100 Great Songs From The British Invasion: ‘Go Now!’- The Moody Blues. The original version of The Moody Blues- who were formed in 1964 in Birmingham, England- is not the one most of us think of as The Moody Blues. They were an R&B based band led by Denny Laine- later of Paul McCartney & Wings fame. They had a hit in early 1965 with ‘Go Now!’- and after that – a dry spell no hits and Denny Laine left the band. Enter Justin Hayward- and there is The Moody Blues that we know. They then began writing their own material and entered their classic period. ‘Go Now!’ was a cover [I had always assumed it was a song they had written] It was written by Larry Banks and Milton Bennett and first recorded by Banks ex-wife Bessie Banks. The Moody Blues got a hold of it and it went to #1 in the UK and became their first hit in the US reaching #10 with Denny Laine of lead vocals. They didn’t have another hit until 1968 with ‘Tuesday Afternoon’- a much different sounding band. I had never heard ‘Go Now!’ until hearing it first on the Wings triple live album Wings Over America- when Denny Laine now a Paul McCartney sideman- did the song on that album. The Moody Blues would go on to have 21 Hot 100 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, 13 reaching the Top 40 and their biggest hit- ‘Nights In White Satin’ 1972 -#2. This will be the only song by The Moody Blues I cover in this feature-since it covers 1963-1966.

Single: ‘Go Now!’- The Moody Blues/ Written by Larry Banks and Milton Bennett/ Record Company- London/ Recorded 1964/ Time: 3:00/ Produced by Denny Cordell/ Released November 13, 1964/ Peaked at #10 in US Billboard Hot 100, #1 in UK Singles Chart.