Pretty much every walk of life has been affected by the mandatory shut-downs in an effort to curb the continued spread of the CoronaVirus. Some are just a bit sadder or hit home a little closer than others … like this piece that FH Reader Frank B. sent us about The Surf Ballroom (courtesy, he says, of Wild Wayne) …
Frank also sent us this nice video of Brian Hyland performing the Babyface song “When Can I See You Again” …
kk: I went to the same High School … FRANKLIN K. LANE … as Brian Hyland. (That's my only claim to fame.)
FB
Carly Simon posted this notice:
To my dear hearts, my fellow travelers,
'We can never know about the days to come, but we think about them anyway.'
All I had to give up was the Carnegie Hall tribute concert (It will be postponed).
I was having a sorry for myself perfect storm moment until I gained the larger much larger scope of information. The ultimate scary movie moved right into your own house. Your own thermometer. Your own oxygen level device. Your own throat and lungs. Certainly, the latter two are largely in my imagination. But vividly so. So much that I often lack the silver lining view.
- Carly
And from Lou Christie …
I hope all of you are staying safe and practicing social distancing. I hope to see everyone again very soon.
Lou Christie
Lightning Strikes Music
That’s my all-time favorite Lou Christie song! Thanks, Lou! (kk)
And, as promised …
Hi Kent!
Here is the edited Hi Def YouTube link to my Empty Arena live stream from The Jam Lab from last week. It was shot and edited by Bill Allan and co hosted by Colin Peterik. Feel free to post!
Thanks!
Jimbo
And have you seen this?
Wow, Kent ...
Another great read, my friend. Don't know how ya do it. :O)
We want to wish you and yours a safe and blessed Easter ...
We want to wish you and yours a safe and blessed Easter ...
and be sure to over eat like you’re supposed to … lol
Bless ya, man -
Barry & Teena
Bless ya, man -
Barry & Teena
Same to you and yours, Barry … stay safe. (kk)
I really wasn't familiar with John Prine at all. After I heard about his death, I checked out some of his music. WOW!!! He was great!
Don't know if you're familiar with his song "The Other Side Of Town."
When his wife is yelling at him and giving him a hard time, in his mind he's on the other side of town, drinking beer and smoking a cigar.
Bob Dylan's favorite is "Lake Marie."
I learned that John was in the Army and was a mailman for six years.
Frank B.
John Prine was considered a local treasure … but sadly I never got into his music … it just wasn’t my style at the time I was growing up … but the praise has been tremendous since his death … people you wouldn’t even think would be John Prine fans have been commenting on how much his music meant to them. (kk)
I am really saddened by the death of John Prine. It is a great regret that I never got out to see him … even more so, living here in Chicago.
I grew up on his music … both of my parents were huge fans … and I learned to love it, too.
It just seemed that whenever I thought about going, I put the brakes on because I heard he was only concentrating on building his country music career and wouldn’t be playing any of the songs that I knew and loved when I was growing up. Now I really regret never having the experience.
I’m amazed by some of the big names who have come forward with tributes and accolades for John’s music … artists you wouldn’t think would be John Prine fans … or that his music would even be on their radar … another true testament to the power of his music.
There are a lot of John Prine videos available on YouTube … it’s been nice to discover some of these tunes again … and experience some new ones.
Zak
After losing John Prine, FH Reader Mike Wolstein sent us this clipping he had saved from The Chicago Tribune from 1985 when another Chicago musical landmark, Steve Goodman, passed away …
ONE LAST CHORUS FOR GOODMAN
FANS, MUSICIANS HONOR CHICAGO'S TROUBADOUR
Paul Sullivan - 01/27/85 - Chicago Tribune (Copyright 1985)
By the shores of Lake Michigan, where the hot winds blow so cold,
an old Cub fan lay dying, while his midnight hour, it tolled.
--"A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request"
ON A COLD NIGHT by those Lake Michigan shores, Chicagoans paid tribute to Steve Goodman, a native son with a quick smile, a love for the Cubs and a talent for making us laugh. Friends and admirers of Goodman's gathered at the Arie Crown Theatre Saturday night to honor the memory of a man whose 16-year battle with leukemia ended in September, when he died at 36. Proceeds from Saturday's sold-out show, which featured an all-star line- up of folk, rock and country musicians, will benefit leukemia research.
More than 4,000 fans sat, clapped, stomped their feet and sang along during the five hours of music. Such performers as Bonnie Raitt, Jethro Burns, David Bromberg, John Prine and Arlo Guthrie dedicated their time and some old songs to their friend. For some in the audience, the concert was like bringing back a different era.
"I always admired and enjoyed him," said Vicky Jones, 29, of Evanston, who first heard Goodman in concert at the Amazing Grace coffee house at Northwestern University when she was an undergraduate. "But I never knew that he was my hero until I found out that he was sick. When he passed away, I was catatonic for about three days."
GOODMAN, A COLLEGE dropout and onetime Park Ridge postal clerk, became a nationally known folk singer in the 1970s by writing songs such as "City of New Orleans" for Arlo Guthrie and "You Never Even Call Me By My Name" with Prine for David Alan Coe. Though Goodman's efforts at recording his own songs were not as financially successful as when he wrote for his peers, he endeared himself to Chicagoans by penning tunes about subjects such as Mayor Richard Daley, a Lincoln Park towing company and, of course, his beloved Cubbies.
In a well-chronicled tale, Goodman and his close friend Prine were discovered by Paul Anka and Kris Kristofferson at the old Quiet Knight club on Belmont Avenue in 1971. He soon became a regular of the North Wells Street folk scene, mostly at the Earl of Old Town, and performed in and around town until 1980. That was when he grudgingly bade farewell to Chicago and moved to southern California to be closer to the record industry.
ONE OF THE highlights of Saturday's tribute was a 20-minute compilation of film clips from Goodman concerts since 1972. Though tears were shed by many when a clip from the boyish singer's long-haired early days led into a later clip in which his head was shaved after cancer treatments, Goodman's ready wit left the crowd laughing and cheering at the reel's end.
Each of Goodman's fans had a different reason for attending the tribute. Ronald Blumenfeld, 34, of Chicago, said he could relate to Goodman because they grew up at the same time and in the same city. "I remember buying the 'Dying Cub Fan's Last Request' and being towed away by the 'Lincoln Park Pirates' when it only cost $30," Blumenfeld said.
For two old friends from Holy Cross High School, the concert was their first get-together in four years. Robert Garcia and John Orzechowski had a chance meeting while waiting for the concert to start. "Goodman had poor success," Garcia said. "He was kind of like the old Cubs. He had a lot of hits but never a lot of runs."
Mike also sent us this photo:
>>>Of course, “Bohemian Rhapsody did make it to #2 on Billboard's Hot 100 on May 9,1992 -- almost 16 YEARS to the week after its #9 1976 peak. The MAIN reason? It was featured in the hit movie, "Dumb & Dumber." Also, possibly in part due to Freddie's death on November 24 the previous year. (Clark Besch)
>>>It wasn’t “Dumb and Dumber” that put it back on the charts … it was “Wayne’s World,” which provided one of the most classic music scenes EVER in a motion picture as Wayne and Garth “head-bopped” their way thru this rock classic. (As for “Jump” … “whatever THAT is” … it was a HUGE #1 Hit for Van Halen … and one of those classic M-TV videos that played non-stop back in the day. Surely you know this one … it also ranked at #129 on our Top 3333 List, their highest charting track.) kk
Hi Kent,
I have to disagree with Clark Besch's editorial comment about the Top 8 songs on that Hot 100 chart from 1976.
Those songs don't make me sick … they give me lots of joy! Each and every one of them deserved their chart positions that week. Remember, any given weekly Hot 100 chart is just a snapshot of how songs ranked that particular week. The main problem "Bohemian Rhapsody" faced was that it was peaking in different markets at different times.
Some more interesting chart stats on the original 1976 release of "Bohemian Rhapsody" ...
It peaked at #8 in Radio & Records (but charted for 21 weeks, which was a lot back then). It ranked at #20 on the 1976 year-end Radio & Records chart (between "Still The One" by Orleans and "Shake Your Booty" by KC & The Sunshine Band).
It peaked at #4 in the weekly Gavin Report airplay charts.
It ranked at #18 in the Billboard year-end Top 100 (between "More, More, More" by the Andrea True Connection and "Misty Blue" by Dorothy Moore).
Also, the song that kept "Bohemian Rhapsody" out of the #1 spot on the Hot 100 in 1992 was "Jump" by Kris Kross (not "Jump" by Van Halen). That Kris Kross song got massive singles sales (certified double-platinum) and enough airplay top keep it at #1 on the Hot 100 for 8 weeks!
Paul Haney
Record Research
A few comments of my own …
Is there ANYBODY out there in the ENTIRE world that would rank “Bohemian Rhapsody” between “More More More” by The Andrea True Connection and “Misty Blue” by Dorothy Moore?!?! Yet that’s how Billboard tabulated their year end chart that year (although I can’t imagine what point system they used to do so!)
Is there ANYBODY out there in the ENTIRE world that would rank “Bohemian Rhapsody” between “More More More” by The Andrea True Connection and “Misty Blue” by Dorothy Moore?!?! Yet that’s how Billboard tabulated their year end chart that year (although I can’t imagine what point system they used to do so!)
The Van Halen / Kris Kross error was mine … and I will be the very first to admit that Kris Kross and their #1 song “Jump” were not on my radar THEN (back in 1992) or at any moment since. (If they boogied on next to me right now and sang two minutes of it, I STILL wouldn’t know what it was!!!)
I should have LOOKED at the chart before commenting. (And besides, I ALSO should have known that Van Halen’s “Jump” came out in 1984 (from the album of the same name, if I’m not mistaken.)
It’s often amazing to me looking back at how some of these songs were SO immensely popular at the time yet didn’t sustain that level of interest even just a few years later (much less thirty!)
It’s often amazing to me looking back at how some of these songs were SO immensely popular at the time yet didn’t sustain that level of interest even just a few years later (much less thirty!)
It’s also the reason that I don’t think much of today’s music (or the music of the past 20 years) will have much long-term impact … so much of it just comes across as “disposable.”
But “Bohemian Rhapsody” is timeless … a one-of-a-kind track for the ages … that apparently has only grown in stature since its first release. Who out there … at any age … doesn’t know at least some part of that song? (Remember a few years ago when that video went around of the two year old kid sitting in her car seat singing it???)
Then again, when’s the last time you danced The Macarena??? (kk)
OOPS! I forgot it was an SNL skit that set up Bohemian Rhapsody for new success. I actually have never even WATCHED "Dumb and Dumber"!!!
As for "Jump," this listing is a 1992 song by Kris Kross, not by Van Halen. Maybe it's the same song? I KNOW Van Halen and I KNOW Christopher Cross, but have no idea what "Jump" by Kris Kross is. :)
Clark Besch
Yeah, that was my bad … I had to go find the track just to hear it … I seriously am not familiar with it at all. Even watching it again now, it rings absolutely NO bells for me.
I remember it being big (#1 for eight weeks, selling two million copies) for the Atlanta Rap Duo, both of whom were just 13 years old when this record topped the charts in 1992. (They would have three more Top 20 Hits … “Warm It Up,” #13, 1992, “Alright” with Guest Rapper Super Cat, #19, 1993 and “Tonite’s The Night,” #12, 1996.)
Chris “Mack Daddy” Kelly died of a drug overdose in 2013 at the age of 34. His partner, Chris “Daddy Mack” Smith is still around but never had another hit.
Here it is ... let me know if it sticks in YOUR head in any kind of memorable way. (Personally, I forgot it the moment it stopped playing!!!)
(kk)
I am formally requesting my copy of The Top 3333 Essentials.
I have put together what I think is a great show of the Top 50 and some extras,
including number 3333 and others. The recorded broadcast is still on
hold as management feels we need to be 'live and local' for people during this difficult time. It has been very rewarding, playing listeners’ 'happy place songs' and their favorite 'quaran-tunes'. The countdown will play when I get the go
ahead to travel again so that I can finally spend some time with a newborn grand child.
I found my top 25 that I sent to you back when the voting was open. My
number one was Bohemian Rhapsody. It lives on after its initial popularity, Wayne’s World, and we had another surge of requests after the Queen / Freddie Mercury movie came out a couple of years ago.
The music of Queen seemed to chart even better in the midwest. WLS did have a lot to do with that. I was an avid listener to that station through the late '70's. They played Killer Queen all the way to number one in 1975 and number 7 in their year end countdown. It only made it to number 12 in Billboard.
Phil Nee
WRCO
Queen’s music always did VERY well here in Chicago.
I don’t know that their original intention was to be a pop singles band … but they tapped into SO many different styles of music that we learned to always expect the unexpected. (How does one go from the classical, operatic sounds of “Bohemian Rhapsody” into the rock-a-billy stylings of “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” all in one swoop. THESE guys pulled off EVERY style brilliantly. From stadium rock like “We Will Rock You” to beautiful ballads like “We Are The Champions” and “Somebody To Love” to pure pop like “You’re My Best Friend” to dance / disco funk like “Another One Bites The Dust” and “Under Pressure,” these guys could do it all, reinventing themselves on every track.
Billboard officially credits them with TWO #1 Hits: “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” and “Another One Bites The Dust” … but here in Chicago, they topped the WLS Chart FIVE (some might say six) times with “Killer Queen,” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “We Will Rock You” / “We Are The Champions,” “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” and “Another One Bites The Dust.”
Anxious to hear what kind of reaction you get to playing The Top 50 (whenever you finally get around to doing it!!!) A show like that might actually help to lift the spirts during these dire times. (Be sure to send me a copy!) Thanks, Phil! (kk)
Hi Kent –
The past few weeks
we have needed your daily blog more than ever to help us oldies music lovers
stay informed and thinking positive thoughts. You bring smiles to our faces in
a critical time when many of us need it most. Thank you so very much for that.
Hope you and your entire family stay safe.
Here is some
exciting news for oldies music fans that you may want to share with your
readers. Lots of new stereo on several upcoming CD releases on the Hit Parade
and Complete 60s labels. Also, an Eric Records remastered CD with some rare 45
versions.
Check them out
here: http://ericrecords.com/
Santi Paradoa
Miami, Florida
Yesterday I was watching the one place where they still play the forgotten oldies ... a TV commercial. It was a lawn seed commercial and I heard Link Wray's "Rumble"!! I thought "What an awesome song! I wonder if it made Kent's Top 3333. I should've voted for it." So please send me your list. I promise to abide by all the terms and conditions.
Ed Erxleben
I’ve seen that same commercial several times now, too. It sure is an ear-catching tune, isn’t it? Even some 62 years later!!! (I remember having the same reaction when Quentin Tarantino used it in “Pulp Fiction!”)
Incredibly, no, it did NOT make The Top 3333 List (which is now on its way to you.) In fact, I can’t even seem to remember it so much as being nominated. (Now THAT’S a shame!!!)
I think this one holds up well enough that it would still sound good coming out of your Classic Rock radio source every once in awhile. (kk)
Hi, Kent!
I wrote to you previously about how delighted I was to see years on the master 3333 Excel file! That gave me just what I needed to add years to my beloved and carefully curated iTunes library. And in general, the list is a fabulous resource.
In the process of going through my list, I was surprised by some of the artists and groups not on the 3333 at all. (First of all, Kent, my sincere apologies for any groups that ARE on the list which I’ve overlooked!)
Now maybe I missed reading criteria of what would be included. But methinks a list of most essential classic rock songs should include at least something from ABBA, THE FOUR TOPS, THE SUPREMES, LESLEY GORE, MADONNA, THE POINTER SISTERS, SAM COOKE, SHIRELLES, WALKER BROTHERS, and WAYNE FONTANA AND THE MINDBENDERS.
And surely the great TOMMY BOYCE AND BOBBY HART deserve to be on the list, if only for “I Wonder What She’s Doing Tonight”. (My personal favorite is “Alice Long”, but that’s my bias showing: when that record came out I bought it for my girlfriend at the time whose name was Alice!)
Other notables missing from the 3333: Buster Poindexter, Cindy Lauper, Jr. Walker and the All-Stars, Juice Newton, Little Anthony and the Imperials, Minnie Riperton, Frank Zappa and the Mothers, Nancy Sinatra, Ohio Express, Olivia Newton-John, Rotary Connection, Ruby & Romantics, Rufus Thomas, Seatrain, and Unit 4+2.
As my subject line suggested, apologies for quibbles. There had to be some showing up in an undertaking of that mammoth scope!
Best wishes,
Kevin Killion
(the other KK)
The Classic Rock Top 3333 is exactly that … songs that fit the format for a Classic Rock radio station … the GENRE of classic rock. Most of the artists you listed might make a list of the all-time biggest and favorite POP songs … or Top 40 songs … but that wasn’t the intent here …
Our series was designed to acknowledge the songs and artists that carved their own place in “album rock” … or the era where the album became more significant than the single. (A few of the artists on your list made the final list as well … but as a rule, none of these would typically qualify to be on such a specific list.)
Because radio is SO segregated and regimented these days, you’re not as likely to hear the widespread variety that we enjoyed growing up in the hey day of Top 40 radio … back when you could hear artists like Glen Campbell and Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles and The Four Tops, The Four Seasons and Napoleon XIV, all played back-to-back and side-by-side without the slightest reservation. Radio just isn’t like that anymore. Today’s channels are geared toward your specific tastes in music.
There is a spot for much of the music you have listed … but honestly I think even an all-inclusive list with no barriers or restrictions would have to be pretty large to include artists like Buster Poindexter, Seatrain, The Walker Brothers, Rotary Connection and Frank Zappa!!! It would likely have to be a list of 10-20,000 favorite songs!!! (But then again, as you eluded to, that’s why iPads are for!!!) kk
Hi Kent -
In today’s edition of Thursday This And That / Forgotten Hits, you mentioned that Jackie De Shannon did not win any awards for "What The World Needs Now Is Love". But didn't she win an award for the song she co-wrote, "BETTE DAVIS EYES"??
What a great song that was.
If in doubt ask the master ...
Carolyn
You are absolutely right … she sure did. “Bette Davis Eyes” (written by Jackie DeShannon and Donna Weiss) topped Billboard’s Hot 100 Pop Singles Chart for nine weeks in 1981 … and then went on to win The Grammy for both Record of the Year AND Song of the Year. (This single rode the charts for 26 weeks … half a year!!! … which was virtually unheard of back then!) It was Kim Carnes’ (who’s a very successful songwriter in her own right) biggest hit. (kk)
With multiple mentions of "Unchained Melody" in FH yesterday and today, I'm reminded that it was on this day in 1955 that two versions of "Unchained Melody" first appeared on the Billboard charts. These were performed by Les Baxter's Orchestra and Chorus and Al Hibbler. The movie had premiered on January 19, with its first showing in Chino where it was filmed. Opera singer Todd Duncan performed the song in the flick.
On April 23 Roy Hamilton's cover made the chart - and a few weeks later, on May 14, we see June Valli's brief appearance.
This was one of those rare situations where four versions of the same song were on the charts at the same time. And, as you have often mentioned, this is a perfect example of the time when the song was more important than the artist(s).
David Lewis
Many years ago we did a tribute to “Unchained Melody” in Forgotten Hits, tracing its history back to the original film version. SO many great versions have been recorded since then (with The Righteous Brothers’ version seeming to be the definitive take against which all others are measured … and THEIR version was a B-SIDE!!!)
I found these comments (including one of your own!) dating back to 2011:
‘Unchained Melody’ lyricist Zaret dead at 99
Song was one of the most frequently recorded of the 20th century
Hy Zaret died at his home Monday, about a month shy of his 100th birthday, his son, Robert Zaret, said Tuesday.
He penned words to many songs and advertising jingles but his biggest hit was “Unchained Melody,” written in 1955 for a film called “Unchained.” It brought Zaret and Alex North, the composer, an Academy Award nomination for best song.
Zaret refused the producer’s request to work the word “unchained” into the lyrics, instead writing to express the feelings of a lover who has “hungered for your touch a long, lonely time.”
The song was recorded by artists as diverse as Elvis Presley, Lena Horne, U2, Guy Lombardo, Vito & the Salutations and Joni Mitchell, who incorporated fragments into her song “Chinese Cafe / Unchained Melody.”
An instrumental version was a No. 1 hit in 1955 for Les Baxter, while a vocal version by Al Hibbler reached No. 3 the same year.
But most baby boomers remember the song from the Righteous Brothers’ version. The record, produced by Phil Spector, reached No. 4 on the Billboard chart in 1965, and was a hit again 25 years later when it was used on the soundtrack of the film “Ghost.”
In all, it was recorded more than 300 times, according to the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, which listed it in 1999 as one of the 25 most-performed musical works of the 20th century.
Among other songs Zaret co-wrote were “My Sister and I,” a hit in 1941 for Jimmy Dorsey; “So Long, for a While,” the theme song for the radio and TV show “Your Hit Parade”; “Dedicated to You”; and the Andrews Sisters’ novelty song “One Meat Ball.”
“He had some big, big hits,” said Jim Steinblatt, an assistant vice president at ASCAP.
In later years, Zaret had to fend off the claims by another man, electrical engineer William Stirrat, who said he wrote the “Unchained Melody” lyrics as a teenager in the 1930s and even legally changed his name to Hy Zaret. Robert Zaret and Steinblatt both said the dispute was resolved completely in favor of the real Zaret, who continued to receive all royalties. Steinblatt said Stirrat died in 2004.
-- submitted by Shelley J. Sweet-Tufano
How weird that this would happen now in the midst of so much discussion of this tune in Forgotten Hits!
(By the way, Bill Medley told Forgotten Hits a few years ago that HE produced the original Righteous Brothers' version of "Unchained Melody" and not Phil Spector because Spector couldn't be bothered to oversee the B-Sides! "Unchained Melody" was the original flip side of The Righteous Brothers' single "Hung On You" but quickly surpassed the intended A-Side on the charts, ultimately peaking at #4 in Billboard in 1965, eclipsing "Hung On You"'s #47 chart showing. Much like the proper songwriting credit, the dispute as to who really PRODUCED this song has also raged for years ... as Phil Spector ALSO claims ownership of this production!) kk
I found a source that had a nice clean copy of the flick "Unchained".
It's not bad, but it's not great. The melody plays on and off throughout, and there are interesting appearances by Jerry Paris (of Dick Van Dyke fame), Barbara Hale (youngest I've ever seen her), and a young Tim Considine.
Musical highlights are Todd Duncan's vocal and a nice instrumental at the close.
David Lewis
Musical highlights are Todd Duncan's vocal and a nice instrumental at the close.
David Lewis
Hil's review was less than flattering ... but it IS interesting to see where this song got its origins. (kk)
>>>Unchained, a 1955 low budget movie, is about a man imprisoned. I have seen the movie and I have it on DVD and VHS but neither is a copy to make a fuss over. It is blurred and shaky. I bought it from one of those online "hard to find" movie places, mainly to get the song. The movie stars Chester Morris, a tough guy type from early 30s films and into the 70s. He plays a warden trying to create a model prison where the inmates are treated decently with the hopes of rehabilitation. The focus is on an inmate played by Elroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch, a football player with Hollywood ambitions that never materialized. The theme is by Alex North, on of Hollywood's finest composers, whose work can be heard in such movies as Viva Zapata and The Long Hot Summer. While the theme is played throughout, the song is in the hands of one of the most cliched characters in movie history, the black prisoner with a guitar. Here he is played by one time Porgy actor Todd Duncan. In the movie itself it is sung without the famous bridge beginning with "Lonely river flows ... ". It was nominated for Best Song Oscar and lost to the highly popular but not long-standing "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing". Time and countless artists recordings have demonstrated over time which is the better song. Here's an mp3 I made. You now have the original version of Unchained Melody. Take my word for it. It is a classic song. It is NOT a classic movie. I feel its low budget, lack of star power and absence of any studio push kept the song from winning an Oscar.
Link to the movie for more information is below. (Hil)
There are reportedly over 300 known recordings of "Unchained Melody", making it one of the most recorded songs in pop history. Joel Whitburn's latest "Top Pop Singles" book also says it's the song with the most charted versions: 13 at last count! (kk)
BONUS ‘60’s FLASHBACK:
After our Phil Spector Series (put together by FH Reader Steve Knuettel) ran, a bit of a controversy erupted regarding who actually produced The Righteous Brothers' hit version of "Unchained Melody" in 1965. Often regarded as one of Phil Spector's greatest productions, there is a VERY distinct possibility that this track was, in fact, produced by Bill Medley! See, back then Spector was only interested in producing the A-Sides of his records ... and he was absolutely CONVINCED that "Hung On You" would be a major hit. So, in what amounted to not much more than "throwing his artists a bone," he allowed Medley to produce the B-Sides of all of The Righteous Brothers' records. But "Unchained Melody" became a surprise hit. The intended B-Side quickly surpassed the intended A-Side, rising to #4 on the Billboard Chart (while "Hung On You" never climbed any higher than #47!)
Finally, to set the record straight, we went right to the source himself ... and Bill Medley exclusively told Forgotten Hits:
Hi Kent,
You have the story right. Phil would produce the singles and I would produce the album material. "Unchained Melody" was never intended to be a single. As such, I produced it.
You have to remember that I was producing our stuff before Phil Spector ... I mean I produced "Little Latin Lupe Lu", "My Babe" and all that stuff. Then when we went with Phil, Phil asked me if I would produce the albums because it was too time consuming for him to produce the entire albums. So he was gonna do the singles and I would do the album. And so that's how that happened and that's how I produced "Unchained Melody," which Phil Spector apparently now takes credit for. He can have the credit. And I'm not a producer. I know how to produce. But it's obviously not a Spector production. "Unchained Melody" was never intended to be the single ... it was produced to be on the album. It was put on the B side of a Phil Spector single "Hung On You" and the minute it was released "Unchained Melody" just went through the roof.
--Bill Medley
The original:
--Bill Medley
The original:
The 1955 hits:
The big one (which has set the standard for all to come after it)
(But then again, not EVERY version was quite this beautiful) ...
kk …
According to Ron Smith's book, on 4/9/1953 Elvis performed at the L.C. Humes High School talent contest, singing "KEEP THEM COLD, ICY FINGERS OFF OF ME." He gets the most applause and sings "’TIL I WALTZ AGAIN WITH YOU."
I can't hardly believe it …
Listen to Elvis say the only subject he failed was music.
And listen to this recording of Elvis singing “TOMORROW IS A LONG TIME,” a song written by Bob Dylan.
If you read some of the comments below, you’ll see that …
Elvis Presley recorded the song on May 26, 1966, during a session for his album How Great Thou Art. The song originally appeared as a bonus track on the Spinout movie soundtrack album. Dylan once said that Presley's cover of the song was "the one recording I treasure the most." (Mark Parker)
Dylan was supposedly so overwhelmed by this cover that he thought it was the best cover anyone had ever done of him and it was one of his most proud moments in his career to have Elvis cover one of his songs (Simon Robeyns)
Frank B.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dRNZZuuR8I&fbclid=IwAR09s8rCi0RmmHFRQeTdNkVAQrpX2RjLVSVaZIzc_AgZSelzMMwbekv36Hs&app=desktop
Frank B.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dRNZZuuR8I&fbclid=IwAR09s8rCi0RmmHFRQeTdNkVAQrpX2RjLVSVaZIzc_AgZSelzMMwbekv36Hs&app=desktop
And I have always loved Bob Dylan’s version of the Elvis Presley hit “A Fool Such As I,” a #47 hit in early 1974. (kk)
Mark Lindsay told this story …
He lived with Terry Melcher (Doris Day's Son.) They wrote songs together.
Terry wrote the music and Mark wrote the lyrics.
Terry had a big desk and was always doing five different things at a time.
Mark had a small desk that he sat at to do his writing. They parted and went their separate ways.
Fast forward to today …
Doris Day's Estate is currently having an auction.
Mark checks out the catalog and sees that his desk is for sale.
He bid on it and got it. Mark always thought that the desk was part of the house furniture.
Turns out it was Terry Melcher's desk. He took it with him and gave it to Doris Day.
Mark's hoping when he sits at his desk it will inspire him to write new music.
FB
Mark Lindsay and Terry Melcher lived together in Terry’s house for quite some time and wrote songs together there. (This is the same house that Charles Manson and his crew came to attack, not realizing that Melcher no longer lived there … instead his disciples found Sharon Tate, et al, and the rest, as they say, is some pretty gory history.)
Lindsay and Melcher wrote the Paul Revere and the Raiders hits “The Great Airplane Strike” (#17, 1966; “Good Thing” (#4, 1967); “Ups And Downs” (#19, 1967); “Him Or Me, What’s It Gonna Be?” (#5, 1967); “I Had A Dream” (#13, 1967) and “Peace Of Mind” (#35, 1967). Melcher also produced the band. (He had previously been one half of Bruce and Terry, with Bruce Johnston of The Beach Boys, before Bruce replaced Brian Wilson on the road in 1965. Melcher also cowrote The Beach Boys’ #1 Hit “Kokomo” 20-something years later!)
Several Paul Revere and the Raiders songs were featured in last year’s Quentin Tarantino film “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood” … and Mark Lindsay said it was haunting to see the rooms of that house recreated on the big screen after having spent so much time there. (Obviously, after Terry moved out … and the murders took place … Mark never returned to the house again. Story goes that Terry Melcher was Manson’s original target … a PLANNED murder, in fact, as revenge for not signing Charlie to a recording contract. Talk about your sore losers!!!)
It's amazing to me to think that someone of Bob Dylan’s stature has his OWN favorite songwriters … and the fact that John Prine was one of them has to be one of the highest honors one could bestow.
Dylan just scored his very first #1 Record on ANY Billboard Chart this week when “Murder Most Foul” (the 17-minute track we discussed last week, written about the Kennedy assassination) topped the Digital Downloads Chart this week. (When one considers that Dylan’s career dates back BEFORE the Kennedy assassination … yet he has never officially earned a #1 … that’s pretty amazing!)
Songs he has WRITTEN have become #1 Hits for other artists … but this is the first time he’s scored one under his own name. Wow! (kk)
I just got word that Gilbert O’Sullivan’s City Winery show has been pushed back A YEAR due to rescheduling conflicts.
Tickets for this year’s show will be honored …
But the new date will be April 26, 2021. (kk)
Justin Hayward’s tour dates have been pushed back, too.
Here’s the new list as things currently stand:
October 15th – Infinity Hall in Hartford, CT
October 16th – Flying Monkey in Plymouth, NH
October 18th – Greenwich Odeum in East Greenwich, RI
October 22nd – The Warehouse in Fairfield, CT
October 27th – Robins Theatre in Warren, OH
October 28th – Carnegie of Homestead Music Hall in Munhall, PA
October 29th – The Kent Stage in Kent, OH
November 1st and 2nd – City Winery in Chicago, IL
November 4th – City Winery in Nashville, TN
Check out Harvey Kubernik’s piece on The Association …
Hey, Kent ...
I was playing a tune on YouTube this evening, and when it finished, the computer, as it always does, threw a panel of six videos up on screen. One of the vids was from 1969, the Guess Who doing "Laughing" on some TV show. It had just become a Gold Record. No surprise.
I'd never seen this video before. I was mesmerized. It was one more reason why
Burton and the Guess Who were one of the greatest pop bands in the world. Burton's voice melts you into a puddle.
Mike Wolstein
Just found your list of Top 50 Instrumental Hits.
How in the world could you leave out the instrumental great POPCORN from the seventies?!!
Doug Mascaro
Doug Mascaro
For the record, WE didn’t leave out anything …
The first Top 50 List was determined by actual chart performance of these hits at the time they were out. (“Popcorn” peaked at #9 on the Billboard Chart in 1972 … but hit #7 in Record World.)
The second Top 50 List was determined by the votes of our readers as to which of these instrumental hits have stood the test of time … what are YOUR all-time favorites … and evidently not as many people felt as strongly about “Popcorn” as you do! (lol)
We just REPORT the results … we don’t create them! (kk)
UPDATE: Since this list of Fan Favorites is now over ten years old, it has been suggested that it might be time to do a new poll to see the currently popularity of these tracks.
Likewise, we have heard that it may be time to update our Favorite TV Theme Songs list as well. (Even the folks at Me-TV have made this suggestion!)
Unfortunately, there just aren’t as many great and memorable TV themes these days … but hey … if we get enough positive response to EITHER of these new polls, we just may put it out there to ALL the readers and ask them to cast their votes again.
What say you, Forgotten Hits Readers??? (kk)
HELPING OUT OUR READERS:
Hi Kent –
Hi Kent –
Hoping you can help …
If you know anyone who collects local airchecks, Pam is looking for a Biondi clip from WLS-FM 94.7 where he says "Classic Hits" for her documentary. She says it has to be those exact words. So, that'd be after 1986. I went through about 300 airchecks and sites, with no luck. Maybe you and your audience will get lucky.
Thanx, and stay healthy!
Thanx, and stay healthy!
Keep up the great work!
Mike
Puttin’ it out there! Anybody able to help with this one? (
