I realize that I have spent a lot of time writing about books lately. I also realized that it has been a while since I posted a song for Tune Tuesday. I heard one on the way into work today that remains one of my favorites.
When I Fall In Love
The song itself was written by Victor Young (who wrote the music) and Edward Heyman (who wrote the lyrics) in 1952. It was first recorded by the lovely Jeri Southern. Victor Young and his orchestra accompanied her on her version.
Doris Day’s version became the movie theme from One Minute to Zero (also 1952) and became the first “hit” version.
I was most familiar with Nat King Cole’s Version of the song. He released it on Capitol Records and his vocal is amazing. That version was the love theme for the 1957 movie Istanbul. Nat’s daughter Natalie recorded it twice – in 1987 and in 1996, the later version being a duet with her father.
It is a song that has been recorded by just about everyone. Celine Dion, Michael Buble’ Linda Ronstadt, Johnny Mathis, Etta James, Rick Astley, and Donny Osmond are just a few of the many who have recorded the song. The song itself stands out as an amazing piece of music, and I can’t think of a bad version of it. However, the version I want to feature today comes from the early 60’s.
In 1961, the song was recorded by The Letterman. These guys were one of the most popular vocal groups of their day. The group was formed in Las Vegas, Nevada, in the late 50’s. Anyone who reads my blog knows that I love good harmony, and their music features amazing harmony and beautiful arrangements. They were an unknown group of guys until they signed with Capitol Records in 1961. At the time the group members were Jim Pike, Tony Butala, and Bob Engemann. Their first single for Capitol was a song that is forever connected with Frank Sinatra – “The Way You Look Tonight.” Their version of the song went to #13 on the Billboard Hot 100. However, they struck gold and a top 10 record with their follow-up single – “When I Fall in Love.” Their version went to #7 on the Billboard hot 100 and #1 on the Billboard Easy Listening Chart in late 1962.
Give this beautiful arrangement a listen and enjoy one of the classic love songs!
When I fall in love, it will be forever Or I’ll never fall in love
In a restless world like this is Love is ended before it’s begun And too many moonlight kisses Seem to cool in the warmth of the sun
When I give my heart, it will be completely Or I’ll never give my heart
And the moment I can feel that You feel that way too Is when I fall in love When I fall in love with you
The group’s members have changed over the years, but as far as I know, they still tour together. As a bonus, check out this clip from a talk show where each of them sing their part and then put it all together. It’s kind of neat to hear.
This blog is my entry for Dave over at A Sound Day’s “Turntable Talk.” Kudo’s to Dave for picking some fantastic topics, and at the same time letting us participants “run” with it. The following are the instructions we were given:
We were told we ” …don’t have to write literally about the question, but we’re looking for your thoughts on all things music video – how much did MTV change the music of the ’80s? Since there were already British acts making videos regularly in the 70s, do you think it would have taken off in a big way even without the American MTV influence? Did it kill careers… or make careers that shouldn’t have happened? Do you have favorite ones you still like to watch? Do you miss the days when MTV (or Much Music in Canada, or European equivalents) ran music videos instead of reality TV and old reruns? Really, approach it how you like, but I’m curious to get thoughts on the Video Revolution.“
My Conundrum
There have been many people who truly believe that video killed the radio star. As a child of the 70’s and 80’s, I lived through the beginnings of MTV. When I think about music videos, there are so many that I will forever associate with the songs. For example:
Take On Me – a-ha
Sledgehammer – Peter Gabriel
Rhythm Nation – Janet Jackson
Bad, Billie Jean, Beat It, Black or White, and of course, Thriller – Michael Jackson
Vogue – Madonna
Smells Like Teen Spirit – Nirvana
Buddy Holly – Weezer
Weapon of Choice – Fatboy Slim
Dire Straits – Money For Nothing
Legs – ZZ Top
Land of Confusion – Genesis
Hot For Teacher – Van Halen
Simply Irresistible – Robert Palmer
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun – Cyndi Lauper
Run DMC and Aerosmith – Walk This Way
California Girls – David Lee Roth
Got My Mind Set on You – George Harrison
Stuck With You – Huey Lewis and the News
Faith – George Michael
White Wedding – Billy Idol
Opposites Attract – Paula Abdul
The list could go on and on! Those are just the ones that I pulled off the top of my head (and I am probably forgetting some big ones)!
The more I thought about it, I kept coming back to “Video killed the radio star.” Perhaps that is the case (as some proclaim), but I can think of one artist who made videos and it got him mainstream attention.
MTV Welcomes Weird Al Yankovic
According to Wikipedia, the discography of Mr. Yankovic consists of fourteen studio albums, nine compilation albums, eleven videos albums, two extended plays, two box sets, forty-six singles and fifty-four music videos.
Those fifty-four music videos helped to take Weird Al Yankovic to the mainstream world. Let’s face it, the only place you could hear him on the radio was on the Dr. Demento Show, which was often aired in the worst possible time slot because of the crazy content. When Al ventured into the video realm, more and more viewers wanted to see – and hear – more of him!
Parody songs have been around forever, and very rarely ever got radio play. Novelty records were big in the 50’s and 60’s, and there were a few here and there in the 70’s. When Al comes on the scene in 1983, he took it to a whole new level, using videos.
1983’s “Ricky” is credited as being his first video. It was a parody of Toni Basil’s “Micky.” It was a parody base on the TV show I Love Lucy. The video was shot in black and white and still looks great today.
From there, Al continued to use video to gain exposure on MTV. His next single was “I Love Rocky Road” which parodies Joan Jett’s “I Love Rock and Roll.” Instead of a greaser bar, it is set in … an ice cream parlor.
Al’s next video is really the one that really stands out as the one that moved him to a whole new level. Yes, he is a parody singer, but with the video for “Eat It” (a parody of Michael Jackson’s Beat It), not only is the song parodied, but so is the video. Al’s video is literally a shot for shot remake of Jackson’s. Throughout the video, instead of switchblades there are rubber chickens and kitchen utensils, and gags for almost everything in the Beat It video.
I can’t say whether or not the video is responsible for this, but the song won Al a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Recording in 1984. The video won for Best Male Performance at the 1984 American Video Awards!
From that point on, Al continued to make music videos for his singles. Art Fleming appeared in the “I Lost on Jeopardy” video, non-stop visual gags were plentiful in the “Like a Surgeon” video, and the James Brown “screams and shrieks” in “Living With a Hernia” were all more painful than soulful.
In 1988, Al once again parodied Michael Jackson. If I had to pick a “perfect” Weird Al parody video, it this would be one of two. Al won another Grammy Award for Best Concept Music Video for “Fat.” He even got permission from MJ to use the same set as the original video. Al’s makeup took three hours to apply every day and his fat suit weighed 40 pounds. Every time I hear the line, “Ding Dong, Yo!” I still crack up.
I mentioned that “Fat” is one of two “perfect” videos. The other would have to be the fantastic video for “Smells Like Nirvana” (a parody of Smells Like Teen Spirit). Al famously got permission for this parody from Kurt Cobain himself when he was performing on Saturday Night Live. In this Grammy-nominated video, Al satirizes Nirvana and the grunge movement, shooting on the same set as the original video and using the same actor who played the janitor (Rudy Larosa). Dick Van Patten has a cameo, which for whatever reason is extremely funny to me. Why Dick Van Patten??!! Someone said that Tony Hawk makes an appearance in the video, too. I’m not sure I know where.
Weird Al has certainly used music videos to his advantage. It takes a lot of creativity to write a good parody (I mean, come on, there are a lot of crap ones out there – just look on YouTube), but to take an already funny song and create a video that brings about even more humor, just enhances the song. I’ve said it before, and I will say it again, Weird Al is a musical genius.
There have been many other great videos that have followed. To name a few: Amish Paradise (featuring Florence Henderson), Headline News (featuring The People’s Court’s Doug Llewelyn), Gump (featuring Ruth Buzzi and Pat Boone), The Saga Begins (the fantastic Star Wars tribute), White and Nerdy (featuring Donny Osmond and Seth Green), and so many more.
Yes, video may have killed the radio star, but it certainly helped boost the career of Weird Al Yankovic.
Tonight on ABC, one of the greatest Halloween specials of all time aired again – It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. It is in this special that poor Charlie Brown utters those sad words, “I got a rock.”
In that scene, Lucy is wearing a witch mask. It got me to thinking about Halloweens of my past. I remember the streets would be packed with kids when I went out trick or treating! I remember standing in lines at the doors of my neighbors, waiting for my turn to yell “trick or treat!” By the time I took my boys out on Halloween, I was sad to see that the streets were not very busy at all. I remember being out late and rushing from house to house – hoping to get them all before they turned the porch light out (telling you that “we’re out of candy”)!
As I sat here pondering this blog, I tired to think of some of my past Halloween costumes. I can remember some of the ones from when I was older: a vampire, Oliver Hardy, and a Robot. The robot was a couple cardboard boxes my dad taped together and spray painted silver. We put cassette tapes, a vacuum hose, and other things on it and it was actually very cool. My brother used the same costume for a play he did in elementary school.
Other than those mentioned above, I didn’t remember any specific costumes off the top of my head. This is probably because most of the costumes I grew up wearing sucked. They were so bad, Jerry Seinfeld did a bit about them in his comedy act. I did a Google search for Halloween Costumes of the 1970’s and it all came back to me! Halloween costumes back when I was a kid were hardly original. Today, if you go to an elementary school and watch a Costume Parade, you will see some really good costumes! Many of them will even be homemade. This was not the case when I was a kid!
You usually bought your costumes at K-Mart, or Kresge, or the local drug store. The costumes of the 70’s consisted of primarily a mask. The mask had two big eye holes (which you really couldn’t see out of!), two small nose holes (which you couldn’t breathe out of!), and a slit by the mouth. It was a cheap piece of plastic and it sometimes cracked. The mask had a cheap rubber string that was stapled to each side. This rubber string was what kept the mask on your head. If the string broke, you either re-stapled in, or you took it off and didn’t wear it.
The costume also included a cheap one piece outfit. They were like “onesie” pajamas. You first put your feet and legs in it and then your arms. There was a tie that you tied behind your neck to keep it on. On the outfit it usually has the character’s name in bold letters on it. This must have been so if the mask fell off, people knew who you were supposed to be. 97% of all kids wore these dumb costumes when I was a kid!
While I Googled, I came across two of those stupid costumes I sort of remember having. The first was The Six Million Dollar Man:
I also remember having C-3PO:
I think I may have had an Underdog costume, too!
The outfits were so cheap that by the end of trick or treating, there were rips in the crotch or legs. Sometimes they were ripped up before you even got to go out trick or treating! We’d wear our costumes to school that day and they would rip in the classroom! They were paper thin, too, so you either had to buy it three times too big, so you could wear something underneath it, or you covered it with your coat and no one saw what you were anyway!
Here are some of the funnier costumes I found while searching:
From TV – Welcome Back, Kotter:
Mr, Kotter (above) and Barbarino (below)
Mork from Mork and Mindy
The Fonz from Happy Days
There were plenty of super heroes, including Batman!
And, despite how sexy she looked on TV, the Wonder Woman costume was actually quite scary …
I mean – look at Lynda Carter! She’s beautiful!! That costume is just freaky!!!!
One of the most ridiculous costumes was this one based on the movie Jaws!
Finally, for the gals who thought Donny Osmond was cute … this costume should make them think twice.
Come on! That looks like a weird Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner!!!
For whatever it is worth, I am going to guess that these costumes are probably worth money today. I have a lot of friends on Facebook who have extensive toy collectibles, and they probably have some. Mine are long gone, more than likely because they were ripped up and destroyed the same year we bought it.
It was fun to just spend time searching up the old costumes and looking at them. Do you remember wearing these? What were some of your favorite costumes? What are some of your favorite Halloween memories?
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 