Prinz)
Claude Francois FR EP Philips 437118 BE 1965 as "Je T'ame Trop, Toi", French lyric Francois/Buggy
Daniela YU EP PGP 57466 1966 as "Nasao Sam Te"
Dora Hall US 45 Reinbeau 5819 1966  
Etta James US 45 Cadet 5606 1968  
Gidiuli IT 45 Jolly J20349 1966 as "Sei Contento", sung in Italian
James Last DE LP Polydor 104 678 1966 from "This Is James Last"
Jonathan & Michelle IT 45 Rifi RFN 16145 1966 as "Sei Contento"
Kinita SP EP Philips 436 374 PE 1965 as "Ya Te Tengo", sung in Spanish
Lions, The DK LP Triola TDI 211 1966 from "Many Sides of Lions"
Los Salvajes SP EP Regal-EMI SEDL 19.481 1966 as "Ya Te Tengo", sung in Catalan
Majestics w/ Jackie Gabriel US LP Arc 780 1968 from "Here Come Da Judge"
Manfred Mann UK EP 7EG 8949 1966 instrumental, from "Instrumental Asylum"
Tania Velia SP EP Belter 51603 1966 as "Ya Te Tengo", sung in Catalan
Those Fantabulous Strings US LP Metro M/MS 557 1965 inst.,from "...play The Sonny & Cher Hits"
Tiny Tim US LP (OST) Columbia OS 3240 1969 from "You Are What You Eat", with Eleanor Barooshian (ex-Cake)
Wayne & Dee US 45 Hit 221 1965 budget "soundalike"

 

 

"IT'S GONNA RAIN"

Gentleman June" Gardner US 45 Emarcy 4050 1966 inst
Those Fantabulous Strings US LP Metro M/MS 557 1965 inst.,from "...play The Sonny & Cher Hits"

 

"IT'S THE LITTLE THINGS"

Nanette & Tony Roman CN 45 Canusa 355 1968 as "Les Petites Choses"

 

"JUST YOU"

Betty Wright US LP Atco SD 33-260 1968 from "My First Time Around"
Jonathan & Michelle IT 45 Rifi RFN 16146 1966 as "Ancora Sempre E Solo Te"
Those Fantabulous Strings US LP Metro M/MS 557 1965 inst.,from "...play The Sonny & Cher Hits"
Thursdays Children UK 45 Piccadilly 7N 35276 1966  

 

"LAUGH AT ME"

I Ragazzi Del Sole IT 45 Jolly 20359 1966 as "Non Ridere Di Me", sung in Italian
Mott The Hoople UK LP Island ILPS 9108 1969 from "Mott The Hoople"
Those Fantabulous Strings US LP Metro M/MS 557 1965 inst., from "...play The Sonny & Cher Hits"

 

"LITTLE MAN"

Berti (Glockner)
 DE     as "Immer Nur Die Anderen"
Bisera Veletanlic YU EP PGP RTB 50236 1967 as "Decac Taj"
Dalida FR EP Barclay 71064 1966 as "Petit Homme", remixed 2001
Dalida IT LP Barclay-RCA 1967 as "Piccolo Ragazzo", from same-titled LP
Durcy Denis MX      
Erick Saint-Laurent FR EP Barclay 71071 1967 as "Les Enfants Qui Jouent"
Franck Pourcel FR LP 1967 as "Hombrecito", from "Amor, Bailes y Violines #6"
Fiammetta IT 45 Bluebell 2004 1967  
I Rogers IT 45 Kansas 1023 1966 as "Piccolo Ragazzo"
James Last DE LP Polydor 1967 from "Sax a GoGo"
Milva IT 45 Ricordi SRL 10446 1966  
Radmila Karaklagic YU EP Jugoton EPY 3749 1967 as "Da Si Tu"
Nanette et Tony Roman CN 45 Canusa 309 1967 as "Petit Homme"

 

"MAMA"

Dalida FR 45 Barclay M 944 1967 sung in French
Dalida IT 45 Barclay BN 7013 1967 sung in Italian
Dalida DE   1967 sung in German
Danny FN 45 Scania KS 747 1968 as "Tahdon (Kuunnella Neuvoja Aidin)"
Paul Mauriat FR LP Philips PHS 600 248 1968 from "Blooming Hits"
Sonia IT   1967  

 

"SING C'EST LA VIE"

Glenda Collins UK originally unreleased 1965 from "This Little Girl's Gone Rockin'" CD
Frank Alamo FR EP Riviera 231.120 1965 sung in French
Those Fantabulous Strings US LP Metro M/MS 557 1956 inst., from "...play The Sonny & Cher Hits"

 

"THE BEAT GOES ON"

Boogaloo Joe Jones US LP Prestige PR 7557 1967 from "Introducing The Psychedelic Soul Jazz Guitar of Joe Jones"
Booker T & The MGs US LP Stax 724 1968 inst.,from "Doin' Our Thing"
Buddy Rich Big Band
 US LP Pacific Jazz 10117 1967 from "Big Swing Face" (live), vocal Cathy Rich
Bobby & Connie US 45 Hit 281 1967 budget "soundalike"
Golden Kids CZ LP Supraphon 0665 1969 from "Micro Magic Circus"
Herbie Mann US LP Atlantic SD 1483 1967 inst.,from "The Beat Goes On"
Inga (Rumpf) DE 45 Decca 19861 1967  
La Ragazza 77 IT 45 Ricordi SRL 10.496 1967 as "Il Beat...Cos'e'", in Italian ("La Ragazza 77" is Ambra Borelli)
Lawrence Welk US LP Dot 25790 1967 from "Songs Of Our Times"
Sandy Nelson US LP Imperial 9345 / 12345 1967 inst., from "The Beat Goes On"
Sonny Criss US LP Prestige PR 7558 1968 inst.,from "The Beat Goes On!"
Vanilla Fudge US LP Atco 33-224 1967 from "Vanilla Fudge"
Young-Holt Unlimited US 45 Bruswick 55338 1967 inst.

 

"THE REVOLUTION KIND"

I Nomadi IT 45 Columbia SCMQ 1926 1966 as "Come Potete Giudicar"

 

"WHERE DO YOU GO"

Petula Clark FR 45 Vogue FS 45.1339 1966 as "Que Reste T'il"
Terry Knight And The Pack US LP Lucky Eleven LE-8000 1966 from "Terry Knight And The Pack"
Wildlife, The US 45 Columbia 4-44285 1966  

 

"YOU BETTER SIT DOWN KIDS"

Gary Puckett & Union Gap
 US LP Columbia CS 9612 1967 from "Woman Woman"
Glen Campbell US LP Capitol ST/SM 103 1968 from "Wichita Lineman"
Pozo Seco Singers US LP Columbia 9656 1968 from "Shades Of Time"
Raymonde Singers Etcetera UK LP Decca Phase 4 Stereo 1969 from "Feelin"
Roy Drusky US 45 Mercury 72784 1968  
Sammy Davis Jr. US LP Motown MS 710 1970 from "Something For Everyone"

 

 

 

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