Some years back I started researching an article that I was going to submit to the MGB Driver - the publication of the North American MGB Register - about two songs I had heard about MGB GTs.One was by Peter Tork, the former Monkees band member who played a slow-witted character on the 1960s TV show of the same name. His song MGB-GT (surprise, surprise) is an upbeat little ditty that recalls the fun and escape provided by his "little red MG". The song can be found on his 1994 album Stranger Things Have Happened.
I contacted Peter through his music publishing company and exchanged emails. It turns out that in his Monkees days, he did own a red MGB GT (probably a '67 or '68 model) that he bought with one of his first TV paychecks. You can hear part of his song here.
The other song was by Richard Thompson, an English rock guitarist and singer with sort of a brooding sound. You may be familiar with his work with the group Fairport Convention in the late 1960s.
His version is about restoring an MGB GT, taking pains to point out that he "took the Rostyles off and put spoked wheels on", and mentions the Lockheed discs and twin SUs. Altogether a little more technical. Here's a link to Amazon's page where you can hear a short clip.
Peter Tork owned a 1967 MGB GT. He sold it sometime around 1978.
ReplyDeleteHere is a quote from a 1980 interview with Tork:
Tork must know whereof he speaks, having gone from uncounted riches down to zero. “I went dead broke for a while,” he said. “I still have my guitar. I sold my car, a 1967 MG, a couple of years ago. It was starting to rot away in storage.”