Back in the 1980s, I was in a minibus driving up from London to Tony Smith et al's nighter in Droylsden. I've always wondered what one of the tunes on one of the tapes played on the way up was. It sounded very girl-group and part of the lyrics went:

" land of the brave...home of the free....why can't they let him be what he wants to be?"

If I interpreted it correctly, the song appeared to be a critique of high-school bullying, but I may be wrong.

Didn't particularly like the record, but I've never heard it before or since, have always been curious about what it was & can contain myself no longer ....

Please help! Maybe you were even on that bus & it was your tape? To jog your memory, the lovely Janet from Walsall was our excellent driver and Colin Brown was map-reading.

Edited September 2, 200618 yr by mrs norman maine

Was it Home of the brave by Bonnie and the treasures?

"It doesn't really sound that much like Ronnie Spector, does it? Rumors to the contrary apparently notwithstanding, Charlotte O'Hara (ne Matheny) sang lead on this Mark II version of Phil Spector's Wall of Sound, produced by Spector protg Jerry Riopelle and issued on a short-lived Philles subsidiary label. Behind Charlotte were Sherlie Matthews and Clydie King. The song, by Brill Building experts Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, is a Shangri-Las-y tale told by a teenage girl who can't understand why her boyfriend was suspended from school " for the length of his hair."

Edited September 2, 200618 yr by Craig W

Here you go

I keep getting an error so I'll try and put it in sound files

  pinkyperky said:

Here you go

HOTB was also cut, on Capitol, by Jody Miller. Jody's version also came out here on UK Capitol, 'Bonnie's version was US only....

TONE

  pinkyperky said:

Here you go

that's the one! Thankyou very much pinkyperky, finally put my mind at rest.

Thanks to Craig & Tony too. And Clydie King was on backing vocals...well I never.That explains why it's always stuck in my head: I love a bit of Clydie.

Now that I've listened to the lyrics properly, it's clear that the School Board, the PTA & "all of the mothers" joined in with the bullying too. For shame!