David Bowie’s catalog
is the latest to go up for sale … his estate just sold his global publishing
rights to Warner Chappell Music in a deal
estimated to be worth more than $250 million.
(The company now owns all of Bowie’s output as both a recording artist AND
a songwriter.) The agreement includes songs
from all 26 of his studio albums, dating back to his 1967 self-titled debut
through his 2016 album “Blackstar,” released just two days before his death.
In what seems to be a fast-growing trend, Warner Chappell has
now acquired (in addition to David Bowie’s complete output), the catalogs of
Quincy Jones, George Michael, Bruno Mars and Cardi B. (Yes, I’ll agree … those last two are a bit
surprising!!! But if the deal includes
any FUTURE work recorded by these artists, it could be a goldmine. As to any lasting longevity of these acts,
this remains to be seen. The music of
artists like Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, ZZ Top, Jim Peterik,
Stevie Nicks, Mick Fleetwood, James Brown, The Beach Boys and many of the other
acts whose catalogs have recently gone on the block have proven to be timeless
in so many ways. Will there really be a
demand for Cardi B. music 50 years from now???
(kk)
Congratulations (again!) to Micky Dolenz …
David Salidor is reporting …
DOLENZ
DOES IT AGAIN, TOPPING LITTLE STEVEN’S UNDERGROUND
GARAGE
FOR THE COOLEST SONG OF THE YEAR - “CIRCLE SKY” FROM
HIS
DOLENZ SINGS NESMITH ALBUM (7a Records)
In 2016, Micky Dolenz topped Little Steven’s
Underground Garage’s Coolest Song of the Year with “Birth of an Accidental
Hipster” from the 2015 Monkees Good Times album – the song was written by Noel
Gallagher and Paul Weller; and today it was announced that his re-imagined
recording of Michael Nesmith’s “Circle Sky” topped the Underground Garage list for
Coolest Song of 2021.
The track is from Dolenz’s mid-year solo
album Dolenz Sings Nesmith (on 7a Records); a tribute to the songs of Mike
Nesmith.
Here's Micky's Facebook post:
Happy New Year!
I want
to thank everyone for making Circle Sky from Dolenz Sings Nesmith the Coolest
Song in the World for 2021.
Needless
to say, that this comes at a bittersweet time is an understatement. But I know
that wherever he is, he is thrilled to see his work being acknowledged.
I look
forward to continuing the legacy of my band mates the best way I know how, by
keeping the music alive.
Also,
major kudos to Christian Nesmith for his vision and reimagination of these
wonderful songs and thanks to 7A Records for making the project happen.
Let’s
look forward to a safe and sound 2022 and I hope to see you all soon.
#LittleSteviesUndergroundGarage #UndergroundGarage
#StevenVanZandt
Hi Kent,
Loved the story about the negative response to Gene Pitney's "She's a Heart Breaker"!
I saw an interview with Little Anthony, who
said he did NOT want to record "Shimmy Shimmy Ko Ko Bop." He thought it was silly!
The owner of the record company insisted they
record it and it became a hit.
Later Little Anthony commented, as Gene Pitney
did about "She's a Heart Breaker," that you need an UPBEAT SONG to
balance all the ballads. How True!!!
I saw Little Anthony and the Imperials perform
"Shimmy Shimmy Ko Ko Bop” and the
audience went wild … and sang along …
Carolyn
I’ve seen Little
Anthony a few times recently and they STILL put on an amazing show. His voice is in tip-top shape … and he tells
the story on stage about how he didn’t want to record this song … he has even
built it into part of his routine about how he doesn’t want to perform it that
night either … but then admits that once he saw what a big hit it was (#19,
1960) and all the money started coming in, he grew to love it. (I think it’s a GREAT track … and really does
help to blend out their set … especially since their bigger hits … “Tears On My
Pillow” (#4, 1958), “Goin’ Out Of My Head” (#4, 1964) and “Hurt So Bad” (#10,
1965) are all ballads, as you stated.
Little Anthony and the
Imperials also hit The Top 20 with “I’m On The Outside Looking In” (#15, 1964)
and “Take Me Back” (#16, 1965) … not a bad little hit list for a group that’s
still going strong … and putting on a Vegas-worthy stage show everywhere they
perform. (kk)
kk …
Here’s some more talk …
Gene Pitney wondered why "THE MAN WHO
SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE" wasn't offered to Frankie Laine or Marty Robbins.
They had a track record with Western Movie Themes.
It probably was given to Gene because of his
hit "TOWN WITHOUT PITY" in 1961.
We know that the "LIBERTY VALANCE"
song didn't make it into the movie.
Some feel that John Ford didn't want a pop
song in his Western Movie and think that he didn't even listen to it.
I bet you think that Jimmy Stewart shot
Liberty Valance (?)
Look closer … It was John Wayne.
FB
True story … and
another little-known fact from my bizarre childhood.
My Dad was a BIG fan of
Western Movies.
In what can only be
described as a one-of-a-kind memory that just may qualify as the STRANGEST
memory a kid could have growing up (I told you guys previously how he bought
one of those transparent color screens to tape to our black and white console
tv to show blue, red and green in color strips, regardless of what was actually
on the screen at the time … yeah, that was weird … but LOTS of people bought
these) …
No, MY Dad bought a
fake fireplace … that looked JUST like a fireplace when it was up against the
wall … but in reality was a pull-out bed!!!
(Now who else out there can claim to having grown up with one of
THOSE?!?!?)
And, in fact, for its
first night’s use, he let me and my two brothers lie in the bed with him while
we all watched “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,” which was like the 11:00
Movie or something like that … and didn’t end until 1:30 or 2:00 am.
It was the first time
I’d ever seen it (I’ve watched it several times since … it really IS a pretty
good movie) … I couldn’t have been more than maybe 10-12 years old … and I was
TOTALLY captivated by this film. (I’m
sure he counted on all of us drifting off immediately so that he could watch
his movie in peace … but the excited of three kids SLEEPING INSIDE A FIREPLACE
was just too much to contain us!!!)
Anyway, I loved the
film … so yes, I knew it was John Wayne who shot Liberty Valance … and years
later when I became the music nut that I still am today … I often wondered why
Gene Pitney would record what would most definitely seem to be the perfect
theme song for this movie … I mean, where ELSE could you use it?!?! … and yet
it didn’t appear at all in the film, not even in the opening or closing
credits.
The story I remember
hearing at the time was that the song was submitted too late … and may have
even been inspired by the film, meaning it wasn’t written until after Burt
Bacharach and/or Hal David had seen the movie.
(Today, this all seems pretty implausible … I mean Bacharach and David
were MONSTER songwriters already, even by 1962, so I’m sure they were
commissioned to write the song for the film.
Imagine, then, telling this prolific duo that their song wouldn’t be
used!!!) kk
On the website The New
Frontier (a tribute site to the films of John Wayne, that highly emphasizes the
music used in Wayne’s movies), these comments are made:
“Though
it shares a title with a 1962 John Ford western with the same title, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,
starring John Wayne, the song (written by Hal David and Burt Bacharach) was not
used in the film because of a publishing dispute between Famous Music and
Paramount Pictures. The song became a Top 10 hit for Gene Pitney. The chorus of
the Pitney recording features two hard strikes on a drum in order to represent
the shots that were fired.
Gene
Pitney himself later said: "The song 'Liberty Valance' was written for the
movie but for some strange reason never was put in the soundtrack. Because of
the prior success with 'Town Without Pity,' I was paid a bundle to record the
song, and Burt Bacharach produced it. He wrote the song with Hal David.”
Regrettably, the film’s actual soundtrack has never been put
on vinyl or CD, for sale to the public. The film's dramatically hard-driving
music score was composed by Cyril J. Mockridge. In certain scenes involving the
character of Hallie, Ford used part of Alfred Newman's "Ann Rutledge
Theme" from his earlier film Young
Mr. Lincoln. Ford told Peter Bogdanovich in the latter's book John Ford that the
theme evoked the same meaning, lost love, in both films.
The
Man Who Shot Liberty Valance - The New Frontier - JWIDb (weebly.com)
UPDATE: This isn’t the kind of song that you would typically lend itself well to
cover versions … yet over the years everybody from James Taylor, The Greg Kihn
Band and our FH Buddies The Royal Guardsmen took a crack at it. (They Royal Guardsmen actually did a pretty
nice version of this tune as witnessed below.)
None of these other versions charted … but I asked Barry Winslow of The
Royal Guardsmen about their decision to cut the tune …
Hey Kent,
Yes Sir, we had a great Christmas ... with the
kids and grandkids over this year, it made it all most enjoyable ... just
wasn't long enough. Hope your
Christmas was nice as well.
Wow, “Liberty” … I think that was Gernhard's call. "They"
(Phil and Laurie Records) were scrambling to get an album out in a
hurry. Snoopy was really flying then ... lol.
I guess they just didn't have time to let us create. So when I realized "they" really
didn't care about us as a promoted artist, (even though we were writing
new stuff), it was too late.
I remember Gene's version, of course … (I hope he
liked our version) … but didn't hear James Taylor's or Greg Kihn's
versions ... I was hoping to meet them, but like a lot of other artists,
our gigs hardly ever allowed us time to see if we could get on a show
with them. And thanks for the kind words, my friend ... I appreciate it.
The first show with Tommy James, Sam the Sham, and
Keith was the longest we had. We mainly just crossed paths with a bunch
of folks. Sometimes, we'd get to play
like a "Toys for Tots” show, but that was about it. I did
love every minute of it though. That package show did wind up out west
and we gigged with the Beach Boys in three cities … so that was great
fun.
The strangest one was in Melborne, FL ... with
"The Who!!!" (I know ...
lol) This was huge for me. I thought we played loud ... LOL. They were cool
people, but the Roadie "Foot" was a hoot. They said he had a bad
foot that gave him a limp. Funny guy.
Thanks for asking about the song ... it did bring
back a memory or two.
Thanks for keeping all the music from our
era alive. You are awesome!
God bless ya -
Barry
Also, in the new David McGrath book “Gene Pitney: The Singer, The Songs,
The Songwriters” (boy, we sure have been plugging THIS one quite a bit
lately!!!), McGrath offers up other opinions and theories as to why Gene’s
recording wasn’t used in the movie.
(Again, please keep in mind that these are ONLY opinions and theories.)
GENE PITNEY: “The movie’s director, Hollywood
legend John Ford, didn’t want some crummy pop song in his movie that starred
John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart and Lee Marvin.
I knew this song came to me because I had just had a hit with another
movie theme, “Town Without Pity.” Paramount
wanted to piggyback on that. They paid
me quite a bundle to do this song.”
Pitney goes on to say that apparently the left hand at Paramount didn’t
know what the right hand was doing …
“While I was recording the song at Bell Sound in New York, Paramount in
Hollywood released the movie. It was a
big oops.”
In the book “Always Magic In The Air,” author Ken Emerson wrote that
“either the 74-year old Ford failed to appreciate the song’s humor, or he
didn’t cotton to greenhorns” (referring to showbiz rookie Gene Pitney)
HAL DAVID (who wrote the lyrics to the tune): “We were asked to write it for
Paramount. They were called exploitation
songs in those days. The film companies
had you do those songs to have a song come out and perhaps become a hit and
exploit the film. Every time the title
song was played (on the radio), people would hear the title and think of the
film. The song turned out to be a rather
good song, and we and the Paramount Publishing Company made every effort to try
to get the song into the film. John Ford
resisted it because he didn’t conceive of a song being in the film at that
point. As much as Paramount pressed him
to put it in, they were not successful, and we were not successful. So the song came out, Gene Pitney had
recorded it, did a very good record, ant it became a big hit. And I suspect Mr. Ford might have been a
little regretful that he didn’t have it in the film.
BURT
BACHARACH (who
wrote the music for the tune): “Love
that record. Gene’s splendid on it. I was not at all surprised it became a
hit. There are maybe only two or three
other singers who could have recorded that song and done as good a job as
Gene. That song proved to me that he was
a star. We gave him a good song, and he
gave us back a great record. I’ve worked
with many, many talented singers over the years, but there is only one Gene
Pitney.
And finally, ABBY
SCHRODER (wife of Gene’s Manager and Record Label President Aaron Schroeder): “It was plain and simple. John
Ford did not want a pop song in his movie.
There is no more to the story than that.
He likely never even listened to Gene’s record.”
Ouch! (Well, it WAS his movie
after all … but you would think if nothing else it would have been added at
some point in time over the past sixty years … even after the end credits they
could have run a clip of Gene performing the song. Oh well … I guess we’ll just have listen to
it here instead!) kk
Order David McGrath’s book here:
I remember hearing stories of The Buckinghams being part of The Gene Pitney Tour back in 1967 ... sounds like Gene was quite the prankster and instigator back then.
And, speaking of The Buckinghams, Carl Giammarese has a brand new single out called "I Will Love Your Forever."
It's another duet recorded with Lisa McClowry ... an original tune this time. (You may remember their emotional reworking of The Buckinghams' hit "Don't You Care" from last year.)
Carl has given us a copy to share with our readers today.
And then this from Frank B, with whom we've been having an on-going conversation about David McGrath's new book ...
kk ...
Last Night Wild Wayne Played Gene Pitney's First Recording ...
"SO TIRED" by Gene Pitney & THE EMBERS.
Also - "DARKNESS" + "RUNAWAY LOVER" + "VICTORY" ...
Four Cuts Off An Album Of Local Connecticut Talent.
Check It Out On You Tube.
I Didn't Read About This In The Book.
FB
David's book was built around very specific titles, many of which weren't even US hits for Gene Pitney. Once I read the whole book, it made a lot more sense ... the title really says it all: "Gene Pitney: The Singer, The Songs, The Songwriters" ...
It's not so much a biography (as it really does delve very deeply into Gene's life as an artist at all ... in fact, I'd venture to say that your friend Wild Wayne could write a better and more definitive biography just based on all the conversations he had with the man over the years.)
I guess I was hopeful that McGrath, who WORKED for Pitney for two decades might had shed a little more light on the man's career ... but again, in hindsight, the title tells it all ... these are back stories about the songs Gene chose to record ... and are specific to that regard only. Having now read David's book, suffice to say that a true Gene Pitney biography is DEFINITELY something that needs to be done. (Truth be told, I was a bit disappointed that David's "bonus chapters" revolved around a work of FICTION that he was writing next about Pitney mentoring new talent ... we don't need a FICTIONAL account when Gene's REAL story is likely ten times more interesting and exciting!!!) A real biography would have gone into the fact that prior to making it as a solo artist, Pitney took a crack at a career as part of the doo-wop group The Embers. (kk)
Hi Kent –
Status Quo Alan here ...
Thanks for the two videos you posted by SQ ...
I wanted to tell you something about the Fun
Fun Fun story ...
Status Quo had met the Beach Boys at the
Allied Forces concert in 1993 in Germany, where each country had a
representative for the show ... i.e., America had the Beach Boys, the UK had
Status Quo, Canada had Bryan Adams, Germany had the Scorpions, etc. They decided to someday record a song
together ... and in 1995, SQ was celebrating their 30th anniversary in music and
recorded an album called "Don' Stop," which hit #2 on the UK
albums chart.
On that album, SQ recorded "Fun Fun
Fun" with the Beach Boys and invited the Beach Boys to do a few TV shows
to promote the new album. They also did a huge concert at the Brixton Academy
and the Beach Boys showed up for the gig.
What's the big deal, you may wonder?
This was the first time Brian Wilson did a
concert or a video with his old bandmates in THIRTY years since
1965 when he left for mental health issues.
When asked by the UK media why Brian decided
to do these shows and concert, Brian Wilson said (at the interview w/ Status
Quo) … "When a band like Status Quo, a group with such an enormous
following and have the most hit singles in British chart history, call you to
record one of your songs, and appear a few times on TV and their sold
out gig, you go!"
Mike Love was sitting next to Brian and echoed
the sentiment by saying "Exactly ... Status Quo have an amazing group of
fans, the likes which we've never seen before ... amazing fans," he said.
Wow, what a compliment!
Alan Benson
I’ve gotta tell you, I was SHOCKED to see Brian participating in the video, especially based on the timeframe that all of this took place. Seeing Brian, Carl (still with us then), pony-tailed Al, Mike and Bruce up there singing together on a revitalized version of their 1964 hit was quite a thrill … so cool to know that The Beach Boys themselves perceived it as such as well! (For me, this was cooler than seeing their 50th Anniversary Tour!) I also came across a couple of tv appearances that the two bands did together in supoort of this single.
I think your video information is incorrect, however … Brian appeared in the band’s video for their version of “California Dreamin’” in 1986, or nearly ten years before this Status Quo clip was filmed. You’ll also find him in the Fat Boys’ “Wipe Out” video (1987) … and let’s not forget their “Endless Summer” summer replacement television series! (Or the whole "Brian Is Back" campaign in the mid-to-late '70's.)
We’ve spoken before
about how long Status Quo’s success extended beyond “Pictures Of Matchstick
Men” in 1968. Based on my “British Hit
Singles” book (the equivalent of the Joel Whitburn “Top Pop Singles” book here
in America), Status Quo enjoyed 58 British Chart Hits between 1968 and 2002
(which is when my edition of this book ends … my guess is they continued to
chart beyond this point.) This includes
51 British Top 40 Hits … and accounts for 22 Top Ten Hits (including the #1 Hit
“Down Down” in 1975.)
We’ll be running your
piece tomorrow, Alan, so you’ll want to let all of the
SQ fans know. Thanks again for sending
it. (kk)
Here
is the latest Status Quo chart information ... singles and albums, right next
to each other ... it runs thru 2010. The
recap shows that the band charted with 57 Top 40 Hits, nine more of which made
The Top 75.
www.officialcharts.com/artist/17941/status-quo/
Alan
They were no slouches on the UK Album Charts either,
logging 500 WEEKS on the British Charts with 48 different album titles,
including four #1’s. Impressive
indeed! (And hardly “status
quo”!!!) kk)
Kent,
Alan
and I will have to draft you to join us next time we go to the UK for one of
Status Quo’s tours, post-COVID. It’s an experience you will never forget! We
generally attend two concerts - one in London and another in a city such
as Brighton or Cardiff, Wales. Or maybe Liverpool - a MUST SEE if you’ve never been!
And Quo always has great opening acts - such as Joe Browne, REO
Speedwagon, 10CC, etc. Plus you get to take in all the great scenery and
activities such as the pubs, Harrods, London Eye, etc.
Happy
New Year!
Nick
Frankart
Sounds like an amazing
trip … always wanted to see Liverpool and London. (Of course so far I’ve never made it past
Berwyn, IL, so I’m not all that confident regarding the odds of this actually
happening … but hey, I can dream, can’t I???)
kk
