Don Partridge – ‘Blue Eyes’

13 July 1968

Okay, I get the whole ’60s Dylan-acoustic-folk scene. And despite his ’50s teddy-boy look, English folkie Don Partridge on the sleeve of ‘Blue Eyes’ (above) cuts a suave figure. But this is rubbish.

‘King of the Buskers’ – that was Don, and you can also see on the cover that he’s got one of those one-man-band bass-drum rig-ups along with the de rigueur harmonica brace. What stays with me from this experience, though, is something that’s either a kazoo or a comb covered in tissue, which he plays at the start of this whimsical music-hall ditty. Like salt on a slug, ‘Blue Eyes’ shrivels up my patience.

Peaking at number three on the Irish charts behind ‘Blue Eyes’ in July 1968 was ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash’, the start of the Stones’ masterpiece era and a UK number one. Yet here in Ireland we preferred this simpering, retrograde lucky-bag-toy of a record. It’s a gas, gas, gas.