Tuesday This And That

I am happy to report that after seeing our post last week regarding the 2027 Happy Together Tour, Ron Dante (without revealing ANY details) let us know that the show WILL go on next year ... in his words, "bigger and better than ever!"  (kk)

Hey Kent.

Just so you know, The Happy Together Tour will be back next year bigger and better than ever with more dates and some surprises. I'm proud to say it will be my 10th Anniversary with the tour.

Hope to see all the fans at the shows.

Ron

 

I kinda have a feeling that none of the acts are allowed to say too much before the promoters officially announce next year's line up and tour dates ... and that may not happen until after the first of the year.  So stay tuned ... as soon as WE know, you'll know.  (kk)

 

Barry Manilow did a very righteous and courteous thing when he stopped his show the other night, apologized to his fans and offered a full refund as he found that he simply was unable to sing and perform to the best of his abilities.

We're seeing it more and more with our aging performers ... but I think this was a real class way of handling it.  (kk)

  

Music geeks and radio people have sensitive ears ....  well, our ears are sensitive to certain sounds even if we don't hear as well as we used to. These Arby's commercials are playing on lots of TV channels, and I'm hearing them every time the thing is turned on. And at the very end of each commercial, I jump at the sound I hear during the last half second of the TV spot. 

Do you - or does anyone else - hear the intro to "Double Barrel" from the summer of 1971? There have been numerous references to '71 as one of the best years - or perhaps the best year - for pop music. When I look at the charts I tend to agree with those who have chosen '71 as the year that accrued the greatest number of truly enjoyable pop hits. But still, when you listen to any of these Arby's spots, do you hear "I ....." after the voice talent says "meat"?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yqu3d4GxGzQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zq_B5CrIqJk

Double Barrel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njwJJ39S000

Magnificent!

David Lewis 

 

Wow, I don't know that I even would have noticed that!

"Double Barrel" certainly falls into the Forgotten Hits category ... it's not one you're likely to hear very often.

Surprisingly, I heard Sammy Tallerico play it on his show a few weeks ago ... and then all of a sudden, I've heard it three times since on different radio programs.

This was not a significant chart it, only reaching #22 in Billboard.  (It did climb to #14 in Record World ... and was a #4 hit here in Chicago, where we heard it a lot back in 1971 ... but not a whole lot since.  It went all the way to #1 in the UK!)

All I can say is, "Good Catch!" (No idea what the significance might be to the new Arby sandwich ... unless they refer to it as "magnificent" in their ads!  It almost sounds like a mistake! (kk) 

 

 

I did some checking and evidently Dave and Ansil Collins didn't make enough of an impression to even rate a mention in either the Billboard Book of One Hit Wonders or Norm N. Nite's "Rock On."  There's not a whole lot of information on the internet either.

 

Wikipedia says that Dave Barker (born David John Crooks) was a session vocalist and Ansel Collins was a session keyboard player.  (You'll find Ansil's name spelled any variety of ways both on the internet and on the record labels!)

 

Both artists were born in Kingston, Jamaica, and in the early '70's they teamed up in the studio (under the name Dave and Ansil Collins) to record the reggae single "Double Barrel."  The record went to #1 in the UK and Jamaica in 1971.  A couple of follow up singles barely made a noise, rendering these guys true One Hit Wonders.

 

Check out the YouTube video link that David Lewis sent ... it's a fun way to listen to this song (which apparently has been sampled in various fashions several times over the past three decades!)  kk

I have to admit that I was more than a little surprised to read yesterday (November 9^th) that Forbes Magazine had announced that Paul McCartney was a billionaire.

I would have thought that would have happened DECADES ago … but apparently it never officially registered until now … and they put his net worth at $1.4 billion.

Even more surprising is the fact that, as far as musicians go, this only puts him in third place, behind Jay-Z and Taylor Swift.  (What about Rihanna???  I would have figured her to be way up on the totem pole, too!)

Billboard Magazine notes that McCartney has earned 29 #1 Singles on their Hot 100 Pop Singles Chart (twenty with The Beatles and nine more as either a solo artist or with Wings) as well as 27 #1 Albums (19 as a Beatle and eight on his own or with Wings.)

He has always been a major tour attraction, generating over a billion dollars in ticket sales since The Beatles broke up … and has invested well in other publishing companies to keep royalties coming in, not only for his own work but for standards like the “Grease” and “Annie” soundtracks and classics like “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Blue Christmas,” "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire)" and the Buddy Holly catalog.  His company also publishes many of the early Four Seasons' hits written by  Bob Gaudio (which includes the rights to the hit Broadway Musical "Jersey Boys.)  (Incredibly, he doesn’t own the rights to his OWN music created within The Beatles, a real stickler point since Michael Jackson first purchased that catalog after McCartney advised him on investing in publishing.)  Sony/ATV Music bought the publishing from the Jackson Estate for $750 million in 2016, although Paul has been able to reclaim some of his own publishing along the way.  John Lennon/Yoko Ono’s share of the publishing rights are tied up with Sony Music thru 2050.  (kk)

https://www.forbes.com.au/news/billionaires/paul-mccartney-became-worlds-third-richest-musician/ 

Speaking of Michael Jackson, downloads and streams of his 1983 classic “Thriller” continued past Halloween to propel it to the #2 position on The Billboard Hot 100 Pop Singles Chart.  This represents a new peak for the track, which originally topped out at #4 when it was released as a single in 1984.

He MIGHT have even hit #1 had it not been for Ella Langley’s juggernaut hit “Choosin’ Texas,” which now claims its 27^th week at #1.  This now puts Langley at five weeks ahead of Mariah Carey’s previous all-time chart topper “All I Want For Christmas Is You” … which means it likely won’t regain it all-time status until NEXT Christmas (2027), by which time “Choosin’ Texas” may finally fall out of The Top Ten. Carey’s 22-week reign was spread out between the holidays of 2019 – 2026 … Langley’s scored all 27 of her weeks at #1 during the past ten months.  (kk)

SIDE NOTE:  Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” album spawned SEVEN Top Ten Hits, an unheard of record at the time.

How’d they fare?

“Billie Jean” spent seven weeks at #1 beginning on March 5, 1983, followed by “Beat It” with three weeks at #1, starting on April 30^th.  “Thriller now moves into third place with its new peak at #2 this week, followed by “The Girl Is Mine,” a duet between Jackson and Paul McCartney (also a #2 hit), “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” (#5), “Human Nature” (7) and “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)” #10.

In a related Forbes article published this week, statistics show Michael Jackson has being the second highest dead celebrity earning royalties in 2026.  (You'd think with the mega-film "Michael" there'd be no contest on this one ... but Quincy Jones' estate actually out-earned him by about ten million dollars.)

Elvis' estate earned $75 million, good enough for fourth place and coming just ahead of the recently-departed Dolly Parton, who earned $46 million, in a distant fifth place.  Next year marks the 50th anniversary of Elvis' death ... and he's STILL earning this kind of dough all these years later!  (John Lennon and George Harrison placed 9th and 10th on the list at $18 million and $15 million respectively.)  

Who came in at #3???

Would you believe Dr. Seuss?!?!? $80 million compared to Prince's $24 million.  (kk)

AND THIS JUST IN ...

Paul McCartney AND Ringo Starr will be performing together along with Joe Walsh and some other surprise guests at Joe's 10th Annual Vets Aid Fundraising Concert.

The show will take place on Friday, January 29th, at The  MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, NV.

More details as we get them ... but it sounds like Veterans will have first dibs on the tickets when they go on sale on Sunday (November 13th).

A Monday Morning Quickie

Ella Langley has now officially spent HALF of the past year holding down the #1 Spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 Pop Singles Chart.  “Choosin’ Texas” just recorded its 26^th week at the top, a remarkable feat that will likely be a pop culture trivia question twenty years from now.  Still, we’ve got to give the song its due … as no other record … not by Elvis or The Beatles or Michael Jackson or anybody else has ever even come close to this kind of dominance … unless, of course, you count Mariah Carey’s perennial holiday favorite, “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” which should knock Langley’s hit off its peak any day now, now that holiday music is once again filling the airwaves.  (Of course, Ella accomplished her record-setting feat all within the course of a single year, while Mariah has counted years of seasonal streaming to etch her name into the history books … but when all is said and done, using that same time frame of twenty years from now, you can bet that it’ll be Mariah’s hit that people are still talking about, buying, downloading and streaming (through whatever new musical platform may be in our future next.)  kk

Look for a new documentary coming from Christopher Booker called “Let It Be, Let It Bleed,” an in-depth profile of the musical changes being made by The Beatles and The Rolling Stones in 1969, a pivotal era in music at the end of the ‘60’s, as seen thru the lens of noted photographer Ethan Russell.

Harvey Kubernik tells us all about it here:  https://www.musicconnection.com/doc-nyc-to-present-debut-screening-of-let-it-be-let-it-bleed/

Got this from a couple of FH Readers regarding next year’s nominees for The Songwriters Hall Of Fame …

https://www.songhall.org/news/songwriters-hall-of-fame-2027-nominees-for-induction-announced

https://www.billboard.com/lists/songwriters-hall-of-fame-2027-nominees-full-list-class/?utm_source=join1440&utm_medium=email&utm_placement=newsletter&user_id=66c4c19d600ae150758ca7b0

Some pretty impressive names on this list again this year!  (kk)

Tom Cuddy sent us this profile of the classic Jimmy Webb song “MacArthur Park” …

MacArthur Park Meaning: Why Jimmy Webb's Cake Was Left Out

https://neonmusic.co.uk/macarthur-park-meaning

Many years ago (probably in 2017 or 2018 after Webb’s autobiography came out) I wrote an extensive piece on the origins and meaning of this song.  It was scheduled to run as a 3-part series in Forgotten Hits … and then my computer crashed, wiping out EVERYTHING.

I was so frustrated and distraught with the idea of having to rebuild everything … AGAIN, as this was just one of about four or five major computer crashes that wiped out tons of FH history as well as new pieces planned for the future, that I never revisited it again … so it was nice to see this new history recap.

I’ve never made any secret regarding my total dislike of this song … it seems to be one of those that you either love it or hate it, and I definitely fall into the latter category.  (Frannie, on the other hand, absolutely LOVES it!)  My series was going to include a number of different versions and interpretations of the song, including the story behind the idea that it was first intended for The Association, who were extremely hot on the charts at the time … but THEY hated it, too, and decided to pass on recording it.  (I had forgotten about the original idea of doing an 18-minute opus … I can barely make it thru the 7 minute Richard Harris version, knowing full well that upon each listen, those’ll be 7 minutes that I’ll never get back.  (I remember all the fuss, too, at the time about The Beatles’ recording of “Hey Jude” which came out a few months later and “broke the 7-minute single” barrier … no they didn’t … Richard Harris had already DONE that four months earlier … and proved that if it was a good enough song, radio would still play it despite its length … and, despite my own personal disdain for it, “MacArthur Park” is generally considered to be an absolute classic.)  Lots of longer songs would follow in its wake … think “American Pie,” for example (although if you bought they single, they still split the song in half to fit on both sides of the label … how crazy was that?!?!)

Anyway, it’s nice to see the story finally being told for the benefit of anyone out there who didn’t know or understand its true history.  Yes, MacArthur Park was a REAL place … and held a special place in Jimmy Webb’s heart.

His autobiography is an interesting read … you can order it here:

https://www.amazon.com/Cake-Rain-Memoir-Jimmy-Webb/dp/1250058414/ref=sr_1_3?crid=IAQ0XJGUV6BD&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Yse8GUADWoSmjgYWR1vMm2dQ5CX-29eJRfyykUkR--qTBk_ux8Qovak2ubWgxQh3sc49zHlMFxDrEw_kON1jqlkDDQW_Izz16YIg-OZtAEaXxyjVMZjPQ0Dc7SiVG1vEpcxfrizjziXvgb_mKBrQl8XpJxI5t33iZ3CizpqIi873yDp3JWknp-BpS5YQaHUDf5iCVeHr9KyAACEx9QohRjpLJpDAwSXILGq2B3ni5vA.E-RHjQrKZxBAy-nIvL4wlkQTiTIQJD827VRw1XaWr20&dib_tag=se&keywords=jimmy+webb&qid=1794156725&s=books&sprefix=jimmy+webb%2Cstripbooks%2C156&sr=1-3

Tom also sent us this report on the recent Dave Clark Five CD collection that was jus released … Part One of a THREE-Part Series that is coming, exploring the entire recorded catalog of The Dave Clark Five …

CD Saturday: The Dave Clark Five Finally Get Their Catalogue on CD, Too!

https://youtu.be/JMv_HBVDoY8?si=jyPABcWRpVDc9GWG

Speaking of British Drummers, Clark Besch just let us know that Clem Cattini, drummer for The Tornados, who scored a #1 Hit with “Telstar” in 1962 and then went on to do session work for everyone from Dusty Springfield to Tom Jones to The Kinks to The Equals to Johnny Kidd and the Pirates to Engelbert Humperdinck, has passed away at the age of 89.  (kk)

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c317kjwj18wzo

From Tom Cuddy, here's Billy Joel speaking out on Sirius XM again with more health updates ... (be aware, this is a two hour clip!!!)  https://youtu.be/8BBsqF6zMx4?si=4keVpvYOanMlhaVy 

And from Timmy …