F.B.I. (instrumental)

"F.B.I."
Single by The Shadows
A-side	F.B.I.
B-side	Midnight (Marvin, Welch)
Released	February 1961
Format	45rpm 7" single
Genre	Instrumental Rock
Label	Columbia 45-DB 4580
Writer(s)	Hank Marvin, Bruce Welch, Jet Harris
The Shadows singles chronology
"Man of Mystery/The Stranger" "F.B.I." "The Frightened City"

"F.B.I." is an instrumental rock tune recorded by the British group The Shadows, written by Hank Marvin, Bruce Welch and Jet Harris. Due to complicated publishing contracts, F.B.I. was credited to their manager Peter Gormley, who was also acting as Cliff Richard's manager.^[1] The actual composers' names never appeared on the credits. It was released by EMI as a single in February 1961 on the Columbia label with "Midnight" (Marvin, Welch) as the B-side. It spent 19 weeks in the UK Singles Chart reaching No. 6 on two separate occasions in mid-February and mid-March 1961.

It was released in the United States in July 1961 on Atlantic Records with "The Frightened City" (Norrie Paramor) as the B-side.

Personnel

• Hank Marvin – lead guitar
• Bruce Welch – rhythm guitar
• Jet Harris – bass guitar
• Tony Meehan –Drums and percussion

Covers

• A cover version of F.B.I. with "Wheels" as the B-side (Cat. 45-WB 436) was released in 1963 on the UK Embassy Records budget record label - sold exclusively in Woolworths stores. It was credited to "Bud Ashton" (a generic pseudonym used to represent whatever session musician had actually made the recording).
• Queen guitarist Brian May covered "F.B.I." on the 1996 tribute album Twang! - A Tribute to Hank Marvin & The Shadows, and it later appeared as the b-side of his 1998 single "Why Don't We Try Again".
• Experimental rock group Massacre recorded a cover of "F.B.I." in 1981, which was released on their 2005 reissue of Killing Time.
• Ian Hunter and his band, featuring the guitarist Mick Ronson, covered "F.B.I." on the double live disc Welcome to the Club.
• The solo in Australian alternative rock group TISM's 1995 single "Greg! The Stop Sign!!" is a variation on the intro riff.
• Jethro Tull's "From a Deadbeat To an Old Greaser," a cut from the album Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young to Die!, contained the line "When bombs were banned every Sunday and the Shadows did F.B.I."

References

1. Bruce Welch; Howard Elson (1989). A Life in the Shadows. London: Viking Publishers. pp. 123–124. ISBN 0-670-82705-3.

External links

• Chartstats entry