Dave Edmunds celebrated his 80th birthday on April 15, 2024. The veteran Welsh roots rocker has had a long solo, successful solo career, and also made an enduring mark as a singer and guitarist in the groups Love Sculpture and Rockpile.
Edmunds occasionally co-wrote original songs, but he’s better known as an interpreter of other artists’ tunes. Some of his covers have been considered by many to be definitive versions of those tunes.
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In honor of Edmunds’ milestone birthday, here’s a look at five outstanding songs he recorded over the years.
“Sabre Dance” – Love Sculpture (1968)
Early in his career, Edmunds fronted the Wales-based blues-rock group Love Sculpture. In 1968, the band scored a novelty hit in the U.K. with a cover of Soviet-Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian’s “Sabre Dance,” an instrumental piece that originally was featured in the 1942 ballet Gayane.
Edmunds arranged his band’s version of “Sabre Dance,” and played the blazing electric guitar solo that was the main part of the track. The song peaked at No. 5 on the U.K. singles chart.
Love Sculpture broke up in 1970 after releasing two studio albums.
“I Hear You Knocking” (1970)
Edmunds scored the biggest chart hit of his career in 1970 with his first solo single, “I Hear You Knocking,” a cover of a tune that was a 1955 R&B smash for Smiley Lewis. Fats Domino also released a version of the song in 1961.
Edmunds’ rendition of the grooving blues song topped the U.K. singles chart and also reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. “I Hear You Knocking” also appeared on Edmunds’ first solo album, Rockpile, which was released in 1972.
“Girls Talk” (1979)
Edmunds’ 1979 album, Repeat When Necessary, featured a memorably melodic and rocking rendition of the Elvis Costello song “Girls Talk.” The track reached No. 4 on the U.K. singles chart, and No. 65 on the Hot 100.
At the time Edmunds recorded the album, he was a member of the band Rockpile, along with singer/bassist Nick Lowe, guitarist/singer Billy Bremner, and Terry Williams. Since Edmunds and Lowe were signed to different labels as solo artists then, contractual issues made it unable for them to record an album as Rockpile.
Instead, during the late 1970s, Edmunds and Lowe released a number of solo albums with backing from the other three Rockpile members. Among those albums was Repeat When Necessary.
In 1980, Rockpile released its one and only studio, Seconds of Pleasure. The band broke up in 1981, reportedly over tensions between Edmunds and Lowe, as well as conflicts Edmunds had with the group’s manager, Jake Riviera.
“From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come)” (1982)
In 1982, Edmunds recorded an inspired version of the Bruce Springsteen rarity “From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come).” The tune was the lead track of D.E. 7th, Edmunds’ seventh solo studio album.
The song reached No. 28 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. In a 1994 interview, Edmunds explained that Springsteen had offered him the song to record after he met the Boss backstage following a Bruce concert at Wembley Stadium in London.
Springsteen’s original version was recorded during the sessions for his 1979 album The River. It eventually was released on a bonus disc of the 2003 compilation The Essential Bruce Springsteen, and as part of the 2015 box set The Ties That Bind: The River Collection.
“Slipping Away” (1983)
“Slipping Away” was Edmunds’ second and last song to reach the Top 40 of the Hot 100, peaking at No. 39. The synth-driven track was written by Electric Light Orchestra frontman Jeff Lynne. It was featured on Edmunds’ 1983 album, Information, which he co-produced with Lynne.
In the aforementioned 1994 interview, Edmunds revealed that he was interested in hiring Phil Collins to produce Information, but Collins’ career had gotten too busy around at that time.
A “Slipping Away” music video featured footage of Edmunds performing the song mixed with film clips of auto races. The video received a decent amount of airplay on MTV.