"What Do You Want?" (Les Vandyke)
Lionel Bart: "Adam had an incredible voice. He could make it as a singer and his voice was very distinctive, especially the way he said "bay-beh.' Everybody else thought they could sing as well as he could, and that's why he made it. John Barry made a huge contribution to his records and, of course, Adam's main influence was Buddy Holly." (Leigh 1996: 96)
Adam Faith: "I didn't think I was influenced by Buddy Holly and, to be honest, my biggest influence was a British singer called Roy Young. Roy and I were going to Oxford before I recorded 'What Do You Want'and we were talking about our sessions. I sang 'What Do You Want' to him and he didn't like the way I sang it. He coached me all the way to Oxford and by the time we got there, 'baby' had turned into 'bay-beh.' John Barry decided that there should be strings on the record and at the time the only pop ricord with strings on it was 'It Doesn't Matter Anymore,' but Buddy Holly's pizzicato strings were much more aggressive. Johnny Worth, John Barry, and myself were such a team that when I got my silver disc for 'What Do You Want,' I seriously thought about plitting it in three." (Leigh 1996: 96)
Johnny Worth/Les Vandyke: "Adam had a face that could launch a million records, an amazing face, a most endearing face, and something within me said, 'This kid is going to be a star. It doesn't matter that he doesn't sing very well.' He had a wonderful face and I said to him, 'If you smile on television, the hearts of young girls, mothers, and grandmothers are going to melt. Stewart Morris liked to present him with a stern, rocker, motorbike image on 'Drumbeat!' and I told Adamt to smile at the camera, gently, and the world would light up when he did. In those days you couldn't edit a television show and Stewart Morris was furious when he was stuck with a smiling Adam Faith singing 'Love Is Strange.' He tore him off a colossal strip and told him not to do it again, but I knew he was wrong. When Adam did 'What Do You Want' ofn 'Cool for Cats,' he sat on a stool, smiled that wistful smile, and went zonk! into the hearets of millions. (Leigh 1996: 96)
Les Reed: "When Johnny Worth first wrote "What Do You Want," he asked me to play it over to Johnny Kidd and the Pirates, who were a big act in those days.  I played it with a a rock type rhythm, but Johnny [Worth] hated the song.  So, when we played it to John Barry for Adam Faith, I changed the whole treatment of the song into a Buddy Holly, string-type treatment, and John Barry used this treatment for his arrangement." (Interview 1 May 2001)
Geoff Stephens: [Johnny Worth was] brilliant. He wrote great pop songs! That man was Britain's first real pop song writer to challenge the Americans. Johnny Worth was strictly pop, but very, very on the mark." (Thompson 2008: 174)

23 October, 2015