Bernard Colin Day (born 2 February 1941) and Brian John Alford (born 31 December 1939) were
marketed as the brothers Bob and John Allison, while in fact they weren’t
brothers. The song ‘Are You Sure’ was written by John, inspired by an old
girlfriend who broke off their relationship. They were only 18 at the time, so
it had an impact. 'Over the next few months, I wrote a succession of very sad
songs. One afternoon, about six months later (…) I began to wonder why on earth
did she say goodbye? I don’t understand why she finished it. So I kept
thinking, would she change her mind? (…) I hadn’t got a tune. Normally when I
wrote songs, you get an idea for a tune first of all and then you decide what
lyrics, which sort of lyrics would suit that tune. But I had an idea, I had
this thought, why are there so many words that mean goodbye. So I wrote them
down. Goodbye, farewell, so long, au revoir. And then I thought I could turn
that into a verse. So I did.' Meanwhile, Bob was in school, finishing his exams. His parents didn’t want him to do anything other than school work, and so the two didn’t meet for two months. In the meantime, John finished the song on his own. When they finally did meet, the created the harmony together. In 1961 they represented the UK at the Eurovision Song Contest with the song.
This German single was released in 1987, but with a colour picture sleeve. It was number 54 in a series of hundred 'Hit Come Back' singles.
My collection: 7" single no. 8454
Found: Reformdrogist de Regenboog, Rijswijk, 3 October 2026
Tracks: 'Are you sure' / 'There's one thing more'
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