Scaffold

Group Members:

Mike McGear
Roger McGough
John Gorman

The Scaffold were a comedy, poetry and music trio from Liverpool, England, consisting of Mike McGear (real name Michael McCartney - brother of Paul McCartney), Roger McGough and John Gorman. They performed a mixture of comic songs, comedy sketches and the poetry of McGough, and released a number of singles on Parlophone and EMI between 1966 and 1970, and on Island and Warner Bros. thereafter, achieving Top 10 success in the UK with:

    * "Thank U Very Much" (No. 4), composed by McGear;
    * "Lily the Pink" (# 1), based on a traditional song about Lydia Pinkham.
    * "Liverpool Lou" (# 7), recorded during the 1974 McGear sessions with Wings.

In addition to the hit singles, The Scaffold's output included four albums, The Scaffold (live at Queen Elizabeth Hall) on Parlophone in 1968, Lily the Pink on EMI in 1969, Fresh Liver on Island in 1973 and Sold Out on WB in 1975. In addition, a Scaffold greatest hits album entitled Singles As + Bs was released on See For Miles Records in 1982.

Jack Bruce, Elton John, Graham Nash and Jimi Hendrix were among the session musicians who performed on The Scaffold's early records (none of the trio being musicians).

In 1970 The Scaffold appeared in a children's television series, Score With The Scaffold.

In early 1971 they provided some catchy tunes for inclusion in a television publicity campaign heralding the introduction of decimal currency to the UK. In this series of five-minute programmes, titled Decimal Five and shown on BBC1, they sang such inspired lyrics as "Give more, get change" and "Use your old coppers in sixpenny lots".

In 1972 they made a ½ hour musical movie called "Plod" based on an earlier stage production. The film was made on location in Liverpool and included boys from the Liverpool Institute High School earlier attended by the McCartney brothers and Beatles George Harrison.

In 1973, The Scaffold transferred to Island Records and released one album, Fresh Liver, before metamorphosing into the expanded line-up of Grimms with the likes of Neil Innes and Andy Roberts. After the 1974 success of "Liverpool Lou," recorded with Paul McCartney and Wings, The Scaffold reunited for their final album, Sold Out, on Warner Bros. Records.

Discography: