John Frederick “Johnny” Tapp was born in 1941 in Rams gate,
New South Wales, is a former Australian race caller based in Sydney. During a
career spanning thirty three years it is estimated that he has called over 50,000
individual races and became the voice of Australian racing to a whole
generation. Here to download is his single from 1974 "Little Hondo"
b/w "The Jones" (SAC-045), backing vocals on this single are by the
Rhythmaires.
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From John Tapp's website https://www.johntapp.racing/
"Allow me to take you back to a conversation at a Perth Hotel in 1974. Bill and Bob Webb (owners of Hondo Grattan with trainer Tony Turnbull) told me about some song lyrics written by Jean Buchanan, mother of Bob’s wife Barbara. He asked me about the possibility of having music written to accompany the lyrics and the chances of finding a record company willing to distribute a song about a standardbred horse.
Dave Bridge was the musician to accept the challenge of providing the musical arrangement. Dave had earned great recognition during his days as lead guitarist for Col Joye and the Joy Boys, and by the 1970’s was enjoying freelance composing work.
A fledgling record company called M7 ( jointly owned by Ch 7, 2UE and 2GB) decided to have a crack at the project. The company was managed by Ron Hurst, an innovative thinker who had noted the success of the “Goondiwindi Grey” a year earlier. Tex Morton’s recording of the tribute to the popular Gunsynd had been a commercial success.
When you’re flat out carrying a tune at a Christmas Party it’s a pretty intimidating experience to suddenly find yourself in a recording studio attempting a task of this magnitude.
The presence of a “harmony duo” gave me some moral support. Jack Blair and Rod Tennant were regulars on the Sydney club circuit as the “Rhythmaires”, and they could have harmonised with a screeching white cockatoo.
In a nutshell it was one hell of a night. We had to do “Little Hondo” as it was to be known and the reverse side of the 45 rpm disc. This song was called “The Joneses” which M7 had been sitting on for months. When “Hondo” came along they decided to shove it on the flipside and I’ve got to say it was a catchy little tune.
The studio was in a long-gone building in Pier St, Darling Harbour. With the music track already recorded, we started the vocal at 6pm on a Monday night. A combination of nerves and many “retakes” saw us still going in the wee small hours.
By the time we’d had a post recording session and several coffees the first hint of dawn was visible through the window. Driving home I had serious doubts about my judgement in taking the project on. I kept reminding myself that the famous actor Lee Marvin had insisted on singing Wand’rin’ Star in the 1970 movie Paint Your Wagon. He proved that you don’t have to be Caruso to make a record.
Nobody got a bigger shock than I did when “Little Hondo” appeared in the Top Forty charts a month later. It sneaked in at number 39, hovered there for two weeks and quickly disappeared."
Ther appears to have been an attempted follow up a couple of years later with "Paleface Adios / The Luskin Star Song" released on M7 records (MS-224) about another champion trotter and about a champion 2 year old thoroughbred.
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