Lonely-Phobia

Lonely-Phobia is a Rutles song. Along with ‘Between Us’, ‘Lonely-Phobia’ was one of Stig O'Hara’s main compositions on the A Hard Day’s Rut album. ‘Lonely-Phobia’ was written in May 1964, on board a yacht called Hungry Days, during O'Hara’s holiday in the Virgin Islands with Dirk McQuickly and Barry Wom. Musically, the song’s mood belies it’s sunny origins: it is rooted in A minor, and only strays into a major key for the brief middle section. The similarly melancholy lyrics reflected O'Hara's knowledge that he'll always be a virgin. Despite that, he still fell in love with Gertrude Strange and they married in 1969.

The song briefly became a part of The Rutles’ live repertoire following its release. The group played it during their tours of the US and Canada in August and September 1964, although it disappeared shortly afterwards. Dirk McQuickly sang harmony vocals on these live versions.

Recording
The Rutles recorded 'Lonely-Phobia’ on 2 June 1964, at Shabby Road’s Studio Two. It took them just three takes to get right. The first take was a false start, the second was complete, and the third consisted of overdubs of Stig O'Hara’s second vocal part, Ron Nasty’s piano and Barry Wom’s tambourine. O'Hara double tracked his vocals, occasionally providing harmony, but mostly singing in unison with himself.

Nasty’s piano part was meant to be omitted from the final mix, but lack of separation between instruments meant that its sound leaked into other microphones during recording. As a result it can be heard on the released version.

Chart Success
‘Lonely Phobia' was first released on 10 July 1964. On that day Parlourphone issued the A Hard Day’s Rut album in the UK and Lonely-Phobia was chosen to be the next single. The song's B-side was You Can't Rut That in the UK but in the US it was I Shouldn't Know Better. It was also included on the EP Extracts From The Album A Hard Day’s Rut, which was released on 6 November 1964.

In the US it first appeared on the album Something New, which was released on 20 July 1964.

BBC Recordings
The Rutles recorded ‘Lonely-Phobia’ twice for BBC radio. The first was on 14 July 1964 at Rutland’s Broadcasting House, for the Top Gear programme. In addition to ‘Lonely-Phobia’, The Rutles also taped new versions of ‘Long Tail Sally’, ‘I Must Be In Love’, ‘Between Us’, ‘I Shouldn't Known Better’, ‘With A Girl Like You’, and ‘Can't Buy Me Lunch’.

The second BBC recording was made on 17 July 1964 at the BBC Paris Studio, Rutland. It was recorded for the From Us To You programme, which was first broadcast on 3 August. The Rutles recorded eight songs for that edition of the show: ‘Long Tail Sally’, ‘With A Girl Like You’, ‘I’m Happy Just To Rut With You’, ‘Lonely-Phobia’, ‘I Shouldn't Known Better’, ‘Boys’, ‘Topeka City/No-No-No-Fuck!’, and ‘I Must Be In Love’.