Tom Cuddy sent us this clip …
Don’tcha just love the creative process as these skilled songwriters demonstrate the method behind their craft …
Here’s Elton explaining how he approached “Tiny Dancer,” one of his all-time biggest classics … and then plays thru a rough draft of the song.
Watch the exact moment Elton John wrote 'Tiny Dancer' on the piano
in 1970:
https://www.smoothradio.com/artists/elton-john/tiny-dancer-piano-video/
Although “Tiny Dancer” is today one of Elton’s most-played hits (it finished at #15 in our TOP 3333 MOST ESSENTIAL CLASSIC ROCK SONGS Poll a few years ago, ahead of every other Elton John tune), it was NOT a big hit upon first release in 1972. (It didn’t even make The Top 40 in Billboard, stopping at #41 … but climbed to #29 in Cash Box during its brief seven week run.) The song has just grown in stature ever since. (Its use in a key scene in the film “Almost Famous” certainly didn’t hurt!) kk
Last year, there was a similar buzz about the clip showing Paul McCartney literally creating “Get Back” out of thin air during a break in what became known as the Get Back / Let It Be sessions …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8NKOMzckPo
From Clark Besch …
Check it out …
KENT has opened his own record store!!!!!
Clark, your Forgotten Hits report on Beatles '65 was well done and informative to me. I had first heard of Dave Dexter when John Lennon died. Billboard ran tributes from various members of the recording community. They published Dave Dexter's "tribute" on page 30 of their December 20, 1980, issue with the headline "Lennon's Ego & Intransigence Irritated Those Who Knew Him." In it, Dexter listed a litany of Lennon's "flaws," most of which centered on his disagreeing with Dexter on almost everything.
There was universal outrage at this, and Billboard backpedaled. I'm now glad they had printed it though. It's a good look at the mindset of the person who mismanaged the Beatles single and album releases in America.
Ed #1
Wow … what an asshole! (lol)
I didn’t know about any of this … and now I’ve just gotta find it and read it.
Dexter WAS wrong on all of his decision making regarding The Fab Four! It couldn’t be more obvious.
And then to put Lennon down after he was brutally murdered???
What an asshole! (kk)
You've likely seen the clip below from when a young Andy Gold got his chance to meet Paul Macca at the very 1964 party Dexter comments on in your article:
Clark Besch
OK, now that's just about the coolest clip ever!!!
No, I had NOT seen this before ... and wasn't even aware of its existence ... or of Andrew Gold's incredible memory of such a special event. (Talk about your Hollywood Royalty ... your Hollywood Elite!)
Can you imagine the privilege of being invited to such a prestigious event??? And at the age of 13, no less?!?!? Amazing!
Excellent stuff.
Thank you so much for sharing! (kk)
I love the way Dave Dexter back-pedals in his Billboard piece about how all of those early Beatles singles were flops for the other labels that issued them, thus justifying his taking a pass on these tracks from EMI. I supposed to SOME degree he's right ... until "I Want To Hold Your Hand" burst the door wide open, America just wasn't ready yet for four long-haired mop-tops from England singing pop songs. Once Capitol Records invested their million bucks to launch the group here in The States, ALL of those earlier recordings came to light ... and labels like Vee Jay, Tollie, Swan, Atco and MGM reaped the benefits big time.
Suddenly "flops" like "Please Please Me," "She Loves You," "From Me To You," "Twist And Shout," "Do You Want To Know A Secret," "Thank You Girl," "Love Me Do," "P.S. I Love You," "Ain't She Sweet" and "My Bonnie" (featuring Tony Sheridan on lead vocals!) were smash hits here in America, too. (To recap, those titles, in the order listed above, peaked at numbers 3, 1, 41, 1, 2, 35, 1, 10, 13 and 26 on the American charts ... so somebody misheard something!!!)
One of my biggest points of contention with Clark Weber, who was at WLS when Dick Biondi became the first disc jockey in America to play a Beatles record on the air ("Please Please Me," February of 1963), was that Clark kept insisting that "Those early Beatles records were terrible. Nobody would have played them ... until they went back into the studio to re-record them all ... and that's when they became hits. Prior to that, they were just awful ... horrible recordings."
WRONG!!! The Beatles didn't re-record ANY of those records ... they were EXACTLY the same records that came out in England and went all the way to #1. (Before I get a ton of letters, yes, The Beatles DID record "Love Me Do" for their first album ... and THAT's the version of the single that became a worldwide hit ... and no, "Love Me Do" did NOT go to #1 in Great Britain ... but all of their other original singles ... I'm not talking about their early 1961 German tracks here ... and, much like Dave Dexter did, the other labels were also trying to cash in on Beatlemania as well, by releasing songs that were NOT released as singles over in the UK like "Do You Want To Know A Secret" and "Twist And Shout," which became BIG hits here in The States) ... why The Beatles' first official #1 Record in Great Britain, "From Me To You," was issued as a B-Side here in America, after it had already flopped on its own (other than in LA where they played it) the year before.
And one last interesting aside on "From Me To You" ...
When The Beatles did a British tour with American artist Del Shannon, they saw their record go to #1, and ended up being the headliners on the tour as a result. Del liked their song so much that he recorded it himself, thus becoming the first American act to cut a Lennon and McCartney tune.
Because he was an established name in the music business, HIS was the version radio played (if they played it at all ... it only went to #67.) NOBODY was going to play a version of that same song by some unknown British band! (Except in LA, where The Beatles' version became a minor hit.) My how the world had changed a year later ... when EVERYTHING British was suddenly the flavor of the month. Established American recording star Bobby Rydell cut a version of the Lennon-McCartney track "A World Without Love" that fizzled out at #71 because NOW the listening audience only wanted to hear the British version by Peter and Gordon! And the fact that Beatle Paul McCartney was dating Peter Asher's sister?!?!? A guaranteed #1 Record ... and, quite honestly, one of the best "throw-away" tracks The Beatles ever created. (You can lump Billy J. Kramer's "Bad To Me" into that category, too!) kk
Bob Dylan The Philosophy of Modern Song
By Harvey Kubernik © Copyright 2022
Bob Dylan’s The Philosophy of Modern Song was just published by Simon & Schuster.
The Philosophy of Modern Song is Bob Dylan’s first book of new writing since 2004’s Chronicles: Volume One — and since winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016.
Dylan, who began working on the book in 2010, offers his extraordinary insight into the nature of popular music. He writes over sixty essays focusing on songs by other artists, spanning from Stephen Foster to Elvis Costello, and in between ranging from Hank Williams to Nina Simone.
He analyzes what he calls the trap of easy rhymes, breaks down how the addition of a single syllable can diminish a song, and even explains how bluegrass relates to heavy metal. These essays are written in Dylan’s unique prose. They are mysterious and mercurial, poignant and profound, and often laugh-out-loud funny. And while they are ostensibly about music, they are really meditations and reflections on the human condition. Running throughout the book are nearly 150 carefully curated photos as well as a series of dream-like riffs that, taken together, resemble an epic poem and add to the work’s transcendence.
News from Simon & Schuster further illuminates the title …
“In 2020, with the release of his outstanding album Rough and Rowdy Ways, Dylan became the first artist to have an album hit the Billboard Top 40 in each decade since the 1960s. The Philosophy of Modern Song contains much of what he has learned about his craft in all those years, and like everything that Dylan does, it is a momentous artistic achievement.”
A 1957 photo of American singers Little Richard, Alis Lesley and Eddie Cochran in Australia is the cover image of Bob Dylan’s book The Philosophy of Modern Song. Both Bob Dylan and Eddie Cochran recorded at the landmark Gold Star Recording Studios in Hollywood, California.
Little Richard once visited the same temple of sound, cautioning Love’s co-founder Johnny Echols “not to give your music publishing to a record company.”
Paul McCartney, as a 15-year-old performed a version of Cochran’s record “Twenty Flight Rock” as the first song when he auditioned for John Lennon on July 6, 1957 in Liverpool.
“For Doc Pomus” graces the title page of The Philosophy of Modern Song. Tunesmith Pomus, along with collaborator Mort Schuman, were one of the most important and influential songwriting teams from 1958-1965, second only to Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. Pomus supplying the lyrics, Schuman composing the melodies for over 500 songs.
“Mort Schuman was an anomaly when we first arrived in New York in ’64,” reminisced record producer and author, Andrew Loog Oldham, who managed and produced the Rolling Stones during 1963-1967. “The Stones went to The Apollo and Harlem, I went to Mort Schuman, who was dating a late arrival to The Avengers. I witnessed a great songwriter who had assimilated and become so many of the cultures America rejected and turned that metamorphosis into the American art of song, a magic to be embraced forever.
“Lou Adler, Seymour Stein, and Leiber and Stoller had it, so did Paul Simon. To be born into a world that observed and worn, would provide the precious few with a productive future was a wonder to behold. It didn’t happen in England until the Smiths, before that it was merely a case of escaping from the non-future we were offered.”
Over the last few decades I’ve interviewed singers and songwriters about a few of the tunes Dylan comments on.
“All of us, as singers and performers, keep those great songs in the pipeline so they are not forgotten,” emphasized Howard Kaylan, of the pop and rock group, the Turtles in a 2013 interview.
“It doesn’t have to be a great Bob Dylan song or a Tim Hardin song or even a great Leiber and Stoller song. If it’s great and forgotten you kind of feel like you are a missionary as far as getting those things to the public.”
“I thought who would think in their wildest imagination that Tin Pan Alley was a real place,” marveled Robbie Robertson in our 2017 interview. “The Brill Building. And then Donnie Kirshner’s thing. All of it was actually in a place you could go. And the doors were golden when you walked in. And inside there in all these rooms were people who wrote songs and sent them out to the whole wide world.
“I had such a respect and a connection feeling for these people. And I knew Doc and Mort. Doc and Mort remained friends. One of the things that I really took away from the Brill Building were friendships with Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman and Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller.
“Anyway, one of the things I really got from them, because the obvious thing was that they tapped into something that felt good. But it had to feel good. The song could be about anything but it had to feel good. And I was like. ‘Wow…’
“Then, the other door was Bob Dylan. Who it wasn’t about that. It was about emotion and an energy. But it was really about saying something. It wasn’t about ‘these words could be anything.’ No. No. It was specific. So, to me it was rebelling in a beautiful way against this other thing.”
The songwriting team of Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong wrote two Motown label releases Dylan highlights in his study: “Ball of Confusion” by the Temptations, and Edwin Starr’s “War,” both produced by Whitfield.
“Norman to me was probably the most underrated of all the producers, because he was producing by himself,” suggested Berry Gordy, Jr. one afternoon in 1995 inside his Bel-Air mansion. “And he would deal with different sounds, different beats, change with the times and write his stuff, and also Barrett Strong would work with him as a writer on many of his things. Norman was innovative and he had fire. And he had a different kind of style.
“His beat was different and could go from ‘Cloud Nine,’ ‘Psychedelic Shack,’ ‘Papa Was a Rolling Stone,’ to ‘Just My Imagination.’ He was sensitive and I think he could do so many different types of things. Then he’d come right back with ‘War’ and then ‘Ain’t Too Proud To Beg.’
“He could take one chord, like on ‘Papa Was a Rolling Stone,’ and play the same chord and do all these different beautiful melodies and things that many people could not really imagine this guy doin’. And I would watch him and he did it all by himself as a producer.
“He would work with five guys in the Temps and he would change leads on each one. He would pick the right lead for the right song, ya know, and he’d utilize all five of those leads in a song that was just incredible. When I listen to ‘em today, now that I have time to listen to ‘em, I’m saying, ‘Wow!’ This guy was probably the most underrated producer we had.
“Whatever it is, a great song is a great song. That’s all it is. Let’s make sure we have great songs. I started as a songwriter. I love songs, so you know, that’s a hobby.”
Dylan spotlights Glen Campbell’s By the Time I Get to Phoenix in his new literary effort.
“I had a previous relationship with Jimmy Webb’s ‘By the Time I Get to Phoenix,’” Campbell remembered in our 2009 conversation. “There was a record out on it by Pat Boone already and I think I played on it as well. Johnny Rivers cut it and was the publisher.
“I knew Jimmy when he was living near Sunset and La Brea. I had done early sessions with Al De Lory and then he got a gig producing for Capitol.”
“Glen Campbell became my voice,” admitted Jimmy Webb in 2014 at the Herb Alpert UCLA School of Music in Professor David Leaf’s course, Songwriters on Songwriting: Killer Hooks, Essential Songs and Songwriters of the Rock Era.
Dylan also ruminates abut Frank Sinatra’s “Strangers in the Night” in chapter 62. This 1966 hit single was arranged by Ernie Freeman and produced by Jimmy Bowen at the famed United Western studios on Sunset Blvd. Drummer Hal Blaine and guitarist Glen Campbell are heard on “Strangers in the Night.”
“There was a song that we did and he wanted to show that he had an operatic type voice,” Blaine told me in a 2007 interview. “Just a big voice. Like Elvis. That’s all there is to it. He was a one of. People who generally become famous are one of. Sinatra was Sinatra and Elvis was Elvis.
“The Wrecking Crew [then known as Local 47 Musicians Union members] could lock in with anybody. When we finished, we had to go out and do another session. I might have had two other gigs that day. Our job was making hit records and we loved it.”
“On the Sinatra session,” volunteered guitarist Campbell in a 2008 interview, “Barney Kessel and Tommy Tedesco were great readers. A lot of the session musicians lived in Laurel Canyon. The Wrecking Crew as they were later known, could play anything. You would cut with the Monkees, Beach Boys, and Sinatra.”
“My father really loved being booked on Frank Sinatra dates,” added Denny Tedesco. “Plus, Frank had the sessions catered by Chasen’s restaurant.”
Bob Dylan is our tour guide audio librarian in The Philosophy of Modern Song. His writing about hand-picked copyrights is insightful, highly enjoyable, educational and continues the beatific aspects and wisdom of his observational skills while reminding us about the impact and durability of 66 songs and recording artists who did them.
This book (and its audio book companion) have jumped to the top of my Christmas List for this year. (We ran a plug for both a couple of weeks ago … and they both sound amazing!) kk
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Chuck B missed an opportunity to expand on the WLS ... World's Largest Stone comment.
At the time of the "Rock of Chicago" promotion, the WLS studios were located in the STONE Container Building at Michigan and Wacker.
(Oops ... it must of lost something in the translation from analog-to-digital.)
Does he have anything to say about that?
J Morgan
Well, you just KNOW he would!!! Lol
(And in the most complimentary way, I might add!)
Take it, Chuck! (kk)
Larry
Ronald and Ruby DID chart with "Lollipop," back in the day when the some of trades were still letting multiple artists share the same chart positions. As such, they earned at #2 ranking in Cash Box ... and even Joel Whitburn's Comparison Chart Book shows their version at #20 in Billboard ... but that's where it fell on Billboard's Disc Jockey Chart ... it only reached #39 on their Top 100 Chart and #40 on their Best Sellers Chart ... so that #20 showing is a bit deceiving. Music Vendor just showed it at #63 for one week and then it was gone. (I don't think there's anybody out there that doesn't consider "Lollipop" to be anything other than a Chordettes song ... not even Ronald or Ruby! lol) kk
A song from the "Elvis" soundtrack, "Vegas" by Doja Cat, has reached #1 on Billboard's Top 40 Pop Airplay chart. I haven't seen the movie yet. I hope it's better than this song.
Ed #1
The movie actually is pretty good - I’ve seen it twice already
A little long - and it glosses over some key facts – but excellently filmed and executed.
That being said, there was absolutely no reason to throw new music into the mix - it adds nothing – and certainly doesn’t do anything to represent what Elvis was all about …
But the guy playing Elvis (Austin Butler)is pretty damn good. (kk)
Congratulations to our FH Music Buddy Merrell Fankhauser …
Kent -
I just found out our California central coast news and music magazine, New Times is giving me a Music Legend Award! It will be presented Friday November 4th, 7 pm at the SLO Brew Rock in San Luis Obispo, Calif. They will run in print the announcement of my CD box ser anthology 60's & 70's albums 1964-1979. Oct. 28th release, available everywhere and Amazon.
Also, the Nicky Hopkins documentary movie "The Session Man" featuring me, "The Rolling Stones", "The Beatles" and others. In theaters next year. They used clips from my 1991 interview with Nicky from my satellite TV show 'California Music".
Best,
Merrell
And Wages Of Spin III is now in the works!
Our buddy Shawn Swords sent us this bit from Bob Charger, who’ll be hosting a new Philadelphia-based television show based on the hit documentary, exposing the behind-the-scenes payola schemes in the music business back in the late ‘50’s and early ‘60’s …
Follow our new Wages of Spin TV show and Wages of Spin III Documentary Film on Facebook!
Iconic Philadelphia Radio, Film and Television Personality Bob Charger returns to Philadelphia Television hosting the "Wages of Spin" TV Show and producing the riveting Wages of Spin III Documentary Film!
The Wages of Spin is a television interview show hosted by iconic Philadelphia radio show host, Television and Film producer Bob Charger. In each episode, Bob will interview a music industry notable about their career in the music industry and the pitfalls, inner workings of and emotional toll of a career in the music industry. Our show will also explore many of the corrupt practices perpetrated on artists and the public throughout the sordid history of the music industry.
Wages of Spin III explores the history of the inner workings of The Philadelphia Music Scene.
The Show and Film are being produced by the creative team behind the feature length documentary film "Wages of Spin" that has had over 2,000 PBS affiliate airings and is in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Archives.
Production has commenced of Wages of Spin TV Show and Wages of Spin III Documentary Film.
You can follow Bob Charger on Facebook for more updates.
Yowzah!!!
Tucumcari Timmy just sent us a six-and-a-half hour documentary on Frank Sinatra!!!
If you’ve got THAT kind of dedication, here’s the link!!!
(Now I don’t feel so bad about our 18-minute salute to August of ’67!!!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7p9njGXoJ4U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frUbn3nxk8o
And, to wrap things up this weekend, here’s a brief MA'H-NA'-MAH-NA' Update …
After we ran Chuck Buell’s piece a short while ago, we heard from a few people who said their local Top 40 radio station would credit the tune to somebody other than the REAL recording arist, Piero Umiliani, who also WROTE the tune.
(Here is Chicago, WLS showed the artist as “Pete Howard” … absolutely NO idea where that name came from … and it’s a real shame, too, because if you went into the record store and tried to BUY a copy of this record (infectious ditty that it was!), you couldn’t find it ANYWHERE. (God only knows how many potential sales this took away from Umiliani! Or just how big a hit this could have been.)
When the piece first ran, FH Reader Larry Neal told us …
Kent,
You mentioned the tune "Mah-Na-Mah-Na" by Piero Umiliano in today's FH. For the week of August 14, 1969, it made its initial appearance on our weekly top 40 survey as a HIT BOUND RECORD. It eventually peaked at #12 for the week of September 4th.
When it made its initial appearance, the word SOUNDTRACK was listed under ARTIST. However, from that point on, the artist was designated as DALE & EFFIE. These were two characters created by mid-day DJ Don Wallace. The listening audience really didn't know better.
Larry
FH Contributor Tom Diehl sent us this from Wikipedia on the subject …
During its September 1 – 15, 1969 run on the WLS 890 Hit Parade, the surveys erroneously credited the record to someone named Pete Howard.
WPTR did much the same, except that the credit was given to the station's Disc Jockey, J.W. Wagner.
From what I’ve heard, several radio stations credited their own deejays when playing and charting this record -
Poor Pierre Umilianto (or whatever his name is!) never got the credit he deserved - which is why even I don’t know his name all these years later!!!
Lol (kk)
I don't even think Piero Umiliani was credited as an artist on his own 45.
Tom
To an extent, you’re absolutely right.
Here is a copy of the 45 I eventually bought (found it in an oldies bin several years later … I never WAS able to find and buy a copy when the record was out … again, further proof that Umiliani was cheated out of sales and a bigger chart life at the time.)
You’ll notice that while Piero is credited as the songwriter under the song title, the “credit” (if you will) goes to the film soundtrack to SWEDEN HEAVEN AND HELL … with no further explanation.
I’m not exactly sure how the song came to be associated with The Muppets … but that exposure certainly took it to a much larger audience.
(In fact, Chuck Buell sent us this follow up comment to his own piece) …
This morning's email is brought to you by the Letters "C" and "B!"
A quick follow up to my recent Mah Nà Mah Nà story!
When I first saw this photo, I too thought this lady was a Muppet!
HA!
Chuck Buell! ( which stands for the Letters "C" and "B!" )
