Lady Godiva

Album: Original Hits (1966)
Charted: 16 6
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  • Seventeen, a beauty queen
    She made a ride that caused a scene
    In the town
    Her long blonde hair
    Hangin' down around her knees
    All the cats who dig striptease
    Prayin' for a little breeze

    Her long blonde hair
    Falling down across her arms
    Hiding all the lady's charms
    Lady Godiva

    She found fame and made her name
    A Hollywood director came into town
    And said to her
    "How'd you like to be a star?"
    "You're a girl that could go far"
    "Specially dressed the way you are"

    She smiled at him
    Gave her pretty head a shake
    That was Lady G's mistake
    A-hey-hey-hey
    Lady Godiva

    He directs certificate 'X'
    And people now are craning their necks to see her
    'Cause she's a star
    One that everybody knows
    Finished with the striptease shows
    Now she can't afford her clothes
    Her long blonde hair
    Lyin' on the barber's floor
    Doesn't need it long anymore
    Lady Godiva Writer/s: Chas Mills, Michael Farr
    Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 15

  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn November 17, 1966, Peter & Gordon perform "Lady Godiva"on the Dick Clark produced ABC-TV weekday-afternoon program 'Where The Action Is'...
    At the time the song was at #11 on Billboard's Top 100 chart, three weeks later it would peak at #6 {for 1 week} and it spent fourteen weeks on the Top 100...
    As noted above, it reached #16 on the United Kingdom's Singles chart...
    Between 1964 and 1967 the British duo had fourteen records on the Top 100 chart, three made the Top 10 with one reaching #1, "A World Without Love", for 1 week on June 21st, 1964...
    Besides "A World Without Love" and "Lady Godiva", their other Top 10 record was "I Go To Pieces" {#9 in 1965}...
    Gordon Trueman Riviere Waller passed away at the age of 64 on July 17th, 2009...
    May he R.I.P.
    And from the 'For What It's Worth' department, there was one other 'Lady' record that made the Top 100 in 1966, "Lady Jane" by the Rolling Stones, it peaked at #24 {for 1 week} on August 7th.
  • Steve from Whittier, CaMy all time favorite Peter and Gordon song along with the similar "Knight in Rusty Armor."
  • James from Yucaipa, CaGreat 1966 hit song.
  • Chomper from Franjkin County, Pa(continuing from Wikipedia): (The Legend): According to the popular story , Lady Godiva took pity on the people of Coventry, who were suffering grieviously under her husband's oppressive taxation. ..Lady Godiva appealed again and again to her husband, who obstinately refused to remit the tolls. ..At last, weary of her entreaties, he said he would grant her request if she would strip naked and ride through the streets of the town. ..Lady Godiva took him at his words and, after issuing a proclamation that all persons should keep within doors and shut their windows, she rode through the town, clothed only in her long hair. ..Only one person in the town, a tailor ever afterwards known as Peeping Tom, disobeyed her proclamation in one of of the most famous instances of voyeurism. ..In the story, Tom bores a hole in his shutters so that he might see Godiva pass, and is struck blind. ..In the end, Godiva's husband keeps his word and abolished the onerous taxes. ...The oldest form of the legend has Godiva passing through Coventry market from one end to the other while the people were assembled, attended only by two knights. ..This version is given in Flores Historiarum by Roger of Wendover (died 1236), a somewhat gullible collector of anecdotes, who quoted from an earlier writer. ..The later story, with its episode of "Peeping Tom", appeared first among 17th century chroniclers. ...At the time, it was customary for penitents to make a public procession in only their shift, a sleeveless white garment similar to a slip today and one which was certainly considered "underwear". ..Thus, some scholars speculate, Godiva may have actually travelled through town as a penitent, in her shift. ..Godiva's story may have passed into folk history to be recorded in a romanticised version. ..Another theory has it that Lady Godiva's "nakedness" may refer to her riding through the streets stripped of her jewellery, the trademark of her upper class rank. .. However, both these attempts to reconcile known facts with legend are weak; there is no known use of the word "naked" in the era of the earliest accounts to mean anything other than "without any clothing whatsoever".
  • Chomper from Franjkin County, Pa(from Wikipedia): Godiva (Old English : Godgifu ,"god gift"), often referred to as Lady Godiva (fl. 1040 - 1080), was an Anglo - Saxon noblewoman who, according to legend, rode naked through the streets of Coventry, in England,in order to regain a remission of the oppressive taxation imposed by her husband on his tenants. ...The name ,"Peeping Tom" for a voyeur originates from later versions of this legend in which a man named Tom had watched her ride and was struck blind or dead. ...Lady Godiva was the wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia. ..Her name occured in charters and the Doomsday survey, though the spelling varies. ..the Old English name Godgifu or Godgyfu meant "gift of God"; Godiva was the Latinised version. ..Since the name was a popular one, there are contemporaries of the same name. ...If she was the same Godgifu who appears in the chronicles of Ely , Liber Eliensis (end of 12th century), then she was a widow when Leofric married her. ..Both Leofric and Godiva were benefactors to religious houses. ..In 1043 Leofric founded and endowed a Benedictine monastery at Coventry. ..Written in the 12th century, Roger of Wendover credits Godiva as the persuasive force behind this act. ..In the 1050s, her name is coupled with that of her husband on a grant of land to the monastery of St. Mary, Worcester and the endowment of the minister at Stow St. Mary, Lincolnshire. ..She and her husband are commemorated as benefactors of other monasteries at Leominster, Chester, Much Wenlock and Evesham. ...The manor of Woolhope in Herefordshire, along with three others, was given to the cathedral at Hereford before the Norman Conquest by the benefactresses Wulviva and Godiva - usually held to be this Godiva and her sister. ..The church there has a 20th century stained glass window representing them. ...Her mark , "di Ego Godiva Comittsa diu istud desideravi", appears on a charter purportedly given by Theorold of Bucknall to the Benedictine monastery of Spalding. ..However, this chater is considered spurious by many historians. ..Even so it is possible that Thorold, who appears in the Doomsday Book as sheriff of Lincolnshire, was her brother. ...After Leofric's death in 1057, his widow lived on until sometime between the Norman Conquest of 1066 and 1086. ..She is mentioned in the Doomsday survey as one of the few Anglo - Saxons and the only woman to remain a major landholder shortly after the conquest. ..By the time of this great survey in 1086, Godiva had died, but her former lands are listed, although now held by others. ..Thus, Godiva apparently died between 1066 and 1086. ...The place where Godiva was buried has been a matter of debate. ..According to the Evesham Chronicle, she was buried at the church of the Blassed Trinity at Evesham, which is no longer standing. ..But, according to the authoritative account in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, "There is no reason to doubt that she was buried with her husband at Coventry, despite the assertion of the Evesham chronicle that she lay in Holy Trinity, Evesham. ...Dugdale ( 1656 )says that a window with repesentations of Leofric and Godiva was placed in Trinity Chruch, Coventry, about the time of Richard II.
  • Chera from Dfw, TxLady Godiva is my great Aunt direct bloodline. It is written as possible truth that she did actually ride through town in order to get Earl Leofric my uncle to ease up on the taxes so peasants could afford fine arts and other entertainments. This is song could maybe possibly be funny if it didn't make fun of my family history.
  • Steve from Marquette, MiOk, I guess I have to reveal the family mythology at this point. Accoring to family history, Lady Godiva did not actually strip. The family story is that Godiva, heiress and daughter of the Earl of Lincoln, married this dude named Leofric the Kingmaker. For some unknown reason, Godiva "stripped" herself of her jewels to enrich the church abbey at Coventry where both she and Leofric are buried. Noble Godiva's fame rests not on her good works but on a "ride" which "researchers have found no proof that it ever took place." [I'm quoting from a family record.]"The legend may have originated in the charitable "denuding" of herself for religious purposes." Personally, I rather prefer the story of the side-saddle ride through Coventry where the guys yelled, "Hurray for our side!"
  • Paul from Cincinnati, OhThere's also an even seedier song by the Velvet Underground called Lady Godiva's Operation, at least based on what I've heard about it...I don't know if they're really related though...any responses?
  • Reg from Kemptville, OnWhile waisting time on the internet I discovered that a portion of this song was sung by BARBARA FELDON on the Smother's Brothers show. (What a hoot!)
    Reg, Kemptville, ON, CA
  • Lynn from The Village, OkLady Godiva supposedly rode side saddle through the streets of Coventry. This gave rise to a popular cry when the men lined up on one side of the street cried out "hurray for our side!"
    Nyuck, Nyuck, Nyuck.
  • Steve from Janesville, WiI first heard this song on WLS Chicago when it came out in '66. I was 10. I was bewitched. I BEGGED my mom to buy it for me. She did... the next day... at a Piggly Wiggly store. Some grocery & drug stores sold 45's back then, always stocking the current "Top Ten". I wore it out. I thought, from this record, that Peter & Gordon were near as cool as God (The Beatles). Turns out Peter is Peter Asher, and Paul was steady with sister Jane Asher, and living in the Ashers' attic when this song was written. All the Beatles had that kind of voodoo back then. Everything they touched...
  • Tommy from Coventry, Englandthis song is refering to lady godiva, a historical character in coventry uk, she " made a ride, that caused a scene" in the 11th century through the city of coventry, naked and on horseback "her long blonde hair" covering her modesty. This song however is implying that godiva, is involved in burlesque or pornongraphy. Which is why the mayor of coventry probably banned it as Lady Godiva is a saint and patron saint of engineers (see Godiva's Hymn).
  • Howard from St. Louis Park, MnThis was a bizarre song that sounded like it was recorded in the 30s or 40s. I liked the piano solo at the end that had a ragtime-like beat. To the mayor of Coventry, England. I never found anything obscene.
  • Frank from Westminster, ScGood song, but I gotta admit I have no idea who or what it's about. Is it someone in particular or a total fantasy?
  • Dave from Oak Park, MiHe directs "Certificate X, and all the guys are craning their necks..."

    I "crane my neck" when "checking someone out", too!
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