As Paul Simon slip slides away, having contributed to the official bio "The Life," issued a weird new album covering old obscure songs, and taken his last tour, we look back at what Art Garfunkel considered his best song: "Kathy's Song."
You've heard it sung in every park in the summer, strummed and bleated by some guy or girl trying to get some attention. It's almost a rite of passage to sit in some smelly coffee house, cross-legged, a candle nearby, and put on a glum face as, with closed eyes, the first words come out: "I hear the drizzle of the rain..."
Most people listening, wish for the sound of silence. But "Kathy's Song" remains, ahead of "Wild World" and "Fire and Rain," the best number to say: "I'm here, I'm emotional, I'm serious about my singing and my art, and most of all, I really want to get laid."
If you do have talent, like Sarah Jarosz, you can hook people with this familiar song into listening to your own originals, and you can end up with a Grammy or two!
The song is a traditional ode, a classic love ballad professing eternal devotion. It's a love that will last. The reality is that both Paul Simon and Kathy Chiddy had much longer relationships with others. Paul would get married three times (Kathy was not one of the wives). Kathy has been in a relationship with somebody else for 40 years.
Paul was so nuts for her, that ala “Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan” who put HIS girlfriend Suze Rotolo on an album cover, he chose to add her to the front of the “Paul Simon Songbook.” How idyllic.
The truth seems to be rather mundane. The puppy love was there for a while, but, let’s quote another Simon, this one named Carly:
She said, "I know he'll never leave me
I never felt it deep inside like this before"
It was good to see her, believe me
But I couldn't stand to hear this anymore
Kathy probably did say something like that to her friends. She just couldn't express it as brilliantly as Paul Simon. Paul's poetic take, soaring into the regions of myth, make it tough for people to accept the truth: undying love and almost painfully intense devotion sometimes aren't enough. Love affairs can be hot and then cool. Those looking for for "the story behind the song" don't want to know that an artist's poetic song isn't totally based in reality. The Paul and Kathy relationship was no different than a million college romances or even high school romances where the couple vowed to be together forever, and sealed it with a kiss tasting of Burger King fries.
The many biographers of Paul Simon have been unable to get anything fantastic out of Paul about Kathy, and Kathy, perhaps bewildered by all the attention to what was just a first love that didn't last, figures that it's better to say nothing than to shrug, "Hey, I've been with another guy for 40 years." In "Paul Simon: The Life," the author merely writes: “Kathy first heard it on a tape Simon made of the song in New York. Garfunkel would refer to “Kathy’s Song” decades later as his favorite Paul Simon composition.” Ah. Thanks. This is the definitive biography, folks.
In 1963, 18 year-old Kathy was a folk fan and got a dream job selling tickets at the Railway Inn folk club, in Brentwood, Essex. She saw Paul there, but it was the following year that the shy girl, no groupie, got introduced to him by a mutual friend. As he would later do with his first wife Peggy ("Peg" in the song lyrics) and with Carrie Fisher (the two "one and one-half wandering Jews" of "Hearts and Bones") Paul found a muse in Kathy, and name-checked her in title of one song, and in the lyric of another. "Kathy's Song" was on the solo album he made in England. He sang it well, but eventually, like "Bridge Over Troubled Water," he gave it to Artie as a solo.
Nobody can touch Garfunkel on “Kathy’s Song,” since his synagogue-trained voice, so often called “angelic,” conjures up the images of spirituality in Paul's lyric.
On this blog of less renown, the choice of singer is, of course, a woman. Since both "Wide World" and "Fire and Rain" more obviously are songs by men sung to women, "Kathy's Song," despite the title, is the best choice for women because there's actually no gender in the lyrics:
And so you see I have come to doubt
All that I once held as true
I stand alone without beliefs
The only truth I know is you
And as I watch the drops of rain
Weave their weary paths and die
I know that I am like the rain
There but for the grace of you go I
It's interesting that women could sing those lines at all. About men? Really? Those ripe, almost 18th century lyrics of almost-religious devotion???
You can't imagine Edie Brickell singing that to Paul Simon. Yoko singing it to John. Linda to Paul. Sally Field to Burt Reynolds. Goldie Hawn to Bill Hudson. Tammy Wynette to George Jones. Nancy Sinatra to Lee Hazlewood. No woman would sing “there but for the grace of you go I" to a guy. Think about Sonny singing “the only truth I know is you" to Cher. Yeah. But not Cher singing that to Sonny!
Women who sing the song either just like the song and WISH they could find a guy for whom the lyrics would have some meaning, OR...having had their fill of guys in puffy shirts tied with string instead of buttons, who ask them to get into bondage games, they've gone to the other side, and are singing this song to another woman.
Sarah Jarosz, recorded “Kathy’s Song” as part of a 5-track EP, “Live at the Troubadour” on August 9, 2012. It was released (today we say “dropped”) the following year. Her supporting musicians on the album are Alex Hargreaves and Nathaniel Smith. The Troubadour, which hosted such legends as Phil Ochs and Joni Mitchell, remains an important credit for any folksinger to have.
The Texas-born folkie and Americana/roots singer issued two studio albums before this live one, and two studio albums since. The first, “Song Up in Her Head” (2009) was #1 on the Roots chart, and a cut from it was Grammy nominated for “Best Country Instrumental Performance.” And guess what, her latest, “Undercurrent,” also hit #1 on the Roots chart and was Top 10 on the Folk chart as well. All her albums are on the Sugar Hill label.
“Undercurrent” also won her the “Best Folk Album” Grammy, and the cut “House of Mercy” got her a “Best American Roots Performance” Grammy. You didn’t know that, because the Grammy show isn't about "diversity," it's about Beyonce and Jay-Z, and it's about rappers, and it's about prap -- the pop tarts who rap-sing their lyrics, like CardiB and Taylor "Look What You Made Me Do" Swift. The diversity of classical, jazz, roots and country aren't celebrated on the Grammy broadcast and awards in these and other categories are barely even mentioned.
Who is considered a sensitive singer-songwriter these days? Sam Smith? Darwin was wrong. And nothing by Sheeran, Adele, Taylor, Sam, or Kanye, Beyonce or Jay-Z will ever be as good as...
KATHY'S SONG - listen or download, no dodgy websites re-directing you, no ego Passwords, no Paypal tip nagging
Do you suppose Kathy is feeling a tad old...hearing the news that her boyfriend from the 60's is in his 70's and on a retirement tour? (The same KATHY mentioned in Paul's "America" song covered weirdly by David Bowie, link below??)
Maybe she actually doesn't think about the little guy that much. Maybe she thinks too much about other things besides "Think Too Much." Ya think?
I think she may think, "When is another obnoxious photographer from the London Daily Fail going to come out here to an obscure part of Wales, and take another unflattering photo of me? Why pick on ME when there's momentarily no wardrobe malfunction on a Kardashian and no Hadid exposing underboob?"
Why am I mentioning Kathy? Because this is not only a music post offering a link to an odd-choice song Bowie sang as a "tribute" after 9/11, it also reviews the new bio on Paul, which didn't invade the woman's privacy by showing a photo of how she looks now. That's what TABLOIDS do, and really, SHOULD they??
It's possible that if Kathy took a long distance call and answered some questions, the new official (Paul cooperated) bio would answer any questions morbidly curious people have about her (and the song). Yet, even though asked, she chose NOT to participate in the book.
Do you suppose if somebody from the LONDON DAILY FAIL had ASKED if she'd mind him taking a picture, she would've said yes? Of course not. So the guy snapped it without her knowing about it. Right? And after that, she couldn't sue because she's a "public figure."
Link to the London Daily Fail Article
Since I like my readers to have an EASY time, and not have to click a link and then come back, I'll also give you the top part of the article, which is fair use, and I'll also show you the photo, which you'll see has no photo credit or copyright notice. Follow me:
You'll also note that in the same article, the Daily FAIL used the cover of a Paul Simon album, probably without pay or permission, but DID save themselves by giving a copyright credit:
Funny (not so much) they didn't give a credit on the unflattering image of Kathy Chitty. As Piers Morgan would say "IF I'M BEING HONEST," tabloids rarely give a photo credit because the photographer might be hounded by fans and beaten with a stick. OR, have his name out there to the point where bodyguards of stars would know him and block access by shoving him OR beating him with a stick.
The authorized "Paul Simon: THE LIFE" doesn't put a lid on any of the questions and controversies in the great man's life. The author doesn't analyze songs (even ones that have baffled people for years, like "Me and Julio").
The "authorized" Paul not only ignores Kathy Chitty, but ignores almost all of his wearisome bickerings with Garfunkel. He and his biogrpaher also don't explain how he and his third wife Edie ended up facing a judge in an embarrassing case of marital fighting. And NO, there's not much on the youthful first serious love affair that yielded some memorable songs.
“The Life” offers a few second-hand quotes about Kathy via a a couple she knew back then, the McCauslands. Lynne McCausland doesn’t say much: “Kathy was lovely, very gentle, very shy and quiet. Paul had his quiet and shy side, so they fit each other perfectly.”
Paul Simon, on a memorable SNL show, admitted that people come up to him and say “you take yourself SO seriously...” In “The Life,” his relationship with Kathy is taken so seriously that it becomes silly. While the woman refuses to talk, it turns out there's ONE THING she wanted to be in the book: the exact month she and Paul met. THAT is important:
“Contrary to repeated reports over the years that they met during Simon’s first trip to England in 1963 (Simon recalled simply seeing her taking tickets on the stops of the Brentwood Folk Club at the that time), they met formally in April 1964. Simon was performing at the White Swan in Romford when Dave McCausland introduced him to Kathy, a shy eighteen-year-old with long, brown hair. The date was supplied by someone close to Kathy, someone who - with both Kathy’s confirmation and permission - wanted to finally set the record straight.”
Does that make your day? Will the month of April mean something different to you know? April, come she will? He glimpsed her in 1963, but was introduced to her in 1964. The taciturn Mr. Simon, who supposedly spent weeks and weeks being grilled by his biographer only remarks: “It felt like love at first sight. I had never felt that. It was just chemistry.” Anything else? “They may not have said anything more than hello that first night, Simon remembers, but they spent time together the next night, when she and a few other Brentwood folk fans went with him to the Troubadour club in central London, where he sang three songs.”
Hey, the song about her says it all. There but for the grace of her go him.
The London Daily Fail, having snapped a Chitty, didn't offer much real information other than "the 68 year-old grandmother" leads a "humdrum life...in a quiet Welsh-speaking village...in a small, detached three-bedoom house on a quiet cul-de-sac, and catches a bus each day to her job as an administrator for a technical college, where she has worked for 25 years." That's more than "The Life" tells us about her.
"The Life" doesn't quote the guy who has had a 40 year relationship with her, Kenneth Harrison. Journeying to that "remote mountain village in North Wales," the London Daily Fail reporter at least got him to admit that they have three children, and used to live in Essex. And that Kathy's fame as a muse was never amusing to her: ‘She wasn’t very comfortable with it. We’re very good friends with Mr Simon and there’s never been a rift. I was there. I was part of that crowd as the second person to meet Paul Simon when he came to Britain in 1963. "America" is the one song which we’ll never escape from because it’s a song about America losing its way.’
It is an irony, then, that David Bowie chose to sing "America" when thousands of Americans had just lost their way...staggering from the smoke and debris at the office buildings in which they worked at 9/11.
The song was an odd choice, as "America" is more about alienation and ennui with the American dream. Paul wrote "each town looks the same to me" about touring, but in this song, it seems like this young couple may have some moments that are light-hearted (making fun of fellow passengers) but in the end, it's "toss me a cigarette..." and read some magazines, and these famous lines:
“Kathy I’m lost, I said, though I knew she was sleeping. I’m empty and aching and I don’t know why…” People looking for recollections of a passionate romance between Paul and Kathy get the sound of silence, because like most anyone's puppy love, the end came because immature people eventually drift apart and find new interests, and if they remain they would only endure everyday monotony, ennui and empty yearnings.
From “The Life” we learn…little: “In “America,” the narrator’s companion is a young woman named Kathy, which, understandably, led fans to assume that he and Kathy Chitty had taken a trip together during her visit in 1966, but there was no Simon-Kathy bus trip, Simon said. The images in the song were based on his own travels.” It’s always a little dicey, and ridiculous, to try and navigate between an artist’s fantasies and intellectual creativity, and his reality. Why be so eager to think that “America” is a journal song, and not a work of fiction?
They met in England, Paul had to come back to America, he later returned, and things just drifted. No big quotes from Paul or from Kathy. On page 237: “While on break, he flew to London to see if he and Kathy could figure out a way to make their lives compatible…he and Kathy acknowledged what had been apparent to them both for some time: their lives had simply drifted apart.” No quote from Kathy, of course. The author apparently couldn’t get Paul to comment further, so relies on a previous quote pried out of him by somebody else: “There was no big drama in our breakup,” Simon said years later. “I don’t remember ever having an argument with Kathy.”
Too bad, porn lovers, there will probably never be a graphic description of Chitty bang-bang, and how unseemly it would be to even imagine Paul Simon in the role of passionate lover. They were just a cute couple for a year or two. That's what the cover of "Paul Simon Songbook" shows you, doesn't it? She's just an old flame.
Speaking of flame, the smoke was probably still in the air, and part of the core of the WTC was still glowing orange when David Bowie joined a bunch of superstars for a “Concert for New York City.” As Tom Lehrer might cynically declare, what better way of solving problems than to fire some songs at it? “Ready, aim, SING!” Some of the stars in attendance were only there because it would be good publicity. Others sang weird defiant new songs (McCartney’s peculiar “FREEDOM”) or sing weirdly inappropriate oldies (McCartney again, doing “I’m Down.”
Why is the famous David Bowie on this blog of less renown? This blog of obscure performers? Because his cover of "America" was deemed by some to be inappropriate if not weird. For some reason known only to Sergeant Pepper’s ghost, Bowie sang the song with an oom-pah-pah waltzing tempo. Some androgynes in the band fluted it along with Ferris wheel wind toots.
What was anyone expecting? A morbid twist on ground zero by re-writing "Ground control to Major Tom?" New lyrics for "Suffer a Jet City?" No, it was good enough that he was there, being a New Yorker, even if his choice of song was odd, and the arrangement odder. Who doesn’t adore Bowie, and the vocal styles that are sort of an anemic version of Anthony Newley? The Brit decided to come live in New York, and when disaster came, he sang for "America."
DAVID BOWIE sings AMERICA - instant download or listen online. No Paypal tip whining, no grinning emoji of brattiness, no taking you to a freak site that will put spyware on you, tell you your FLASH is out of date, or re-direct you to hell.
A check of Amazon reveals...what...Patti Dahlstrom's CD is now a $40 collectors item? Is that good news or bad news?
It would seem like good news. If a re-issue on Patti's CD is sold out, it means there's a market for a second pressing. There's a market for releasing ALL FOUR of Patti's albums and giving them fresh, perfect CD treatment, complete with booklets. There ARE people out there who like quality sound, and who want to read a booklet and find out more about the artist and the songs.
According to Rolling Stone, the best-selling category is no longer rock, it's rap. Second best is probably prap -- the pop-rap crap from Taylor "Look What You Made Me Do" Swift, Cardi-B and the rest of the stale tarts. Still, if rock fans can buy up the print run on a Dahlstrom album, it sends a message. PS, it would be nice if people not in the business, and with no knowledge of how it works, would stop giving away whole albums thinking it does no damage. It fucks up supply and demand, to put it politely, and can prevent rare vinyl from turning into digital CD with bonus tracks. And it can take money out of the hands of deserving artists, too.
There's a generous TWENTY songs on this re-issue:
1. Emotion (1973)
2. He Did Me Wrong, But He Did It Right (1975)
3. Sending My Good Thoughts To You (1975)
4. Get Along, Handsome (1972)
5. This Isn’t An Ordinary Love Song (1972)
6. Without Love (1976)
7. And I Never Did (1972)
8. Changing Minds (1976)
9. Give Him Time (1973)
10. Ollabelle And Slim (1972)
11. Cleveland Snow (1973)
12. Comfortable (1972)
13. Wait Like A Lady 1972)
14. For Everybody’s Sake (1973)
15. I’m Letting Go (1972)
16. Innate (1973)
17. One Afternoon (1976)
18. Rider (1972)
19. The Way I Am (1973)
20. What If (1972)
It's
hard to find fault with the choices. They've included the darkly poignant ballad
"For Everybody's Sake." You'll find good advice on the tender "Give Him Time" and the
sassier "Wait Like a Lady." Everyone can enjoy the erotic "He Did Me Wrong, But He Did it
Right," (still best in her version, though it's been covered by some very fine ladies). Also here, the elegantly wistful "And I Never Did," and two songs
demonstrating the Texas girl's true grit, "Olabelle and Slim" and the
moody masterpiece "Rider." Gotta love her down-home lyrics on "Emotion,"
mated to the exquisite French star Veronique Sanson's melody
"Amoureuse."
One missing song is "If You Want it Easy." So...by way of a sample, and since it's unavailable otherwise, you'll find it below.
Some would say "but it's easy to offer the entire album. It's out of print." Yes, but if you want it THAT easy, then you're not an adult. Sure, we all "like it free," to quote Puzo (no, not Mario, the forum making money off everyone else's creativity.) "Sharing" with some of your friends is one thing. Giving away entire discographies to strangers is stealing. No rationalization about it. Look at how few record stores there are. It's galling that few vintage artists from the 70's can get into a studio and make new music without begging on Kickstarter and making it a vanity album to sell on a website or at a few gigs. Artists deserve dignity. Royalties. Respect.
People who aren't in the business, aren't creative, aren't owners of record stores, aren't trying to make a living from music, and aren't even able to speak English because it's a second language, decide "piracy is good publicity," "artists should give away music and sell t-shirts at gigs" and "here's an album and a link to feed MY ego; I'm retired with nothing else to do but act like I'm in show biz and own music that I give away because I'm so lovable."
The inconvenient truth is that it wasn't exactly easy to get a record deal when Patti Dahlstrom was starting out. Now, thanks to ProTools, "everybody's in show biz" and everybody puts out albums and it's almost impossible for a new artist to get noticed amid the huge volume on Spotify and YouTube.
"If You Want It Easy" is on the "Your Place
or Mine" album. For those who aren't sure that true love travels on a
gravel road, here's the smooth advice of Ms. Dahlstrom: "If You Want It
Easy you don't want love." The album includes "Louisiana," a co-write with the well known typing
error Al Staehely. As she often does, Patti shines a light in the darkness
and comes up with something positive, like the line "The only chance of holding on is
letting go within."
It's nice that the unique, original, and
different (or, to use her unique Texas drawling pronunciation of it,
"diff-a-rawnt") Patti Dahlstrom did get a Rev-ola revival re-issue. Hopefully they, Cherry Red or Omnivore will bring it back or offer a box set of all four of her albums. Patti's in the U.K. so, to use a stupid slang word, it would be ace if she's invited to the offices of ACE so they can plan a re-issue with her own album notes and recollections. How about a combo CD set and autobiography?
IF YOU WANT IT EASY (instant download or listen online. No dopey ego password, no dodgy spyware-malware crap, no pop-ups or sending you suddenly to a spam page).
It was a nice day's week for Beatles fans, wasn't it?
John Lennon was honored with an artless Photoshop-job commemorative stamp (long after Janis and Jimi were given better treatment). Yoko also announced a SIX CD set of outtakes from "Imagine," plus a re-imagined new print of their home movie of the same title.
Paul McCartney went on the puppy Jimmy Fallon's show, where he teased up his "secret" NYC concert in support of "Egypt Station." EGYPT Station? Sure. Aside from Lagos, Nigeria, who wouldn't want to take a trip to, or promote calm, stable Egypt? A few nights after the Fallon-fawning-fest, Paul played an obscure closed-off room in gigantic Grand Central Station. He got a fairly mild reaction from the torpid 300 people (including the puppy Fallon, Paul's wife, some unimpressed kid standing with his Dad, and one or two people who weren't white). Hype-crazed TV news reporters were in Grand Central standing around, as were some fans ridiculously thinking they'd get an autograph or selfie or something. Usually at 8:30 on a Friday evening the place would've been deserted. The media, of course, insisted it was "rush hour" and there was feverish excitement and throngs of spectators.
Paul also found time to drop by Howard Stern's radio show, where Howard delighted in fawning over Paul and telling him how great "Too Many People" was. He dredged up the nastiness of John in writing the "How Do You Sleep" song, and how Paul topped him. Paul, as he usually does, deflected the put-downs about John with wide-eyed surprise.
In all of this, nobody mentioned Pete Best. Not Paul. Not Yoko. Not the US Post Office. Aside from Paul's mannequins on lead and rhythm guitar (the new album is not WINGS, after all), there was Abe Laboriel Jr. on drums, once best known for his seat of power behind France's superstar Mylene Farmer. But...couldn't Abe step aside and let PETE give it a go?
I remember seeing Pete Best sitting at a memorabilia table, ready to sign something for a twenty. Somehow, I didn't consider getting a signed photo or CD as owning a piece of history. A few tables away was Peter Tork, also signing for the same price. Or not. Neither had a long line of takers.
Below, John and Paul's best interview remarks on Pete, and why he was sacked. It's followed by an example of his adequate but not innovative drumming. Happily, "MONEY" is not just a song title. A few of his tracks with The Beatles did manage to turn up on one of the Capitol re-issue CDs, and since people actually still buy everything Beatles, he got a decent paycheck. Pretty good, at a time when the royalties for almost everyone who made music 50 years ago have petered out.
Lennon and McCartney talk about Pete Best - then you get MONEY instant download or listen online - no Password or Paypal-donation pestering.
Logic would tell you, “ah, Dickie Goodman’s wife was cajoled into doing a female narration for one of his dopey break-in novelty singles.” But in the world of Dickie Goodman, there is not a lot of logic.
First off, why would anyone change their name to something as bland as…SUSAN SMITH? That’s not too logical. THEN we get to the amusement (almost as much fun as the record) of how this woman actually got a break in the comedy business from Dickie’s one-time partner Bill Buchanan instead.
According to the modest (the book IS full of typos, including the inability to spell Leiber or Stoller) tome authored by Dickie’s son Jon:
“My mother Susan Smith Goodman, was linked to Dickie Goodman by destiny before they even met. Her upbringing lead her to a singing career. And she recorded a break-in record, A LETTER FROM SUSAN (1962), with Dad’s former partner, Bill Buchanan. Bill Buchanan had acquired a new partner by then. Howie Greenfield was an established Brill Building music publisher…Ironically, this strange twist of fate wasn’t even what brought Susan to gaze into Dickie’s green eyes. It would be years before she met him and it wasn’t through these two artists…”
“Mom’s father, Elliott Finkelstein, born August 19, 1902, grew up in Brooklyn. His parents were Russian Jew immigrants. Mom’s mother, Celia, was another Brooklyn born descendant of Russian Jew immigrants…on May 16, 1939, Esther Duchess Finkelstein (Mom) was born… (in) a pre WW II apartment building in Gravesend Brooklyn….Mom still lives in one of those buildings…paying rent…”
Esther Finkelstein, Esta as she was called, called herself by a less semitic name: Joan Elliott. Under this name, she appeared in road company musicals including “Damn Yankees” and “Pajama Game.” When this didn’t get her anywhere, she dyed her hair shiksa-blonde and took on the new name Susan Smith. She appeared on Broadway in “Bells are Ringing” and opened for Las Vegas singer Eddie Fisher among others. The Vegas beauty sometimes journeyed to California where shewon bit roles on a variety of TV shows, from “Dobie Gillis” to “Maverick” to “Perry Mason.”
“A Letter from Susan” was atypical of what Susan Smith was all about, but she did seem to enjoy comedy, and hanging around comedians. Jackie Kannon, known to knock out a novelty single or two, had a stand-up club called The Ratfink Room. He even had a short-lived comedy/sex magazine by that name. It was there that Dickie Goodman glommed her and was smitten. We’ll leave it at that for this entry. Time for you to check out how a female does a “break-in.”
A LETTER FROM SUSAN (break-in novelty) No dopey ego password, no pesty demand for a Paypal tip
The story of Susan Smith Goodman continues with…the a cover of the Lennon-McCartney classic, "GIRL."
As mentioned in the previous post, Susan Smith met her second husband Dickie Goodman at Jackie Kannon's club, The Ratfink Room. Jackie was signed to Roulette (home to Jimmie Rodgers, Tommy James, and Joey "Peppermint Twist" Dee) so Susan got a deal, too. It made more sense to be on a label with some well known names than try and put out a serious song on a novelty indie label.
As Jackie Kannon knew, being signed to a "major label" had prestige, even if it didn't give royalties or lead to a Top 40 hit. Susan's "BOY," didn't go anywhere, but she went everywhere. The "major label" recording artist opened for Vegas stars and performed in nightclubs. “Susan Smith has the eyes of Kim Novak, a torso that commands attention, and a winning personality,” raved a review in the New York Herald.
“Boy” is a nice enough cover of “Girl,” isn’t it? The flip side was “I Won’t Turn Away Now.” Another Roulette single, which could be the title of a tome on Roulette's sneaky bookkeeping lies and misdemeanors: “The Cupboard’s Bare.”
After Roulette failed to do her justice, Dickie Goodman, now exploring more serious music styles via commercials and rock bands, tried to help Susan get that elusive hit. In 1967, they released a single called “Sunshine Days” b/w “Congressional Medal of Honor,” about Vietnam. He had other ideas for her, too. According to their son Jon, “Dickie’s connections got Susan a stellar opportunity to audition for singing the theme song to the movie “Valley of the Dolls.” But another young hopeful was given the role instead, Dionne Warwick…the studios were pushing new black performers at the time.”
One of Goodman's better known projects was “The Glass Bottle,” a rock group born out of a promotion idea for selling recyclable glass over plastic. Around the same time, 1969, his wife was renamed "SUSANNA" Smith, and another single appeared, “Sarah Jane” b/w “St. Marks and Third” (a reference to where they picked up their older daughter from school). A semi-psych piece that started softly and then got more dramatic, it may have started too mildly to get the attention of busy disc jockeys and reviewers who gave an unknown maybe 10 seconds to wow 'em.
Susan Smith may not have been too disappointed. She'd been kicking around show biz a long time, and now had two kids to raise. The
Goodmans lived on East End Avenue, near Gracie Mansion and the East River, a
neighborhood so tony, guys named Tony didn’t live there. Unfortunately
wildman Dickie gambled his money away, and philandered on his pretty
wife. He began to brazenly record with his mistress “Ruthie.” Her name was on a single…which led Susan Smith to become single. She filed for divorce. She got the apartment, but she gave up show biz to try and keep paying the rent, and raising her kids.
Son Jon again: “Let’s face it, you don’t go into a relationship thinking, I’ll marry this person, we’ll bring children into the world and then we’ll destroy each other and live out the rest of our lives in squalor…She could have had any man she wanted and all the good ones were taken.”
For more information on how the story unfolded for Susan and Dickie, get Jon’s book, which, amazingly, he doesn’t give away as a free download on a blog. Sadly, Susan’s collected works have yet to make it to a full-length tribute CD. It’s probably a combo of not being able to find good masters on some of her indie works and not owning the rights to the few major label things she did. Oh yes, and one other thing: who buys CDs? In fact, who buys music unless it's by Kanye or Taylor? People prefer to stream off a juke-box like YouTube or the low-paying royalty-challenged Spotify. If they own, it's because somebody offered a free download. Oh…BOY....
BOY - Beatles cover by Susan Smith - instant download, listen on line. No creepy German or Iron Curtain server loaded with spyware and porn ads
Every now and then you need a lecturing reminder of how GRATEFUL you should be for what you have. This could be "You Have No Right to Be Sad," by PhD (on this blog somewhere) or even "Count Your Blessings (instead of sheep)" by Eddie Fisher (not on this blog anywhere.)
Be thankful, for example, that you didn't buy "Songs of the Now Generation" by Kate Smith.
When sappy big band songs went out of favor, Kate’s label suggested she simply sing sappy pop songs. You know, shit like “Little Green Apples.” Seriously. Little green apples WILL give you the shits. Why sing about them? And don't add "Honey."
She put out a few albums that dragged Beatles songs and others into the middle of the road. She didn’t get much of a “thank you” for this. Her old fans were not ‘In the Mood’ and young fans actually LIKED the Beatles and didn’t need grandma enunciating the lyrics. Maybe Mrs. Miller fracturing them, but not Kate doin’ it straight.
While Kate's game takes on Jimmy Webb ("Didn't We" and "By the Time I Get to Phoenix") might get gales of laughter at some gay party where the laughing gas goes in one end and out the other, they really aren't worth posting to normal people. Out of curiosity, a Beatles track did appear on the blog last month. However...in actually re-listening to Kate's album, no question, “The Thank You Song” is a curio worth a listen.
It sounds like a kiddie record, not something that belongs between Bacharach and The Beatles. Music scholars might nestle this nugget between such horrors as "The Children's Marching Song" (aka "Nick Nack Paddy Whack" or "This Old Man") and the worst of show tune advice songs ("Whistle A Happy Tune"). The latter would be the right track. "The Thank You Song" was performed in "Maggie Flynn," a short-lived musical that starred Shirley Jones and Jack Cassidy. The book and lyrics were from Hugo and Luigi (Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore) and George Weiss (yes, the same team credited with souping up "Wimoweh" into "The Lion Sleeps Tonight.")
Yes, there IS a good reason why this blog’s links do NOT have
“ENJOY!” or “DIG IT!” on the link. Maybe "BEWARE" would be more like it.
"The Thank You Song" is something you have to experience, like licorice chewing gum.
You don't have to leave a nice comment over THE THANK YOU SONG
One of the preoccupations with campy gays, and jealous nerds, is making fun of celebrities who sing. As in: how DARE they? As Shatner sang, in his great “Has Been” song, it’s “The never was talking about still trying…Forever bitter gossiping about never say die.”
Which isn’t to say that Lorne Greene wasn’t being risky when he switched from narration (“Ringo”) to handle swingin’ jazz. Greene, like another Jewish leading man, Gene Barry, had a very distinctive voice. Gene put out a solo album and even starred in a stage musical or two. He and Lorne figured an actor’s voice, trained for inflection, could handle mere musical notes. Lorne and Gene could carry tunes without dropping the key.
At worst (and there are those "golden throats, worst of celebrities singing" CDs) you get to hear what these people sound like in the shower. If you're a fan, you're not going to be too disappointed. With very few exceptions, the stars, the managers and the record labels haven't put out roaringly "so bad it's good" stuff. You have to be one hell of a pathetic loser to force laughter through your Chapstik-coated lips because Lorne Greene's just a tad creepy about swingin' the jazz.
As for Gene Barry, if you remember "Burke's Law," then you know he was always fond of singing, and a few episodes gave him
the chance to carry a tune. He was always musical, studying violin in
his early days, and getting a scholarship to the Chatham Square School
of Music on the basis of his singing. His first Broadway appearances
were in operetta (Rosalinda in 1942, The Merry Widow in 1943) and of
course he returned to Broadway 40 years later for La Cage aux Folles.
Even so, some may cringe slightly as the former Eugene Klass uses his New Yawk accent ("Hey, Luvvah.....") to croon the hacky lyrics ("...let's make the scene") grafted onto the "Burke's Law" theme song. But....hilariously awful? Only to people who dress in drag to look hilariously awful.
LORNE GREENE - instant download or listen on line. NO Paypal Tip wheedling, no ego-asshole passwords
BURKE'S LAW THEME BY GENE BARRY
