First cut is the deepest
From The Indy archive: Robert Webb explains how Aussie blues-rock combo Python Lee Jackson unwittingly penned a hit with ‘In a Broken Dream’ for then unknown Rod Stewart
As Rod Stewart strode up the charts with “You Wear It Well” at the end of 1972, another single featuring his now-familiar rasp hit the record stores. “In a Broken Dream” had languished for four years, waiting for Stewart to become famous. In October 1968, Python Lee Jackson, an Australian blues-rock combo relocated to the UK and championed by the DJ John Peel, were booked into CBS Studios.
Under pressure, David Bentley, the keyboard player, hastily composed a sluggish, descending blues number not unlike The Beatles’ “Cry Baby Cry”, around Mick Liber’s blistering guitar. But he was unhappy about singing it: “My style was too gentle and intimate, so I said I didn’t want to do the vocal.” When Bentley arrived at the studio, a spiky haired singer was already there. At Peel’s suggestion, Stewart had been called
in to provide a guide vocal.
“He said, ‘Come down and show this guy how to sing the tune,’ ” says Stewart. “So, being naive, I went and showed him how to sing it.” With the beer flowing, the song was done in two takes and Stewart had cut one of his personal bests. No one could better Stewart’s vocal track but Peel was reluctant to release something by a session singer, so sold the tapes to Mild Dallon, who issued the song on his Youngblood label in 1970.
As few people knew who Rod Stewart was, let alone Python Lee Jackson, it flopped. Once Stewart was a star, Dallon reissued the single and it peaked at No 3, much to Stewart’s chagrin: “All I got paid was a set of carpets for my car.” Bentley and Stewart never met again, but one night, years later, as Bentley was tickling the ivories in a swish Brisbane restaurant, he saw Stewart among the diners. The piano-player kept his head down.