Which hopefully reads more like a conversation ...
Which essentially is exactly what it was ...
(The interview part comes later!)
KENT KOTAL / FORGOTTEN HITS: Hey Paul, great to talk to you again ... I know we've been talking about doing this for a while now so I'm glad that we have finally been able to get together to talk about your new book.
PAUL EVANS: I don’t how you do it, Kent … that big long list of stuff … and you just keep getting that big long list of stuff out there … and you have a HUGE audience out there, it seems to me – anybody and everybody! I just think it’s a GREAT site … and I DO recommend it to my oldies fans.
kk: Thank you, Paul, I appreciate that.
Well, as you know, we’ve been anticipating doing the review and an interview for quite a while now and it’s been delayed due to the book coming out here in The States several months after it came out in England … and then the usual scheduling challenges we always go through to give the piece the proper spotlight … so even this conversation today seems long overdue.
We've been able to do some preliminary
stuff to kind of set the stage for the official book release date here in
America … helping to get the word out and running a few “teasers” along the lines of “Here’s the kind of stuff you can look
forward to in the book” … where, once the reader picks up a copy, they would have the opportunity to read
the REST of the story. We've even featured a few of your tracks that may not be immediately familiar or even
available to some of the readers to try and show a broader scope of your career
than just the chart hits. Our goal would be to show another side of Paul Evans that the public doesn't always get the chance to see and I
think that’s where we work best as Forgotten Hits ... when we get the chance to
sometimes “sneak peek” a track that may not be readily available to the average
fan out there. Kinda like we did when "Santa's Stuck Up In The Chimney" first came out a few years ago.
PE: Well, as you already mentioned, the book was released first in England … it’s an English publisher … so it was released there first in June … and then it came out here around the middle of November … and then what happened is I got busy with English Disc Jockeys. In England, they have promotion. Honestly, Kent, here in The States, it’s really up to me go get the word out … so I’m still scratchin’ around, trying to find somebody who can promote the book at a reasonable price … I have found people who can promote … but they’re not at a reasonable price! So I’ve been just as busy as can be … and I just think that having something up on your site can’t hurt at all!
kk: Well, we’ll certainly do what we can to help get the word out … and maybe even line up a couple of American Disc Jockeys to do some interviews with you to give you a chance to talk about the book.
PE: That’s really what I’m hoping for … it really is a wonderful site … and maybe somebody out there, one of your readers, can tell me how to get to Billboard … I don’t even know how to get to Billboard anymore … it seems impossible to me. A lot of these places that I used to know, you can’t even get to them anymore. I wanted to get on AARP, thinking that they might want to do a feature on the book since it would appeal to the age group of their members … and I can’t even get the NAME of somebody there. Now this may be because they have their own publishing firm … they don’t need my book!
kk: But really, Paul, if you think about it, what we do … what BOTH of us do … there’s a limited audience for this … but that audience is very, very loyal to the people who provided the music that we all grew up with. And you hit it right on the head with something you said earlier about the press in England … our artists today are SO much more respected and revered and appreciated in England today … they’re so much more revered than they are here … and it’s really kind of a shame that this music has lasted overseas and it still gets heard and recognized and people still want to buy it and see these artists, yet these artists don't get the same respect and appreciation here at home.
PE: Yes, you’re right … but I’ve got to tell you, the lack of press really, really shocked me. I mean, I thought I’d be doing a million interviews in America because I know a lot of the disc jockeys … I certainly have my hands full of oldies jockeys … and there was very little response … there should have been more. This is sixty years of music in this book … and I think people would like to read it. So I think, what else can I say to these people? I can really only tell them to go to Kent Kotal’s site and check it out. Your mentioning of the book and writing about it and talking about will do the book some good … because people will see it and want to learn more … because that is the audience that YOU have, which is why I came to YOU to help get the word out about this. I’m sure once you run this piece on your site, I will get some more interviews. I mean, I’ve done several so far, but mostly oldies shows, which is fine because I really don’t know who else I would get.
kk: Well, I think that’s the audience … they’re the ones that are going to know the music of Paul Evans … and there have got to be two hundred disc jockeys on our list that specialize in the oldies … I can certainly approach some of them about this stuff … tell them, once we’ve got everything posted and they’ve had a chance to read it and review it, that you’re available to do interviews about the book (and really anything else they want to talk about) … because there’s really a whole lot more to the Paul Evans story than just the hits. And honestly, I think the timing should really be right for this now … because wasn’t there just some big ad campaign that featured your song “Happy Go Lucky Me”? So thanks to that, people were hearing this song again and many others were discovering it for the very first time.
[EDITOR’S NOTE: “Happy Go Lucky Me” was a Top Ten Hit for Paul Evans in 1960. – kk]
PE: Yes … it was in an ad campaign for Amazon for something called “Amazon Photo” … I have to admit, I’ve made a lot of money on that song … it’s probably my second biggest song, second only to “Roses Are Red” … and “Roses Are Red” was really only as big as it was for me for one reason and that’s because it was in the movie “Good Fellas” … it was terrific for me. We got that licensing in the ‘90’s, and I, of course, own the publishing and EMI actually made a terrible decision … EMI decided in 1989 to sync it out to Warner Brothers for “Good Fellas,” which was wrong because the song belongs to me, thru my publishing company, which would have benefited me and my co-writer.
[EDITOR’S NOTE: Al Byron wrote this song with Paul Evans. It became a #1 Hit for Bobby Vinton … his big, breakthrough record … in 1962 … and topped the charts for four straight weeks. – kk]
So I called Warner Brothers when I heard about it and asked them “Hey, don’t you want a sync license?” and they said “We have one.” So I said, “Who do you have it with?” and they said “EMI.” And I said, “Well, I’m sorry, but you need one with me because they don’t have the copyright anymore” … so they really blew it on this one so it put me into a position where I could work a deal so I would get residuals forever on the song … and it’s been a BIG movie, Kent … it’s been within The Top Ten for years and years … and I’ve been getting very decent checks once a year for it … it’s amazing!
kk: That’s awesome!
PE: What a business! What a GOOD business this is!
kk: It’s kinda funny really because the last time we talked which, as you know, was quite a while ago, YOU were the one that was out there hawking these songs, trying to get them placed in movie soundtracks and commercials … you were PERSONALLY out there pitching your goods! And as we’ve seen over the years, getting them into films and commercials and so on … THIS is where and how many of these songs live on.
PE: Yes, absolutely … and in the book near the end I mention that at one point I woke up and I said, “I don’t know these people anymore” … I’d better have somebody take over my music company to protect the best interests of my music company … Port Music … somebody to administrate it. Two huge grocery chains in Europe (one in France and one in England) wanted to use “Happy Go Lucky Me” and they were big chains which meant big bucks. One chain in France is France-wide … and the one in England, I think, is mainly in London, but they have other outlets as well … so that’s what these administrators are doing for me, to help get these songs out there. And it seems to be working … and at this point, it’s better to get something rather than just giving this stuff away, and when you’re working on your own, I don’t know how you even monitor something like that. Now, if they have something going, they’ll call me to see if I’m interested in licensing a song. For example, right now they told me they’re close to making a deal for a movie and from what I’ve seen … what they’ve shown me … it SURE looks like they'll be using “Happy To Lucky Me!!!” But, you know, you can’t figure out what’s going to happen in advance … you just have to wait and see if the deal goes through. But I think they’re doing great … I’m very happy with them.
[EDITOR’S NOTE: In his book, Paul relates a couple of instances where a company or sponsor licensed one of his songs and then halfway through the production of the piece, decided to abandon it completely and go in a whole new direction. The good news is, he still got paid for all his efforts. (In one particular case, he was even lining up the singers and producing the recording session.) Then, a very minor hit like “Happiness Is" gets picked up by, of all things, Kent Cigarettes … and runs for four years as their main slogan! The publishing business can be very lucrative if it’s handled properly. – kk]
kk: What amazes me is that some of the people that are making these marketing decisions today are MUCH younger … at least one generation removed … and, in some cases by now, maybe even TWO generations removed … and yet they’re selecting music from our era for their advertising campaign. This topic comes up in Forgotten Hits all the time … how do these kids even KNOW some of these songs? Because they're not always the big, popular hits. But who knows … maybe they grew up hearing it in their house because their PARENTS loved the song or that artist … I mean, they HAD to be exposed to it somehow! Or are they just doing a major google search, saying that “I need songs about happiness … this product is going to make people feel happy” … and they’re finding them THAT way … (in which case both “Happy Go Lucky Me” and “Happiness Is” would likely come up.) But to choose one of those over something that TODAY is immediately familiar … like say Pharrell Williams’ big #1 Hit “Happy,” which would be INSTANTLY recognizable to the majority of the audience out there … it makes you wonder if perhaps they are targeting a certain age group for these products. But I don't even know if THAT makes sense! Is Amazon Photo targeting an audience that's 60 years of age and older? In MOST of the cases I’ve seen, I wouldn’t think so. Amazon recently used an incredibly obscure Chuck Berry tune for one of its ad campaigns … we’ve got thousand and thousands and thousands of readers, many of whom are true music experts, and yet most of us were trying to figure out “What is that? Where did that come from?” It’s very likely a song that never even got played on the radio!!! But the fact of the matter is that these songs are finding a whole new audience today … people are going to their favorite streaming services and downloading Chuck Berry’s “It Wasn’t Me,” which I couldn’t even find on an album ... and believe me, I looked for it!
[EDITOR’S NOTE: I eventually DID find it … and I downloaded it, too!!! I didn’t want some Chuck Berry song to be out there and getting attention that I wasn’t even familiar with!!! – kk]
It's thru the use in things like television commercials and ad campaigns and movie soundtracks that the next generation of fans are going to discover these songs … and that’s what’s going to make these songs live on forever. I mean “Happy Go Lucky Me” is just a fun song! What’s not to like about it! (lol)
PE: From my Brill
Building days, which was quite a while ago, the older writers really PRAYED
rock and roll would just go away! And
one of the writers, his name was Al Frisch … he had a couple of hit songs but
he wasn’t one of the big, big writers, but he had a number of records … and he
said, “You know, Paul, you can write some good shit … and you may even have a
hit … but you’re never going to hear it again once it peaks." Well, he was
wrong … it went the other way … I DID hear … and I STILL hear these songs in
commercials and in movies and recently Hulu had a movie out about Kennedy’s
death ...
(EDITOR'S NOTE: 11-22-63 starring James Franco ... and it was quite an enjoyable limited series! - kk)
... and they featured “Happy Go Lucky Me” in there … and that continues to happen with “Happy Go Lucky Me,” a song that’s done so well for me, it’s infectious …because it DOES make you feel good. You can’t hear “Happy Go Lucky Me” and not feel good.
kk: Exactly, it’s a “Feel Good Song.” And you’re fortunate with that one.
*
kk: There are some things that DIDN’T come out in the book that I think would have been a little more interesting … things you have told me personally over all the years that we’ve been talking … such as, that of all of your OWN hits … I mean you were writing hits for all these other people ... from Bobby Vinton all the way up to Elvis … but of all of your OWN hits, other than “Happy Go Lucky Me,” these weren’t songs that you had written, correct?
PE: Yes
kk: So I just always
kind of wondered about that … I mean, obviously as a recording artist, you’re
going to go with whatever the producer wants to go with as far finding the best
material … and clearly the material clicked … I mean, these were hit songs that you were having … but
I just thought that might have been more of an interesting angle to play up in the
book a little bit … about what that was like … sort of like “Ironically, MY
biggest hits were written by OTHER songwriters” ... and more about the selection of that material and how you felt about recording it.
[EDITOR’S NOTE: I recently read a book on Harry Nilsson who felt that he had somehow failed as an artist because his two biggest hits, “Without You” and “Everybody’s Talkin’” were written by somebody else. He always wanted to have written his own biggest hit … and it was like it haunted him his whole life, despite the fact that these were both huge, huge hits attributed to him as an artist. Harry’s only other Top Ten hit was “Coconut,” a song he DID write, which really showed perhaps the more realistic side of just who Harry Nilsson was … but he considered that to be a novelty tune … a children’s song … and again not worthy of what he was truly capable of. Yet quite often, these are the kinds of songs that live on forever ... not unlike your own "Santa's Stuck Up In The Chimney." – kk]
PE: Well, you know, in the back of the book, my wife put together a whole list … probably four pages, maybe more … of a few hundred songs of mine that were done by different artists … and I mean obscure artists and some well-known artists … and she had put in more than two hundred titles. I had a full career QUIETLY. I wasn’t the star … but that never mattered to me. Kent, I did music for 65 years … and I know you read the book, so you know I sang on a ship, I was a ship singer for a while, which was a whole lot of fun … I got into a jazz group … I mean, I couldn’t believe I was singing jazz! The reviews that I like the most say that it’s a good guideline for anybody who wants to get into the music business. You really don’t have to be a star … you can find something to make you happy within the music business that still satisfies you as an artist. One of my pride instances, for example, is when The British Invasion hit, I did spot it right away and I remember saying, “Well, that’s it for New York City for a while” … and it was, except for a few people … I had to look for something else to do and I discovered commercials and I did well in that field. And when I found some of these other things to do, that’s how I learned how to produce jingles and produce records. There’s just SO much you can do in the business and I was very lucky for a long, long time, to have been able to make a career in the music business for over 65 years. And, you know, the book did this for me … it made me truly realize how lucky I was.
kk: Exactly … and you are one of the rare people who has been able to spend your entire life doing what you love.
PE: Yes … yes.
kk: You know, I can’t tell you how many times a week I hear it … and I don’t care if it’s just pulling up to the drive-thru window at Dunkin’ Donuts or talking to the guy sweeping the floor out in the back of the shop … how many times a week I hear somebody say “Livin’ The Dream.” Almost everybody you ask, “How ya doin’,” the most likely answer you’re going to get back is “Livin’ the dream.” But the thing is, you LIVED the dream!!! I mean, you had the opportunity to do what you truly, truly loved … and live the dream. And there’s not a lot of people out there who can say that … who can make that claim.
PE: And while I was livin’ the dream, I didn’t really realize I was livin’ the dream! It took writing this book to remind me that I was truly livin’ the dream.
The book saved my life, by the way … I mean it got me charged to write it. I started writing it in March of 2020 … at the very beginning of Covid … RIGHT at the beginning of Covid … and without the book, I would have been miserable … because I’m what they call a Type A person, which means I MUST be doing something. Without the book, I would have been running around the apartment screaming “I’ve got nothing to do!” My wife told me my neighbors would have burned my doors down because I had nothing else to do … but I worked four hours a day, six days a week, from March to October and it ain’t like writing songs. It is really a major difference. And some of it you have to really think about or look back up and many times I remember thinking, “Oh yes, of course, how could I have forgotten this!”
I’m a lucky guy, Kent … very lucky. I’m going to be 84 next week … so it’s a number … it’s a HIGH number! (lol)
kk: Well, you know 84 is the new 50! (lol)
PE: LOL … well, I consider it the new 70 but still, it’s up there!
But I was lucky to get this chance to put it all down into a book … just lucky.
The publisher had called an English book writer who writes a lot about music … his name is Spencer Leigh … I don’t know if you’ve ever heard his name, but he’s quite a prolific writer … but he couldn’t do it, he was too busy, so the publisher asked him, “How about a book about The Brill Building? Do you know anybody?" and he told them, "I once met a guy from New York and I think he could probably write a book about it." So the publisher called me and I told him that I was only in The Brill Building for two years and if I write about THAT for my book, you will have the shortest book ever written! Do you really want me to do this?
‘Cause I was there one year, Kent, when I had The Kalin Twins’ record … and the second year I was in The Brill Building, I had “Seven Little Girls Sittin’ In The Back Seat.” So I said, “It would really have to be about my career” and he didn’t ever actually say no, but he really wanted a story about The Brill Building. So I sent him two chapters, expecting to get a call from him saying, “Paul, thank you very much, but you’re just not a book writer.” And instead, they said, “Go ahead, we’ll publish the book. You finish it up and we’ll publish the book.” So that was luck, too!
Paul Evans in front of The Brill Building, many years later
PE: I know I stress in the book that the music business, I guess like any business, you need some talent, but you also need some luck.
kk: Oh, luck’s a HUGE part of it, no doubt about it … a huge part of the equation.
*
kk: I enjoyed the book … but maybe we can just take just a few minutes and go thru some of the stuff that I found disappointing and, as I told you from the beginning when I was first going to write my review, there were topics that I felt were “teased” that could have been explained in more depth perhaps. That’s why I thought that rather than me just writing a straight-out review of the book, it might be more interesting to actually have a conversation about it and explore some of these areas and give you the chance to respond to those areas where I felt a bit “cheated.”
[EDITOR'S NOTE: My hope all along was that this would all play out as more of a conversation than an interview - just two old friends talking who had enough respect for each other to remove any defenses and just talk. I can only hope that you, the readers, are seeing it the same way. -kk]
For one thing, when the book started … did you ever happen to read Tommy Roe’s book, by chance?
[EDITOR’S NOTE: Tommy published his autobiography back in 2016. Titled “From Cabbagetown to Tinseltown, and Places In Between,” Tommy reviewed his career from his earliest beginnings to his recent retirement a few years ago ... but he tied HIS story into the events of the day that were going on around him ... going around ALL of us who were there at the time ... it made for an interesting, relatable tie-in to really capture the era. So you not only got Tommy's life story, but you also got a time capsule portrait of the time all of this was happening. – kk]
One of the things that Tommy did when he wrote his book … and you’ve got to understand that I’ve probably read close to 2000 of these books now over the years …
PE: No, I haven’t read it … I was too busy writing my own! (lol)
Is that right, Kent? I know you just estimated, but are there really 2000 music biographies out there? I know there are lots and lots and lots and lots of books … but are there really that many?
kk: If you go back over the last 25 years, I think that’s probably a pretty accurate number … and I don’t claim to have read ALL of them … some I have here just for reference … but I have probably seven bookcases jam-packed full to where you couldn’t squeeze in another book vertically or horizontally if you wanted to! And that doesn’t count at least another dozen boxes of books out in the garage that I either know I won’t have to refer back to or will likely never get around to reading … so yeah, there are a WHOLE lot of them out there!!!
But keep in mind, that I have to do an awful lot of research in order to do what I do … sometimes I’ll remember a specific quote and think “Oh, wait a minute … I know where I can find that … and then I’ll go back and dig it out because I don’t want to misquote it … and a good example of that would be in your book, when you mentioned in just that one paragraph about recording an ABBA song and the fact that they were involved with the song at a time when nobody here in The States even had a CLUE who ABBA was or how big they’d become … I mean, had I not read this in your book, how would anybody EVER have know this? Who else would ever know about that connection? So of course as soon as I read it, I contacted you right away because now I justhad to hear it!!! (lol)
PE: Actually, I found out about it online! So I called the guy who had written about it and asked if I could use the information and then I called the publisher of that, the original publisher of the song, Stanley Mills. Stanley just turned 91. He’s an old friend of mine, because he was my publisher and he’s got the world’s greatest 91 year old memory! He helped me with this stuff … and he’s the one who said, “Oh yeah, I remember getting that song … from a Swedish publisher … and I got the American rights.” I wrote it with my partner, Paul Parnes, who I mention a lot in the book, and then I forgot about it. I think at the time I didn’t know who they were.”
kk: Well, I think at the time, they weren’t ANYBODY yet! That’s what makes this story so great!
[EDITOR'S NOTE: Paul recorded the English lyrics version that he wrote to ABBA's tune in 1971. ABBA wouldn't have their first American hit record until 1974! - kk]
PE: I mean, I was just going thru the publisher … so we didn’t know who they were … and they didn’t know who I was! The quote at the time was “Some country guy in America recorded your song,” you know, after I got the clearance for it.
kk: And see, that’s the kind of stuff I love. This is just the littlest tidbit that you would almost have to stumble upon by accident to even know it. And then I keep talking about the timing being so right … last year is when ABBA did their big comeback … first new recordings in 40 years or something like that! And all of a sudden, they come out with new music! And so I’m thinking, “Man, what a perfect tie-in for this information to come out now!” … and you couldn’t have planned that … I mean NOBODY could have planned that! And that’s kinda what I like about doing this … when stuff just sorta fits in or falls into place … to me, that’s the magical part about all this music stuff. And that’s what shows me that this music is going to be with us forever.
PE: You know, in the book I mention again that I used to sit around with my family when I was just a youngster … a teen already … and we used to listen to Perry Como together, and we would listen to Dinah Shore, Doris Day and Harry Belafonte … Eddie Fisher … and then I discovered rock and roll and I was quickly banished to the basement of my house that we lived in at the time. Because my father couldn’t stand rock and roll. It goes back to like what Al Frisch told me at The Brill Building … that I may eventually have a hit, but that this music will never last. It just didn’t work out that way. It was HIS music that never got heard again … and OUR music is still being heard … and it’s still SO popular! Look how long the oldies have lasted and still mean something.
[EDITOR’S NOTE: Al Frisch wrote the songs “Two Different Worlds” and “I Won’t Cry Anymore,” among others. – kk]
I see what happened to my friend Alex Ward over at 50’s on 5 at Sirius XM. (I don’t know if he’s on your list or not) But they moved him way down the channel list.
kk: Yeah, yeah … it’s like they’re consciously trying to phase out the music from the ‘50’s and ‘60’s after being PRIME decades channel for the service for years and years. But they can’t count us out just yet … because this music is still very much alive and well, thank you very much!
PE: I know that the show out in Westbury, Long Island … I did one … is still very popular. They’ve been doing these shows forever and they’re still going on! That’s a long time. Johnny Tillotson, who is a friend of mine … he was doing it every year but now he’s not feeling too well so he had to step down this year … you know, we’re all getting old! And so he’s not going to make it this year. And that’s another thing I found out about is that the people who promote these shows, they’re loath to go past the people that they know will come out and do a good show. So even though I’ve done a couple of shows, for instance, Johnny Tillotson … he’s very good about going out there and still entertaining his audience … the people know him and they love him … so he’ll come back every year and sing the same songs, and they love him just as much as they did the year before! It’s very interesting how that stuff works.
kk: I think most of these artists have a very loyal audience of followers … and let’s face it, we LOVE these songs. That’s why shows like The Happy Together Tour is so successful … it’s been going on for 30-something years now … and you just go out and book six or seven headliners, each of which had half a dozen hits in the ‘60’s and then you bring them each out, one at a time to play four or five of their biggest tunes with a killer back-up band and the fans love it! It doesn’t tax the artist too much because they only have to hit it out of the park on four or five songs … and really, from a fan perspective, what other songs do you really want to hear them play anyway??? These are the songs you’d want to hear them play every time you see them in concert … it’s the songs they’re known for. Look at all those shows they’ve been running on PBS for years and years. Same thing … bring out your stars with a killer band and let them sing their hearts out for a song or two. The audience LOVES them!
PE: Oh yeah … have you seen my group backing up the singers on any of these shows?
kk: I’m sure I have … I’ve seen virtually every single one of those shows, so I’m sure I must have … but I don’t think I knew about you being one of those back-up singers until I read it in your book.
[EDITOR'S NOTE: Paul and I are referring to the PBS "My Music" shows put on by T.J. Lubinsky, a VERY popular series and fund-raiser for the Public Broadcasting System. - kk]
PE: If you see a show … I can’t think of the name of the specific show … but I think Pat Boone was on it, The Four Lads, The Four EVERYBODIES was on it … Patti Page was on it … and we sang, the group … there were five of us … we sang background for all these other artists. And that was great for me, because I got to be a Crew Cut for a day! One of The Crew Cuts was, unfortunately, in the hospital for one of these shows … and even more unfortunately, he never made it out … so there were only three of them left and so they said, “You’re the fourth voice.” So I was on the stage for their whole set. Now there was no doubt that I was not a Crew Cut, but that was a thrill for me to sing with them. I was hoping that I would get to do “Sh-Boom” but they didn’t do that one with me in it that night. Now that was fun … and that’s one of the things writing the book brought back … how much FUN it was … hard work, learning the tunes … learning to sing jazz was CRUEL! I mean, the notes were so different than pop notes, which are meant to be simple so people can remember the melody. You can NEVER remember the melody to a jazz tune! It’s just in and out of the realm, singing in and out and around the main melody. It was quite an experience. And I think I mention in the book that I couldn’t have done it without the computer. And I couldn’t have written a book without the internet! There is NO WAY! I don’t know how people did it before the internet! I don’t see how people were able to write a book without the internet. Was Tommy Roe’s book written that way? I imagine it probably was.
kk: No, his book is only about eight or nine years old or so … maybe even less … ‘cause we saw him live as part of a special Beatles anniversary show … and then he retired for a while … then he UN-retired and recorded a new album and did a couple of shows … and now I think he’s retired again … which is a real shame because he still sounds just as good as ever and is still writing and recording some great material.
It was interesting because I had been talking to him for years but had never actually met him … and then he did a show here in Chicago and I got to spend some time with him backstage before the show … and he’s just about the nicest guy you could ever want to meet. Just real down to earth … and so appreciative of the success his music career has given him.
[EDITOR’S NOTE: Read my interview with Tommy Roe here:
http://forgottenhits.com/forgotten_hits_interviews_tommy_roe - kk]
PE: So what you were starting to say about the way Tommy did his book?
kk: Well, one of the things that Tommy did with his book was that he tied his personal story to the events that were happening around him at the time … so in essence you not only got Tommy’s biography, but you also got a in-depth portrait of the times … and let’s face it, the ‘60’s were a very turbulent time … everything around us was changing almost minute by minute … I mean, music was changing every week in the ‘60’s … so that story ran as the backdrop … but in parallel … to Tommy’s own story as he built his career.
And you started off doing that in your book … which I loved … kinda like what you were saying earlier … that before rock and roll, THIS is the kind of stuff you listened to and the whole family enjoyed it … and then when rock and roll hit, you were immediately captivated by it and, as such, the reaction to this music started to change … and not always favorably, especially back at the beginning. But then all of a sudden, right in the middle of talking about this, you just abandoned this dialog completely … and never went back to it … and I think that continuing this parallel would have given an excellent perspective on how music was changing when Paul Evans was first making the charts. The vehicles YOU had to sell a record at the time … appearing on Dick Clark’s Saturday Night Show or American Bandstand … there were no music videos back then or streaming … you actually had to go out and BUY a record if you wanted it … get up out of your chair, leave your house and run down to the record store to carry home that little 45 with you so you could drop it on your turn-table the minute you got home from the store. A very different time indeed … and I wish you would have pursued that story line and perspective a bit more because I think it would have been an interesting way to view the times. I really liked the idea of you explaining how your career correlated to what was going on musically at the time … but you just seemed to drop that narrative … and that’s what I mean about feeling “cheated’ in some respects … because I think you were on to something there that would have perhaps made the book a bit more interesting and relatable ... because it would have allowed people to better relate to the times and how quickly things were changing ... and how much resistance there was at the time to this change ... the whole juvenile delinquent thing! I don’t know … maybe the ‘50’s weren’t as exciting as the '60's … and I hate to say "exciting," because rock and roll was just developing in the ‘50’s and nobody thought it was going to last and new artists kept coming along to push the envelope a little bit more … I mean, they couldn’t even show Elvis’ hips on television, for God’s sake … but you just sort of abandoned that story line and I just think you were on to something there that would have made these early chapter a little more relatable. As the times changed, your career changed … and your aspirations changed. I mean, let’s face it, you never turned down an opportunity … ANY chance you had to do something new in music to pick up more experience and knowledge, you were all in!
PE: Yes … you are so right … and I see that you did spot that … and I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that you did with all you’ve read about music. But you’re right, you're absolutely right … ANYTHING to do with music, no matter what it was, I didn’t care, I WAS all in. So I did a little bit of everything. I was a ship singer! But I was not married at the time so I could go off and do these sorts of things. And I’m sure you’ve read about these ship romances … and now I’m going to get crazy and all excited and talk about the book again! (lol)
kk: That’s all right! (Lol) That's exactly what we're here to do - build up some excitement for the book! The book is out there now for everyone to read and enjoy … and you’ve told your stories … and maybe now I’m pushing you to tell “the rest of the story” … sort of like Paul Harvey would do back in the day! (lol) Because I feel like maybe there’s more story to tell … and I think people would like to hear it.
PE: Really, Kent, I’m nuts for the book. It saved me … my wife says it’s an exclamation point on my career and she’s absolutely right. And I have to thank my mother, who’s no longer with us, but when she died, she passed along all these magazines and articles that she had saved throughout the years and she passed them on to my wife, who kept them for all these years and they were INVALUABLE, Kent, in putting this book together. I’d read something and I’d say, “Oh my God, I forgot I did this” or that story would remind me … like in England, for one of my songs they said it was “Tush-grabbing Time” … and I had forgotten all about that … and then I read it in one of the magazines. It was a great time to write a book.
kk: You are so fortunate that she saved all that stuff. I can’t tell you how many artists I’ve met over the years who didn’t keep anything. They were so wrapped up in the moment, thinking that this was never going to end … and they didn’t save anything. They just weren’t paying attention at the time … they were living in the moment, enjoying all the excitement that went along with it … and so many of them have had to come back now, all these years later, and buy back some of their own things on eBay!!! There’s a guy I used to talk to that was in The Grass Roots and he was going to Record Shows all over the country trying to buy his stuff back! (lol)
More tomorrow in Forgotten Hits ...
When Paul Evans talks about the "not so glamorous and seedy side" of show business ... writing songs for Elvis Presley ... and what he did to stay involved in the music business after he stopped having his own hit records.
