Tune Tuesday

It was on this day in 1971 that John Lennon recorded his classic “Imagine.” Biography.com says: The impact of the song is unquestionable. But disguised within its message of peace and love and its flowing piano melody is a collection of edgy, “dangerous” ideas that challenge society as we know it.

John Lennon wrote and recorded this song on his white grand piano at his Tittenhurst Park estate in the English countryside (He and Yoko took up residence in the summer of 1969). In early 1971, Lennon worked up songs for a new album and “Imagine” was one of them.

When he had finished writing the song, John didn’t think that it had any potential of being a hit song. He recorded a rough demo of Imagine and wanted to know what others thought of it. He invited a few journalists and other associates over to have a listen. Ray Connolly of the London Evening Standard recalls Lennon playing him the demo and asking, “Is it any good?” Connolly and the others who heard it had to convince John he had a hit on his hands!

In May, he brought in several of his musical friends to Tittenhurst to record it, including Phil Spector, George Harrison, bass player Klaus Voormann, piano man Nicky Hopkins, and drummers Alan White and Jim Keltner. They recorded on-campus in the studio Lennon had recently built, which he called Ascot Sound Studios. Footage from the session shows Lennon and his guests enjoying each others’ company, but also getting down to business when it came time to work.

It was Phil Spector kept the sessions on track. “Imagine” was one of the first songs they recorded. Spector kept the track fairly simple. Although they did experiment a bit. At one point they had Hopkins play on the same piano as Lennon, but on a higher octave. However, the more they added, the more they ended up stripping away. The very simple arrangement was designed to spotlight the lyric, it required just Lennon’s vocals and piano, Voormann’s bass, and White’s drums. Strings were overdubbed later by John.

Julian Lennon shared his thoughts on the song in the 2019 documentary Above Us Only Sky: “He’s not shoving it down people’s throats. It’s not religious and it’s not political – it’s humanity and life. We all really want what he’s singing about, and I think that’s why even today the song is still so important. The sad thing is, the world is still in a bad way. Why is it impossible to move forward in these dreams and make them a reality?”

Rolling Stone described “Imagine” as Lennon’s “greatest musical gift to the world”, praising “the serene melody; the pillowy chord progression; [and] that beckoning, four-note [piano] figure”

Let’s go back 54 years and join John at his piano …

Tune Tuesday

Today I want to wish Stevie Wonder a Happy 75th Birthday! He is a Michigan Hometown Hero as he was born in Saginaw, MI in 1950.

When I went to pick a Stevie Wonder song to feature today, I was overwhelmed. He had so many hits to choose from. I suppose it shouldn’t have been a surprise because he’s been making hit records since he was 13 years old. That is when his song “Fingertips Part II” went all the way to number one!

His hits include: Uptight, Signed Sealed Delivered I’m Yours, Superstition, Sir Duke, For Once in My Life, You Are the Sunshine of My Life, and so many more. It is no wonder that he is often referred to as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. Wonder recorded several critically acclaimed albums and hit singles, and also wrote and produced songs for many of his label mates and outside artists as well.

Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday is a song that was written by Ron Miller and Bryan Wells. Ron was known for writing many Motown hit’s in the 60’s and 70’s. (He also wrote another Stevie Wonder hit – For Once In My Life.) The song was originally recorded in 1966 by another Motown artist named Chris Clark. Stevie had recorded it in 1967.

At the time the song was released in 1969, Wonder was going through some vocal problems and was required to wait before recording a song. Due to this, instead of making Wonder record new ones, Motown decided to release songs that he had recorded years earlier. Yester-Me, Yester-You, Yesterday was one of them.

The song reached #7 on the Hot 100 chart in December of 1969. It became his ninth Top Ten record.

The song fits right in with my blog, because the song itself is based in nostalgia. Happy Birthday, Stevie!!!

Tune Tuesday

Happy 92nd birthday to the Red-Headed Stranger – Willie Nelson!

Willie Nelson is a country music legend. Whether you love or hate his music, there is no denying his legendary status. Willie is one of the most prolific songwriters and is responsible for many classic country hits. He wrote many songs that became hits for other singers including, Funny How Time Slips Away (Billy Walker), Crazy (Patsy Cline), Pretty Paper (Roy Orbison), and Hello Walls (Faron Young).

In 1962, he recorded his first album, “… And Then I Wrote”. The success of that album led to him signing with RCA Victor in 1964 and joining the Grand Ole Opry in 1965. He had some minor hits in the 60’s and early 70’s, but because of his mediocre success, he retired and moved to Austin, Texas in 1972. He didn’t stay retired long, as he signed a new deal with Atlantic Records in 1973 and began singing “outlaw country”. In 1975, he signed with Columbia Records and released The Red Headed Stranger album. Thanks to that album, his 1973 album Shotgun Willie, and the classic 1978 album Stardust, Willie became one of the most recognized names in country music.

Willie’s music has been a part of my life since I was a little boy. As I have said in previous writings, I can go to any Willie album and there is a song on it that will remind me of some life event I was dealing with or going through at that time. I can revisit an album later and find yet another song that I can relate to at that particular moment.

Last year, Willie released his 76th studio album. With 76 albums of songs to choose from, what could I possibly feature here? It is not an easy decision. I looked at song after song and any one of them could work. On the Road Again? Always On My Mind? Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain? There are plenty of hits.

I have often found that the songs that were never released as a single were ones I really connected with. One of those songs is If My World Didn’t Have You. If you are in a relationship, this beautiful song is one you have to hear. After my wife and I got together, it really said it all. It was one song that I suggested to be “our song.” Willie’s vocal and the amazing arrangement make it one of my favorite love songs.

If My World Didn’t Have You

My world has midnight and daylight and sunsets and dawn.

And your eyes, like two stars that I dream upon.

Sometimes I’m losing and sometimes I win.

Life likes to make me start over again.

And I don’t know what I would do, if my world didn’t have you.

Chorus

If my world didn’t have you,

Then I’d have no reason for my dreams to come true.

And somethings would be too much to go through

If my world didn’t have you.

Verse 2

We have good days and bad days and comfort and pain

It all has a balance like sunshine and rain

You share with me the blues and the breaks

And you are the key to the sense it all makes

No, I’d never find my way through, if my world didn’t have you

Chorus

If my world didn’t have you,

Then I’d have no reasons for my dreams to come true.

And somethings would be too much to go through

If my world didn’t have you.

Happy birthday, Willie!!

Tune Tuesday

Mel Carter turns 85 today. He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1939. In 1963, he had his first hit with “When A Boy Falls in Love” which was co-written by Sam Cooke. He was 24.

It was his 1965 hit “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me” which brought him huge success. The song was nothing new, as it had been around for a while. The song was first recorded by Karen Chandler in 1952. Chandler had just re-emerged on the music scene, having previously recorded under the name Eve Young; “Hold Me” was her debut single under her new name and her new recording contract with Coral Records. The following year, Sonny Til and the Orioles gave the song a doo-wop treatment, and Connie Francis followed with an emotive pop take in 1959. But it wouldn’t reach the charts again until 1965 when Carter made it his own.

Carter recorded this during his tenure at Imperial Records, where he worked with producer Phil Schaff, who convinced a skeptical Carter to record the love song. “Phil brought the ‘Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me’ song to me,” Carter said in an interview with Vintage Vinyl, “When we first did it, I hated the song because I had to be directed to sing on the beat, but little did I know.”

Mel would eventually get into acting. He appeared on Quincy MD, Sanford and Son, CHiPS and Magnum PI on television. He also appeared in movies like Friday Foster.

Happy 85th, Mel!!

Tune Tuesday

25 years ago today a catchphrase was born. One of Saturday Night Live’s funniest sketches aired for the first time. The host? Christopher Walken. On Cowbell – Will Ferrell.

It’s a Behind The Music sendup, with Walken playing producer Bruce Dickinson, sent to deliver a hit. We see Blue Oyster Cult rehearsing the song (Don’t Fear) The Reaper. When they run through the song, Ferrell plays the cowbell with alarming enthusiasm. Walken loves it, ordering “more cowbell” and telling him to “really explore the studio space,” which he does. Jimmy Fallon, playing the drummer, almost ruins the bit by laughing his way through it.

Incidentally, there really is a Bruce Dickinson, but he wasn’t the band’s producer – he worked on re-mastering the album, which is likely how his name got used.

On a recent visit to the Tonight Show, Ferrell told Jimmy Fallon:

“I went to see Christopher Walken years later in a play he was doing and I talked to him backstage and he’s like, ‘You know, you’ve ruined my life,’ “

When Ferrell asked how, Walken responded:

“Every show, people bring cowbells for the curtain call and bang them and it’s quite disconcerting.”

Happy 25th Anniversary to “More Cowbell!”

Tune Tuesday

The Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin was born on this day in 1942. She was a musical force! Rolling Stone magazine named her “the greatest singer of all time” twice.

Her songs are soul staples. The list of hits is a long one that includes “Chain of Fools,” “The House That Jack Built,” “Until You Come Back to Me,” and “Think.” I could have chosen any one of those songs, but someone would call me out for not picking her best known hit – Respect. So that’s our tune for today.

Otis Redding wrote Respect and originally recorded it in 1965, with his version hitting #35 in the US. It was Aretha’s idea to cover this song. She came up with the arrangement, added the “sock it to me” lines, and played piano on the track. After Redding heard Aretha’s rendition for the first time, he said: “This girl has taken that song from me. Ain’t no longer my song. From now on, it belongs to her.”

“Sock it to me,” became a catch phrase on the TV show Laugh In. This line is often heard as a sexual reference, but Aretha denies this. “There was nothing sexual about that,” she told Rolling Stone in 2014.

The “ree, ree, ree, ree…” refrain is a nod to Franklin’s nickname, Ree (as in A-Ree-tha). In the second verse, Franklin proclaims to her man that she is about to give him all her money, and that all she’s asking is for him to give her “her propers,” when he gets home. This term would evolve into “props,” commonly used in hip-hop in the context of proper respect.

Songfacts.com says: Sax player Charlie Chalmers played in the horn section alongside King Curtis and Willie Bridges. Chalmers intended to take on the famous solo until Curtis started wailing away. He explained to Cleveland’s The Plain Dealer in 2011: “When the horn solo came up, which I was ready to play because I’d been playing it on the other takes, Curtis jumped in there and took that solo, man. He was so good. Even though he pushed me out of the way… it was the right thing to do.”

In 2017, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra rearranged the track just a tad and gave it a new, yet familiar sound that does not take away from the original.

The thing I love about Aretha is she can perform a song 40 times and each time it will have a unique sound. An example is how she performed the song in the movie Blues Brothers 2000. It still holds the basic framework of the original, but it is just different enough to make it sound phenomenal.

Happy Heavenly birthday to Aretha Franklin!

Tune Tuesday

Happy Birthday to The Wicked Mr. (Wilson) Pickett who was born on this day in 1941.

He was born in Prattville, Alabama where he began singing in the Baptist church choir. He was the fourth of 11 children and eventually left to live with his father in Detroit in 1955. It was there that he joined a gospel group called The Violinaires. He toured with them for four years. He was lured by the success of gospel singers who had moved to the lucrative secular music market, joined the Falcons in 1959.

His work with the Falcons helped him to embark on a solo career. In 1965, he had his first hit “In the Midnight Hour,” which featured Steve Cropper and Donald “Duck” Dunn from Booker T & the MGs. Many hits followed including Land of 1000 Dances, Funky Broadway, and 634-5789.

It is hard for me to pick a favorite Wilson Pickett song, because they are all SO good. There is one song, however, that always sounds fresh to me. It is still a song that people dance to at parties and weddings. It always seems to be on the Top 200 list of songs that DJ’s get requests for, as well. That song? Mustang Sally!

According to Rolling Stone magazine’s Top 500 Songs, “Mustang Sally nearly ended up on the studio floor – literally. After Pickett finished his final take at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, the tape suddenly flew off the reel and broke into pieces. But the session engineer, the legendary Tom Dowd, calmly cleared the room and told everyone to come back in half an hour. Dowd pieced the tape back together and saved what became one of the funkiest soul anthems of the ’60s.”

Happy Birthday, Mr. Pickett!!

Tune Tuesday

Music history was made on this day in 1968. Otis Redding’s Dock of the Bay reached #1 on the charts, making it the first ever posthumous single in the United States. Redding died in a plane crash just 3 months earlier in December of 1967. It was released on January 8, 1968.

The song was written by Otis and guitarist Steve Cropper (of Booker T & The MG’s). Otis started writing the lyrics in August 1967 while staying on a rented houseboat in California. It was there where Redding started writing the lines, “Sittin’ in the morning sun, I’ll be sittin’ when the evening comes” and the song’s first verse, under the abbreviated title “Dock of the Bay.” In November of 1967, he completed the song in Memphis with Cropper and recorded it.

Allmusic states: Redding’s restrained yet emotive delivery is backed by Cropper’s succinct guitar playing. The song is somewhat different in style from most of Redding’s recordings. While discussing it with his wife, Redding said that he wanted it to “be a little different”, to “change his style”.

There were concerns that the song had too much of a pop feel. There were discussions of contracting the Stax gospel group the Staple Singers to do some background vocals. This never did happen. Otis considered the song “unfinished” and planned to finish it, but he died before he could do so.

After Redding’s death, Cropper mixed “Dock of the Bay” at Stax Studios. He added the sound of seagulls and crashing waves. This was was Otis had requested. He did so because those were the sounds he had heard staying on the houseboat.

Tune Tuesday

Today’s tune comes from the Between The Button’s album from the Rolling Stones.

It was on this day in 1967 that the Stones took Ruby Tuesday to #1. It was their fourth chart topper in the US.

Songfacts.com says that Keith Richards said of “Ruby Tuesday”:

“That’s one of those things – some chick you’ve broken up with. And all you’ve got left is the piano and the guitar and a pair of panties. And it’s goodbye you know. And so it just comes out of that. And after that you just build on it. It’s one of those songs that are easiest to write because you’re really right there and you really sort of mean it. And for a songwriter, hey break his heart and he’ll come up with a good song.”

Mick Jagger told Rolling Stone in 1995:

“‘Ruby Tuesday’ is good. I think that’s a wonderful song. It’s just a nice melody, really. And a lovely lyric. Neither of which I wrote, but I always enjoy singing it.”

This was supposed to be the B-side of “Let’s Spend The Night Together” but many radio stations shied away from that one due to the sexual implications, so they played “Ruby Tuesday” instead, helping make it a hit. It’s funny how pale in comparison the sexual implications of this song is compared to what actually gets played on the radio today!

Tune Tuesday

Today’s Tune Tuesday feature some silliness.

It was on this day in 1950 that the face of television changed forever and a blueprint for shows like Saturday Night Live was born. The first broadcast of Your Show of Shows happened 75 years ago.

The show starred Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca. It featured Carl Reiner and the talented Howard Morris. It was a 90 minute show that was broadcast live every week. The show’s writers included Mel Brooks, Selma Diamond, Neil Simon, and Mel Tolkin (just to name a few).

The show has been featured in several lists of the greatest television series. Carl Reiner has stated that the time he spent on Your Show of Shows was the inspiration for The Dick Van Dyke Show. Most of the series has been preserved to some extent, but only some sketches have been released on home video.

The show featured several regular musical sketches. In 1955, Rock and Roll was hitting the radio. One of the musical sketches was the mock rock group The Three Haircuts (Caesar, Reiner, and Morris). They were a vocal trio who always sang in unison and usually bellowed the lyrics. After this bit aired on TV, RCA rushed the guys into the studio to record a studio version of You Are So Rare To Me and released it.

This clip is the first time You Are So Rare to Me aired. They follow it with an even crazier song called Flippin’ Over You. Sit back and enjoy the lunacy that was Your Show of Shows with The Three Haircuts.