In the early 1980s, my dorm neighbor was a Greek named Alexandros. Because it was the early 1980s, Alexandros brought a vinyl record with him from Greece; the soundtrack for the film "Lemon Popsicle." (Years later, I discovered that "Lemon Popsicle" was not a Greek film, but an Israeli film.) Because the film was set in the 1950s, the soundtrack consisted of a number of pre-Beatlemania hits, including the aforementioned Shadows song "F.B.I."
Obviously the Shadows had legs and knew how to use them.
But more important than their choreography was their sound. Lead guitarist Hank Marvin in particular is noted as an influential figure in British music - he reputedly introduced the Fender Stratocaster to England - and other English musicians recognized their importance, if we Americans didn't. When Paul McCartney released his video for "Coming Up," I had no idea that the guy in the glasses was NOT supposed to be Buddy Holly.
Anyway, let's go back to the college dorm environment, when you're thrown together with a bunch of people and your Greek neighbor was playing his album ALL THE TIME. Eventually I wrote lyrics to the instrumental:
I am in the F.B.I.
Five o'clock, I'm gonna die.
Gonna get shot down by a Greek from out of town
And the flag of Thessaloniki will fly over the flag of F.B.I.
(Gonna die)
So that's how an instrumental got lyrics. But I'm not gonna try to write lyrics for "Hocus Pocus."
POSTSCRIPT: Some versions of the "Lemon Popsicle" soundtrack are mislabeled. I know that Alexandros' version had an inaccuracy, which can also be found in the Japanese version of the soundtrack.
Check track A10. Yes, the Big Bopper (who died with the guy who looked like Hank Marvin) did sing "Chantilly Lace" - after all, he wrote it. But the version on the soundtrack album includes the singer saying "you know what Jerry Lee likes." I don't know if Jerry Lee Lewis is on all versions of the soundtrack and the soundtrack people goofed, or if he is on some versions and the Big Bopper is on others.
