For a while there, it probably seemed to US audiences like The Dave Clark Five were in a toe-to-toe struggle with The Beatles in the early 60s for British Invasion supremacy. The DC5 managed to match the Fab Four pretty closely in terms of American hit singles. At least for the first few years of their heyday.
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“Catch Us If You Can” earned the band another hit in 1965. It heightened the comparison to The Beatles by serving as the theme song to The Dave Clark Five’s very own motion picture project. As it turned out, the song would have a much longer cultural shelf life than the film.
Top of the Tottenham
There was a Liverpool sound led by The Beatles. Likewise, The Dave Clark Five helped to spearhead the Tottenham sound. Whereas those Liverpudlians were distinguished by churning guitars, Clark and company offered a more percussive breed of music.
Maybe that’s because Clark was the group’s drummer, only stepping out occasionally to sing. (Those duties were generally handled in The Dave Clark Five by Mike Smith.) Clark might not have been the most technically skilled drummer, but his pounding style certainly grabbed your attention.
Interestingly enough, The Dave Clark Five saw their success tail off a bit in their native country after their first burst. However, they remained a juggernaut in the United States for several years. “Catch Us If You Can”, released in 1965, broke that trend by going to the Top 5 on both sides of the Atlantic.
Here’s the “Catch”
“Catch Us If You Can” was written by Clark and guitarist Lenny Davidson. It was earmarked as the title song for a movie starring the members of the band. (At least in the UK, that is. In the US, it was retitled Having A Wild Weekend.) You might think that the band was trying to follow up The Beatles’ success with A Hard Day’s Night with the move to film.
Perhaps they were. But the film was a bit of a strange duck. Although the band members were in the film, they didn’t really play themselves as rock stars. Their music (including “Catch Us If You Can”) was featured prominently, but they’re never seen performing it in the film.
Featuring a hushed opening with finger snaps for percussion, “Catch Us If You Can” by The Dave Clark Five quickly turns into a shaggy rocker. A few years later, the theme song for The Monkees’ television series would pay homage to the song by mimicking its structure.
What is “Catch Us If You Can” by The Dave Clark Five About?
There isn’t too much to the lyrics to “Catch Us If You Can”. And yet, it serves as a kind of youth anthem anyway. The title refrain seems to be daring the older generation to keep up with the momentum of these youngsters.
When Smith bellows “We will yell with all of our might,” it seems like a statement of purpose, saying that there’s no point in anyone trying to step in and keep them quiet. “When we were gettin’ angry,” he admits, hinting at the turmoil behind this restless forward motion.
The Dave Clark Five started to run out of steam in the second half of the 60s. That is, in part, because their relentlessly youthful pop approach began to seem slight next to heavier moves by their British Invasion peers, including The Beatles. But for a significant stretch, they dared the world to “Catch Us If You Can”. It was a telling line, because few of their peers could keep up with the success they enjoyed.
Photo by Dezo Hoffman/Shutterstock
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