Oh Babe, What Would You Say? - Hurricane Smith (1973) 1/7/22

Norman Smith. Unless you're a Beatles and/or Pink Floyd trivia fanatic, the name probably means nothing to you. But...without him, neither group would have been nearly as successful.

That's quite a claim, but consider the evidence.

#1: Norman Smith was the engineer on all of the Beatles EMI studio recordings until late 1965, when EMI promoted him to producer. The last Beatles album he recorded was "Rubber Soul," and overall, he engineered the sound for almost 100 Beatles songs. John Lennon was quite fond of Norman, and nicknamed him "Normal."

#2: As a producer, Norman was responsible for three Pink Floyd albums: "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn," "A Saucerful of Secrets," and "Ummagumma." He even played drums on the song "Remember a Day."

I rest my case. But wait!

You might remember Norman Smith by his OTHER nickname: Hurricane Smith...who surprised everyone by recording "Oh Babe, What Would You Say," a jazzy 1930's style tune that became a "Great Song of 1973: Fun fact: the song was written by his wife, Eileen.

The song--and Norman's voice--were quite unique--and radio listeners in several countries couldn't get enough. It reached the Top 10 in Ireland (#10), New Zealand (#9), the UK (#4, and both the US and Canada, where it reached #3.

So basically, Norman/Normal/Hurricane Smith not only recorded and produced "Great Songs" for two legendary groups, he scored one for himself: 1973's "Oh Babe, What Would You Say?!" Not a bad resume, if you ask me.