As Tears Go By

As Tears Go By is George McCurn's reading of the Jagger/Richards/Oldham ballad the Rolling Stones wrote for Marianne Faithfull in 1964, delivered in a deep bass over a soft, string-backed pop arrangement. Festival paired it with Georgia Town, a jauntier country-soul number he had first put out as an A-side in 1963 and which also turned up on his album Country Boy Goes to Town.

McCurn (1920–1985) was a Chicago-born bass singer who came up through gospel, singing with the Kings of Harmony, the Fairfield Four and the Pilgrim Travelers before a stint with the Ink Spots. A&M co-founder Jerry Moss called him one of the very greatest and most sought-after bass singers in the gospel field, and AllMusic's biographer Uncle Dave Lewis treats him as a significant figure in that tradition. His 1963 single I'm Just a Country Boy was a minor US hit, but the album that followed, arranged by Shorty Rogers, found little audience, and this single came late in his short A&M run.

Festival issued the single in Australia under licence from A&M, with the US original appearing as A&M 759. Beyond the licensing and catalogue details, little is documented about the Australian pressing itself; this copy is on white vinyl.