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
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