The Great Lost Kinks Single ?

Nobody’s Fool by Cold Turkey (Pye 7N45142, 1972)

This article appeared in Record Collector magazine No.522 (September 2021)

During the early Seventies pop singer Adam Faith re-emerged as an actor, playing the lead in ITV’s Budgie. The theme tune for the second series was Nobody’s Fool, written by Raymond Douglas Davies and produced by Jimmy Horowitz. Pye released Nobody’s Fool as a single, credited to Cold Turkey. The B side was the theme to another TV series Sesame Street, performed by The Street Kids and devoid of any Kinks Konnection.

Kinks fans have speculated that Cold Turkey were actually the Kinks under another name. The vocals and guitar parts are very Kinky, plus the introduction to the song is cribbed from Animal Farm (Village Green) and the Kinks were also on Pye. However talking to the Swedish Rock’n’Roll magazine in 2014 Ray Davies denied any involvement. “It’s not us. But this group Cold Turkey tried to sound like the Kinks so I can understand the suspicion. Their recording of Nobody’s Fool was released by Pye, a record company we were happy to finally have been released from, and I definitely didn’t want anything to do with it.”

The session took place at IBC on 21^st February 1972. Producer Jimmy Horowitz can’t remember who was in Cold Turkey but has speculated the session included Andy Bown (bass), Barry De Sousa (drums), Bob Cohen (guitar) and Chris Spedding (guitar) with Horowitz himself playing the piano. Pye were more interested in having Sesame Street as the A side, and only flipped the tracks when Nobody’s Fool turned out so well.

Georgia Mckinley from the Kinks Facebook group has suggested the singer was Roger Moon from the group Storyteller. Subsequent to Cold Turkey Roger would record a solo LP Nobody Knows My Name (Capitol 1974), backed by Frampton’s Camel. Sadly he died earlier this year.

With thanks to Doug An earlier version of Nobody’s Fool was recorded by Mike Vickers, Manfred Mann multi-instrumentalist and soundtrack composer. Recorded at Intersound Studio, Wembley in July 1971 Vickers’ recording sounds more like Ray Davies’ original piano and vocal demo. The latter is available on the expanded 2CD re-release of Muswell Hillbillies. Other versions are by Glenda Collins and a duet sung by Paul Weller and Suggs for BBC Radio 4, both from 2019.

Cold Turkey’s take on Nobody’s Fool has been compiled repeatedly. It was included on the 1999 Castle / Sequel 2CD set The Persuaders! & Other Top Seventies TV Themes. To find Nobody’s Fool in more sympathetic company head for Kinked! Kinks Songs And Sessions 1964-1971, a comprehensive CD put together for Ace in by Alec Palao in 2016 which also includes other Davies compositions never released officially by the Kinks including This Strange Effect and I Go To Sleep. The last time the Nobody’s Fool single sold on eBay it went for £81 so a CD version might be more cost effective. The Kinks never recorded the song themselves, but Cold Turkey’s version can easily be found on YouTube.

With thanks to Doug Hinman, Jay Rathbone, Dave Emlen, Pedro Mercedes and Russell Smith