• Home
  • About me: Jim Fitzpatrick
  • Contact

JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC

Feeds:
Posts
Comments
« Doctor (and Colonel) Birx
Journalists and journalism and coronavirus »

Coming home from golf, I heard music…

March 30, 2020 by jimmycsays

I made a run over to Richmond, MO, today to play golf (by myself, walking, wearing gloves on both hands), and all the way back I listened to the ’60s on 6 on SiriusXM.

Disc jockey Pat St. John was playing “feel good” songs in an effort to lift listeners’ spirits during this time of national and worldwide crisis.

As I rolled west on Missouri 210, a nice ride in the country (at least outside the Clay County part), I let my mind drift back to my high-school and college days, when life was still a battle but those great songs came spilling out of the recording studios, soothing life’s rough edges and planting seeds of hope for love and adulthood.

After getting home today, I researched a few of the songs I had heard and found three, in particular, with interesting stories behind them.

Here are the three I settled on. I hope they make you feel as good as they made me feel this afternoon.

**

“It’s Not Unusual” by Tom Jones

I defy anyone to listen to this song and not start singing along with the horn section and not start bobbing his or her head to the staccato beat.

The song was written by Les Reed (“There’s a Kind of Hush”) and Gordon Mills. Jones was unknown at the time. Wikipedia says Reed and Mills first offered the song to Sandie Shaw (“(There’s) Always Something There to Remind Me”). Jones recorded what was intended to be a demo for Shaw, but she was so impressed with Jones’s version that she recommended Jones release it himself.

It reached No. 1 in the UK singles chart in 1965 and peaked at No. 10 in the U.S. on the Billboard Hot 100, marking Jones’s first hit here. Jones performed it three times on The Ed Sullivan Show — twice in 1965 and once in 1968.

On the day of the recording session, Jones’s group, Tom Jones and the Squires, was missing its regular keyboard player. Someone ran across the street to a coffee house in London’s Tin Pan Alley and recruited a keyboard player named Reginald Dwight.

Dwight later adopted the stage name Elton John.

On “It’s Not Unusual,” Dwight’s (John’s) playing is overshadowed by the horns, strings and myriad other instruments, but you can catch the keyboard from time to time in the background.

 

**

“This Is My Song” Petula Clark

You would never guess who wrote this song…Charlie Chaplin.

The silent film star wrote the song in 1966 with the intention of using it in the movie A Countess from Hong Kong, which Chaplin wrote and directed. Wiki says Chaplin saw the film as a throwback to the shipboard romances that were popular in the 1930s and wrote “This Is My Song” with the intent of evoking that era. He was determined to have the old vaudeville performer Al Jolson sing it, but, unbeknownst to Chaplin, Jolson had died 16 years earlier.

Chaplin then considered having “This Is My Song” recorded by Petula Clark, who had a home in Switzerland near his residence. Clark’s husband and manager Claude Wolff received a copy of “This Is My Song” in September 1966 and liked it. However, Clark’s regular collaborator Tony Hatch wasn’t taken with it and refused to arrange it for Clark to record.

Eventually, Clark recorded it at Western Studios in Los Angeles. Another interesting side note is that the recording session featured the backing of the Wrecking Crew, a loose collection of Los-Angeles-based studio musicians who were employed on thousands of rock-‘n-roll recordings in the ’60s and ’70s. The cast of the Wrecking Crew included the great bass guitar player Carol Kaye, the only female member of the group.

The song hit No. 1 in the United Kingdom, No. 3 in the U.S. and No. 4 in Canada.

 

**

“I Can Hear Music” by the Beach Boys

This song was written in 1966 by Phil Spector and the incredible team of Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, who wrote such songs as “Be My Baby,” “Baby, I Love You,” “Then He Kissed Me,” “Da Doo Ron Ron,” “Hanky Panky” and “Do Wah Diddy Diddy.”

It was first recorded by Spector’s group the Ronettes but only spent a week on the Billboard Hot 100…at No. 100.

Three years later, the Beach Boys recorded it, and it went to No. 24. It was also released on the Beach Boys’ album 20/20, with Carl Wilson on lead vocals. “I Can Hear Music” is considered by many to be Carl Wilson’s first taste at being the “leader” of the group, succeeding brother Brian Wilson, who stopped touring in 1965.

A lifelong smoker, Carl Wilson died of lung cancer in 1998 at age 51.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments

8 Responses

  1. on March 30, 2020 at 10:22 pm trollikc

    Thanks. Good stories.


  2. on March 30, 2020 at 11:51 pm jackmokan

    Great read and listen!! Where’s the link to your Venmo account!!


  3. on March 31, 2020 at 8:06 am jimmycsays

    Thanks, Trolli and Jack…

    My Venmo account goes one way — out to my son when he’s in a pinch.


  4. on March 31, 2020 at 1:01 pm gayle

    The way Ms. Clark holds that note from “eternityyyyyyy” straight into “love…” is impressive. I think it would be a different song if it didn’t have that echo effect on her voice.


    • on March 31, 2020 at 1:09 pm jimmycsays

      I hadn’t particularly noticed that, Gayle, but you are absolutely right. Great perspicacity on your part!

      …By the way, Wikipedia says she never liked the song, which, if it’s true, was probably because Tony Hatch didn’t like it. Nevertheless, whenever she performs now (she had a concert scheduled April 19 in London, but it was canceled), she always sings it.


      • on March 31, 2020 at 3:02 pm gayle

        Great word usage on your part!

        As for always singing it: gotta give the folks what they want!


  5. on March 31, 2020 at 3:49 pm jimmycsays

    Right, Gayle…The YouTube link that I posted has more than nine million views. That tells you a lot.


  6. on March 31, 2020 at 10:41 pm Edward E Scott

    Another good column. Saw a guy reading it waiting for the bus at 63rd an Oak…headed for his job as a mechanic at Broadway Ford. Paper folded in a quarter sheet.



Comments are closed.

  • Pages

    • About me: Jim Fitzpatrick
    • Contact
  • Archives

    • February 2023
    • January 2023
    • December 2022
    • November 2022
    • October 2022
    • September 2022
    • August 2022
    • July 2022
    • June 2022
    • May 2022
    • April 2022
    • March 2022
    • February 2022
    • January 2022
    • December 2021
    • November 2021
    • October 2021
    • September 2021
    • August 2021
    • July 2021
    • June 2021
    • May 2021
    • April 2021
    • March 2021
    • February 2021
    • January 2021
    • December 2020
    • November 2020
    • October 2020
    • September 2020
    • August 2020
    • July 2020
    • June 2020
    • May 2020
    • April 2020
    • March 2020
    • February 2020
    • January 2020
    • December 2019
    • November 2019
    • October 2019
    • September 2019
    • August 2019
    • July 2019
    • June 2019
    • May 2019
    • April 2019
    • March 2019
    • February 2019
    • January 2019
    • December 2018
    • November 2018
    • October 2018
    • September 2018
    • August 2018
    • July 2018
    • June 2018
    • May 2018
    • April 2018
    • March 2018
    • February 2018
    • January 2018
    • December 2017
    • November 2017
    • October 2017
    • September 2017
    • August 2017
    • July 2017
    • June 2017
    • May 2017
    • April 2017
    • March 2017
    • February 2017
    • January 2017
    • December 2016
    • November 2016
    • October 2016
    • September 2016
    • August 2016
    • July 2016
    • June 2016
    • May 2016
    • April 2016
    • March 2016
    • February 2016
    • January 2016
    • December 2015
    • November 2015
    • October 2015
    • September 2015
    • August 2015
    • July 2015
    • June 2015
    • May 2015
    • April 2015
    • March 2015
    • February 2015
    • January 2015
    • December 2014
    • November 2014
    • October 2014
    • September 2014
    • August 2014
    • July 2014
    • June 2014
    • May 2014
    • April 2014
    • March 2014
    • February 2014
    • January 2014
    • December 2013
    • November 2013
    • October 2013
    • September 2013
    • August 2013
    • July 2013
    • June 2013
    • May 2013
    • April 2013
    • March 2013
    • February 2013
    • January 2013
    • December 2012
    • November 2012
    • May 2012
    • April 2012
    • March 2012
    • February 2012
    • January 2012
    • December 2011
    • November 2011
    • October 2011
    • September 2011
    • August 2011
    • July 2011
    • June 2011
    • May 2011
    • April 2011
    • March 2011
    • February 2011
    • January 2011
    • December 2010
    • November 2010
    • October 2010
    • September 2010
    • August 2010
    • July 2010
    • June 2010
    • May 2010
    • April 2010
    • March 2010
  • Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

    Join 563 other subscribers

Blog at WordPress.com.

WPThemes.


  • Follow Following
    • JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC
    • Join 563 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Copy shortlink
    • Report this content
    • View post in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
%d bloggers like this: