Be My Baby

Seventeen

May 21st, 1964

The boys and others continued to put a stamp across England. They were now in Croydon, a beautiful town with tall buildings and an exciting night life. As the tour became more and more popular, so did The Animals and the other bands. It was quite exciting to hear The Animals and Carl Perkins on the radio more and more often than other groups such as The Beatles.

May 21st also marked another Animal's birthday: Hilton's. The baby of the group pranced around, now knowing he was twenty one and not twenty. Eric's birthday was a week and a half before but when asked about his birthday, he kept a serious face and complained that he didn't enjoy it. It must be the Geordie in him.

Now since the recording of "The House of The Rising Sun" was done, everyone felt they could breathe. There was no more wondering if they were going to find a place to record it or if they even had time to. With recording in the back of their heads, the band used all of their energy on preforming for the crowd.

There was a good two or so hours before the show in Croydon to spare. As The Animals were in their room doing God knows what, I went for a walk around the back of the stadium with my camera in hand. On free time before shows, I tended to take photos of the stadiums or anything that caught my eye. Finding a poster that advertise some of the biggest names who ever preformed in Croydon, I snapped a photo of it. The flash nearly blinded me.

I continued my walk around the building, finding a few more random posters to snap photos of. In the distance, I heard a band practice. Walking towards the sound, I noticed that it was The Swinging Blue Jeans practicing their rendition of "The Hippy Hippy Shake".

Merseybeat music always stuck out to me than different genres from the 60's. The beat and drive was aggressive and the foot stomping and blues licks got the whole club thumping with excitement. I found it quite a shame that many never had any success in the United States and if they did, it was for a month before some Beatles or Beach Boys song kicked them out.

"Do you think the crowd likes us?" I heard their lead singer, Ralph asked the group. I can hear him strum his guitar as he talked.

"I think so, I mean, we don't get any boos on the stage." Replied their bassist Les.

I walked by their door when I heard Ralph call my name. I have made small talk with the band in between shows, but never really hung out. Eric thought they were quite obnoxious.

Popping my head, in I said hello. The other guitarist Ray placed his guitar down next to him. "How is it going for you guys?" Ray asked me.

"With the tour?" I asked.

"Yeah."

"Well," I began, "It certainly has been a whirlpool of events. One day we are in London then a blink later we are in Beatles territory! But over all, I guess The Animals are doing good. How about you guys?"

Norman, the Swinging Blue Jeans drummer answered. "We are doing good. We are thinking about recording a couple more tracks when we are done with this tour."

My eyes widened. "I'd love to listen to them!"

"We will certainly send you the first few copies then!" Les promised.

I still had my camera strap around my neck, having my camera dangle. "Hey, can we get our photo taken?" Ralph wondered as he noticed my camera.

Nodding my head, I took the camera up to my eyes. "I don't see why not." I had the band huddle close together as I snapped a couple of photos of them. "I bet these will turn out great!" I said.

"When will we see 'em?" Ralph asked.

I tried to think of when the next time I would be able to develop my photos. "I'm not entirely sure but we will all be on the road with each other for a while, so most likely before next week or so."