F.B.I. (instrumental)

"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.

Charts

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

External links

• Chartstats entry