"The Savage" is an instrumental track by British group

the Shadows The Shadows (originally known as the Drifters) were an English instrumental rock group, who dominated the British popular music charts in the late 1950s and early 1960s, in the pre- Beatles era. They served as the backing band for Cliff Richard ...

, released as a single in November 1961. It peaked at number 10 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

Background and release

"The Savage" was released as a "double-sided hit" with "Peace Pipe". Both songs were written and produced by

Norrie Paramor Norman William Paramor (15 May 1914 – 9 September 1979), known professionally as Norrie Paramor, was a British record producer, composer, arranger, pianist, bandleader, and orchestral conductor. He is best known for his work with Cliff R ...

and the single was released to promote the film '' The Young Ones'', which starred

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is an Indian-born British musican, singer, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist who holds both British and Barbadian citizenship. He has total sales of over 21.5 million s ...

. Reviewing for '' Disc'',

Don Nicholl Donald Nicholl (August 9, 1925 – July 5, 1980) was an English-American screenwriter and producer. His production company Nicholl Ross West (with Mickey Ross and Bernie West) wrote for the situation comedies ''All in the Family'', ''The Jeffe ...

described "The Savage" as "a quite, twangy offering with quick, turbulent pace to it". He described "Peace Pipe" as "a more mellow melody. Flows along smoothly and is neatly played by the group". The Shadows'

Hank Marvin Hank Brian Marvin (born Brian Robson Rankin, 28 October 1941) is an English multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and songwriter. He is widely known as the lead guitarist for The Shadows, a group which primarily performed instrumentals and was the ba ...

said that "The Savage" "is undoubtedly a mediocre record and should never have been released as a single", as "it hasn't a strong enough melody for a single release. It is a run-of-the-mill number with little to recommend it". The group learned of the planned release of the single whilst they were on tour in Australia. They tried to stop it being released, but the record company said they had already pressed 100,000 copies and that it was too late.

Track listings

7": Columbia / DB 4726 # "The Savage" – 2:22 # "Peace Pipe" – 2:11

Personnel

– electric lead guitar *

Bruce Welch Bruce Welch (born 2 November 1941 as Bruce Cripps) is an English guitarist, songwriter, producer, singer and businessman best known as a founding member of the Shadows. Biography Welch's parents (Stan Cripps and Grace Welch) moved him to 15 B ...

– acoustic rhythm guitar *

Jet Harris Jet, Jets, or The Jet(s) may refer to: Aerospace * Jet aircraft, an aircraft propelled by jet engines ** Jet airliner ** Jet engine ** Jet fuel * Jet Airways, an Indian airline * Wind Jet (ICAO: JET), an Italian airline * Journey to Enceladus ...

– electric bass guitar *

Tony Meehan Daniel Joseph Anthony Meehan (2 March 1943 – 28 November 2005), professionally known as Tony Meehan, was a founder member of the British group the Drifters, with Jet Harris, Hank Marvin and Bruce Welch, which would evolve into the Shadows. ...

– drums

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Savage (song), The 1961 singles Rock instrumentals 1961 songs Song recordings produced by Norrie Paramor Columbia Graphophone Company singles The Shadows songs 1960s instrumentals