I sold a promo copy of this record that had never been played for $800. If you find one today, you should hold out for at least $1000.

This is an example of Northern Soul, which is named for the dance clubs in the Northern U.K. who became quite competitive searching for gems like this. What they were looking for was to out-do the other clubs with songs that would get people up on the dance floor and moving. But the trick was that these songs had to be pretty obscure. They could be performed by very well-known artists, but not their big hits. They were searching for great B-sides that were overlooked by radio stations.

Once one club found a really great track, the other clubs had to have a copy of the record too. Then the customers got involved, trying to find the really cool songs they’d heard at the club last night. This brought about a sudden surge in the value of many American 45 RPM singles, some of which were not even considered rare. If there was a great Northern Soul track on the flip side of a big hit, there were plenty of copies of that record to be had. Even so, the demand for that record shot way up, as did the price. Record buyers came to America searching for these records, and especially searching for new ones that nobody had found yet.

One strange side-effect of this was that people who were searching for these records just to get the hit side were having trouble finding them, and paying a lot once they found a copy. Today, you can find lots of Northern Soul compilation CDs for sale, so you don’t need to pay a lot of money to buy the songs. However, the records themselves are mighty scarce, so they’re still worth a bit of money.

Dana Valery was born in Milan, Italy and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa. She lived in London until moving to New York where she enjoyed a successful career on Broadway, television, and live concerts, touring all over the world. She’d often perform with her brother, the late Sergio Franchi. Today, however, her occupation has radically changed. She’s now running a healing practice performing Cell Memory and Intuitive Readings to find the root cause of her clients’ illnesses.

This song never got much attention when it was released. Promo copies were sent to several radio stations where the Program Director or Music Director might give them one listen, sometimes only hearing the first several seconds before taking the needle off and tossing the record into an archive, never to be played again.

The song was written by Paul Simon and first appeared on the flip side of the Simon And Garfunkel hit, Fakin’ It, in 1967 on Columbia 44232. Dana Valery actually recorded and released this version first, on Columbia 44004. The flip side features a nice soulful ballad called Having You Around, but that’s not the side the Northern Soul clubs were after.

By the way, there’s a very good chance that’s Paul Simon singing backing vocals on this track. So here you go, get ready to jump up on the dance floor as we spin You Don’t Know Where Your Interest Lies by Dana Valery:

 

You’ll hear more than 2,000 Northern Soul songs on MusicMaster Oldies, mixed in with everything else, including the Kitchen Cinq, a garage rock group from Texas!