ONE FINE DAY: HOW A NEARLY FORGOTTEN FREAKBEAT TUNE IMPROBABLY COMBINED SOME OF THE GREATEST BRITISH (AND AMERICAN) MUSICIANSHIP OF ITS ERA.

Written by a member of the Kinks and performed by half of Led Zeppelin, the little-known 1964 Freakbeat rocker “One Fine Day” does not disappoint. You may listen to it above, Dear Reader, via the good wonders of the internet. Play it loud and dance with abandon. The singer, Shel Naylor from Coventry, is really named Rob Woodward, a bloke who went on to do some unusual things with Stavely Makepeace and Lieutenant Pigeon. That he also played the ukulele and clarinet—in addition to piano and guitar—should’ve offered a clue as to his future eccentricity, but I get ahead of myself.

The Kink in question is guitarist Dave Davies, and the members of Led Zeppelin in question are Jimmy Page (guitar) and John Paul Jones (bass). Led Zeppelin wouldn’t materialize for a few more years, of course, but the Kinks would become an international sensation the very same year with “You Really Got Me” among other tunes. 1964 could’ve been worse, musically. David Bowie recorded his first single, “Liza Jane,” and Jimi Hendrix made his first recordings with the Isley Brothers. Also, a fellow named Rob Woodward cut two songs as Shel Naylor for Decca: “One Fine Day” b/w “It’s Gonna Happen Soon.” The drummer was thought to be the legendary Bobby Graham. Presumably, Messieurs Page, Jones, and Graham were the backing vocalists. Outside, it was London, everywhere you looked.

The Kinks might’ve recorded the song themselves, but instead, Davies gave it to Naylor, a teenager at the time. Noting the influence of The Ventures, an American group famous for its instrumental hit “Walk, Don’t Run,” Davies relied on a Ventures-like chord structure in banging out “One Fine Day” for Naylor on the piano; this, in the office of Davies’ manager. Apparently, the Kinks made a demo, but only so Naylor could understand the song. Given the benefit of—more than 50 years of—hindsight, I do believe that one can hear The Ventures, The Kinks, and Led Zeppelin in “One Fine Day.” (I also hear “Lonely Traveler” by Jimmy Lee Robinson, but that’s some archaeology for another post.)

As for the song’s narrative situation, we can tell that the singer’s “baby” ain’t around, at present. She will, however, come back home “whoa yeahhh one fine day,” according to Naylor. She seems to have instigated the separation. He still loves her, apparently. You can interrogate his value system, or not, Dear Reader, but knowing London weather, he might be waiting for a while. In the meantime (thankfully!) everyone contented himself to strenuously rock out, in the postmodern tradition. 

Shel Naylor, the music act, didn’t prosper, and Woodward abandoned the career of his alter ego in favor of vastly different projects: first, Stavely Makepeace, and later, Lieutenant Pigeon, which produced a 1973 chart-topping UK hit with “Mouldy Old Dough.” The Stavely Makepeace material is collected in a 2004 compilation album, The Scrap Iron Rhythm Revue, which features a few interesting songs, including “Slippery Rock ‘70s.” Critic Richie Unterberger describes the Lieutenant Pigeon sound as, in part, “…martial percussion, century-old sounding parlor music, and weird insertions of fifes, rickety pianos, and half-buried miscellaneous vocal growls.” In addition to “Mouldy Old Dough,” devotees of Lieutenant Pigeon cite “I’ll Take You Home Again Kathleen” and “Desperate Dan” as worthy listens. In every song that there’s a piano, it’s Woodward’s mother on the ebonies and ivories.

Thus, the chord progressions of a successful American instrumental band (The Ventures) were channeled by a member of an arriving British megaband (Dave Davies of The Kinks) to produce a song (“One Fine Day”) for an unknown Coventry teenager (Shel Naylor / Rob Woodward), who’d go on to produce hits as part of two eccentric British groups (Stavely Makepeace and Lieutenant Pigeon), but not before two future members of, arguably, the greatest hard rock / heavy metal band ever assembled (Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin) would back Naylor / Woodward—by “back” we mean “blarst forth!”—on his Decca A-side, “One Fine Day.” Whew. You get the idea. In short: “One Fine Day” rocks. Enjoy, enjoy, hoy hoy!!!

Sources of Information

One Fine Day at 45cat

One Fine Day at Discogs

Freakbeat article at Wikipedia

Interview with Dave Davies at Record Collector Mag

Shel Naylor blurb at Jimmy Page Session Man site

Bobby Graham article at Wikipedia

Stavely Makepeace page at Discogs

Stavely Makepeace page at Allmusic

The Scrap Iron Rhythm Revue article at Wikipedia

The Scrap Iron Rhythm Revue page at Allmusic

Lieutenant Pigeon page at Discogs

Mouldy Old Music page at Discogs

Lieutenant Pigeon page at Allmusic

Lieutenant Pigeon article at Wikipedia

Ventures page at Allmusic

Decca Biographical insert for “One Fine Day” (see photo, above)