♫ Go Now ♫

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, History, music

I asked Roger yesterday what he would like to hear in my next music post, and his response was something by The Moody Blues … he left the song choice up to me.  I checked my archives and found that I had played Nights in White Satin twice, once in 2019 and again in 2020, and that was the only Moody Blues song I’ve ever played here.  I might have only briefly considered reduxing that one, for it is still my favourite by The Moody Blues, but I thought that might be a bit of a cop out, so I went in search of another that I like and … well, this one came up next!

I did not know that before The Moody Blues recorded it, this was an obscure soul single for Bessie Banks, who released it in 1964. Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller produced her recording, and it was written by her husband Larry Banks. It is a heart-rending song where the singer has just broken up with his lover, and can’t bear to see her anymore.

According to SongFacts …

This was The Moody Blues’ second single, the first being the unsuccessful “Lose Your Money.” Their next few releases did not fare as well and the lead singer on this track, Denny Laine, whose pained vocals added so much to the single, left the band to set up his own Electric String Band in 1966. He later joined forces with Paul McCartney in Wings.

The Moody Blues re-formed a short time later with new members Justin Hayward and John Lodge, who became the primary songwriters in the group.

Denny Laine recalled to Gibson.com how the band came to cover this song: “It came in one of these suitcases full of records from America. This guy, James Hamilton, he was a friend of B. Mitchel Reed, who was a DJ, and he would send this stuff across. So I picked that one out especially because Mike Pinder was a piano player. (chuckles) We’d always get the gig where the piano would be out of tune and we’d get the slow handclap because they were waiting to tune the piano… (laughs) Anyway, we did ‘Go Now’ because it was a song with a piano in it.”
This song reached #1 in the UK and #10 in the U.S.
Go Now
The Moody Blues
We’ve already said “goodbye”
Since you gotta go, oh you’d better
Go now, go now, go now (go now, ooh)
Before you see me cry?

I don’t want you to tell me just what you intend to do now
‘Cause how many times do I have to tell you darlin’, darlin’
I’m still in love with you now
Whoa oh oh oh

We’ve already said “so long”
I don’t want to see you go, oh you’d better
Go now, go now, go now (go now, ooh)

Don’t you even try?
Tellin’ me that you really don’t want it to end this way
‘Cause darlin’, darlin’, can’t you see I want you to stay, yeah

Since you gotta go, oh you’d better
Go now, go now, go now (go now, ooh)
Before you see me cry
I don’t want you to tell me just what you intend to do now
‘Cause how many times do I have to tell you darlin’, darlin’
I’m still in love, still in love with you now
Ooh ooh ooh
I don’t want to see you go but darlin’, you better go now

Writer/s: Larry Banks, Milton Bennett
Publisher: BMG Rights Management
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

27 thoughts on “♫ Go Now ♫”

  2. Pingback: ♫ Nights In White Satin ♫ (Redux) | Filosofa's Word

  3. Pingback: GO NOW. |jilldennison.com | Ramblings of an Occupy Liberal

  5. A real favourite from my youth, and I was a huge fan of the Mk.II version of the band. Interesting that Rawgod shared the Manfred Mann Dylan cover: here’s another version of that, from one of my all time favourite bands https://youtu.be/YWI29hIqIxY

    Vocals on that are by the late, extremely great Sandy Denny, and the picture on the album cover is her parents outside their home 😊

    Liked by 1 person

  6. Congratulations to Roger. This song hit No. 1 in Winnipeg in 1965. One year later a song with a similar title also hit No. 1 in Winnipeg. Written by Bob Dbylan, and performed by Mannfred Mann, may I present to you: If You Gotta Go, Go Now (Or Else Hyou Gotta Stay All Night)

    Liked by 1 person

  7. Thanks so much Jill. You got it! 😃One of my never-grow-old favourites.
    Sheila is very proud of them as they are a ‘Brummie’ (Birmingham) band- her hometown, while in deep south Wales I was liking all their subsequent records, even though none matched the same success until ‘Nights in White Satin’ and the Album ‘Days of Future Past’. Neither of us knowing their music would be instrumental in bringing us together.

    Liked by 1 person

Comments are closed.