Les Reed-isms


The Last Waltz

Lyricist Barry Mason walked into a men’s toilet and standing next to him was a builder whistling “The Last Waltz”. Barry, very proud, turned to the man and said “I wrote that that song”. The builder looked at Barry and said “No you didn’t – Les Reed did”. Barry replied “Ah, but I wrote the lyric” The man looked him up and down and grunted “I’m not whistling the bloody lyric”!

Tom Jones

George went to the doctor. “I have a ringing in my ears which sounds like ‘Why? Why? Why? Delilah’,” he explained.
“Take these ear drops,” advised the doctor.
A week later George returned. “The ringing is still there, doctor, but now it sounds like ‘I’m Coming Home’,” he said.
“You must be suffering from Tom Jones syndrome,” concluded the doctor.
“Is that rare?” asked George.
“It’s Not Unusual,” the doctor replied.

I’ve Got My Eyes On You

When Les was recording an instrumental version of “I’ve Got My Eyes On You”, Stevie Wonder was in the studio and absolutely adored the melody. He asked Les to send him a tape of the song when it was finished, as he would really like to record it. It wasn’t until after Les had finished recording for the day that he realised – too late – the song was called “I’ve Got My Eyes On You”, and that the blind Stevie could never record a title such as this.