Have I The Right?

Album: The Honeycombs (1964)
Charted: 1 5
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Songfacts®:

  • Joe Meek produced this track. He was in a group called The Tornadoes, whose "Telstar" hit #1 in 1962.
  • The Honeycombs were a London band with a female drummer (Honey Lantree) who worked in a hairdressing salon... hence the band's name. They were previously known as the Sherabos.
  • This was written by the London songwriting team of Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley. They also wrote songs for Lulu, Elvis Presley, The Herd (Peter Frampton's group), Petula Clark, Engelbert Humperdinck and many others. >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Bob - Knoxville, TN

Comments: 14

  • Tim from CoventryI think this 1964 song has a ska beat would you believe? suddenly two British guys, maybe having heard,'my Boy lollipop' by Millie,were thrown into it. I always recall the three-beat drumming.
  • Bengan from SwedenThe Swedish artist Dan Hylander says on his homepage:

    "Lived for a couple of days in a demolition house in the East End where I met a old man who claimed to have written "The Honeycombs" megahit "Have I the right". He had sold the rights to Joe Meek for £15. Still thought it was the best deal of his life"
  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyPer: http://www.oldiesmusic.com/news.htm {12-28-2018}
    Ann 'Honey' Lantree, drummer with the London-based Honeycombs (who got their name from her), died Sunday, December 23rd, 2018 at the age of 75...
    The group, which included her brother John on bass, recorded the #5 single “Have I The Right” with producer Joe Meek in 1964. It proved to be their only hit, though, as “I Can’t Stop” stalled the next year at #46...
    She proved to be an inspiration to countless other female drummers over the ensuing decades...
    May she R.I.P.
  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn October 21st 1964, the Honeycombs performed "Have I the Right?" on the ABC-TV program 'Shindig!'
    At the time the song was at #10 on Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart; and twenty-four days later on November 14th, 1964 it peaked at #5 {for 1 week} and spent 13 weeks on the Top 100...
    And on August 29th, 1964* it reached #1 {for 2 weeks} on the United Kingdom’s NME Singles chart...
    The British quintet had one other Top 100 record, "I Can't Stop", it stayed on the chart for 7 weeks, peaking at #48...
    * The day before on August 28th the band's female drummer, Honey Lantree, celebrated her 21st birthday {that was a very nice birthday gift!!!}.
  • Richard from Prestwich, United KingdomBig Mike - I remember hearing on a BBC Radio 4 documentary that the distinctive beat sound was made by Joe Meek hitting a bathtub with a broom and recording the sound in the room below. The bath would have been made of cast iron covered with enamel and certainly on listeing to the beat sound in the chorous you can hear a distinctive ringing sound, which if you have ever dropped something in such a bath you would recognise. On checking this Wikipedia there is a link to a tribute song by Jonthan King called 'He Stood In The Bath He Stamped On The Floor' and the song recounts Meek standing in the bath and stamping his feet.
  • Olli from London, United KingdomJoe Meek was never in the Tornadoes, The Honeycombs were originally called the Sheratons, Jimmy Page did NOT play on this song.
  • Wayne from Tamworth, AustraliaOn the Studio version, the guitarist is Jimmy Page. The group re-recorded this is German for that market.
  • Barry from Covington, KyThis has to be one of the greatest garage band songs ever. The beat and the overall rawness is as good as it gets. I'll never forget seein this performed on Hullaballoo (or one of those 60's shows) and just being blown away by a girl drummer beating the holy s--t out of the drums. The tinny guitar quality is also pretty fabulous. This song gets little play on oldies stations and is terribly underated.
  • Arcturus Music from London, United KingdomGreat Singer Dennis...
  • Bill from London, EnglandJOE MEEK was never a member of the Honeycombs. He composed, sound engineered and produced the song
    in his Legendary '304 Holloway Road Studios' This studio was not built IN, but INTO the building. Hence the infamouse 'dubbing' of the stamping feet of the whole band, on the old wooden staircase, onto the record.-Good Luck-Billy Pitt-Jones(Blue Rondos), London
  • Alan from Grande Prairie, Alberta, CanadaInterestingly this was not the first British band to stomp their feet all the way to a hit. The Dave Clark Five's stomping classic "Bits and Pieces" hit top five both sides of the pond in '64.
  • Teresa from Mechelen, BelgiumIf you want to hear good music, you have to go back to the sixties. This one is very top and has a great "beat". Sweet, sweet sixties, just love it.
  • Big Mike from Merrillville, InPlease get a hold of the CD "Have I The Right-The Very Best of The Honeycombs", on EMI. You won't ever, ever regret doing so!! Fantastic music all around!!!
  • Big Mike from Merrillville, InTrue fact: this song was recorded in a stairwell. The "beat" you hear in the background is the group stomping their feet in that stairwell!
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