>>> Not too many great New Years Songs. Here's my favorite New Years Song.
(Frank B.)
My favorite New Year's song is "Happy New Year" by Beverley. This song, written by Randy Newman, was released in 1966, with Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, and Nicky Hopkins among the musicians. Beverley is also the female voice you hear saying "Good morning Mr. Leitch, have you had a busy day" in the middle of Simon & Garfunkel's "Fakin' It".
Doug
Kent ... Happy New Year.
Here's the perfect song for 1 / 1 / 2010.
Frank B.
YouTube - after new year's eve'The heartbeats
Congratulations, Kent, on 10 years of Forgotten Hits and I want to wish all FH readers Happy New Year. Let's do it again next year.
Jack (Rock And roll Never Forgets)
Got this from Gary Pike of The Lettermen:
To My Dear Friends:
Our 2010 Contract:
After serious & cautious consideration ... your contract of friendship has been renewed for the New Year 2010!
It was a very hard decision to make ... so try not to screw it up!!!
My Wish for You in 2010:
May peace break into your home and may thieves come to steal your debts.
May the pockets of your jeans become a magnet for $100 bills.
May love stick to your face like Vaseline and may laughter assault your lips!
May happiness slap you across the face and may your tears be that of joy
May the problems you had forget your home address!
In simple words ...
May 2010 be the best year of your life!!!
Happy New Year!!
Gary Pike
And this from Freddy "Boom Boom" Cannon!
WE WISH EVERYONE A HEALTHY AND HAPPY NEW YEAR IN 2010!
SINCERELY,
FREDDY AND JEANETTE CANNON
HAPPY NEW YEAR ... !!!
Trade Martin
(Here's my new ringtone for 2010!)
re: LOL:
OK, this one cracked me up:
IS IT OKAY TO TAKE "LONELY CHRISTMAS" OFF MY MP3 PLAYER YET?
The artist is particular and I don't want to insult him ...
(I AM a fan of the song though ... good work) ...
(gary) RENFIELD
LOL ... thanks, Gary ... yeah, we can all put it away for another year. With OTHER Christmas songs receiving in excess of 180,000 plays this year, the single-digit airplay of "Lonely Christmas" isn't going to register on ANYBODY's "Favorites" List ... but hey, I like it, too!!! (lol) kk
the first few times it came around ... i kept scratching my head trying to figure out who was singing ... lolit fits seamlessly in the xmas rotation ...
gary
re: WILL ANYTHING REALLY CHANGE IN THE NEW YEAR???:
Kent,
I hope you do not decide to start the New Year off with more childish views of that Herb Alpert LP cover you (and I) love. Maybe you should take a new angle in 2010 like the one attached.
WLSClark
re: DECADES:
Kent,
Nice one. I printed it out for the intro to my class for this spring. Next time, could you start at 1900? That's where we start.
hehehehehe
Shelley / CT
Thanks, Shelley ... I wanted to at least ACKNOWLEDGE the turn of yet another decade ... it's been one heck of a musical joy-ride for much of the past sixty years ... and let's face it, NONE of us REALLY know what's in store for us next. I guess a few other websites picked up on our mini Musical History Lesson, too ... we heard from a few folks who have posted our musings on their own web pages! (kk)
re: TOP TEN FAVORITES:
I just got this note from John Madara:
Wolfman Jack's Handwritten Top 10 List:
https://www.wolfmansolidgold.com/?mid=700058&a=101554&s=asotvchat Wolfman Jack is no longer with us, but his HAND SELECTED favorite songs of all time will live on forever! Wolfman Jack's son, Tod Smith, found a handwritten list compiled by Wolfman Jack, and he wants to share those songs with you!
re: NEIL SEDAKA:
Being that you brought up Neil Sedaka, I wanted to send you my all time favorite from him. He wrote this song after watching Connie Francis read her diary. He asked if he could read it and, after her refusing to let him, he decided to write the song. Did you know he is the cousin of Eydie Gorme?
Carrie
Yep, another great Neil Sedaka Forgotten Hit ... his first chart hit (#14, 1959) yet NEVER played on the radio anymore (or very many of his others either for that matter.) Sedaka was inspired by his crush on Carole King to write his first Top Ten Hit "Oh Carol" later that year. (That one went all the way to #5 in Cash Box Magazine ... and hit #1 here in Chicago!) Sedaka's Connie Francis connection includes her hits "Stupid Cupid" and "Where The Boys Are", both of which Neil wrote for her over the years. First time I've ever heard any mention about his being Eydie Gorme's cousin ... will have to look into that one! (Actually, in checking about half a dozen different websites, I found mention of this "fact" on exactly ONE ... I figured something THIS big would have received much more press ... so, for right now anyway, we'll call it a "rumor" until we can get a more substantial confirmation. Anybody out there able to shed any more light on this???) kk
Neil's already got a number of dates booked for 2010 ... here's a current list ... and be sure to check back to his website often to see if he'll be appearing anywhere near you any time soon!
Click here: Welcome To NeilSedaka.com
Meanwhile, here's another GREAT "forgotten" diary song ... we encourage SOMEBODY on the list to play THIS one on their show this week!!!
There's still a little bit of buzz going around regarding a full-blown Monkees reunion this year ... including the participation of Mike Nesmith! Here's a little blurb about Mike from Flexquarters ... along with a link to a very funny Davy Jones Interview ... check it out!
A possible Nez sighting this year: Michael Nesmith -- a Houston native, film producer and former memberof the Monkees -- will receive the Warren Skaaren Lifetime Achievement Award
http://www.thewrap.com/article/tarantino-become-honorary-texan-12152
On December 30th, singer Mike Nesmith of The Monkees turned 67 and singer Davy Jones of The Monkees turned 64. Happy Birthday, Guys!!!
Speaking of Davy Jones, he opens up to Strange Dave about his private life, responds to recent tabloid reports that his brand new 32 year old wife assaulted him, slams TMZ, calling its lawyer owner "gay", dishes dirt on The Monkees, trashes The Rock N Roll Hall Of Fame and other bands that are actually in The Rock N Roll Hall of Fame, stating that they should be "ashamed"of themselves for being a part of an organization that has denied entry to so many other great rock bands, accuses bands like The Byrds, The Beach Boys and The Turtles for employing session musicians and not having each band member perform on every single recording, pokes fun at Paul Revere, Peter Noone and other artists in the oldies touring circuit that Davy performs live with, revealing that he's often put on the bill last because he's the one most likely to survive!
http://strangedaveshow.podomatic.com/player/web/2009-12-10T19_32_07-08_00
Actually, some pretty funny stuff ... give it a listen if you have a chance! He pokes fun at his Monkees-mates, too, and flat out denies that he'll participate with any sort of reunion shows in 2010, preferring instead to do his OWN thing. We'll see ... we've heard THAT one quite a few times over the years, too ... usually right before a Monkees Reunion Tour is announced!!! (kk)
re: THE PIED PIPER:
Kent,
I was thinking I was just reading in FH about Artie Kornfeld, no? Maybe I am senile, but I thought it was here?? Anyway, his days with the Changin' Times (a duo -- him and Steve Duboff) had a nice little run in late 65 and early 66 and they wrote and did the first version of "The Pied Piper", a big hit shortly for Chrispian St. Peters. Here's a few photos, a label scan and article IF I was correct. Sorry if I am thinking wrong.
WLSClark
We've covered Artie Kornfeld quite a bit recently in Forgotten Hits ... but I think you're confusing us with Artie Wayne's Oldies Music Page ... in fact, Artie sent us a nice "teaser" about his upcoming "Pied Piper" piece but we already had other stuff scheduled to run ... so it never hit our pages (until now!) Anyway, click the link below and head over to Artie's page for (as they say) "The Rest Of The Story" ... along with some GREAT music video clips featuring the Changin' Times' original version, the Crispian St. Peters' Top Five Smash ... and even a rarely heard Del Shannon version of this '60's classic!
Kent ... How ya' doin'?
Although Artie Kornfeld, “The Father Of Woodstock”, and I have been friends since the ’60s, until recently I never asked him about the story behind some of his biggest hits as a songwriter. In 1966, he had “The Pied Piper” which made it to number four on Billboard’s Charts, which was one the most optimistic protest songs of the era … now here’s the story behind it.
“The song, “The Pied Piper”, was the result of my being an avid reader since pre-natal period.”, says songwriter / producer Artie Kornfeld (“Dead Man’s Curve, “The Rain The Park, and Other Things”).
“I remember Paul Simon telling me how he wrote the “59th St. Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy)” while driving into the city. I was heading into Manhattan to write with my dear friend and co-writer Steve Duboff. I was the Director of A and R at Mercury and had a three hour demo session booked for a young folk rocker named Jonathan. We were scheduled to cut three songs.
I made my way to the city in my “Dead Mans Curve” Corvette that Donny Kirshner gave me an advance to buy, when DMC went top 5. I kept a tape recorder in the car. As I drove towards the 59th Street Bridge I thought of the Fable about a mythical Pied Piper who, through music, rid his Nation of the Bad Rats that had the children living in fear. There were no freedoms and no expression allowed. The lyric and skeleton song came 1, 2, 3, so fast!
By the time I reached the office-studio Duboff had a dynamo melody on the way. We sat, as my production session was an hour away. I turned the lyric almost anarchistic saying follow me as I promise to rid the earth of The Rats that had us going into Viet Nam. I had the sort of vision I knew the way out!!"
For the rest of the story, exclusive pictures, and three versions of “The PIED PIPER” including The Changing Times, Crispian St. Peters, and Del Shannon’s version visit:
http://artiewayne.wordpress.com/2009/12/30/artie-kornfeld-and-the-story-behind-the-pied-piper/
Regards,
Artie Wayne
http://artiewayne.wordpress.com/about-artie-wayne/
Copyright 2009 by Artie Wayne
Kent,
Is it POSSIBLE?? Another 360 times around our old sun? What a ride. Thanks for all the 'memory jogs' on my Tape of Life ... music has always been with me, starting when my Dad, a co-worker of Dick Clark at the time at a Utica New York radio station, bought me my own record player and a disc by Vaughn Monroe, "Paper Moon" when I was about 2. They tell me I used to sit over in a corner and spin it so much and sing along with it every day that even though they always knew where I was, it drove them crazy listening to that one song over and over so they had to get me another record / toy. (I'll have to ask my mother why they didn't show me how to flip it over and play the other side ... lol.)
Anyway, I found a pretty good track of that song and perform it for my gigs in Retirement homes and and Alzheimer Facilities ... a LOT of the folks remember Paper Moon, and Nat King Cole covered it too, or maybe it was Vaughn Monroe who "covered" Nat's release. Whatever, there are so many memories that all of us have of this song or that song, and what I love about your newsletter and your work is the way you dig into the past for us, and find the truth about how things really were back in our earliest musical years, like your coverage of the Bobby Parker story and told us readers about the songs he wrote that got stolen and became big hits for them but he never got much notice, and on the other side of the 'happy' coin, your coverage of many Beach Boys stories and the comments that come in from people who knew them and worked with them like Fred Vail, are always fun to read.
Most important to me personally, Kent, is that your newsletter with your 'features' and the input from your readers has helped me chuckle on many rainy days since I've been reading it.
Happy New Year 2010 from a real fan,
Veeder Van Dorn
Thanks, Veeder ... that means a lot! (kk)
Childish, eh?!?!? I'll show you CHILDISH!!!!!
