Welcome back. And tonight we're going to the
seaside. Yep, we're going to Blackpool.
You know, there are places that become fashionable and there are
places that become parts of people's lives and Blackpool was
one of those places. For generations of working class
families across the north of England, Blackpool wasn't simply
a holiday destination, it was a yearly pilgrimage.
You saved all year to go there. My friends think I'm crazy,
truly loving you, and maybe they're right.
After all these civil things you do what they don't know.
Even though my heart is dying, I'm so mad about you, I can even
think you're lying. They shake their heads in pity
and confusion, wondering why I keep myself locked up and.
But they'll never know I love you know they can't understand
you know they'll never know I. Need you.
But they're part about it. Neither will I when I'm walking
down the street with you. I've I feel so proud.
My eyes are laughing, My very heart wants to shout.
The same thing always happens. You'll see some guy, you'll
smile at you, and you'll wink. Your eyes I.
Say my head and pretend I don't see Yeah, I got back my friends
off signing these go to me. But they'll never know I love
you. No, they can't understand it.
No, they'll never know. I I don't need you.
But the third part about it that neither will I.
They couldn't understand. Then they could tell me.
Because I'm in the dark. My eyes cannot see that I'm just
placing something for your leisure.
But Heather knows I've cried. I'll try to try to please.
They will come from the table. They're going to know me, baby.
You'll know you made a mistake. Then they'll never know I know
you do. They can't understand it.
Mum's packed sandwiches the size of paving slabs and dad's
carriage suitcases that look like they survive military
service, and children stared out of train windows waiting for the
first glimpse of the tower rising above the skyline.
Like Britain's answer to Paris, my own first memories of
Blackpool came in the early 1960s.
Do do do do do do do a fool of my to make you cry when you're
the only one alone. No other love whatever make you
feel the way you do. I don't know why I make you
move. I hurt you back.
I make you sake, you sake, and all you do is love you more,
Bill. They don't deserve a lovely
guilt to. Me.
You do. What's wrong with me, baby?
What is wrong with me, baby? What is wrong with you?
I belong. What's wrong?
What's wrong with you, baby?
I love you so, but I don't know why every fruity girl, she just
gets to me. Something in my soul I don't
know how to hide. The girl I know is going to
fight I need on you. I really do, really do.
Even though I build a bank. The reason why I threw the
things off always for why I cannot go to you.
What's wrong with me? Faith, What's wrong with me?
Faith, What is wrong with me? Hey, what's wrong?
What's wrong? What's wrong with you, baby?
What's wrong with me?
What's wrong with me? The invitations and What's wrong
with me, babies? My own first memories of
Blackpool came, obviously, in the 1960s, and my grandparents
took me there on a steam train. Imagine that.
And even now, decades later, I can still remember the
excitement of arriving, the smell of the sea, the noise of
the railway station, then the trams rattling past the flashing
lights, and that strange mixture of glamour and glorious chaos
that Blackpool could produce. Every time I see your face in my
dreams, I wake up and cry till dawn.
I do. I do.
Since you're gone.
Well, listen to me, girl. All at once.
You took my world from under me. There's nothing left at all now.
Since you're gone. I don't know what went wrong.
I've been on since that day. Hey, you know, you know, you
know that I'll be such a lonely guy.
I can't. Understand this.
Misery girl, all you see makes me cry.
Why? Why, why, why can't?
I. Emptiness inside and I see now.
I see now you left me all alone. The Barons And since you've been
gone now, Blackpool just had everything. 3 Piers stretching
out into the Irish Sea. Miles of illuminations,
ballrooms, arcades, rock shops every 10 yards.
Fortune tellers promising romance and riches for half a
crown. And naturally, in true British
fashion, most people spent the holiday either wrapped in
overcoats or running away from the incoming tide.
Yeah, first. Impression.
First impression on the land. First impression.
Impression. Impression.
Yeah. First impression.
Mama used to tell me about those
impression, those old impressions.
Now this might sound like square
fights but it pays to be kind of nice.
Now I don't mean for you to be no fool.
All I'm saying is for you to play a carry yourself like a man
and always try to understand and don't forget to give a respect
and then you can demand respect. The first time you take a high
high and let her know what Love Is All about, how and when you
talk yous come and say hey you got to win.
If you make out the very first night, make sure you've got your
game tied and when she's home all the long you can.
Come on and let me put something on my head.
You may not get a second time. You must be fast.
You can't be slow when you start rapping from the word say go boy
and let her know the love is true, that she can't depend on
you when she I know, I know, I know.
You're here talking about the first time my Mama would say
brush your teeth and comb your hair, pick out something nice to
wear. Shut up baby.
Try your best to pick her up on time and let you that old corny
lies know all this way you can come or feel better.
Know you won't bring a tear. Then she'll give all her love to
you. Then she'll give it all to you.
You see, I want you to know I love, dear girl.
Come on. Come on.
Come on, honey. Yeah, yeah, baby, I know.
Oh, yeah, I know. You have.
Come on, man. You see, I'm talking about the
first time. The impressions and first
impressions. Blackpool really represented
escape and in the 1960s entertainment in Britain
revolved around places just like this.
The biggest stars all appeared there, and some that I saw
including Cliff Richard, The Bachelors, Tommy Cooper, Shirley
Bassey and comedians, singers, dancers, variety acts all
performing in packed theatres and ballrooms every single
summer season. Even The Beatles played
Blackpool's ABC during those frantic touring years.
Sadly, I never saw them there myself, but just knowing they'd
stood on a Blackpool stage somehow added to the magic
because Blackpool always felt larger than life.
Don't let love her fire through the night 'cause the one you
love has let you. Don't let lover find a home in
the dark. Your sighing just breaks my
heart. I hear you cry and come across
the street. It keeps me awake.
I'm able to sleep. I close my window and I'm going
to here. Do you fly those in my ear,
lonely lover? Cry your little heart out.
It's time to wash your way. You're hurt, lonely lover.
I've longed to comfort you 'cause when you hurt, I've hurt
you. From my window across the
street, I've watched you kiss him so tenderly, kissing you
like I never could. To you, I'm just another guy in
the neighbourhood. Have her neighbour say he's
going to put you down for another girl across town known
another sovereign through the night.
How? How long don't hold you tired
now? The nights I've awakened from my
sleep, hearing you crying from across the street.
Your neighbourhood friends are I'll ever be.
But I still love you so tenderly.
And then, quietly, Seoul arrived.
But rare American soul records brought back from Detroit,
Chicago, Philadelphia and New York music filled with
heartbreak, joy, rhythm and sheer urgency.
Young people from all over the north started travelling to
dance halls and clubs, carrying obscure records under their arms
like precious treasure. And by the late 1960s into the
early 70s, Blackpool became one of the Northern Souls spiritual
homes. Now this is where things become
really interesting, because Northern Soul itself was always
slightly eccentric. Think about it.
Thousands of people travelling overnight across Britain to
dance to records nobody outside the scene had ever heard of.
Hey. Don't look away, Look in my
eyes. No, not above me.
Hey, come on and say, say I'm your girl.
Tell me you love me. Wake me up.
I'm so down. Go and round.
Take a. Stranger, I'm.
A stranger, Stranger. Baby, did you change your mind?
You told me that you needed me. Stranger, stranger.
You're acting like a stranger in my heart.
Why did you say all through the night that you are oh me and one
of me today then take it can't be true why you stranger
stranger 2 like a. Stranger.
Stranger maybe? If you change the whole world,
stranger, stranger, stranger. And then came Blackpool.
Mecca, and the Mecca changed everything.
To understand Northern Soul properly, you have to understand
what the Mecca represented. It wasn't just another venue, it
became the battleground for the future sound of Northern Soul
itself. By the early 1970s, DJs at the
Mecca, especially Ian Levine, started introducing newer
American imports, richer productions, heavy orchestration
and more modern rhythms. Some dancers loved it instantly,
and others reacted like somebody had insulted their entire
bloodline. Traditionalists wanted the raw
stompers, the fast, pounding 60s records that had built the
scene. The Mecca crowd was looking
ahead. Suddenly, Northern Soul wasn't
just nostalgia anymore. It was evolving.
Don't be disappointed. When people put you.
Down. Let that be their hang up.
I'll be loud. Don't you worry, baby.
Best yet to come. Don't worry baby, keep on
dreaming baby, they will all continue and I believe in you.
Don't you worry baby. Best yet to don't worry baby
Best is yet to Don't you worry baby best is.
Yet to. Come.
Don't worry, baby. Yes.
To be yet. To come.
Maybe not tomorrow. Your time is coming soon.
You all need your handouts. You'll learn your school from
school. Don't you worry, baby.
Red. Good reaction.
Don't worry, baby. Yeah.
Bessie Banks and the best is yet to come.
This really caused rows and arguments, and it's still being
talked about today. Which in fairness, is very
Northern Soul. People could happily dance
together for 8 hours and then nearly fall out over whether a
record had too much disco influence.
But here's the thing, without the Blackpool Mecca, Northern
Soul might never have survived. Into the late 70s and beyond the
Mecca push boundaries. It widened taste, and it
introduced modern soul sounds that eventually shaped entire
generations of collectors and DJs.
And all this was happening beside candy flash stalls,
souvenir shops, and pensioners eating chips in parked cars
watching the rain hit the windscreen.
That contrast is the whole beauty of Blackpool.
One minute you're buying a stick of Blackpool rock with
somebody's name running through the middle, the next you're
hearing a life changing soul record at 3:00 AM in the
morning. I woke up early this morning
looking round for my love girl sweet boy.
I didn't eat. No.
Stop the minimum work and start digging.
That's not. That's something every man must
realise. Likes a man with infight yet
with the earth to really understand it.
Although the changes in life before with a little baby.
Don't let the Dave Barbara let you down.
It's time to. Get to season.
Climb Jordan, you bring her back around and
she'll be back. I know someday.
She'll be there, Yes, she will. She'll come running back to me.
Well, Brett and she'll come running back.
But that's why places like Blackpool mattered.
They gave ordinary people extraordinary memories, and for
soul fans, they gave those memories a soundtrack.
And this is where Blackpool Mecca became controversial,
because the Mecca wasn't trapped in nostalgia.
While some venues stuck rigidly to the older, stomping 60s
sounds, the Mecca started embracing newer American soul
records, sophisticated productions, modern
arrangements, tracks with hints of funk, jazz and even disco
creeping into the grooves. Some fans hated it immediately.
To them, Northern Soul was sacred, and sacred things
shouldn't change. Others absolutely loved it.
For many dancers, the Mecca felt futuristic.
It was evolving in real time, and that tension gave the venue
electricity. You could hear arguments in the
corners between collectors debating whether a record was
too modern. Imagine travelling 100 and 20
miles through rain at 2:00 in the morning purely to complain
about orchestration. That was northern Seoul.
Said before it's too late. I said before it's too late.
You'd better stop. Yeah, yeah, I said anything
before you walk out that door. I said think about it once more.
You don't like Bob. Just one night.
It'll mean your very life. Hey Bo, it's too late, I said,
oh it's too late. In just a little while I said,
you realise your mind on fire and pull our desire.
Hey, Bo, it's too late. I said, oh, it's too late, you
better check yourself. I have somebody new.
I'm whatever need because I won't believe in you before it's
too late. I said before it's too late, you
better stop. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I said
anything. You better check yourself.
I have somebody new. I won't have a need because I
won't believe in you before it's too late.
Now, out of all the legendary Northern Soul venues people talk
about, Wigan Casino, the Twisted Wheel, Cleethorpes Pier, the
Tortured Stoke, the only one I have ever actually gone to was
the Blackpool Mecca. And that really mainly happened
because I went to Blackpool constantly as a kid and later as
a teenager. Blackpool really was simply part
of life in the North. You went there for weekends, for
holidays, for entertainment and for the Illuminations.
And eventually, somewhere along the line, you ended up inside
the Blackpool Mecca. But here's the surprising thing.
At that time I never really thought of it as a Northern Soul
club. Well, not really.
And looking back, I think part of the reason was because I was
already a working DJ in the Manchester clubs.
So when I walked into the Mecca, I didn't really see this
mythical, sacred Northern Soul institution that people would
later talk about with almost religious reverence.
To me at that moment in time, it simply felt like a huge, very
impressive discotheque. A really glamorous 1.
Admittedly. Big lights, massive dance floor,
powerful sound system and beautiful surroundings.
But I felt connected to the broader club scene I already
knew. Only later did I fully realise
what the Mecca actually represented to Northern Soul
history. Because while I was looking at
the lights and the dance floor, something much bigger was
happening musically. The Mecca wasn't just playing
records, it was changing the direction of the entire scene.
And perhaps that's what makes memory fascinating.
Sometimes you can stand inside an iconic moment in music
history and not fully realise it until years later.
Summer is over and we have parted.
Nothing is left of the dreams we started.
Now all I can see is lonely memory of lost summer.
Lost summer. Remember the surfing and the
life and sun, the moonlight down and all the flood Instead of a
love that was my life wonder would last for all time.
A lost summer, lost summer. Whatever happened
to those dreams we want? Made lots of promises but didn't
keep them, but a handful of tears and I talking of every
place. Don't walk to.
Your Sweden beret lost summer lost
summer talking of every place walks to your Sweden beret lost
summer. Tonight we've travelled from
steam trains and seaside holidays to rare soul records
echoing beneath ballroom lights, from childhood memories to one
of the most influential venues the scene has ever produced.
And somewhere between the illuminations, the trams and the
sound of those incredible records, Blackpool became part
of British musical history. Until the next time, bye bye.
The. None.
None.