The Searchers emerged as part of the 1960s Merseybeat scene along with the Beatles, the Hollies, the Fourmost, the Merseybeats, the Swinging Blue Jeans, and Gerry and the Pacemakers. Founded as a skiffle group in Liverpool in 1959 by John McNally and Mike Pender, the band took their name from the classic 1956 John Ford western The Searchers. With Tony Jackson (with his home-made bass guitar and amplifier) recruited as a lead singer, but took a back seat at first in order to learn the bass. Norman McGarry played drums, and these four are usually cited as the original foursome.
Over the years, this band name was used by many members who came and went while being mostly recognised in the UK with hits such as Needles and Pins, What Have They Done To The Rain, and Sugar and Spice.
The song (written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller) describes a man seeking help to find love, so he talks to a Gypsy who determines, by means of palmistry, that he needs “love potion number 9”. The potion, an aphrodisiac, causes him to fall in love with everything he sees, kissing whatever is in front of him, eventually kissing a policeman on the street-corner, who breaks his bottle of love potion.
Love Potion No. 9 was originally recorded by an American rhythm and blues/doo-wop vocal group, The Clovers, who became one of the biggest selling acts of the 1950s. In one recorded version of the ending of the song, The Clovers used the alternative lyrics:
“I had so much fun that I’m going back again,
I wonder what’ll happen with Love Potion Number Ten?”
The “kissing a cop” lyric led to the song being banned by some radio stations. The lyrics also have the narrator describe himself as being “a flop with chicks since 1956”; later recordings of the song have often changed the year to suit the year of recording or the age of the performer.
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