Yesterday Forgotten Hits broke the news that a vintage 1958 acetate recording of Freddy Cannon (then recording as Freddy Carmen and the Hurricanes) had been discovered in Boston. The record in question was a tune called "She's My Rock And Roll Baby", a song Freddy had written with his mother. Cannon had shopped the record around to a few dee jays there locally in the Boston area, including the legendary Arnie "Woo Woo" Ginsburg. What he was hoping for was some positive feedback on his efforts. What he got was a whole lot more!
Ginsburg shared the recording with industry big-wigs Frank Slay and Bob Crewe, who took it upon themselves to rewrite the verses to Freddy's track. They kept the middle section and the entire arrangement of the song, a real rocker with a great hook, intact, thus preserving the "essence" of the song written by Freddy and his mom. In the process, "She's My Rock And Roll Baby" became "Tallahassee Lassie" and, after flying the newly christened Freddy "Boom Boom" Cannon and original lead guitarist Kenny Paulson out to New York City to recut the demo with their new lyrics, Freddy Cannon was on his way to becoming a major rock and roll star ... a vocation he has kept going for the past 55+ years!
Ginsburg shared the recording with industry big-wigs Frank Slay and Bob Crewe, who took it upon themselves to rewrite the verses to Freddy's track. They kept the middle section and the entire arrangement of the song, a real rocker with a great hook, intact, thus preserving the "essence" of the song written by Freddy and his mom. In the process, "She's My Rock And Roll Baby" became "Tallahassee Lassie" and, after flying the newly christened Freddy "Boom Boom" Cannon and original lead guitarist Kenny Paulson out to New York City to recut the demo with their new lyrics, Freddy Cannon was on his way to becoming a major rock and roll star ... a vocation he has kept going for the past 55+ years!
Incredibly, a copy of this original demo was recently discovered in Boston and came into the hands of deejay Eric Lee, who contacted me about getting in touch with Freddy to let him know of its existence.
Here's how the whole thing started ...
Back in August, I received this email from Eric Lee:
Do you know if Freddy Cannon has ever made mention of the demo recording of "Tallahassee Lassie", which would be "Rock and Roll Baby" as Freddy Karmen (Carmen) and the Hurricanes, still existing? I ask, because I have a transcription disc (acetate) of it. It came from WMEX in Boston some years ago, and I got it from a guy who used to work at the radio station. The B-side is a recording of "You Know", which was also the B-side of "Lassie" on Swan.
I ask, because I'm curious if this is the only known copy of the original demo version still out there... or does Freddy still have the original demo tapes from that session? Maybe Arnie Ginsburg, Jack McDermott, or... perhaps Slay and Crewe held onto a copy?
I would be very interested in any information you have about this.
Do you know if Freddy Cannon has ever made mention of the demo recording of "Tallahassee Lassie", which would be "Rock and Roll Baby" as Freddy Karmen (Carmen) and the Hurricanes, still existing? I ask, because I have a transcription disc (acetate) of it. It came from WMEX in Boston some years ago, and I got it from a guy who used to work at the radio station. The B-side is a recording of "You Know", which was also the B-side of "Lassie" on Swan.
I ask, because I'm curious if this is the only known copy of the original demo version still out there... or does Freddy still have the original demo tapes from that session? Maybe Arnie Ginsburg, Jack McDermott, or... perhaps Slay and Crewe held onto a copy?
I would be very interested in any information you have about this.
I have included a short sample of the recording in this email, along with shots of the label so you know I'm not blowing smoke. If you would be so kind as to email him about this and get back to me, I would appreciate it. I know that, at some point, he was talking about putting out a career retrospective. This early demo would be an important part of that puzzle.
It took me a little while to get ahold of Freddy and let him know what I had come upon ... but once I did, he was THRILLED. He had NO idea that any copies still existed. (In fact, in his biography, "Where The Action Is", Freddy only talked about circulating a TAPE of this song ... as if it had never been pressed in record form at all!) The fact that something like this could surface after 56 years was nothing short of amazing ... and, a bit overwhelming. I can only imagine the rush of memories that came flowing back to Freddy when he learned of its existence.
KENT,
It took me a little while to get ahold of Freddy and let him know what I had come upon ... but once I did, he was THRILLED. He had NO idea that any copies still existed. (In fact, in his biography, "Where The Action Is", Freddy only talked about circulating a TAPE of this song ... as if it had never been pressed in record form at all!) The fact that something like this could surface after 56 years was nothing short of amazing ... and, a bit overwhelming. I can only imagine the rush of memories that came flowing back to Freddy when he learned of its existence.
KENT,
I DON'T HAVE A COPY OF THIS DEMO ... WOW! THANKS ... THIS WOULD BE GREAT TO HAVE A COPY.
MY MOM AND I WROTE THIS TOGETHER.
I WISH I KNEW WHO HE GOT THIS FROM ... AFTER ALL THESE YEARS.
FREDDY
Naturally, once I told Eric Lee of Freddy's interest, he was excited, too!
MY MOM AND I WROTE THIS TOGETHER.
I WISH I KNEW WHO HE GOT THIS FROM ... AFTER ALL THESE YEARS.
FREDDY
Naturally, once I told Eric Lee of Freddy's interest, he was excited, too!
I am ecstatic that he's now aware of this still being in existence. It's amazing that this recording resided in one man's collection for more than forty years, yet it was never identified for what it was. Honestly, from the look of the disc, it never got played outside of the radio station in Boston from which it was acquired.
The person who sold this to me referred to it simply as an unknown, albeit hotly rockin', acetate. I instantly recognized Freddy's signature on the handwritten labels, and the name of the group as being his at the time this song was gestating. Being an oldies DJ by profession, I have often told the tale of "Tallahassee Lassie" when playing the original Swan hit ... so the title "Rock and Roll Baby" was not foreign to me, nor was the name of the group on the disc.
I agree with you that this is a "one-of-a-kind" item. It not only rewrites the history of how "Freddy (K)Carmen and The Hurricanes" was actually spelled, but it also augments the history of just how much involvement that Frank Slay, Bob Crewe, and Dick Clark had in shaping the eventual sound of "Tallahassee Lassie." There's a wonderful extended sax solo, and great guitar solo ... which is probably by Kenny Paulson. Honestly, if this was the finished product, it still would have been a major national hit. This is, without a doubt in my mind, a copy of the demo record that Jack McDermott was shopping around to record labels when it finally got to Dick Clark.
I know from years of dealing in rare records that the market value of this item is quite high ... however I would love to see this back in Freddy's hands ... he's more than welcome to have first dibs on it if he wants to make an offer. It's in exceptionally nice shape for being a 56 year-old acetate. I'd call it VG+ by vinyl standards, and for an acetate of this age and stature, that's almost unheard of.
The person who sold this to me referred to it simply as an unknown, albeit hotly rockin', acetate. I instantly recognized Freddy's signature on the handwritten labels, and the name of the group as being his at the time this song was gestating. Being an oldies DJ by profession, I have often told the tale of "Tallahassee Lassie" when playing the original Swan hit ... so the title "Rock and Roll Baby" was not foreign to me, nor was the name of the group on the disc.
I agree with you that this is a "one-of-a-kind" item. It not only rewrites the history of how "Freddy (K)Carmen and The Hurricanes" was actually spelled, but it also augments the history of just how much involvement that Frank Slay, Bob Crewe, and Dick Clark had in shaping the eventual sound of "Tallahassee Lassie." There's a wonderful extended sax solo, and great guitar solo ... which is probably by Kenny Paulson. Honestly, if this was the finished product, it still would have been a major national hit. This is, without a doubt in my mind, a copy of the demo record that Jack McDermott was shopping around to record labels when it finally got to Dick Clark.
I know from years of dealing in rare records that the market value of this item is quite high ... however I would love to see this back in Freddy's hands ... he's more than welcome to have first dibs on it if he wants to make an offer. It's in exceptionally nice shape for being a 56 year-old acetate. I'd call it VG+ by vinyl standards, and for an acetate of this age and stature, that's almost unheard of.
It certainly would make for an interesting and exciting story of how "Forgotten Hits" helped reunite yet another piece of rock and roll history with its maker. I'm normally one of those "dark horse" collectors who remains silent about finds, only anonymously passing them onto independent reissue labels and compilers when I do find something ... but this one needs to be known by all. To take a quote slightly out of context from one of my favorite favorite Platters songs, this one is "too real!"
Dig it, Daddio!
Dig it, Daddio!
I sent a copy of the hand-written record labels to Freddy ... along with the short snippets that I'm sharing here today ... and he confirmed that this was the real deal!
IT LOOKS LIKE MY HAND WRITING ... IT'S SO GOOD TO HEAR THIS AGAIN IN ITS ORIGINAL FORM ... I THOUGHT THIS HAD BEEN LOST FOREVER.
But then, a bit of apprehension ...
I JUST LOOKED AT IT AGAIN ... I REALLY DON'T REMEMBER SIGNING ANY ACETATE BUT I'M NOT SURE ABOUT THIS. MY MOM SIGNED SO MUCH LIKE ME, I AM NOT SURE IF SHE SIGNED IT ... I TRULY AM LOOKING FOR MORE INFO ON THIS. I REALLY APPRECIATE ALL YOUR TIME AND HELP AND YOU GETTING MORE INFO.
THANKS FOR ALL YOUR HELP.
I TRULY APPRECIATE THIS ... YOU'RE THE BEST!
YOUR FRIEND,
FREDDY
In all likelihood, it just seemed too good to be true ... after 55 years, this one-of-a-kind piece of Freddy Cannon's history showing up out of the blue ... it had to be overwhelming! Needless to say, we were all intrigued.
After several more back-and-forths, we were able to get the acetate into Freddy's hands ... and believe me, he was THRILLED to be reunited with such an important and pivotal step in his hit-making process!
Kent -
IT LOOKS LIKE MY HAND WRITING ... IT'S SO GOOD TO HEAR THIS AGAIN IN ITS ORIGINAL FORM ... I THOUGHT THIS HAD BEEN LOST FOREVER.
But then, a bit of apprehension ...
I JUST LOOKED AT IT AGAIN ... I REALLY DON'T REMEMBER SIGNING ANY ACETATE BUT I'M NOT SURE ABOUT THIS. MY MOM SIGNED SO MUCH LIKE ME, I AM NOT SURE IF SHE SIGNED IT ... I TRULY AM LOOKING FOR MORE INFO ON THIS. I REALLY APPRECIATE ALL YOUR TIME AND HELP AND YOU GETTING MORE INFO.
THANKS FOR ALL YOUR HELP.
I TRULY APPRECIATE THIS ... YOU'RE THE BEST!
YOUR FRIEND,
FREDDY
In all likelihood, it just seemed too good to be true ... after 55 years, this one-of-a-kind piece of Freddy Cannon's history showing up out of the blue ... it had to be overwhelming! Needless to say, we were all intrigued.
After several more back-and-forths, we were able to get the acetate into Freddy's hands ... and believe me, he was THRILLED to be reunited with such an important and pivotal step in his hit-making process!
Kent -
You and your site helped me give Freddy his demos back. You've played an undeniable part in this, and I thank you and Forgotten Hits for all your help ... I really dig your site!
Eric Lee
Sharing these snippets with the rest of the world is a real thrill for me. (I promised Freddy that I would NOT share the entire record ... now that it's back in his hands, it's HIS call as to what to do with these landmark tracks.) What a GREAT opener this would make to a new Freddy "Boom Boom" Cannon compilation CD collection ... an honest-to-God piece of recorded history. And, since Freddy owns the rest of his own masters anyway, I leave it to "Boom Boom" to market this the way he best sees fit.
Sharing these snippets with the rest of the world is a real thrill for me. (I promised Freddy that I would NOT share the entire record ... now that it's back in his hands, it's HIS call as to what to do with these landmark tracks.) What a GREAT opener this would make to a new Freddy "Boom Boom" Cannon compilation CD collection ... an honest-to-God piece of recorded history. And, since Freddy owns the rest of his own masters anyway, I leave it to "Boom Boom" to market this the way he best sees fit.
Wishing Freddy a speedy recovery from his recent heart surgery ... take care, buddy ... we want to see you back up on the stage. (And for God's sake, bring your show out Chicago way!!!)
You can send Freddy a "Get Well" greeting, too ... just drop me an email at forgottenhits@aol.com and we will gladly send it along!
