The “Golden Hits Of The 60s”
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WHISTLING JACK SMITH
“I WAS KAISER BILL’S BATMAN”
(Roger Greenaway, Roger Cook)
Deram 85005
No. 20 June 3, 1967
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Whistling Jack Smith never existed. There had been a Whispering Jack Smith, though-a British
recording artist who half-talked and half-sang his way through tunes because of a World War II injury.
Not a soul who bought “I Was Kaiser Bill’s Batman” suspected that Whistling Jack Smith was a total
fabrication. Even knowing this would not have made much difference: the song and the artist had silly
names, the tune had an infectious little melody, and the dingy disk was disturbingly different from
anything on Top 40 radio at that time.
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A fog surrounds the actual conception of Jack the whistler. Was it the uncredited producer of the
session, or the tune’s conceivers–the songwriting/recording team of Greenaway and Cook (a.k.a.
DAVID AND JONATHAN–who dreamed up the idea? Possibly the whole episode was a spur-of-the-
moment studio fluke. We do know that the song features the Mike Sammes Singers, a then-popular
British TV group, plus some session musicians.
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Once copies of “I Was Kaiser Bill’s Batman” began flying off the shelves, a Jack Smith had to be located
for making personal appearances. Billy Moeller (b. Feb. 2, 1946, Liverpool)–brother of Tommy Moeller,
leadsinger for UNIT FOUR PLUS Two–agreed to play the role of Jack Smith and tour behind the single.
He had been recording for British Decca as Coby Wells, and his disks under that name had not been
burning holes in the charts.
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