Another edition of HELPING OUT OUR READERS!
>>>One of my listeners on The FLip Side sent me an email to ask if I recognized a song. It's not the normal "cheek to cheek" song by Fred Astaire. I don't have the record, so I'm hoping one of your forgotten hits members will recognize it. See below, and thanks!
(Mr. C)
>>>I have been searching desperately for a song that was a flip-side of a 45 back in the early 60's (around 1962 or 63). The name of the song is "Cheek to Cheek" and the lyrics I remember are: "Cheek to cheek, I want to dance with you. Arm in arm (or could be "hand in hand") Just like we used to do. Day by day, (day for day?) There's no reason for this broken heart." It was done by a girl group. I thought perhaps it was the flip side of "Tell Him" by The Exciters, but that's "Hard Way to Go" ... so now I'm stumped. Can you help? Thanks! (Liz)
>>>Have at it, readers ... let's see what you can come up with! (kk)
>>>Kent, the version Liz is seeking might well be the flip side of "What Are Boys Made Of" by the Percells on ABC-Paramount from 1963. Unfortunately, I don't have a copy to share. Perhaps another FH member has the 45? (Randy Price)
>>>This was on ABC-Paramount 10401-B in 1963. (Tom Diehl)
Well KK,
I have a very happy listener! I sent the mp3 to Liz and just got an email saying that this IS the song she remembered from many years ago. I'll plan to play it on my show on September 7, with a another plug for ForgottenHits.com!! Thanks again for your help ... your FH members really came through! And a big thanks to Randy Price and Tom Diehl, who helped track this one down.
Mr. C
WTG, FH Team!!! You've done it again! (kk)
Here is an incredible email we received last week:
Hi,
My name is Dick Monda and I wrote "Soul Drippin's" and "Drown In My Broken Dreams".
I just wanted to thank Jimy for his incredible readings of my songs.
It changed my life and gave me the impetus to go on with my career.
-Dick Monda, 8/24/10
Thank-you Dick! This Saturday's performance will be dedicated to you.
Jimy Rogers, Joan Gand and the Mauds
Thanks for sharing, guys! Interestingly enough, we broke the story about Dick Monda several weeks ago right here in Forgotten Hits after we heard him being interviewed on Jim Shea's Y103.9 Radio Program. (Scroll back to July 3rd). Monda is BEST known to musical audiences as Daddy Dewdrop ... it was under THAT name that he scored a Top Five Hit with the novelty tune "Chick-A-Boom" back in 1971. (In fact, we invited him to talk with us further on The Forgotten Hits Web Page but never heard back.) You can catch the complete story here (kk):
'60's FLASHBACK:
I just happened to catch Jim Shea interviewing Daddy Dewdrop the other morning on Y103.9 ... what an interesting background this guy has had ... I had NO idea!!! (I guess I've always just thought of "Chick-A-Boom" as one of those great, one-hit wonders ... I mean, I've ALWAYS loved the song ... and played it non-stop back in the day ... but I never realized how far back the career of Richard Monda (Daddy Dewdrop's real name) went!
From late vaudeville dates that included dancing with Frank Sinatra at the age of five (Monda's age, not Sinatra's! lol) and appearing on stage with the likes of Danny Kaye and Abbott and Costello ... to a lead role in the film "The Eddie Cantor Story" (he played Eddie as a young boy ... and even sang in the movie!) ... to auditioning for the part that ultimately went to James Dean in "Rebel Without A Cause" ... this guy's done it all at one time or another. (But I was perhaps MOST impressed by finding out that Monda wrote The Mauds' big Chicagoland Hit "Soul Drippin'" back in 1969 ... how is it possible that I never knew this?!?!? I mean, we've spent YEARS discussing how a young Tony Orlando co-wrote The New Colony Six's big local hit "I'm Just Waiting, Anticipating (For Her To Show Up)" ... but I had absolutely NO idea that Daddy Dewdrop was involved with writing THIS Chicagoland classic!)
And The Mauds aren't the only artists to record Richard's music ... everyone from Tom Jones to Engelbert Humperdinck to Gary Puckett to Sammy Davis, Jr., to Kenny Rogers to Ringo Starr have recorded songs penned by Richard Monda over the years!
You can check out all the details on The Daddy Dewdrop Website:
Click here: Daddy Dewdrop Welcome
I wish I had known in advance that Jim was going to have him on his program ... I think Daddy Dewdrop would have enjoyed hearing one of my favorite "Grade School Frannie" stories from years back:
When I was a fifth grade elementary student in Fort Worth, Texas, our music teacher, Mrs. Mitchell, allowed us to bring our own records from home and play them in her class each Friday. Since I used my allowance to treat myself to one 45 a week, I always provided the Friday music.
One particular Friday, I brought Chick-A-Boom to play. My classmates were quite excited about this since it was our favorite song and we sang it every day at recess. I gave the record to Mrs. Mitchell, she put it on to play and then sat down at her desk to read Good News For Modern Man, which was not out of the ordinary back in 1971 Texas.
Mrs. Mitchell was engrossed in her bible studies and not paying much attention during the opening of the doors 1 and 2 in the song, so she did not hear of the bikini parts located behind each door. At the point of, "I opened the third door ... " my whole class sang as loud as they could, " ... and she whispered so sexy and low ... oooooo!!" THAT caught Mrs. Mitchell's attention and she jumped up, went to the record player, removed the record and exclaimed, 'Frances Elizabeth..you are never again to bring such dirtiness to my classroom ever again! This is not the way of our Savior!" She then sealed the record in a manila envelope, taped the back shut, and put my mother's name on the front. That was also the end of Friday Record Day, and we went back to singing Waltzing Matilda and My Grandfather's Clock.-- Frannie Kotal
LOL ... I LOVE it!!! One of my favorite childhood stories from Frannie's adolescence!!! (Not sure which left deeper emotional scars ... the lyrics to "Chick-A-Boom" or Mrs. Mitchell's reaction to them!!! lol) kk
>>>Hi Kent,
My name is Murray Walding. I'm a writer from Australia and I'm doing some research on sixties night clubs in Melbourne, Victoria.
I'm trying to find out anything about a really obscure track that got minimal airplay out here around 1965. I don't even know the title but its refrain went along the lines of - 'We're not movie stars, We're just the boys with the big guitars.' (Ka-Chang!!!) I always felt that it might have been a Boyce and Hart song ... does it ring any bells with you? Maybe I'm looking for something that's so obscure that its only in my memory banks, however I recall the song as being sung by a duo with a name reminiscent of Boyce and Hart.
I do recall talking to other kids at school about the track and there was a general consensus that it would be a hit. Guess we were wrong about that. There also may have been a clip shown on local television in Melbourne Australia, and again my guess is around 1965.
Any info would be great.
Kindest Regards,
Murray Walding,
Noosaville -- Australia
>>>Not off the top of my head ... but let's run it up The Forgotten Hits Flagpole and see what comes back. Thanks, Murray! (kk)
This was issued in Australia, on W&G WG-S-1948. It was also issued in America on the Ford record label.
This copy isn't the greatest but it was the only one I could find ... it certainly is better than nothing!
Chip Taylor and Ted Daryll were the Town and Country Brothers.
The Town And Country Brothers - The Boys With The Big Guitars.mp3
Tom Diehl
Hmmm ... must have missed this one in the Chip Taylor Series we ran a few years ago! Thanks, Tom ... hadn't heard this one before ... and I can see why there might have been some confusion with Boyce and Hart ... it DOES sound quite a bit like them! (kk)
On this Labor Day weekend, about the only record I can think of to get out and play is Herb Alpert's 1966 recording of THE WORK SONG.
Also, I don't know if you remember it or if it was playing on your favorite rock and roll station at the time, but there was an alternate vocal version. It didn't chart nationally, I believe, but it was by the Bobby Vee sound-alike, Trade "THAT STRANGER USED TO BE MY GIRL" Martin on RCA.
Larry Neal
The Wax Museum
The Herb Alpert instrumental was the big hit version of this song ... it reached #18 on The Billboard Chart in The Summer of 1966. (The tune dates back to 1960 and was written by jazz great Nat Adderley, who played in his brother Julian's combo for years. Julian, of course, was better known as "Cannonball Adderley" and he charted with the first pop hit version of "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy", a #11 instrumental hit that would go on to even greater success when Chicago's own Buckinghams added vocals, taking it from jazz to blues to pop!)
Going back to "The Work Song", it was recorded as a vocal track by a number of artists at the time. (The one I'm most familiar with is Bobby Darin's rendition.) Trade Martin is a regular Forgotten Hits Reader ... so I asked him about HIS version (kk) ...
Kent ...
Larry is correct about my RCA vocal version of the Ramsey Clark Work Song recording (I don't believe Herb's recording was as extensive as Ramsey's was.) Mine never charted ... but the DJs liked it (including my buddy Murry the K) so it was a moderate turntable hit.
My record is tagged as a big 'Northern Soul' sound in England. I don't have an mp3 of my Work Song version (I've since enhanced, re-recorded and mixed some of it) but I'm sure someone out there has it. At times, I see it available on Ebay and I believe it's definitely on YOUTUBE.
At that time, Kent, I had the ONLY special deal to be able to arrange and produce myself as an artist without answering to any A&R man there. Besides being an RCA artist, they were trying to hire me for some pretty interesting money as one of their A&R directors at the time. I still had my own label, and didn't want to be tied to them in a corporate capacity.
And yes, one other thing, (I'm not sure if he likes mine) but I love all the Bobby Vee records ... still, I've never heard anyone say that we even 'slightly' sounded alike. With all due respect, Larry may have our vocal sounds mixed up. Actually, Bobby and I are both very close friends with Rewind's Jimmy Jay. Jimmy and I do a weekly talk show, "TODAY IN NEWS", on Monday afternoons (not on Labor Day) at approximately 3:35 pm EST on KAHI 950 AM out of Auburn, California, with the lovely Mary Jane Popp which follows the LAURA INGRAHAM program. It's a very controversial, humorous and informative show. You can Google it on line and hear us LIVE …. or use the link provided here: http://www.kahi.com/
Keep in touch and warmest regards,
Trade
PS ... Kent, my latest 'political' recording (with over 180,000 hits on YOUTUBE in three weeks) is titled, "WE'VE GOT TO STOP THE MOSQUE AT GROUND ZERO."
Click here: YouTube - "We've Got To Stop The Mosque At Ground Zero"
In the meantime ... Steve Malzberg said he will debut my latest record (title is secret until tomorrow) on his #1 drive-time show Tuesday (tomorrow) between 4 and 6 pm on WOR in New York. WOR streams on line. Please listen if you can. THANKS...!!!
Best regards,
Trade
Thanks, Trade. We ran a link for your Mosque video a week ago or so ... congrats on the new single ... and thanks for the info on "The Work Song" ... we appreciate it! (kk)
A copy of Trade's version of "The Work Song" appears today, courtesy of the ever-reliable Tom Diehl ... this is a really good version of this song!!! (Darin did a bluesier take when he cut it ... and I really like that one, too ... but I kinda dig this rockin' version ... no, not quite Bobby Vee ... but maybe just a little Johnny Rivers?!?!?)
Thanks Kent ... I appreciate that very much. (Now that REALLY sounds like Bobby Vee! And he probably wrote the arrangement and produced the session, too!) All kidding aside, thanks for getting the word out about my latest adventures. Please check these links out, too, if you haven’t as yet. I think your Forgotten Hits friends will like them too. (And these don't sound too much like Bobby Vee either.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HK7Nmm-fDJ0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQGwglXSCVQ
Now how weird is that?!?!? Not ten minutes after responding to your "Work Song" email, I received this note from FH Regular Frank B:
Kent ...
Happy Labor Day.
I'd like to share my favorite "Work Song" with your readers.
It's sung by the great Bobby Darin.
Frank B.
YouTube - Bobby Darin Sings Work Song
