SAVE YOUR LAST KISS FOR ME / BUTTERFLIES AND SONGBIRDS

Release Date: 19th July 1974

With no chart success for the band’s previous six singles – and some prime time TV appearances under their belts earlier in the year – EMI pulled out all the stops for this one.

It was The Fivepenny Piece’s first single to be issued on the label’s flagship EMI label; all previous singles had been released on EMI’s Columbia imprint. It was also the first (and only) EMI single by the group to be graced with a picture cover - albeit a monochrome one – showing a portrait of the group.

Save Your Last Kiss For Me was written by the established British songwriting team of Roger Greenaway and Tony Macaulay. Between them they had notched up several chart hits for other artists in the 1960s and 1970s including Gene Pitney, The Fortunes, The Fifth Dimension, Long John Baldry, The Foundations, The Hollies, and The New Seekers. Roger had also tasted chart success in his own right as half of the duo David & Jonathan, partnered by Bristolian songwriter Roger Cook.

It seems likely that EMI were pushing for chart success with this record, which is unashamedly a pop song. And it stands up well against similar records which did hit the singles charts at the time. However, the curse of The Fivepenny Piece’s single struck again, and it never made the charts in spite of this label support.

The B-side of the single, Butterflies And Songbirds, was written by John Meeks and Colin Radcliffe, and this is also a much more commerical ‘pop’ sounding song than most Fivepenny Piece material. This song was to reappear in a re-recorded version on the 1977 Telling Tales album. Both sides of the record were produced by Bob Barratt with accompaniment arranged and conducted by Harry Robinson.

A minor point to note is that on the single sleeve, the group is billed as The Fivepenny Piece, whereas on the record label itself, it is simply Fivepenny Piece (highlighting the confusion about the group’s proper name). Not only that, but the title of the A-side is given incorrectly on the sleeve as “Save The Last Kiss For Me” – which is a bit sloppy, and suggests that the sleeve was a last-minute rushed addition to the release.

Side 1

1. Save Your Last Kiss For Me (Roger Greenaway – Tony Macaulay)

Side 2

1. Butterflies And Songbirds (John Meeks – Colin Radcliffe)