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5 episodes with Brown Eyed Girl
3 episodes with Brown Eyed Girl
2 episodes with Brown Eyed Girl
2 episodes with Brown Eyed Girl
2 episodes with Brown Eyed Girl
2 episodes with Brown Eyed Girl
2 episodes with Brown Eyed Girl
3 episodes with Brown Eyed Girl
2 episodes with Brown Eyed Girl
I smile every time I hear these early essential songs from one of the finest soul singers of our time. This is a MUST for fans of the brilliantly soulful voice of Van Morrison, investigating and celebrating the first Van music post-THEM (his seminal rhythm and blues band that gave us “Here Comes the Night”, etc.), in songs that takes us well beyond Van's Brown Eyed Girl, which by the way started out with a different title about something else brown she had. Put a pin that and come dive inside the Legendary Bang Sessions of Van Morrison – his earliest American recording sessions captured by Bert Berns in New York City in March 1967. If you love soul singers, we're pretty sure this one's sure to be Blowin' Your Mind! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Scott G. Shea, leading music historian and author of the best-selling book “All the Leaves Are Brown: How the Mamas and Papas Came Together and Broke Apart,” joins John Williams to talk about the complicated relationship Van Morrison had with his hit song “Brown-Eyed Girl.”
Scott G. Shea, leading music historian and author of the best-selling book “All the Leaves Are Brown: How the Mamas and Papas Came Together and Broke Apart,” joins John Williams to talk about the complicated relationship Van Morrison had with his hit song “Brown-Eyed Girl.”
Scott G. Shea, leading music historian and author of the best-selling book “All the Leaves Are Brown: How the Mamas and Papas Came Together and Broke Apart,” joins John Williams to talk about the complicated relationship Van Morrison had with his hit song “Brown-Eyed Girl.”
Music is deeply personal - and sometimes deeply annoying. What happens when two podcast hosts with intimate knowledge of each other's musical preferences deliberately curate mixtapes designed to make each other suffer? Pure audio schadenfreude.Matt kicks things off with a strategic selection including the universally maligned Nickelback, a whiny 90s ballad, and an ultra-twangy country song that earns a rock-bottom score. His secret weapon? A Ray Stevens track with the alarming title "Where Are All The 12-Year-Olds" that combines clickbait discomfort with get-off-my-lawn social commentary.Sam counterattacks brilliantly with the overplayed classic "Brown Eyed Girl," knowing Matt's documented hatred for it, followed by a dubstep nightmare featuring nothing but "wub wub wub dub dub woo" repeated endlessly. His masterstroke arrives with the final selection - a dissonant horror movie soundtrack that Sam describes as sounding "like someone fell asleep on a synth keyboard."What makes this musical torture chamber so fascinating is how it reveals our relationship with music. Some objectively terrible songs score surprisingly high due to nostalgic connections, while well-crafted pieces receive brutal ratings simply because they hit our personal aversion buttons. What song would you use to torment your friends? We'd love to hear your suggestions for tracks that would make us squirm. Go to Instagram and Threads (@SuperAwesomeMix) with your picks for the ultimate musical punishment!https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/sam-worst-mix-ever/pl.u-MB0qCNqbr81. How You Remind Me – Nickelback2. Insensitive – Jann Arden3. Thinkin' Problem – David Ball4. Strokin – Clarence Carter 5. Wrap It Up – The Fabulous Thunderbirds6. Where Are All the Twelve Year Olds – Ray Stevens7. Brown Eyed Girl – Van Morrison8. Woo Boost – Rusko9. Everybody Dies – Billie Eilish10. F**k the System – System Of A Down11. Bidibodi Bidbu – Bubbles12. Company – Disasterpeace Support the showVisit us at https://www.superawesomemix.com to learn more about our app, our merchandise, our cards, and more!
This is an Encore Presentation of my February 2024 episode featuring Bert Berns and Nat Weiss, two giants of the music industry, yet both relatively unknown to the public. Bert Berns was one of the foremost songwriters and producers of pop and rhythm and blues in the ‘60s. His hits include “Twist And Shout”, which The Beatles took to international fame; “Piece Of My Heart”, Janis Joplin's gigantic hit; “Hang On Sloopy”, the mega-hit for The McCoys; “Cry To Me”, a hit for Solomon Burke and later for The Rolling Stones; and “Tell Him”, a great early ‘60s hit for the Exciters. His producer credits include “Brown Eyed Girl”, Van Morrison's first smash hit. Nat Weiss was a lawyer by training. He became the U.S. business partner of Brian Epstein, the manager of The Beatles, and was Brian's right hand man in America for the band, including for all the merchandising opportunities coming their way. Nat expanded this relationship and began suggesting artists for Brian to manage, including The Cyrkle (“Red Rubber Ball”). They formed a management company together and, after Brian's death, Nat continued the business, managing artists like James Taylor.---------------------------------------------The Follow Your Dream Podcast:Top 1% of all podcasts with Listeners in 200 countries!For more information and other episodes of the podcast click here. To subscribe to the podcast click here.To subscribe to our weekly Follow Your Dream Podcast email click here.To Rate and Review the podcast click here.“Dream With Robert”. Click here.—----------------------------------------ROBERT'S LATEST SINGLES:“ROUGH RIDER” is Robert's latest single. It's an instrumental with a Cool, ‘60s, “Spaghetti Western”, Guitar-driven, Tremolo sounding, Ventures/Link Wray kind of vibe!CLICK HERE FOR THE OFFICIAL VIDEOCLICK HERE FOR ALL LINKS—--------------------------------“LOVELY GIRLIE” is a fun, Old School, rock/pop tune with 3-part harmony. It's been called “Supremely excellent!”, “Another Homerun for Robert!”, and “Love that Lovely Girlie!”Click HERE for All Links—----------------------------------“THE RICH ONES ALL STARS” is Robert's single featuring the following 8 World Class musicians: Billy Cobham (Drums), Randy Brecker (Flugelhorn), John Helliwell (Sax), Pat Coil (Piano), Peter Tiehuis (Guitar), Antonio Farao (Keys), Elliott Randall (Guitar) and David Amram (Pennywhistle).Click HERE for the Official VideoClick HERE for All Links—----------------------------------------“SOSTICE” is Robert's single with a rockin' Old School vibe. Called “Stunning!”, “A Gem!”, “Magnificent!” and “5 Stars!”.Click HERE for all links.—---------------------------------“THE GIFT” is Robert's ballad arranged by Grammy winning arranger Michael Abene and turned into a horn-driven Samba. Praised by David Amram, John Helliwell, Joe La Barbera, Tony Carey, Fay Claassen, Antonio Farao, Danny Gottlieb and Leslie Mandoki.Click HERE for all links.—-------------------------------------“LOU'S BLUES”. Robert's Jazz Fusion “Tone Poem”. Called “Fantastic! Great playing and production!” (Mark Egan - Pat Metheny Group/Elements) and “Digging it!” (Peter Erskine - Weather Report)!Click HERE for all links.—----------------------------------------Audio production:Jimmy RavenscroftKymera Films Connect with the Follow Your Dream Podcast:Website - www.followyourdreampodcast.comEmail Robert - robert@followyourdreampodcast.comFollow Robert's band, Project Grand Slam, and his music:Website - www.projectgrandslam.comYouTubeSpotify MusicApple MusicEmail - pgs@projectgrandslam.com
"MixTape 114 Classic Oldies Favorites" TRACK 1 AUDIO TITLE "Stand By Me" PERFORMER "Ben E. King" INDEX 01 00:00:00 TRACK 2 AUDIO TITLE "The Sound of Silence - Acoustic Version" PERFORMER "Simon & Garfunkel" INDEX 01 02:46:70 TRACK 3 AUDIO TITLE "All I Have to Do Is Dream" PERFORMER "The Everly Brothers" INDEX 01 05:31:35 TRACK 4 AUDIO TITLE "All You Need Is Love - Remastered 2009" PERFORMER "The Beatles" INDEX 01 07:41:11 TRACK 5 AUDIO TITLE "Ring of Fire" PERFORMER "Johnny Cash" INDEX 01 10:36:31 TRACK 6 AUDIO TITLE "Suspicious Minds" PERFORMER "Elvis Presley" INDEX 01 13:00:26 TRACK 7 AUDIO TITLE "Sugar, Sugar" PERFORMER "The Archies" INDEX 01 17:01:33 TRACK 8 AUDIO TITLE "Travelin' Man - Remastered" PERFORMER "Ricky Nelson" INDEX 01 19:36:73 TRACK 9 AUDIO TITLE "Splish Splash" PERFORMER "Bobby Darin" INDEX 01 21:52:10 TRACK 10 AUDIO TITLE "Do You Love Me - Mono Single" PERFORMER "The Contours" INDEX 01 23:49:50 TRACK 11 AUDIO TITLE "Runaway" PERFORMER "Del Shannon" INDEX 01 26:21:04 TRACK 12 AUDIO TITLE "Johnny B. Goode" PERFORMER "Chuck Berry" INDEX 01 28:23:33 TRACK 13 AUDIO TITLE "Tutti Frutti" PERFORMER "Little Richard" INDEX 01 30:49:36 TRACK 14 AUDIO TITLE "I Walk The Line - Single Version" PERFORMER "Johnny Cash, The Tennessee Two" INDEX 01 33:06:73 TRACK 15 AUDIO TITLE "Only the Lonely" PERFORMER "Roy Orbison" INDEX 01 35:20:16 TRACK 16 AUDIO TITLE "Dream Lover" PERFORMER "Bobby Darin" INDEX 01 37:35:34 TRACK 17 AUDIO TITLE "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" PERFORMER "The Shirelles" INDEX 01 39:53:17 TRACK 18 AUDIO TITLE "Brown Eyed Girl" PERFORMER "Van Morrison" INDEX 01 42:17:71 TRACK 19 AUDIO TITLE "You Never Can Tell" PERFORMER "Chuck Berry" INDEX 01 44:58:04 TRACK 20 AUDIO TITLE "I'm a Believer - 2006 Remaster" PERFORMER "The Monkees" INDEX 01 47:27:06 TRACK 21 AUDIO TITLE "Runaround Sue" PERFORMER "Dion" INDEX 01 49:57:73 TRACK 22 AUDIO TITLE "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" PERFORMER "Nancy Sinatra" INDEX 01 52:11:36 TRACK 23 AUDIO TITLE "Don't Be Cruel" PERFORMER "Elvis Presley" INDEX 01 54:34:24 TRACK 24 AUDIO TITLE "Bye Bye Love" PERFORMER "The Everly Brothers" INDEX 01 56:26:43 TRACK 25 AUDIO TITLE "Misirlou" PERFORMER "Dick Dale" INDEX 01 58:20:52 TRACK 26 AUDIO TITLE "Then He Kissed Me" PERFORMER "The Crystals" INDEX 01 60:24:66 TRACK 27 AUDIO TITLE "(What A) Wonderful World" PERFORMER "Sam Cooke" INDEX 01 62:45:16 TRACK 28 AUDIO TITLE "Do Wah Diddy Diddy - 2007 Remaster" PERFORMER "Manfred Mann" INDEX 01 64:44:71 TRACK 29 AUDIO TITLE "Be My Baby" PERFORMER "The Ronettes" INDEX 01 67:02:23 TRACK 30 AUDIO TITLE "Mambo Italiano (with The Mellomen) - 78rpm Version" PERFORMER "Rosemary Clooney, The Mellomen" INDEX 01 69:23:33 TRACK 31 AUDIO TITLE "Let's Twist Again" PERFORMER "Chubby Checker" INDEX 01 71:23:31 TRACK 32 AUDIO TITLE "Wipe Out - Hit Version / Extended Ending" PERFORMER "The Surfaris" INDEX 01 73:36:28 TRACK 33 AUDIO TITLE "Great Balls Of Fire" PERFORMER "Jerry Lee Lewis" INDEX 01 75:32:13 TRACK 34 AUDIO TITLE "Think" PERFORMER "Aretha Franklin" INDEX 01 77:16:50 TRACK 35 AUDIO TITLE "California Dreamin' - Single Version" PERFORMER "The Mamas & The Papas" INDEX 01 79:20:31 TRACK 36 AUDIO TITLE "Mrs. Robinson - From "The Graduate" Soundtrack" PERFORMER "Simon & Garfunkel" INDEX 01 81:42:59 TRACK 37 AUDIO TITLE "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" PERFORMER "The Animals" INDEX 01 85:02:61 TRACK 38 AUDIO TITLE "Oh, Pretty Woman" PERFORMER "Roy Orbison" INDEX 01 87:09:29 TRACK 39 AUDIO TITLE "Always On My Mind" PERFORMER "Elvis Presley" INDEX 01 89:59:40 TRACK 40 AUDIO TITLE "I Got You Babe" PERFORMER "Sonny & Cher" INDEX 01 93:19:73
In this podcast episode, Marc and Ray each share their top five Irish artists and songs, celebrating the diversity of Irish music. Ray's list featured iconic tracks like Van Morrison's timeless “Brown Eyed Girl,” U2's soulful ballad “All I Want Is You,” and The Cranberries' dreamy hit “Dreams.” He also highlighted Enya's ethereal “May It Be” and the haunting “Theme from Harry's Game” by Clannad. Marc's list celebrated these classics too while also considering legendary rock from Thin Lizzy and a ballad by Chris De Burg. Experience the heart of Irish music — a vibrant fusion of traditional folk, modern pop, and rock that's sure to inspire you.
Episode 56 - Brown Eyed Girl: On this week's episode Brett and Andy chat unenthusiastic jockeys, marathon appetites, when does a hobbyist become an athlete, changing target and goals, mid run toilet time, some listener emails, marathon tiredness, off seasons, running socks, pacing ultras, running your first marathon, Adidas Boston 12 vs Evo SL, European Indoor Champs, Brett's training week, Andy's training week and we finish with 'The Strava Segment'. Question of the pod: Has a mid run toilet moment ever happened to you? Do you have a question for the pod? If so, comment on the YouTube video, send us a message on Instagram or email it to runningtheredlinepod@gmail.com As runners, we all challenge ourselves in ways we never thought possible. Pushing the boundaries of what we're capable of to smash through targets and set ourselves new bigger and better ones. This awesome hobby we share gives us one thing in common and it brings us together as a community. Whether you're working towards completing your first Parkrun, or you're a veteran of the sport who's run 100 ultra marathons, we all know the feeling of reaching that maxed out effort and our own Red Line. Welcome to our podcast where your hosts Brett Elesmore and Andy Maguire discuss the struggles, the successes and everything in-between on our running journeys as we all work towards the next time we're Running The Red Line... Andy's Channel: @itsonandy Brett's Channel: @ob1brand
Miss Heard celebrates Season 6, Episode 285 with Van Morrison's hit “Brown Eyed Girl” which originally had a different song title before. You will also learn about why thing song keeps him up all night till now and how he is connected with Cissy Houston, Whitney Houston's mother, and a sad story about a paternity incident with the baby and baby mama dying within months from each other back in 2011. You can listen to all our episodes at our website at: https://pod.co/miss-heard-song-lyrics Or iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify and many more platforms under Podcast name “Miss Heard Song Lyrics” Don't forget to subscribe/rate/review to help our Podcast in the ratings. Please consider supporting our little podcast via Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/MissHeardSongLyrics or via PayPal at https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/MissHeardSongLyrics #missheardsonglyrics #missheardsongs #missheardlyrics #misheardsonglyrics #podcastinavan #vanpodcast #VanMorrison #BrownEyedGirl #BertBerns #GiGiLee #CissyHouston #TheSweetInspirations https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfmkgQRmmeE https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_Eyed_Girl https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Morrison https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_Rocca https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/van-morrisons-love-child-died-after-slipping-into-diabetic-coma/28698088.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sweet_Inspirations
You know the saying: your network is your net worth.You can intentionally engineer the results by curating your circle of influence over time, keeping in touch, and being on the alert for subtle connections the casual observer might miss.And then you might unintentionally end up on a flight with the CEO of your former employer, take your chance on grabbing the seat next to him in first class, and seize the opportunity to create networking connections that help him close a major deal.Helen Fanucci took both approaches and had been able to practice and master the art of finding what's possible.Her parents instilled this in her by showing her she could achieve anything she put her mind to. When, as a young girl living in Boston, she told her father, who was the minister of a congregational church, that she wanted to go to the MIT, and asked if he thought she could get in, he told her the only way to find out was to try.Spoiler alert - she got into MIT.But before that, as Helen was finishing seventh grade, her mother died of ovarian cancer only a year after her family had moved to Seattle. During a visit to Boston she realized that although she was struggling to fit in living in Seattle, she could find her place if she intentionally looked for and created it.After graduating from MIT, she worked as a manufacturing engineer for IBM in Silicon Valley. Worried that IBM's culture of spending your entire career there could leave her stagnant, she pivoted into sales. She grew into the role through building her network and seeking knowledge where she could find it - until an unsettling discovery led her to leave IBM and work for a prospective client.Cue the coincidental meeting with the CEO of IBM on the airplane and Helen's opportunity to use her networking skills to create a relationship between the CEO and her new employer's CEO. By all standards, everything was going just fine.But Fine is a 4-Letter Word.In a moment, when you meet Helen, you'll discover how going on maternity leave changed everything. How spending a career in corporate America inspired her mantra of “this won't last forever.” And why all these years later she's started her own company that helps B2B companies with their go-to-market using AI tools.It's a fascinating story, and you have to hear Helen tell it in her own words.Helen's hype song is “Brown Eyed Girl” by Van Morrison.Resources:Helen Fanucci's website: https://www.pipelinepower.ai/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenfanucci/ Claim your copy of Helen's book, Love Your Team: A Survival Guide for Sales Managers in a Hybrid World.Invitation from Lori: In my special guide, 5 Easy Ways to Start Living the Sabbatical Life, you can discover, step-by-step, how you can stop settling for “fine” and look at your life with a fresh set of eyes. Even if, like many people in today's high-speed world, you're not in a position to take a month or year-long sabbatical. You know how you normally hear the disclaimer “Don't try this at home!” In this case, you CAN try this at home. And not just “try,” DO. Once you read it, you'll ✅ Discover a counter-intuitive approach to making intentional changes in mindset and lifestyle.✅ Learn how to own your feelings and your struggles so you can address them.✅ Find out how to face fears, step out of your comfort zone, and rewire your beliefs.It's...
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Send Steve a Text MessageUnlock the code that musicians worldwide swear by with our latest episode on the Nashville number system. Imagine being able to jump into any jam session or master new tunes in a snap, all thanks to a simple set of Roman numerals. That's the power of this musical shorthand, transforming the way you understand and play music, regardless of your instrument. I'll take you through the basics, starting off in the key of C and showing you how every note in the major scale births a unique chord. By the end of this episode, you'll be fluent in the language of chords – major, minor, and even the elusive diminished.Strap in for a practical journey as we harmonize the major scale, revealing the secrets of the one-four-five progression that makes hits like "Brown Eyed Girl" and "Old Time Rock and Roll" instantly recognizable (and playable!). Whether you're a budding musician eager to collaborate or a practiced hand looking for a refresher, our conversation demystifies the theory, leaving you with a robust toolkit for any musical encounter. So tune in, tune up, and prepare to revolutionize your playing with insights from the Nashville number system – it's a game-changer. Links: Steve's Channel → https://www.youtube.com/user/stinemus... GuitarZoom Channel → https://www.youtube.com/user/guitarz0... Songs Channel → https://www.youtube.com/user/GuitarSo... . Check out Steve's Guitar Membership and Courses: https://bit.ly/3rbZ3He
Selecting the perfect Father-Daughter wedding dance is not as easy as it appears. This podcast is for engaged couples who are stressed out with wedding planning and family expectations but want a fun wedding day. "Daughters" by John Mayer might be a hit, but is it suitable for your Father-Daughter dance? Find out the surprising backstories of popular songs and why they may not be the best choice for your wedding. Additionally, learn about the best and worst songs to choose for that special moment. Stress-free Wedding Planning Podcast #103: Selecting the Perfect Father-Daughter Wedding Dance: Avoiding Inappropriate Songs Host: Sal & Sam Music: "Sam's Tune" by Rick Anthony TIMESTAMP 00:00 Introduction: Selecting the Perfect Father-Daughter Wedding Dance: Avoiding Inappropriate Songs 03:00 Inappropriate Songs and Their Alternatives 03:30 "Daughters" by John Mayer 05:00 "Perfect" by Ed Sheeran 05:45 "Butterfly Kisses" by Bob Carlisle 07:00 "Daddy's Little Girl" by Michael Bolton 08:30 "Every Breath You Take" by The Police 10:00 Wedding Tip Wednesday 13:30 Inappropriate Songs and Their Alternatives "Heaven" by Kane Brown 14:15 "Sweet Child O' Mine" by Guns N Roses 15:30 "Brown Eyed Girl" by Van Morrison 16:30 "Love Me Tender" by Elvis Presley 18:00 "There Goes My Life" by Kenny Chesney 19:00 "Father Figure" by George Michael 20:00 Final Thoughts and Podcast Wrap-up 21:00 Close Get your FREE no-obligation report TODAY: "8 QUESTIONS YOU MUST ASK A WEDDING PROFESSIONAL BEFORE BOOKING THEM" http://forms.aweber.com/form/55/756659955.htm Music List Giveaway https://www.afterhourseventsofne.com/guestcontact *** Join us in the Stress-free Wedding Planning Facebook group https://urlgeni.us/facebook/stress-free-wedding-planning Sponsored in part by Clear Vision Productions and the Wedding Styles of CT Wedding Shows. https://www.weddingstylesofct.com/ https://www.theclearvisionagency.com/ Wedding Tip Wednesday on the Stress-free Wedding Planning Podcast is sponsored by EMERGE Cosmetics – 10% OFF promo code: SF1 https://shopemergecosmetics.com/ Copyright © 2024 Atmosphere Productions LLC All Rights Reserved. Produced By Atmosphere Productions in association with After Hours Events of New England https://atmosphere-productions.com https://www.afterhourseventsofne.com #stressfreeweddingplanning #stressfreeweddingplanningpodcast #ctweddingdj #atmosphereproductions #afterhourseventsofne #cvpevents #clearvisionproductions #theclearvisionagency #dreamwedding #WalkDownTheAisle #WeddingEtiquette #UnpluggedCeremony
Selecting the perfect Father-Daughter wedding dance is not as easy as it appears. This podcast is for engaged couples who are stressed out with wedding planning and family expectations but want a fun wedding day. "Daughters" by John Mayer might be a hit, but is it suitable for your Father-Daughter dance? Find out the surprising backstories of popular songs and why they may not be the best choice for your wedding. Additionally, learn about the best and worst songs to choose for that special moment. Stress-free Wedding Planning Podcast #103: Selecting the Perfect Father-Daughter Wedding Dance: Avoiding Inappropriate Songs Host: Sal & Sam Music: "Sam's Tune" by Rick Anthony TIMESTAMP 00:00 Introduction: Selecting the Perfect Father-Daughter Wedding Dance: Avoiding Inappropriate Songs 03:00 Inappropriate Songs and Their Alternatives 03:30 "Daughters" by John Mayer 05:00 "Perfect" by Ed Sheeran 05:45 "Butterfly Kisses" by Bob Carlisle 07:00 "Daddy's Little Girl" by Michael Bolton 08:30 "Every Breath You Take" by The Police 10:00 Wedding Tip Wednesday 13:30 Inappropriate Songs and Their Alternatives "Heaven" by Kane Brown 14:15 "Sweet Child O' Mine" by Guns N Roses 15:30 "Brown Eyed Girl" by Van Morrison 16:30 "Love Me Tender" by Elvis Presley 18:00 "There Goes My Life" by Kenny Chesney 19:00 "Father Figure" by George Michael 20:00 Final Thoughts and Podcast Wrap-up 21:00 Close Get your FREE no-obligation report TODAY: "8 QUESTIONS YOU MUST ASK A WEDDING PROFESSIONAL BEFORE BOOKING THEM" http://forms.aweber.com/form/55/756659955.htm Music List Giveaway https://www.afterhourseventsofne.com/guestcontact *** Join us in the Stress-free Wedding Planning Facebook group https://urlgeni.us/facebook/stress-free-wedding-planning Sponsored in part by Clear Vision Productions and the Wedding Styles of CT Wedding Shows. https://www.weddingstylesofct.com/ https://www.theclearvisionagency.com/ Wedding Tip Wednesday on the Stress-free Wedding Planning Podcast is sponsored by EMERGE Cosmetics – 10% OFF promo code: SF1 https://shopemergecosmetics.com/ Copyright © 2024 Atmosphere Productions LLC All Rights Reserved. Produced By Atmosphere Productions in association with After Hours Events of New England https://atmosphere-productions.com https://www.afterhourseventsofne.com #stressfreeweddingplanning #stressfreeweddingplanningpodcast #ctweddingdj #atmosphereproductions #afterhourseventsofne #cvpevents #clearvisionproductions #theclearvisionagency #dreamwedding #WalkDownTheAisle #WeddingEtiquette #UnpluggedCeremony
Join me for a walk in a thunderstorm! Through the lightning and thunder, we'll explore the energy of the May 2024 Flower Moon. This full moon is chock-full of enthusiastic Sagittarius energy, but the lunar sextile in Pluto will encourage you to explore your darker depths; this is where you'll find truth before spreading your wings. It's time to get digging! What am I reading? Piglet by Lottie HazellFridge love by Kristen HongWhat am I listening to on repeat?Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison What's for dinner?Chickpea “Tuna” Salad2 cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained1/4 c vegan mayonnaise, regular mayo will work as well2-3 celery stalks, chopped1/4 c red onion, diced small1-2 tsp capersJuice of 1/2 lemon2-3 T fresh chopped dillSea salt and cracked pepper to tasteDirections:In a medium bowl, using a potato masher or other similar tool, mash chickpeas well until mashed with some chunks throughout.Add in all other ingredients and stir well to combine. Adjust seasoning as desired.Watermelon PizzaIngredients:WatermelonMascarpone cheeseFruitHoneyBalsamic drizzle Cut your watermelon into wedges. Spread cheese thinly across the watermelon wedge. Top your pizza with sliced strawberries, whole raspberries, and blueberries. Drizzle a balsamic glaze on top and add mint leaves for additional flavor. Enjoy
The world is too depressing, let's do some happy-go-lucky '60s sunshine pop love songs! Or are they? Which is your favorite over-covered golden oldie from 1967, Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl" or The Turtles' "Happy Together"? See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
When the whole world is captivated by the disappearance of an 8-month pregnant woman from an agricultural town in California, police struggle to find any hard evidence leading them to a prime suspect. One month later when a salacious affair is announced in connection with the disappearance, they start to put the pieces together. Join as Andie does her first ever full show presentation with Jessie in the listener seat. Sources: Laci: Inside the Laci Peterson Murder - Michael Fleeman Presumed Guilty - Matt Dalton This Week's Episode Brought To You By: Shopify - The Platform Commerce is Built On - $1 per month trial https://shopify.com/lovemurder Athena Club - Get started with Athena Club today by shopping in-store at Target nationwide - Use code LOVEMURDER at checkout for a free Gentle Body Scrub with your purchase of a Razor Kit https://www.athenaclub.com/ Find LOVE MURDER online: Website: lovemurder.love Instagram: @lovemurderpod Twitter: @lovemurderpod Facebook: LoveMrdrPod TikTok: @LoveMurderPod Patreon: /LoveMurderPod Credits: Love Murder is hosted by Jessie Pray and Andie Cassette, researched and written by Jessie Pray, produced by Nathaniel Whittemore and edited by Kyle Barbour-Hoffman
Bert Berns and Nat Weiss are two giants of the music industry, yet both relatively unknown to the public. Bert Berns was one of the foremost songwriters and producers of pop and rhythm and blues in the ‘60s. His hits include “Twist And Shout”, which The Beatles took to international fame, “Piece Of My Heart”, Janis Joplin's gigantic hit, “Hang On Sloopy”, the mega-hit for The McCoys, “Cry To Me”, a hit for Solomon Burke and later for The Rolling Stones, and “Tell Him”, a great early ‘60s song for the Exciters. His producer credits include “Brown Eyed Girl”, Van Morrison's first smash hit, "Under The Boardwalk" by The Drifters, and "Cherry Cherry" by Neil Diamond. Nat Weiss was a lawyer by training. He became the U.S. business partner of Brian Epstein, the manager of The Beatles, and was Brian's right hand man for the band in America, including sorting out all the merchandising opportunities coming their way. Nat parlayed this relationship into one where he would suggest artists for Brian to manage, including The Cyrkle. They formed a management company together and, after Brian's death, Nat continued the business, managing artists like James Taylor.---------------------------------------------The Follow Your Dream Podcast:Top 1% of all podcasts with Listeners in 200 countries!For more information and other episodes of the podcast click here. To subscribe to the podcast click here.To subscribe to our weekly Follow Your Dream Podcast email click here.To Rate and Review the podcast click here.“Dream With Robert”. Click here.—----------------------------------------“MILES BEHIND”, Robert's first album, was recorded in 1994 but was “lost” for the last 30 years. It's now been released for streaming. Featuring Randy Brecker (Blood Sweat & Tears), Anton Fig (The David Letterman Show), Al Foster (Miles Davis), Tim Ries (The Rolling Stones), Jon Lucien and many more. Called “Hip, Tight and Edgy!” Click here for all links.—--------------------------------------‘THE SINGLES PROJECT” is Robert's new EP, featuring five of his new songs. The songs speak to the ups and downs of life. From the blissful, joyous “Saturday Morning” to the darker commentary of “Like Never Before” and “The Ship”. “This is Robert at his most vulnerable” (Pop Icon Magazine)Reviews: “Amazing!” (Top Buzz Magazine)“Magical…A Sonic Tour De Force!” (IndiePulse Music)“Fabulously Enticing!” (Pop Icon Magazine)“A Home Run!” (Hollywood Digest)Click here for all links.—--------------------------------------“IT'S ALIVE!” is Robert's latest Project Grand Slam album. Featuring 13 of the band's Greatest Hits performed “live” at festivals in Pennsylvania and Serbia.Reviews:"An instant classic!" (Melody Maker)"Amazing record...Another win for the one and only Robert Miller!" (Hollywood Digest)"Close to perfect!" (Pop Icon)"A Masterpiece!" (Big Celebrity Buzz)"Sterling effort!" (Indie Pulse)"Another fusion wonder for Project Grand Slam!" (MobYorkCity)Click here for all links.Click here for song videos—-----------------------------------------Audio production:Jimmy RavenscroftKymera Films Connect with the Follow Your Dream Podcast:Website - www.followyourdreampodcast.comEmail Robert - robert@followyourdreampodcast.com Follow Robert's band, Project Grand Slam, and his music:Website - www.projectgrandslam.comYouTubeSpotify MusicApple MusicEmail - pgs@projectgrandslam.com
Julia Roberts goes from a "Pretty Woman" to a "Brown Eyed Girl" in the thriller "Sleeping with the Enemy." The Joseph Ruben film tells the tale of a woman who fakes her own death to escape an abusive husband. Back in 1991, audiences lined up to see America's Sweetheart in the fight of her life, breaking box office records. But now, decades later, can this woman-in-peril plot still stay afloat? Is her new love interest scarier than her husband? And was the "hat montage" absolutely necessary? The Old Roommates take a break from their top-secret swimming lessons and give it a rewatch through their middle-aged lens. Listen to this. Trigger warning: This episode discusses themes of domestic abuse.Old Roommates can be reached via email at oldroommatespod@gmail.com. Follow Old Roommates on Instagram and YouTube @OldRoommates for bonus content and please give us a rating or review!#JuliaRoberts #JosephRuben #RonaldBass
L'épisode de cette semaine se penche sur "Twist and Shout" des Isley Brothers et sur les débuts de la carrière de Bert Berns. Si certains d'entre vous se demande qui c'est…. C'est un songwriter et producteur responsable de titre comme Everybody need somebody, "Piece of My Heart", "Brown Eyed Girl" et "Under the Boardwalk". Et….. Twist and shout bien sur….. The Isley Brothers, "Twist and Shout" The Isley Brothers, "Standing on the DanceFloor" The Isley Brothers, "The Snake" Jerry Butler, "Make it Easy on Yourself" The Five Pearls, "Please Let Me Know" Dave "Baby" Cortez, "The Happy Organ" Ray Peterson, "Corrina, Corrina" The Top Notes, "Hearts of Stone" Ersel Hickey, "Bluebirds Over the Mountain" Bert and Bill Giant, “The Gettysburg Address” Bert Berns, "The Legend of the Alamo" LaVern Baker, "A Little Bird Told Me" Austin Taylor, "Push Push" The Top Notes, "Twist and Shout" The Jarmels, "A Little Bit of Soap" Russell Byrd, "You'd Better Come Home" Russell Byrd, "Nights of Mexico" Solomon Burke, "Just Out of Reach" Solomon Burke, "Cry to Me" The Isley Brothers, "Twist and Shout" The Contours, "Do You Love Me" Jan et Dean, "Linda" The Isley Brothers, "Twistin' With Linda" The Isley Brothers, "Nobody But Me" The Isley Brothers, "Surf and Shout" The Isley Brothers, "Who's That Lady ?" The Isley Brothers, "Testify" Don Covay and the Goodtimers, "Mercy, Mercy" Little Richard, "I Don't Know What You've Got But It's Got Me" Les Beatles, "Twist and Shout"
Episode 170 of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at "Astral Weeks", the early solo career of Van Morrison, and the death of Bert Berns. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a forty-minute bonus episode available, on "Stoned Soul Picnic" by Laura Nyro. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by doing a first-pass edit, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt's irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com/ Errata At one point I, ridiculously, misspeak the name of Charles Mingus' classic album. Black Saint and the Sinner Lady is not about dinner ladies. Also, I say Warren Smith Jr is on "Slim Slow Slider" when I meant to say Richard Davis (Smith is credited in some sources, but I only hear acoustic guitar, bass, and soprano sax on the finished track). Resources As usual, I've created Mixcloud playlists, with full versions of all the songs excerpted in this episode. As there are so many Van Morrison songs in this episode, the Mixcloud is split into three parts, one, two, and three. The information about Bert Berns comes from Here Comes the Night: The Dark Soul of Bert Berns and the Dirty Business of Rhythm and Blues by Joel Selvin. I've used several biographies of Van Morrison. Van Morrison: Into the Music by Ritchie Yorke is so sycophantic towards Morrison that the word “hagiography” would be, if anything, an understatement. Van Morrison: No Surrender by Johnny Rogan, on the other hand, is the kind of book that talks in the introduction about how the author has had to avoid discussing certain topics because of legal threats from the subject. Howard deWitt's Van Morrison: Astral Weeks to Stardom is over-thorough in the way some self-published books are, while Clinton Heylin's Can You Feel the Silence? is probably the best single volume on the artist. Information on Woodstock comes from Small Town Talk by Barney Hoskyns. Ryan Walsh's Astral Weeks: A Secret History of 1968 is about more than Astral Weeks, but does cover Morrison's period in and around Boston in more detail than anything else. The album Astral Weeks is worth hearing in its entirety. Not all of the music on The Authorized Bang Collection is as listenable, but it's the most complete collection available of everything Morrison recorded for Bang. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript Before we start, a quick warning -- this episode contains discussion of organised crime activity, and of sudden death. It also contains excerpts of songs which hint at attraction to underage girls and discuss terminal illness. If those subjects might upset you, you might want to read the transcript rather than listen to the episode. Anyway, on with the show. Van Morrison could have been the co-writer of "Piece of My Heart". Bert Berns was one of the great collaborators in the music business, and almost every hit he ever had was co-written, and he was always on the lookout for new collaborators, and in 1967 he was once again working with Van Morrison, who he'd worked with a couple of years earlier when Morrison was still the lead singer of Them. Towards the beginning of 1967 he had come up with a chorus, but no verse. He had the hook, "Take another little piece of my heart" -- Berns was writing a lot of songs with "heart" in the title at the time -- and wanted Morrison to come up with a verse to go with it. Van Morrison declined. He wasn't interested in writing pop songs, or in collaborating with other writers, and so Berns turned to one of his regular collaborators, Jerry Ragavoy, and it was Ragavoy who added the verses to one of the biggest successes of Berns' career: [Excerpt: Erma Franklin, "Piece of My Heart"] The story of how Van Morrison came to make the album that's often considered his masterpiece is intimately tied up with the story we've been telling in the background for several episodes now, the story of Atlantic Records' sale to Warners, and the story of Bert Berns' departure from Atlantic. For that reason, some parts of the story I'm about to tell will be familiar to those of you who've been paying close attention to the earlier episodes, but as always I'm going to take you from there to somewhere we've never been before. In 1962, Bert Berns was a moderately successful songwriter, who had written or co-written songs for many artists, especially for artists on Atlantic Records. He'd written songs for Atlantic artists like LaVern Baker, and when Atlantic's top pop producers Leiber and Stoller started to distance themselves from the label in the early sixties, he had moved into production as well, writing and producing Solomon Burke's big hit "Cry to Me": [Excerpt: Solomon Burke, "Cry to Me"] He was the producer and writer or co-writer of most of Burke's hits from that point forward, but at first he was still a freelance producer, and also produced records for Scepter Records, like the Isley Brothers' version of "Twist and Shout", another song he'd co-written, that one with Phil Medley. And as a jobbing songwriter, of course his songs were picked up by other producers, so Leiber and Stoller produced a version of his song "Tell Him" for the Exciters on United Artists: [Excerpt: The Exciters, "Tell Him"] Berns did freelance work for Leiber and Stoller as well as the other people he was working for. For example, when their former protege Phil Spector released his hit version of "Zip-a-Dee-Do-Dah", they got Berns to come up with a knockoff arrangement of "How Much is that Doggie in the Window?", released as by Baby Jane and the Rockabyes, with a production credit "Produced by Leiber and Stoller, directed by Bert Berns": [Excerpt: Baby Jane and the Rockabyes, "How Much is that Doggie in the Window?"] And when Leiber and Stoller stopped producing work for United Artists, Berns took over some of the artists they'd been producing for the label, like Marv Johnson, as well as producing his own new artists, like Garnet Mimms and the Enchanters, who had been discovered by Berns' friend Jerry Ragovoy, with whom he co-wrote their "Cry Baby": [Excerpt: Garnet Mimms and the Enchanters, "Cry Baby"] Berns was an inveterate collaborator. He was one of the few people to get co-writing credits with Leiber and Stoller, and he would collaborate seemingly with everyone who spoke to him for five minutes. He would also routinely reuse material, cutting the same songs time and again with different artists, knowing that a song must be a hit for *someone*. One of his closest collaborators was Jerry Wexler, who also became one of his best friends, even though one of their earliest interactions had been when Wexler had supervised Phil Spector's production of Berns' "Twist and Shout" for the Top Notes, a record that Berns had thought had butchered the song. Berns was, in his deepest bones, a record man. Listening to the records that Berns made, there's a strong continuity in everything he does. There's a love there of simplicity -- almost none of his records have more than three chords. He loved Latin sounds and rhythms -- a love he shared with other people working in Brill Building R&B at the time, like Leiber and Stoller and Spector -- and great voices in emotional distress. There's a reason that the records he produced for Solomon Burke were the first R&B records to be labelled "soul". Berns was one of those people for whom feel and commercial success are inextricable. He was an artist -- the records he made were powerfully expressive -- but he was an artist for whom the biggest validation was *getting a hit*. Only a small proportion of the records he made became hits, but enough did that in the early sixties he was a name that could be spoken of in the same breath as Leiber and Stoller, Spector, and Bacharach and David. And Atlantic needed a record man. The only people producing hits for the label at this point were Leiber and Stoller, and they were in the process of stopping doing freelance work and setting up their own label, Red Bird, as we talked about in the episode on the Shangri-Las. And anyway, they wanted more money than they were getting, and Jerry Wexler was never very keen on producers wanting money that could have gone to the record label. Wexler decided to sign Bert Berns up as a staff producer for Atlantic towards the end of 1963, and by May 1964 it was paying off. Atlantic hadn't been having hits, and now Berns had four tracks he wrote and produced for Atlantic on the Hot One Hundred, of which the highest charting was "My Girl Sloopy" by the Vibrations: [Excerpt: The Vibrations, "My Girl Sloopy"] Even higher on the charts though was the Beatles' version of "Twist and Shout". That record, indeed, had been successful enough in the UK that Berns had already made exploratory trips to the UK and produced records for Dick Rowe at Decca, a partnership we heard about in the episode on "Here Comes the Night". Berns had made partnerships there which would have vast repercussions for the music industry in both countries, and one of them was with the arranger Mike Leander, who was the uncredited arranger for the Drifters session for "Under the Boardwalk", a song written by Artie Resnick and Kenny Young and produced by Berns, recorded the day after the group's lead singer Rudy Lewis died of an overdose: [Excerpt: The Drifters, "Under the Boardwalk"] Berns was making hits on a regular basis by mid-1964, and the income from the label's new success allowed Jerry Wexler and the Ertegun brothers to buy out their other partners -- Ahmet Ertegun's old dentist, who had put up some of the initial money, and Miriam Bienstock, the ex-wife of their initial partner Herb Abramson, who'd got Abramson's share in the company after the divorce, and who was now married to Freddie Bienstock of Hill and Range publishing. Wexler and the Erteguns now owned the whole label. Berns also made regular trips to the UK to keep up his work with British musicians, and in one of those trips, as we heard in the episode on "Here Comes the Night", he produced several tracks for the group Them, including that track, written by Berns: [Excerpt: Them, "Here Comes the Night"] And a song written by the group's lead singer Van Morrison, "Gloria": [Excerpt: Them, "Gloria"] But Berns hadn't done much other work with them, because he had a new project. Part of the reason that Wexler and the Erteguns had gained total control of Atlantic was because, in a move pushed primarily by Wexler, they were looking at selling it. They'd already tried to merge with Leiber and Stoller's Red Bird Records, but lost the opportunity after a disastrous meeting, but they were in negotiations with several other labels, negotiations which would take another couple of years to bear fruit. But they weren't planning on getting out of the record business altogether. Whatever deal they made, they'd remain with Atlantic, but they were also planning on starting another label. Bert Berns had seen how successful Leiber and Stoller were with Red Bird, and wanted something similar. Wexler and the Erteguns didn't want to lose their one hit-maker, so they came up with an offer that would benefit all of them. Berns' publishing contract had just ended, so they would set up a new publishing company, WEB IV, named after the initials Wexler, Ertegun, and Berns, and the fact that there were four of them. Berns would own fifty percent of that, and the other three would own the other half. And they were going to start up a new label, with seventeen thousand dollars of the Atlantic partners' money. That label would be called Bang -- for Bert, Ahmet, Neshui, and Gerald -- and would be a separate company from Atlantic, so not affected by any sale. Berns would continue as a staff producer for Atlantic for now, but he'd have "his own" label, which he'd have a proper share in, and whether he was making hits for Atlantic or Bang, his partners would have a share of the profits. The first two records on Bang were "Shake and Jerk" by Billy Lamont, a track that they licensed from elsewhere and which didn't do much, and a more interesting track co-written by Berns. Bob Feldman, Richard Gottehrer, and Jerry Goldstein were Brill Building songwriters who had become known for writing "My Boyfriend's Back", a hit for the Angels, a couple of years earlier: [Excerpt: The Angels, "My Boyfriend's Back"] With the British invasion, the three of them had decided to create their own foreign beat group. As they couldn't do British accents, they pretended to be Australian, and as the Strangeloves -- named after the Stanley Kubrick film Dr Strangelove -- they released one flop single. They cut another single, a version of "Bo Diddley", but the label they released their initial record through didn't want it. They then took the record to Atlantic, where Jerry Wexler said that they weren't interested in releasing some white men singing "Bo Diddley". But Ahmet Ertegun suggested they bring the track to Bert Berns to see what he thought. Berns pointed out that if they changed the lyrics and melody, but kept the same backing track, they could claim the copyright in the resulting song themselves. He worked with them on a new lyric, inspired by the novel Candy, a satirical pornographic novel co-written by Terry Southern, who had also co-written the screenplay to Dr Strangelove. Berns supervised some guitar overdubs, and the result went to number eleven: [Excerpt: The Strangeloves, "I Want Candy"] Berns had two other songs on the hot one hundred when that charted, too -- Them's version of "Here Comes the Night", and the version of Van McCoy's song "Baby I'm Yours" he'd produced for Barbara Lewis. Three records on the charts on three different labels. But despite the sheer number of charting records he'd had, he'd never had a number one, until the Strangeloves went on tour. Before the tour they'd cut a version of "My Girl Sloopy" for their album -- Berns always liked to reuse material -- and they started performing the song on the tour. The Dave Clark Five, who they were supporting, told them it sounded like a hit and they were going to do their own version when they got home. Feldman, Gottehrer, and Goldstein decided *they* might as well have the hit with it as anyone else. Rather than put it out as a Strangeloves record -- their own record was still rising up the charts, and there's no reason to be your own competition -- they decided to get a group of teenage musicians who supported them on the last date of the tour to sing new vocals to the backing track from the Strangeloves album. The group had been called Rick and the Raiders, but they argued so much that the Strangeloves nicknamed them the Hatfields and the McCoys, and when their version of "My Girl Sloopy", retitled "Hang on Sloopy", came out, it was under the band name The McCoys: [Excerpt: The McCoys, "Hang on Sloopy"] Berns was becoming a major success, and with major success in the New York music industry in the 1960s came Mafia involvement. We've talked a fair bit about Morris Levy's connection with the mob in many previous episodes, but mob influence was utterly pervasive throughout the New York part of the industry, and so for example Richard Gottehrer of the Strangeloves used to call Sonny Franzese of the Colombo crime family "Uncle John", they were so close. Franzese was big in the record business too, even after his conviction for bank robbery. Berns, unlike many of the other people in the industry, had no scruples at all about hanging out with Mafiosi. indeed his best friend in the mid sixties was Tommy Eboli, a member of the Genovese crime family who had been in the mob since the twenties, starting out working for "Lucky" Luciano. Berns was not himself a violent man, as far as anyone can tell, but he liked the glamour of hanging out with organised crime figures, and they liked hanging out with someone who was making so many hit records. And so while Leiber and Stoller, for example, ended up selling Red Bird Records to George Goldner for a single dollar in order to get away from the Mafiosi who were slowly muscling in on the label, Berns had no problems at all in keeping his own label going. Indeed, he would soon be doing so without the involvement of Atlantic Records. Berns' final work for Atlantic was in June 1966, when he cut a song he had co-written with Jeff Barry for the Drifters, inspired by the woman who would soon become Atlantic's biggest star: [Excerpt: The Drifters, "Aretha"] The way Berns told the story in public, there was no real bad blood between him, Wexler, and the Erteguns -- he'd just decided to go his own way, and he said “I will always be grateful to them for the help they've given me in getting Bang started,” The way Berns' wife would later tell the story, Jerry Wexler had suggested that rather than Berns owning fifty percent of Web IV, they should start to split everything four ways, and she had been horrified by this suggestion, kicked up a stink about it, and Wexler had then said that either Berns needed to buy the other three out, or quit and give them everything, and demanded Berns pay them three hundred thousand dollars. According to other people, Berns decided he wanted one hundred percent control of Web IV, and raised a breach of contract lawsuit against Atlantic, over the usual royalty non-payments that were endemic in the industry at that point. When Atlantic decided to fight the lawsuit rather than settle, Berns' mob friends got involved and threatened to break the legs of Wexler's fourteen-year-old daughter, and the mob ended up with full control of Bang records, while Berns had full control of his publishing company. Given later events, and in particular given the way Wexler talked about Berns until the day he died, with a vitriol that he never used about any of the other people he had business disputes with, it seems likely to me that the latter story is closer to the truth than the former. But most people involved weren't talking about the details of what went on, and so Berns still retained his relationships with many of the people in the business, not least of them Jeff Barry, so when Barry and Ellie Greenwich had a new potential star, it was Berns they thought to bring him to, even though the artist was white and Berns had recently given an interview saying that he wanted to work with more Black artists, because white artists simply didn't have soul. Barry and Greenwich's marriage was breaking up at the time, but they were still working together professionally, as we discussed in the episode on "River Deep, Mountain High", and they had been the main production team at Red Bird. But with Red Bird in terminal decline, they turned elsewhere when they found a potential major star after Greenwich was asked to sing backing vocals on one of his songwriting demos. They'd signed the new songwriter, Neil Diamond, to Leiber and Stoller's company Trio Music at first, but they soon started up their own company, Tallyrand Music, and signed Diamond to that, giving Diamond fifty percent of the company and keeping twenty-five percent each for themselves, and placed one of his songs with Jay and the Americans in 1965: [Excerpt: Jay and the Americans, "Sunday and Me"] That record made the top twenty, and had established Diamond as a songwriter, but he was still not a major performer -- he'd released one flop single on Columbia Records before meeting Barry and Greenwich. But they thought he had something, and Bert Berns agreed. Diamond was signed to Bang records, and Berns had a series of pre-production meetings with Barry and Greenwich before they took Diamond into the studio -- Barry and Greenwich were going to produce Diamond for Bang, as they had previously produced tracks for Red Bird, but they were going to shape the records according to Berns' aesthetic. The first single released from Diamond's first session, "Solitary Man", only made number fifty-five, but it was the first thing Diamond had recorded to make the Hot One Hundred at all: [Excerpt: Neil Diamond, "Solitary Man"] The second single, though, was much more Bert Berns' sort of thing -- a three-chord song that sounded like it could have been written by Berns himself, especially after Barry and Greenwich had added the Latin-style horns that Berns loved so much. Indeed according to some sources, Berns did make a songwriting suggestion -- Diamond's song had apparently been called "Money Money", and Berns had thought that was a ridiculous title, and suggested calling it "Cherry Cherry" instead: [Excerpt: Neil Diamond, "Cherry Cherry"] That became Diamond's first top ten hit. While Greenwich had been the one who had discovered Diamond, and Barry and Greenwich were the credited producers on all Diamond's records as a result, Diamond soon found himself collaborating far more with Barry than with Greenwich, so for example the first number one he wrote, for the Monkees rather than himself, ended up having its production just credited to Barry. That record used a backing track recorded in New York by the same set of musicians used on most Bang records, like Al Gorgoni on lead guitar and Russ Savakus on bass: [Excerpt: The Monkees, "I'm a Believer"] Neil Diamond was becoming a solid hit-maker, but he started rubbing up badly against Berns. Berns wanted hits and only hits, and Diamond thought of himself as a serious artist. The crisis came when two songs were under contention for Diamond's next single in late 1967, after he'd had a whole run of hits for the label. The song Diamond wanted to release, "Shilo", was deeply personal to him: [Excerpt: Neil Diamond, "Shilo"] But Bert Berns had other ideas. "Shilo" didn't sound like a hit, and he knew a hit when he heard one. No, the clear next single, the only choice, was "Kentucky Woman": [Excerpt: Neil Diamond, "Kentucky Woman"] But Berns tried to compromise as best he could. Diamond's contract was up for renewal, and you don't want to lose someone who has had, as Diamond had at that point, five top twenty hits in a row, and who was also writing songs like "I'm a Believer" and "Red Red Wine". He told Diamond that he'd let "Shilo" come out as a single if Diamond signed an extension to his contract. Diamond said that not only was he not going to do that, he'd taken legal advice and discovered that there were problems with his contract which let him record for other labels -- the word "exclusive" had been missed out of the text, among other things. He wasn't going to be recording for Bang at all any more. The lawsuits over this would stretch out for a decade, and Diamond would eventually win, but the first few months were very, very difficult for Diamond. When he played the Bitter End, a club in New York, stink bombs were thrown into the audience. The Bitter End's manager was assaulted and severely beaten. Diamond moved his wife and child out of Manhattan, borrowed a gun, and after his last business meeting with Berns was heard talking about how he needed to contact the District Attorney and hire a bodyguard. Of the many threats that were issued against Diamond, though, the least disturbing was probably the threat Berns made to Diamond's career. Berns pointed out to Diamond in no uncertain terms that he didn't need Diamond anyway -- he already had someone he could replace Diamond with, another white male solo singer with a guitar who could churn out guaranteed hits. He had Van Morrison: [Excerpt: Van Morrison, "Brown-Eyed Girl"] When we left Van Morrison, Them had just split up due to the problems they had been having with their management team. Indeed, the problems Morrison was having with his managers seem curiously similar to the issues that Diamond was having with Bert Berns -- something that could possibly have been a warning sign to everyone involved, if any of them had known the full details of everyone else's situation. Sadly for all of them, none of them did. Them had had some early singles success, notably with the tracks Berns had produced for them, but Morrison's opinion of their second album, Them Again, was less than complimentary, and in general that album is mostly only remembered for the version of Bob Dylan's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue", which is one of those cover versions that inspires subsequent covers more than the original ever did: [Excerpt: Them, "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue"] Them had toured the US around the time of the release of that album, but that tour had been a disaster. The group had gained a reputation for incredible live shows, including performances at the Whisky A-Go-Go with the Doors and Captain Beefheart as their support acts, but during the tour Van Morrison had decided that Phil Solomon, the group's manager, was getting too much money -- Morrison had agreed to do the tour on a salary, rather than a percentage, but the tour had been more successful than he'd expected, and Solomon was making a great deal of money off the tour, money that Morrison believed rightfully belonged to him. The group started collecting the money directly from promoters, and got into legal trouble with Solomon as a result. The tour ended with the group having ten thousand dollars that Solomon believed -- quite possibly correctly -- that he was owed. Various gangsters whose acquaintance the group had made offered to have the problem taken care of, but they decided instead to come to a legal agreement -- they would keep the money, and in return Solomon, whose production company the group were signed to, would get to keep all future royalties from the Them tracks. This probably seemed a good idea at the time, when the idea of records earning royalties for sixty or more years into the future seemed ridiculous, but Morrison in particular came to regret the decision bitterly. The group played one final gig when they got back to Belfast, but then split up, though a version of the group led by the bass player Alan Henderson continued performing for a few years to no success. Morrison put together a band that played a handful of gigs under the name Them Again, with little success, but he already had his eyes set on a return to the US. In Morrison's eyes, Bert Berns had been the only person in the music industry who had really understood him, and the two worked well together. He had also fallen in love with an American woman, Janet Planet, and wanted to find some way to be with her. As Morrison said later “I had a couple of other offers but I thought this was the best one, seeing as I wanted to come to America anyway. I can't remember the exact details of the deal. It wasn't really that spectacular, money-wise, I don't think. But it was pretty hard to refuse from the point of view that I really respected Bert as a producer. I'd rather have worked with Bert than some other guy with a bigger record company. From that angle, it was spectacular because Bert was somebody that I wanted to work with.” There's little evidence that Morrison did have other offers -- he was already getting a reputation as someone who it was difficult to work with -- but he and Berns had a mutual respect, and on January the ninth, 1967, he signed a contract with Bang records. That contract has come in for a lot of criticism over the years, but it was actually, *by the standards in operation in the music business in 1967*, a reasonably fair one. The contract provided that, for a $2,500 a year advance, Bang would record twelve sides in the first year, with an option for up to fifty more that year, and options for up to four more years on the same terms. Bang had the full ownership of the masters and the right to do what they wanted with them. According to at least one biographer, Morrison added clauses requiring Bang to actually record the twelve sides a year, and to put out at least three singles and one album per year while the contract was in operation. He also added one other clause which seems telling -- "Company agrees that Company will not make any reference to the name THEM on phonograph records, or in advertising copy in connection with the recording of Artist." Morrison was, at first, extremely happy with Berns. The problems started with their first session: [Excerpt: Van Morrison, "Brown-Eyed Girl (takes 1-6)"] When Morrison had played the songs he was working on for Berns, Berns had remarked that they sounded great with just Morrison and his guitar, so Morrison was surprised when he got into the studio to find the whole standard New York session crew there -- the same group of session players who were playing for everyone from the Monkees to Laura Nyro, from Neil Diamond to the Shangri-Las -- along with the Sweet Inspirations to provide backing vocals. As he described it later "This fellow Bert, he made it the way he wanted to, and I accepted that he was producing it... I'd write a song and bring it into the group and we'd sit there and bash it around and that's all it was -- they weren't playing the songs, they were just playing whatever it was. They'd say 'OK, we got drums so let's put drums on it,' and they weren't thinking about the song, all they were thinking about was putting drums on it... But it was my song, and I had to watch it go down." The first song they cut was "Brown-Eyed Girl", a song which Morrison has said was originally a calypso, and was originally titled "Brown-skinned Girl", though he's differed in interviews as to whether Berns changed the lyric or if he just decided to sing it differently without thinking about it in the session. Berns turned "Brown-Eyed Girl" into a hit single, because that was what he tended to do with songs, and the result sounds a lot like the kind of record that Bang were releasing for Neil Diamond: [Excerpt: Van Morrison, "Brown-Eyed Girl"] Morrison has, in later years, expressed his distaste for what was done to the song, and in particular he's said that the backing vocal part by the Sweet Inspirations was added by Berns and he disliked it: [Excerpt: Van Morrison, "Brown-Eyed Girl"] Morrison has been very dismissive of "Brown-Eyed Girl" over the years, but he seems not to have disliked it at the time, and the song itself is one that has stood the test of time, and is often pointed to by other songwriters as a great example of the writer's craft. I remember reading one interview with Randy Newman -- sadly, while I thought it was in Paul Zollo's "Songwriters on Songwriting" I just checked that and it's not, so I can't quote it precisely -- in which he says that he often points to the line "behind the stadium with you" as a perfect piece of writing, because it's such a strangely specific detail that it convinces you that it actually happened, and that means you implicitly believe the rest of the song. Though it should be made very clear here that Morrison has always said, over and over again, that nothing in his songs is based directly on his own experiences, and that they're all products of his imagination and composites of people he's known. This is very important to note before we go any further, because "Brown-Eyed Girl" is one of many songs from this period in Morrison's career which imply that their narrator has an attraction to underage girls -- in this case he remembers "making love in the green grass" in the distant past, while he also says "saw you just the other day, my how you have grown", and that particular combination is not perhaps one that should be dwelt on too closely. But there is of course a very big difference between a songwriter treating a subject as something that is worth thinking about in the course of a song and writing about their own lives, and that can be seen on one of the other songs that Morrison recorded in these sessions, "T.B. Sheets": [Excerpt: Van Morrison, "T.B. Sheets"] It seems very unlikely indeed that Van Morrison actually had a lover die of tuberculosis, as the lover in the song does, and while a lot of people seem convinced that it's autobiographical, simply because of the intensity of the performance (Morrison apparently broke down in tears after recording it), nobody has ever found anyone in Morrison's life who fits the story in the song, and he's always ridiculed such suggestions. What is true though is that "T.B. Sheets" is evidence against another claim that Morrison has made in the past - that on these initial sessions the eight songs recorded were meant to be the A and B sides of four singles and there was no plan of making an album. It is simply not plausible at all to suggest that "T.B. Sheets" -- a slow blues about terminal illness, that lasts nearly ten minutes -- was ever intended as a single. It wouldn't have even come close to fitting on one side of a forty-five. It was also presumably at this time that Berns brought up the topic of "Piece of My Heart". When Berns signed Erma Franklin, it was as a way of getting at Jerry Wexler, who had gone from being his closest friend to someone he wasn't on speaking terms with, by signing the sister of his new signing Aretha. Morrison, of course, didn't co-write it -- he'd already decided that he didn't play well with others -- but it's tempting to think about how the song might have been different had Morrison written it. The song in some ways seems a message to Wexler -- haven't you had enough from me already? -- but it's also notable how many songs Berns was writing with the word "heart" in the chorus, given that Berns knew he was on borrowed time from his own heart condition. As an example, around the same time he and Jerry Ragavoy co-wrote "Piece of My Heart", they also co-wrote another song, "Heart Be Still", a flagrant lift from "Peace Be Still" by Aretha Franklin's old mentor Rev. James Cleveland, which they cut with Lorraine Ellison: [Excerpt: Lorraine Ellison, "Heart Be Still"] Berns' heart condition had got much worse as a result of the stress from splitting with Atlantic, and he had started talking about maybe getting open-heart surgery, though that was still very new and experimental. One wonders how he must have felt listening to Morrison singing about watching someone slowly dying. Morrison has since had nothing but negative things to say about the sessions in March 1967, but at the time he seemed happy. He returned to Belfast almost straight away after the sessions, on the understanding that he'd be back in the US if "Brown-Eyed Girl" was a success. He wrote to Janet Planet in San Francisco telling her to listen to the radio -- she'd know if she heard "Brown-Eyed Girl" that he would be back on his way to see her. She soon did hear the song, and he was soon back in the US: [Excerpt: Van Morrison, "Brown-Eyed Girl"] By August, "Brown-Eyed Girl" had become a substantial hit, making the top ten, and Morrison was back in the States. He was starting to get less happy with Berns though. Bang had put out the eight tracks he'd recorded in March as an album, titled Blowin' Your Mind, and Morrison thought that the crass pseudo-psychedelia of the title, liner notes, and cover was very inappropriate -- Morrison has never been a heavy user of any drugs other than alcohol, and didn't particularly want to be associated with them. He also seems to have not realised that every track he recorded in those initial sessions would be on the album, which many people have called one of the great one-sided albums of all time -- side A, with "Brown-Eyed Girl", "He Ain't Give You None" and the extended "T.B. Sheets" tends to get far more love than side B, with five much lesser songs on it. Berns held a party for Morrison on a cruise around Manhattan, but it didn't go well -- when the performer Tiny Tim tried to get on board, Carmine "Wassel" DeNoia, a mobster friend of Berns' who was Berns' partner in a studio they'd managed to get from Atlantic as part of the settlement when Berns left, was so offended by Tim's long hair and effeminate voice and mannerisms that he threw him overboard into the harbour. DeNoia was meant to be Morrison's manager in the US, working with Berns, but he and Morrison didn't get on at all -- at one point DeNoia smashed Morrison's acoustic guitar over his head, and only later regretted the damage he'd done to a nice guitar. And Morrison and Berns weren't getting on either. Morrison went back into the studio to record four more songs for a follow-up to "Brown-Eyed Girl", but there was again a misunderstanding. Morrison thought he'd been promised that this time he could do his songs the way he wanted, but Berns was just frustrated that he wasn't coming up with another "Brown-Eyed Girl", but was instead coming up with slow songs about trans women. Berns overdubbed party noises and soul backing vocals onto "Madame George", possibly in an attempt to copy the Beach Boys' Party! album with its similar feel, but it was never going to be a "Barbara Ann": [Excerpt: Van Morrison, "Madame George (Bang version)"] In the end, Berns released one of the filler tracks from Blowin' Your Mind, "Ro Ro Rosey", as the next single, and it flopped. On December the twenty-ninth, Berns had a meeting with Neil Diamond, the meeting after which Diamond decided he needed to get a bodyguard. After that, he had a screaming row over the phone with Van Morrison, which made Berns ill with stress. The next day, he died of a heart attack. Berns' widow Ilene, who had only just given birth to a baby a couple of weeks earlier, would always blame Morrison for pushing her husband over the edge. Neither Van Morrison nor Jerry Wexler went to the funeral, but Neil Diamond did -- he went to try to persuade Ilene to let him out of his contract now Berns was dead. According to Janet Planet later, "We were at the hotel when we learned that Bert had died. We were just mortified, because things had been going really badly, and Van felt really bad, because I guess they'd parted having had some big fight or something... Even though he did love Bert, it was a strange relationship that lived and died in the studio... I remember we didn't go to the funeral, which probably was a mistake... I think [Van] had a really bad feeling about what was going to happen." But Morrison has later mostly talked about the more practical concerns that came up, which were largely the same as the ones Neil Diamond had, saying in 1997 "I'd signed a contract with Bert Berns for management, production, agency and record company, publishing, the whole lot -- which was professional suicide as any lawyer will tell you now... Then the whole thing blew up. Bert Berns died and I was left broke." This was the same mistake, essentially, that he'd made with Phil Solomon, and in order to get out of it, it turned out he was going to have to do much the same for a third time. But it was the experience with Berns specifically that traumatised Morrison enough that twenty-five years later he would still be writing songs about it, like "Big Time Operators": [Excerpt: Van Morrison, "Big Time Operators"] The option to renew Morrison's contracts with Berns' companies came on the ninth of January 1968, less than two weeks after Berns' death. After his death, Berns' share of ownership in his companies had passed to his widow, who was in a quandary. She had two young children, one of whom was only a few weeks old, and she needed an income after their father had died. She was also not well disposed at all towards Morrison, who she blamed for causing her husband's death. By all accounts the amazing thing is that Berns lived as long as he did given his heart condition and the state of medical science at the time, but it's easy to understand her thinking. She wanted nothing to do with Morrison, and wanted to punish him. On the other hand, her late husband's silent partners didn't want to let their cash cow go. And so Morrison came under a huge amount of pressure in very different directions. From one side, Carmine DiNoia was determined to make more money off Morrison, and Morrison has since talked about signing further contracts at this point with a gun literally to his head, and his hotel room being shot up. But on the other side, Ilene Berns wanted to destroy Morrison's career altogether. She found out that Bert Berns hadn't got Morrison the proper work permits and reported him to the immigration authorities. Morrison came very close to being deported, but in the end he managed to escape deportation by marrying Janet Planet. The newly-married couple moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to get away from New York and the mobsters, and to try to figure out the next steps in Morrison's career. Morrison started putting together a band, which he called The Van Morrison Controversy, and working on new songs. One of his earliest connections in Massachusetts was the lead singer of a band called the Hallucinations, who he met in a bar where he was trying to get a gig: [Excerpt: The Hallucinations, "Messin' With the Kid"] The Hallucinations' lead singer was called Peter Wolf, and would much later go on to become well-known as the singer with the J. Geils Band. He and Morrison became acquaintances, and later became closer friends when they realised they had another connection -- Wolf had a late-night radio show under the name Woofa Goofa, and he'd been receiving anonymous requests for obscure blues records from a fan of the show. Morrison had been the one sending in the requests, not realising his acquaintance was the DJ. Before he got his own band together, Morrison actually guested with the Hallucinations at one show they did in May 1968, supporting John Lee Hooker. The Hallucinations had been performing "Gloria" since Them's single had come out, and they invited Morrison to join them to perform it on stage. According to Wolf, Morrison was very drunk and ranted in cod-Japanese for thirty-five minutes, and tried to sing a different song while the band played "Gloria". The audience were apparently unimpressed, even though Wolf shouted at them “Don't you know who this man is? He wrote the song!” But in truth, Morrison was sick of "Gloria" and his earlier work, and was trying to push his music in a new direction. He would later talk about having had an epiphany after hearing one particular track on the radio: [Excerpt: The Band, "I Shall Be Released"] Like almost every musician in 1968, Morrison was hit like a lightning bolt by Music From Big Pink, and he decided that he needed to turn his music in the same direction. He started writing the song "Brand New Day", which would later appear on his album Moondance, inspired by the music on the album. The Van Morrison Controversy started out as a fairly straightforward rock band, with guitarist John Sheldon, bass player Tom Kielbania, and drummer Joey Bebo. Sheldon was a novice, though his first guitar teacher was the singer James Taylor, but the other two were students at Berklee, and very serious musicians. Morrison seems to have had various managers involved in rapid succession in 1968, including one who was himself a mobster, and another who was only known as Frank, but one of these managers advanced enough money that the musicians got paid every gig. These musicians were all interested in kinds of music other than just straight rock music, and as well as rehearsing up Morrison's hits and his new songs, they would also jam with him on songs from all sorts of other genres, particularly jazz and blues. The band worked up the song that would become "Domino" based on Sheldon jamming on a Bo Diddley riff, and another time the group were rehearsing a Grant Green jazz piece, "Lazy Afternoon": [Excerpt: Grant Green, "Lazy Afternoon"] Morrison started messing with the melody, and that became his classic song "Moondance": [Excerpt: Van Morrison, "Moondance"] No recordings of this electric lineup of the group are known to exist, though the backing musicians remember going to a recording studio called Ace recordings at one point and cutting some demos, which don't seem to circulate. Ace was a small studio which, according to all the published sources I've read, was best known for creating song poems, though it was a minor studio even in the song-poem world. For those who don't know, song poems were essentially a con aimed at wannabe songwriters who knew nothing about the business -- companies would advertise you too could become a successful, rich, songwriter if you sent in your "song poems", because anyone who knew the term "lyric" could be presumed to know too much about the music business to be useful. When people sent in their lyrics, they'd then be charged a fee to have them put out on their very own record -- with tracks made more or less on a conveyor belt with quick head arrangements, sung by session singers who were just handed a lyric sheet and told to get on with it. And thus were created such classics prized by collectors as "I Like Yellow Things", "Jimmy Carter Says 'Yes'", and "Listen Mister Hat". Obviously, for the most part these song poems did not lead to the customers becoming the next Ira Gershwin, but oddly even though Ace recordings is not one of the better-known song poem studios, it seems to have produced an actual hit song poem -- one that I don't think has ever before been identified as such until I made a connection, hence me going on this little tangent. Because in researching this episode I noticed something about its co-owner, Milton Yakus', main claim to fame. He co-wrote the song "Old Cape Cod", and to quote that song's Wikipedia page "The nucleus of the song was a poem written by Boston-area housewife Claire Rothrock, for whom Cape Cod was a favorite vacation spot. "Old Cape Cod" and its derivatives would be Rothrock's sole evident songwriting credit. She brought her poem to Ace Studios, a Boston recording studio owned by Milton Yakus, who adapted the poem into the song's lyrics." And while Yakus had written other songs, including songs for Patti Page who had the hit with "Old Cape Cod", apparently Page recorded that song after Rothrock brought her the demo after a gig, rather than getting it through any formal channels. It sounds to me like the massive hit and classic of the American songbook "Old Cape Cod" started life as a song-poem -- and if you're familiar with the form, it fits the genre perfectly: [Excerpt: Patti Page, "Old Cape Cod"] The studio was not the classiest of places, even if you discount the song-poems. Its main source of income was from cutting private records with mobsters' wives and mistresses singing (and dealing with the problems that came along when those records weren't successful) and it also had a sideline in bugging people's cars to see if their spouses were cheating, though Milton Yakus' son Shelly, who got his start at his dad's studio, later became one of the most respected recording engineers in the industry -- and indeed had already worked as assistant engineer on Music From Big Pink. And there was actually another distant connection to Morrison's new favourite band on these sessions. For some reason -- reports differ -- Bebo wasn't considered suitable for the session, and in his place was the one-handed drummer Victor "Moulty" Moulton, who had played with the Barbarians, who'd had a minor hit with "Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl?" a couple of years earlier: [Excerpt: The Barbarians, "Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl?"] A later Barbarians single, in early 1966, had featured Moulty telling his life story, punctuated by the kind of three-chord chorus that would have been at home on a Bert Berns single: [Excerpt: The Barbarians, "Moulty"] But while that record was credited to the Barbarians, Moulton was the only Barbarian on the track, with the instruments and backing vocals instead being provided by Levon and the Hawks. Shortly after the Ace sessions, the Van Morrison Controversy fell apart, though nobody seems to know why. Depending on which musician's story you listen to, either Morrison had a dream that he should get rid of all electric instruments and only use acoustic players, or there was talk of a record deal but the musicians weren't good enough, or the money from the mysterious manager (who may or may not have been the one who was a mobster) ran out. Bebo went back to university, and Sheldon left soon after, though Sheldon would remain in the music business in one form or another. His most prominent credit has been writing a couple of songs for his old friend James Taylor, including the song "Bittersweet" on Taylor's platinum-selling best-of, on which Sheldon also played guitar: [Excerpt: James Taylor, "Bittersweet"] Morrison and Kielbania continued for a while as a duo, with Morrison on acoustic guitar and Kielbania on double bass, but they were making very different music. Morrison's biggest influence at this point, other than The Band, was King Pleasure, a jazz singer who sang in the vocalese style we've talked about before -- the style where singers would sing lyrics to melodies that had previously been improvised by jazz musicians: [Excerpt: King Pleasure, "Moody's Mood for Love"] Morrison and Kielbania soon decided that to make the more improvisatory music they were interested in playing, they wanted another musician who could play solos. They ended up with John Payne, a jazz flute and saxophone player whose biggest inspiration was Charles Lloyd. This new lineup of the Van Morrison Controversy -- acoustic guitar, double bass, and jazz flute -- kept gigging around Boston, though the sound they were creating was hardly what the audiences coming to see the man who'd had that "Brown-Eyed Girl" hit the year before would have expected -- even when they did "Brown-Eyed Girl", as the one live recording of that line-up, made by Peter Wolf, shows: [Excerpt: The Van Morrison Controversy, "Brown-Eyed Girl (live in Boston 1968)"] That new style, with melodic bass underpinning freely extemporising jazz flute and soulful vocals, would become the basis of the album that to this day is usually considered Morrison's best. But before that could happen, there was the matter of the contracts to be sorted out. Warner-Reprise Records were definitely interested. Warners had spent the last few years buying up smaller companies like Atlantic, Autumn Records, and Reprise, and the label was building a reputation as the major label that would give artists the space and funding they needed to make the music they wanted to make. Idiosyncratic artists with difficult reputations (deserved or otherwise), like Neil Young, Randy Newman, Van Dyke Parks, the Grateful Dead, and Joni Mitchell, had all found homes on the label, which was soon also to start distributing Frank Zappa, the Beach Boys, and Captain Beefheart. A surly artist who wants to make mystical acoustic songs with jazz flute accompaniment was nothing unusual for them, and once Joe Smith, the man who had signed the Grateful Dead, was pointed in Morrison's direction by Andy Wickham, an A&R man working for the label, everyone knew that Morrison would be a perfect fit. But Morrison was still under contract to Bang records and Web IV, and those contracts said, among other things, that any other label that negotiated with Morrison would be held liable for breach of contract. Warners didn't want to show their interest in Morrison, because a major label wanting to sign him would cause Bang to raise the price of buying him out of his contract. Instead they got an independent production company to sign him, with a nod-and-wink understanding that they would then license the records to Warners. The company they chose was Inherit Productions, the production arm of Schwaid-Merenstein, a management company set up by Bob Schwaid, who had previously worked in Warners' publishing department, and record producer Lewis Merenstein. Merenstein came to another demo session at Ace Recordings, where he fell in love with the new music that Morrison was playing, and determined he would do everything in his power to make the record into the masterpiece it deserved to be. He and Morrison were, at least at this point, on exactly the same page, and bonded over their mutual love of King Pleasure. Morrison signed to Schwaid-Merenstein, just as he had with Bert Berns and before him Phil Solomon, for management, record production, and publishing. Schwaid-Merenstein were funded by Warners, and would license any recordings they made to Warners, once the contractual situation had been sorted out. The first thing to do was to negotiate the release from Web IV, the publishing company owned by Ilene Berns. Schwaid negotiated that, and Morrison got released on four conditions -- he had to make a substantial payment to Web IV, if he released a single within a year he had to give Web IV the publishing, any album he released in the next year had to contain at least two songs published by Web IV, and he had to give Web IV at least thirty-six new songs to publish within the next year. The first two conditions were no problem at all -- Warners had the money to buy the contract out, and Merenstein's plans for the first album didn't involve a single anyway. It wouldn't be too much of a hardship to include a couple of Web IV-published tracks on the album -- Morrison had written two songs, "Beside You" and "Madame George", that had already been published and that he was regularly including in his live sets. As for the thirty-six new songs... well, that all depended on what you called a song, didn't it? [Excerpt: Van Morrison, "Ring Worm"] Morrison went into a recording studio and recorded thirty-one ostensible songs, most of them lasting one minute to within a few seconds either way, in which he strummed one or two chords and spoke-sang whatever words came into his head -- for example one song, "Here Comes Dumb George", just consists of the words "Here Comes Dumb George" repeated over and over. Some of the 'songs', like "Twist and Shake" and "Hang on Groovy", are parodying Bert Berns' songwriting style; others, like "Waiting for My Royalty Check", "Blowin' Your Nose", and "Nose in Your Blow", are attacks on Bang's business practices. Several of the songs, like "Hold on George", "Here Comes Dumb George", "Dum Dum George", and "Goodbye George" are about a man called George who seems to have come to Boston to try and fail to make a record with Morrison. And “Want a Danish” is about wanting a Danish pastry. But in truth, this description is still making these "songs" sound more coherent than they are. The whole recording is of no musical merit whatsoever, and has absolutely nothing in it which could be considered to have any commercial potential at all. Which is of course the point -- just to show utter contempt to Ilene Berns and her company. The other problem that needed to be solved was Bang Records itself, which was now largely under the control of the mob. That was solved by Joe Smith. As Smith told the story "A friend of mine who knew some people said I could buy the contract for $20,000. I had to meet somebody in a warehouse on the third floor on Ninth Avenue in New York. I walked up there with twenty thousand-dollar bills -- and I was terrified. I was terrified I was going to give them the money, get a belt on the head and still not wind up with the contract. And there were two guys in the room. They looked out of central casting -- a big wide guy and a tall, thin guy. They were wearing suits and hats and stuff. I said 'I'm here with the money. You got the contract?' I remember I took that contract and ran out the door and jumped from the third floor to the second floor, and almost broke my leg to get on the street, where I could get a cab and put the contract in a safe place back at Warner Brothers." But the problem was solved, and Lewis Merenstein could get to work translating the music he'd heard Morrison playing into a record. He decided that Kielbania and Payne were not suitable for the kind of recording he wanted -- though they were welcome to attend the sessions in case the musicians had any questions about the songs, and thus they would get session pay. Kielbania was, at first, upset by this, but he soon changed his mind when he realised who Merenstein was bringing in to replace him on bass for the session. Richard Davis, the bass player -- who sadly died two months ago as I write this -- would later go on to play on many classic rock records by people like Bruce Springsteen and Laura Nyro, largely as a result of his work for Morrison, but at the time he was known as one of the great jazz bass players, most notably having played on Eric Dolphy's Out to Lunch: [Excerpt: Eric Dolphy, "Hat and Beard"] Kielbania could see the wisdom of getting in one of the truly great players for the album, and he was happy to show Davis the parts he'd been playing on the songs live, which Davis could then embellish -- Davis later always denied this, but it's obvious when listening to the live recordings that Kielbania played on before these sessions that Davis is playing very similar lines. Warren Smith Jr, the vibraphone player, had played with great jazz musicians like Charles Mingus and Herbie Mann, as well as backing Lloyd Price, Aretha Franklin, and Janis Joplin. Connie Kay, the drummer, was the drummer for the Modern Jazz Quartet and had also played sessions with everyone from Ruth Brown to Miles Davis. And Jay Berliner, the guitarist, had played on records like Charles Mingus' classic The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady: [Excerpt: Charles Mingus: "Mode D - Trio and Group Dancers, Mode F - Single Solos & Group Dance"] There was also a flute player whose name nobody now remembers. Although all of these musicians were jobbing session musicians -- Berliner came to the first session for the album that became Astral Weeks straight from a session recording a jingle for Pringles potato chips -- they were all very capable of taking a simple song and using it as an opportunity for jazz improvisation. And that was what Merenstein asked them to do. The songs that Morrison was writing were lyrically oblique, but structurally they were very simple -- surprisingly so when one is used to listening to the finished album. Most of the songs were, harmonically, variants of the standard blues and R&B changes that Morrison was used to playing. "Cyprus Avenue" and "The Way Young Lovers Do", for example, are both basically twelve-bar blueses -- neither is *exactly* a standard twelve-bar blues, but both are close enough that they can be considered to fit the form. Other than what Kielbania and Payne showed the musicians, they received no guidance from Morrison, who came in, ran through the songs once for them, and then headed to the vocal booth. None of the musicians had much memory of Morrison at all -- Jay Berliner said “This little guy walks in, past everybody, disappears into the vocal booth, and almost never comes out, even on the playbacks, he stayed in there." While Richard Davis later said “Well, I was with three of my favorite fellas to play with, so that's what made it beautiful. We were not concerned with Van at all, he never spoke to us.” The sound of the basic tracks on Astral Weeks is not the sound of a single auteur, as one might expect given its reputation, it's the sound of extremely good jazz musicians improvising based on the instructions given by Lewis Merenstein, who was trying to capture the feeling he'd got from listening to Morrison's live performances and demos. And because these were extremely good musicians, the album was recorded extremely quickly. In the first session, they cut four songs. Two of those were songs that Morrison was contractually obliged to record because of his agreement with Web IV -- "Beside You" and "Madame George", two songs that Bert Berns had produced, now in radically different versions: [Excerpt: Van Morrison, "Madame George"] The third song, "Cyprus Avenue", is the song that has caused most controversy over the years, as it's another of the songs that Morrison wrote around this time that relate to a sexual or romantic interest in underage girls. In this case, the reasoning might have been as simple as that the song is a blues, and Morrison may have been thinking about a tradition of lyrics like this in blues songs like "Good Morning, Little Schoolgirl". Whatever the cause though, the lyrics have, to put it mildly, not aged well at all: [Excerpt: Van Morrison, "Cyprus Avenue"] That song would be his standard set-closer for live performances for much of the seventies. For the fourth and final song, though, they chose to record what would become the title track for the album, "Astral Weeks", a song that was a lot more elliptical, and which seems in part to be about Morrison's longing for Janet Planet from afar, but also about memories of childhood, and also one of the first songs to bring in Morrison's fascination with the occult and spirituality, something that would be a recurring theme throughout his work, as the song was partly inspired by paintings by a friend of Morrison's which suggested to him the concept of astral travel: [Excerpt: Van Morrison, "Astral Weeks"] Morrison had a fascination with the idea of astral travel, as he had apparently had several out-of-body experiences as a child, and wanted to find some kind of explanation for them. Most of the songs on the album came, by Morrison's own account, as a kind of automatic writing, coming through him rather than being consciously written, and there's a fascination throughout with, to use the phrase from "Madame George", "childhood visions". The song is also one of the first songs in Morrison's repertoire to deliberately namecheck one of his idols, something else he would do often in future, when he talks about "talking to Huddie Leadbelly". "Astral Weeks" was a song that Morrison had been performing live for some time, and Payne had always enjoyed doing it. Unlike Kielbania he had no compunction about insisting that he was good enough to play on the record, and he eventually persuaded the session flute player to let him borrow his instrument, and Payne was allowed to play on the track: [Excerpt: Van Morrison, "Astral Weeks"] Or at least that's how the story is usually told -- Payne is usually credited for playing on "Madame George" too, even though everyone agrees that "Astral Weeks" was the last song of the night, but people's memories can fade over time. Either way, Payne's interplay with Jay Berliner on the guitar became such a strong point of the track that there was no question of bringing the unknown session player back -- Payne was going to be the woodwind player for the rest of the album: [Excerpt: Van Morrison, "Astral Weeks"] There was then a six-day break between sessions, during which time Payne and Kielbania went to get initiated into Scientology -- a religion with which Morrison himself would experiment a little over a decade later -- though they soon decided that it wasn't worth the cost of the courses they'd have to take, and gave up on the idea the same week. The next session didn't go so well. Jay Berliner was unavailable, and so Barry Kornfeld, a folkie who played with people like Dave Van Ronk, was brought in to replace him. Kornfeld was perfectly decent in the role, but they'd also brought in a string section, with the idea of recording some of the songs which needed string parts live. But the string players they brought in were incapable of improvising, coming from a classical rather than jazz tradition, and the only track that got used on the finished album was "The Way Young Lovers Do", by far the most conventional song on the album, a three-minute soul ballad structured as a waltz twelve-bar blues, where the strings are essentially playing the same parts that a horn section would play on a record by someone like Solomon Burke: [Excerpt: Van Morrison, "The Way Young Lovers Do"] It was decided that any string or horn parts on the rest of the album would just be done as overdubs. It was two weeks before the next and final session for the album, and that featured the return of Jay Berliner on guitar. The session started with "Sweet Thing" and "Ballerina", two songs that Morrison had been playing live for some time, and which were cut in relatively quick order. They then made attempts at two more songs that didn't get very far, "Royalty", and "Going Around With Jesse James", before Morrison, stuck for something to record, pulled out a new lyric he'd never performed live, "Slim Slow Slider". The whole band ran through the song once, but then Merenstein decided to pare the arrangement down to just Morrison, Payne (on soprano sax rather than on flute), and Warren Smith Jr: [Excerpt: Van Morrison, "Slim Slow Slider"] That track was the only one where, after the recording, Merenstein didn't compliment the performance, remaining silent instead – Payne said “Maybe everyone was just tired, or maybe they were moved by it.” It seems likely it was the latter. The track eventually got chosen as the final track of the album, because Merenstein felt that it didn't fit conceptually with anything else -- and it's definitely a more negative track than the oth
This week, we explore the ebbs and flows of life with our guest, Ben Roorda, a husband, father, engineer, entrepreneur, and saltwater addict. How being brought up in a conservative evangelical home limited his exposure to music outside the church. How watching 'Under the Sea' from The Little Mermaid ignited his saltwater addiction and the realization that he could leave the life he knew, like Ariel did, 'Brown Eyed Girl' reminds him of his wife, and 'Three Little Birds' by Bob Marley serves as a life preserver during difficult times. We ride the waves of Ben's thrilling entrepreneurial and surfing adventures, with Jimmy Buffett and Alan Jackson's ‘Boats to Build' and Dick Dale's iconic ‘Misirlou'. Ben's story is a testament to the power of pursuing one's passions. You don't want to miss this one! Pull up a folding chair, grab a drink, find a spot around the fire, and enjoy the conversation and community. Follow your hosts David, Raza, and Carolina every week as they embark on an epic adventure to find the songs that are stuck to us like audible tattoos to tell the story of who we are and where we've been. It's a life story told through 6 songs.WHO WE AREDAVID: Creator & Host @ALifeinSixSongsDrummer | Educator | Philosopher | Combat Veteran | PTSD Advocate CAROLINA: Co-Host @ALifeinSixSongsStoryteller | Head of Learning & Development Services @ReadySetRAZA: Co-Host @ALifeinSixSongsGuitarist | Lawyer | Solo Project @Solamente.BandRESOURCES & LINKSCheck out A Life in Six Songs playlist on Apple Music and SpotifyFollow on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTubeSubscribe to our YouTube channel Are you a veteran who is struggling? Get help here:Call the Veterans Crisis Line: Dial 988, then press 1.Text the Veterans Crisis Line: Send your message to 838255 Visit the Veterans Crisis Line website to chat virtuallyPTSD Online QuestionnaireNational Center for PTSDSupport the showCopyright Disclaimer: Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, commentary, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit or educational use tips the balance in favor of fair use. The original work played in this video has been significantly transformed for the purpose of commentary, criticism, and education.
TUESDAY HR 2 RRR Trivia - The song Brown Eyed Girl was originally called what? Trunk O' Treats Hell house's Russ tries top get Carlos to make him an offer for his punching machine.
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Prison reform is a truly noble cause because there is no political constituency demanding it. Every time I fly into LaGuardia, I look out at the hellhole of Rikers Island, a prison right out of Dickens's England, where men languish who are unable to make bail and life is brutal, and the Democratic hacks of New York won't touch this issue lest they be thought weak on crime. Emily knew all about this, and she nodded.And if you take on prison reform, then you need to reform our broken mental health system that was destroyed by my fellow liberals forty years ago as “deinstitutionalization,” the idea that rather than enormous hellholes, you put the inmates in small hellholes where we wouldn't be so aware of them. Emily knows about this too. And whatever progress you make will be painfully slow: nobody will come up with an algorithm to produce social justice.Garrison KeillorJason Keillor, EngineerJason Keillor, Original Music This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit garrisonkeillor.substack.com/subscribeThis show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5893629/advertisement
How does a young songwriter come back from releasing a mega hit that EVERYBODY knows? For Van Morrison, he followed the success of "Brown Eyed Girl" with two different approaches. First came "Astral Weeks," an album built on and around Morrison's jazz upbringing. Next came "Moondance," which bridged the gap (eventually) between his love of various genres of music with a nod to a more pop-friendly format. It worked. Like "Brown Eyed Girl," the title track has since become a standard, but the album is so much more than that. "And It Stoned Me" tells the nostalgiac story of a trip when he was younger -- in a way that only Van could tell it. "Crazy Love" is a blueprint for how a love song should be written. "Caravan" fused Morrison's love of blues and soul to create a timeless tune. And "Into the Mystic" is among Rolling Stone's top 500 songs of all time. And that's just side 1 of the album. With "Moondance," Morrison further established himself as one of his generations' great troubadours.
Richie Hume, Hume Music Alright! It's time for the VooDoo Chef Podcast. Where we will discuss All Things VooDoo from the VooDoo Studios right here in beautiful Tampa, Florida! So to all my #VooDies out there, if you're looking for nothing but a good time this is the place to be. Call your friends, knock on the neighbors door and let em know it is time to party like a rockstar. Join me and my guests and learn to VooDoo like we do…as we discuss our faves and the VooDoo we use. We will share some of our favorite stories from the kitchens we have worked in, and we will put our guests on the spot as we challenge them in a weekly round of VooDoo Games. Sit back, grab a tall glass of your favorite libation, and enjoy this episode of the VooDoo Chef Podcast! Erik Youngs, The VooDoo Chef Ed “Big Eddie-C” Carmack, Co-Host Patrick Artz - Co Host
Moondance is the album that established Van Morrison as a solo artist. However, he was an accomplished musician before this, first as a multi-instrumentalist in Irish show bands of the late 50's, then as the lead singer of the band Them. Moondance is either Morrison's second or third solo album…depending upon how you count it. The first album entitled “Blowin' Your Mind!” was put out without Morrison's permission — or even knowledge, and he does not consider it to be a proper album. However, he had signed a contract with Bang! Records without paying much attention to the details, and gave up much of his rights. Nevertheless, this first album did contain Morrison's first solo pop single, “Brown-Eyed Girl,” which is one of this most popular today.After considerable wrangling and the death of producer Bert Berns, Morrison was able to put out an album on his own terms for Warner Brothers entitled “Astral Weeks.” While this album would be praised in the future, it was considered a failure at the time, producing no singles and not receiving much promotion.Moondance is where it all comes together for Morrison. It was more deliberately designed to have more accessible songs than the previous album, and it benefitted from the rising popularity of FM radio. Morrison's growing confidence in his own abilities and his sense of independence from the producers also were beneficial on this album. The result is an iconic album with a number of standards of 70's music.Bruce brings us this inspired album for this week's podcast. And It Stoned MeThis track leads off the album. The song reminisces about days being a kid, going fishing, drinking stream water from a jar, and just being high on life. The lyric about Jelly Roll may refer to jazz musician Jelly Roll Morton, an artist whom Morrison listened to with his father as a child. Van Morrison's dad had one of the biggest record collections in the area.Into the MysticThis track is about a spiritual quest. According to Wikipedia, Morrison says the song “is just about being part of the universe.” While it was not released as a single when the album was released it has become one of Morrison's most popular song, the second most streamed song on Spotify behind “Brown Eyed Girl.”Glad TidingsA deeper cut, this track is the final song on the album and the final song recorded for the album. The inspiration for the title was a letter Morrison received from a friend in London who had written on the envelope, “Glad Tidings from London.” When Morrison wrote back he also included “Glad Tidings from New York” on the envelope. The lyrics appear to address some of the issues Morrison had with Bert Berns and Bang! Records.MoondanceAs iconic as this song has become, it was not released as a single until September of 1977, seven-and-a-half years after the album. Morrison developed it while living in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He considers it a sophisticated song, one that Frank Sinatra could be seen singing. ENTERTAINMENT TRACK:The Love Theme (from the motion picture "Airport" )This film was one of the first disaster movies that would form its own genre in the 1970's. STAFF PICKS:Friends by FeatherWayne gets the staff picks started with a pop group from Los Angeles. Feather had a commercially oriented prog rock sound, with close harmonies and a bit of a country flavor. “Friends” was on the Billboard Hot 100 for five weeks, with its highest position at number 79. However, they did get a chance to showcase their song on Dick Clark's American Bandstand.Reflections of My Life by MarmaladeRob brings us a Scottish band that started in 1961 as the Gaylords. This is their biggest hit making it to number 10 in the U.S. The epic feel employs acoustic guitars and horns, and a guitar solo which employs studio effects that play the solo guitar riff backwards.Kentucky Rain by Elvis Presley Lynch's staff pick was recorded during Presley's landmark two-week sessions at American Sound Studio in Memphis. These sessions produced two hit albums in 1969, but this song didn't make the cut for either album. The single was on the charts during this month, rising as high as number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100, and features Ronnie Milsap on piano.Mississippi Queen by MountainBruce brings us a rocker to wrap up the staff picks. This hard rock group was active primarily from 1969 through 1972, and this single went to number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100. The opening cowbell originated when drummer Corky Laing got tired of the numerous retakes and just started using the cowbell to count off the song. Bassist Felix Pappalardi liked the sound and kept it in the completed track. INSTRUMENTAL TRACK:Viva Tirado (part 1) by El ChicanoThis Latin-jazz instrumental number was based on an original song about a bullfighter by Gerald Wilson.
Dedicated to Parrotheads and Parrotkeeks all around the world, 12 Live concert recordings including Fruitcakes, Southern Cross, Pencil Thin Mustache, Coconut Telegraph, Cheesburger in Paradise, Come Monday, Valcano, Brown Eyed Girl, Tin Cup Chalice, Fins, Margaritaville and Love and Luck.
Episode 79 features Larry, Keith & Scott taking turns drafting the greatest songs of 1967. Link to Spotify playlist for this episode: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6IqjcUnslbxM4H8lB87YO4?si=7cb605adcd40406a Link to Spotify honorable mentions playlist for this episode: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1C3CUI74yWPxJNeIblVgQR?si=a4c8ad21ff884975 Notes: The third song in the Billboard year-end top 25 that Larry thought we might draft was Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison. And S.F. Sorrow by The Pretty Things was the first rock opera (released in 1968).
Full show - Wednesday | Random thing you have memorized | Pizza astrology | T. Hack's ratmobile | OPP - Gym jealousy | Brown-eyed girls | Blazer pockets
A survey shows that men prefer women with brown eyes, and Steve is outraged!
Do you remember whem we used to sing....totally different versions of a classic song? This week on the show we circle back to one of our favorite topics, the Totally Epic Cover Battle. We're putting the classic 1967 Van Morrison version of "Brown Eyed Girl" up against the cover made famous by the band Everclear, released in the year 2000. We've got listener feedback, Our Jammy Jams and all the usual in depth music discussion. Settle down, dig in and listen to Season 8 Episode 11 of the Infectious Groove Podcast!
Speaking with Al Blackstone was a delight! Many of you know Al from So You Think You Can Dance, but his credits show that he has long been in the game. Thank you Al for sharing your time and knowledge with all of us!AL BLACKSTONE (short for Albert) is an Emmy-winning director, choreographer, and educator based in New York City. He loves to tell stories and believes deeply in the power of dance, community, and kindness. Born and raised in a dance studio, his passion for bringing people together to experience something meaningful has driven him to create work for concert, film, television, theater, ships, basements, parks, and many many stages. This includes original dance narratives such as Freddie Falls in Love (Joyce Theater), Happy We'll Be (Roseland Ballroom), Elephant in the Room (Arts on Site), NORMA (Steps on Broadway) and Brown Eyed Girl (2011 Capezio A.C.E. Award for Choreographic Excellence). Al has directed/choreographed reinventions of classic musicals such as An American in Paris (Cape Playhouse), Pippin (Music Theater Wichita) and Annie (Axelrod Performing Arts Center) and has choreographed dozens more around the coun- try and Off-Broadway. In 2020 Al won an Emmy for his work on the iconic television show So You Think You Can Dance where he has been making dances since 2016. Additional network television credits include Good Morning America and The Macy!s Thanksgiving Day Parade. He continues to create self-produced short films including La Vista, The Suburbs, and A Good Thought (up- coming with playwright Rachel Bonds). In 2019 he choreographed the film Double Exposure (On the Rocks Films) and the next year he was chosen by the Irving Berlin Estate to direct and choreograph Isn't It A Lovely Day to commemorate the 85th Anniversary of the classic musical Top Hat. Most recently, in 2023 he assisted choreographer Mandy Moore (La La Land) on the dance sequences for the upcoming film IF directed by John Krasinksi and starring Ryan Reynolds. He also danced in the film. As an educator Al is deeply indebted to the many brilliant teachers he has encountered throughout his life including his parents Richard and Denise Blackstone, Doug Caldwell, Frank Hatchett, Sheila Barker, and Andy Blankenbuehler. Their wisdom inform and inspire his own classes which have been shared with dancers all over the world for more than two decades. He has been on faculty at Steps on Broadway, Broadway Dance Center, and JUMP Dance Convention and in 2019 he was featured in the documentary film Uprooted which sheds light on the African roots of jazz dance in America. He has been a guest artist at many universities including The University of the Arts, Pace University, Point Park University., and Marymount Manhattan. Al is proud to be a part of the New York dance community including being a board member at Arts On Site a woman-owned arts organization dedicated to providing artists with opportunities to create and perform new work. In 2020 collaborated with his husband designer Abraham Lule on MOMEN NYC, a project that highlights and celebrates the power of dance through live events, workshops, and virtual offerings for adult dancers. Their weekend work- shop MOMEN&FRIENDS has brought hundreds of dancers together from around the world to form deep and lasting dance memories. He lives in Queens and has kept a journal since he was twelve. Thank you for listening Jam Fam! Make sure you follow us across social media and don't forget to like and subscribe anywhere you listen to your favorite podcasts!Facebook: JAM Joe and Michelle's Dance PodcastInstagram: jam_dance_podcastTwitter: @jamdancepodcastEmail: jamdancepodcast@gmail.com
(0:00) Zolak & Bertrand open up the last hour recapping Zo being able to sing the lyrics to Brown Eyed Girl. (10:02) The crew talk about the potential of Lamar Jackson sitting out for the 2023 season and take your call? (23:10) The guys talk about Chad Ochocinco living inside of the stadium for the first two years of his career. CONNECT WITH ZOLAK & BERTRANDhttps://www.instagram.com/zoandbertrandhttps://twitter.com/ZoandBertrandhttps://www.facebook.com/ZolakandBertrandhttps://www.instagram.com/985thesportshubhttps://twitter.com/985thesportshubhttps://www.facebook.com/985TheSportsHub
Sam Paddor and Al Gorgoni discuss Al's experiences recording Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl", Simon and Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence" and working with Bob Dylan. Al Gorgoni's Website: https://www.gorgoni.net My Back Pages Website: https://www.mybackpages.org
Kelly has found the PERFECT palette for brown eyed girls! It's got greens, golds, cool toned browns and silvers. Plus, did we mention its less than $40? And Leigh shares the serum that saved her irritated skin and the dupe for your fave glowy face primer. THE END BITS Subscribe to Mamamia RECOMMENDATIONS: All the wonderful products mentioned in today's episode can be found below! SPENDY Leigh: JULIETTE HAS A GUN Ego Stratis, $159 Kelly: GLAMLITE MIKAYLA x GLAMLITE PAHT 2 10 COLOR PALETTE, $34 SAVEY: Leigh: Maybelline Instant Perfector Glow Medium, $29.49 Kelly: MILANI Conceal + Perfect Longwear Concealer, $24.99 EMPTY: Leigh: Eve Lom Cleanser, $36 Kelly: Brillo Beauty The Wash, $28 & Brillo Beauty The Lotion, $28 SHOP MY STASH: Leigh: tbh skincare rebound serum, $68 GET IN TOUCH: Got a beauty question you want answered? Email us at youbeauty@mamamia.com.au or call the podphone on 02 8999 9386. Join our You Beauty Facebook Group here. Want this and other podcasts delivered straight to your inbox? Subscribe to our podcast newsletter. You Beauty is a podcast by Mamamia. Listen to more Mamamia podcasts here. CREDITS: Hosts: Leigh Campbell & Kelly McCarren Producer: Mikayla Floriano Audio Producer: Leah Porges Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. Just by reading our articles or listening to our podcasts, you're helping to fund girls in schools in some of the most disadvantaged countries in the world - through our partnership with Room to Read. We're currently funding 300 girls in school every day and our aim is to get to 1,000. Find out more about Mamamia at mamamia.com.auBecome a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Guest Host Mark Osmundsen offers listeners a conversation with Al Blackstone, an Emmy-winning director, choreographer, and educator. Born in New Jersey and raised in a dance studio, Al has called New York City home for more than a decade, and has created many works for stage and screen, including dance narratives such as Freddie Falls in Love (Joyce Theater), Happy We'll Be (Roseland Ballroom), Elephant in the Room (Arts on Site), NORMA (Steps on Broadway) and Brown Eyed Girl (2011 Capezio A.C.E. Award for Choreographic Excellence). Al has directed/choreographed reinventions of classic musicals such as An American in Paris (Cape Playhouse), Pippin (Music Theater Wichita) and Annie (Axelrod Performing Arts Center) and has choreographed dozens more around the country and Off-Broadway.In 2020 Al won an Emmy for his work on the iconic television show So You Think You Can Dance where he has been making dances since 2016. He is currently on faculty at Steps on Broadway, Broadway Dance Center, and JUMP Dance Convention.Links:Al Blackstone WebsiteInstagramMomen NYCL-O-V-E for “So You Think You Can Dance”GLO classes:Mark Osmundsen's classes.
This week – the finale of our epic 3-part series on The ‘60s! It's a show chock full of highlights… Van Morrison explains how “Brown Eyed Girl” almost got banned from the radio Neil Sedaka talks about the creation of “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do” Gene Pitney on writing one of the ‘60s biggest hits, touring with the Dick Clark Caravan of Stars and hanging with The Stones Dick Clark talks about the early days of American Bandstand and how the idea of watching “teenagers dance on TV” was a hard sell to the station owners Frankie Valli explains how Clark Gable inspired one of the Four Seasons' biggest hits The Hollies on how they got their name and their first taste of international fame. Blood, Sweat & Tears talk about playing at Woodstock – and why their performance wasn't included in the movie Freddy Cannon – on how one of his concerts was interrupted by a bunch of stampeding horses. Connie Francis talks about the moment her life changed forever Tom has a great chat with Felix Cavaliere of The Rascals The legendary Sylvia Tyson explains how the music of “Ian & Sylvia” holds up Carole King talks about the extraordinary gift of her songwriting partner, Jerry Goffin Lulu talks about landing the role (and title song) for “To Sir With Love” Interview clips with Paul Revere & The Raiders, The Shirelles, The Byrds, Procol Harum, The Fifth Dimension, Moody Blues, Del Shannon, The Impressions and Bobby Vee. Plus – how an Aretha Franklin recording session almost devolved into a fistfight. Famous Lost Words, hosted by Christopher Ward and Tom Jokic, is heard in more than 100 countries worldwide and on radio stations across Canada, including Newstalk 1010 Toronto, CJAD 800 Montreal, 580 CFRA Ottawa, AM 800 CKLW Windsor, Newstalk 1290 London, 610 CKTB St Catharines, CFAX Victoria, AM1150 Kelowna and 91x in Belleville.
Get risqué with Freyja & Mark as they discuss K-Pop boundary pushers . Hostess: @xXFreyjaXx Panelists: EmRayGunz also co-host of @SoWizardPodcast Network: Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/undercovercapes1/ Twitter: @UndercoverCapes
The Bad Brothers are far away from each other again. Michael talks Gig Harbian flight patterns. Will fumbles around with his camera. Also: Pete Davidson's father (RIP), issues at Target, local nude beaches, Van Morrison's Brown Eyed Girl, and a refusal to listen the first time. Instagram https://instagram.com/badbrotherspodcast Apple https://apple.co/2JeSUIr Spotify https://sptfy.com/badbrotherspod Bad Brothers Pod Michael and Will Browning Port Orchard (& Gig Harbor), Washington's Finest Podcast
One of Hollywood's brightest, young filmmakers Cooper Raiff chats with Trey Elling about CHA CHA REAL SMOOTH. Raiff wrote, directed and starred in the film, which is available now on Apple+. Topics include: Having a hamster as a costar in the film (1:23) How his sister serves as an inspiration in CHA CHA REAL SMOOTH (1:45) Directing actors of a variety of ages (2:47) "Brown Eyed Girl" (4:09)
As broadcast May 25, 2022 with plenty of extra Kartupeļu Pankūkas for your podcast travel feast. Tonight we go up in the sky and far away once again with our weekly travel mate Dunia Aljawad as we fly off to Riga for a taste of Latvia and the surrounding Baltic Nations in Estonia and Lithuania as well. A bit of a focus on Eurovision Song Contest history this week going through some of the notable aritsts who've gained exposure via that famed European tournament, but also a flash back to some funkier stuff from the Soviet Era as well so you can get a bit of the big picture.#feelthegravityTracklisting:Part I (00:00)KALUSH – StefaniaMonika LIU - SentimentaiWalters & Kazha – The War Is Not OverJuri Pootsman – PlayCollage – Mets Neidude VahelTarmo feat Toomas Urb & Vanemode – Valgud Piglis Part II (30:03)Velly Joonas – Kaes On AegBig Band Katowice – Ballada dla Alicjiansis feat JeeKaa – Sis Rindas DzivosHoax – OhjadPrata Vetro feat MUSIQQ – Debesis iekrita teviUgis Praulins – Easter Comes Part III (57:50)Samanta Tīna - MĒS VAIRS NĒ (WE ARE NO MORE) Alise Joste – Atslegas (Keys)Igo - Uz Krustcelēm (At the Crossroads) Gaujarts – Romana varonis (Hero of Romana)MUSIQQ - DARI KĀ ES (DO LIKE ME) Triana Park – Stars Part IV (90:25)Prāta Vētra - Starp Divām Saulēm (Between the Two Suns ) Imants Daksis - IdiotsBERMUDU DIVSTŪRIS - BALLĒJAM NEGUĻAM (FOR A PALLET) Instrumenti – Visa Visuma Visumis ir vissAilee(에일리) _ I will show you(보여줄게)Gain feat Bumkey – Fxxk U
Greg, Jeremy and Mary fake it til' they make it with David Sparrow
#35-31Intro/Outro: Crimson and Clover by Tommy James & the Shondells35. I Want To Hold Your Hand by The Beatles34. The Tracks of My Tears by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles33. Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison *32. Stand By Me by Ben E. King31. Hey Jude by The Beatles *Vote on your favorite song from today's episodeVote on your favorite song from Week 2* - Previously played on the podcast
Today's K-Pop Musician is "김이나(Kim Eana)" 김이나(Kim Eana) went to university in the States where she came across various pop songs. While she was working in a company, she dreamt of being in the music industry and wrote lyrics time to time. Through songwriter 김형석's suggestion, she first challenged herself to be a lyricist. She decided that juggling her job and dream was too much, which is why she officially started her journey as a lyricist. She started in 2003, and created hit songs for IU and Brown Eyed Girls with songwriter 이민수. After that, she worked with big companies like SM Entertainment, JYP Entertainment, as well as huge names like 이선희, 조용필, and 임재범. That's how 김이나(Kim Eana) became the star lyricist that she is today. She says that she has written lyrics that sell well. But now, she wants to hear people say, ‘I love that my singer sang 김이나's song'. Today, we will be diving into 김이나's music~!
The other day I was going through some of the music that the grandkids and I have done the past year. After watching the news and seeing all the sadness going on in Ukraine, I just needed a little happy time. And that usually can be found playing music with the grandkids. But it was a day when that wasn't an option, so I dug into some of the past songs we have done together and recorded just for the fun of it. There were lots of rowdy songs and old bluegrass songs they have been taught. Some like Rocky Top, Mountain Dew, and the classic gospel ones like Amazing Grass and Nothing But the Blood of Jesus. And there are the old rock classics like, Sloop John B and Brown Eyed Girl. All done in the classic off key, rowdy guitar, ukulele, banjo grandkids' style. But I came across this song we did in a quiet moment when it was just a couple of the older kids singing and playing instruments. It is the old Judd's song, “Love Can Build A Bridge”. I stopped and played it a few times, remembering that night we were together singing it and how the grandkids' voices blended together. There were the girls and then Eyasu with his adolescent changing beautiful deep sound. It got me thinking of the world today and all the bombing and destruction that is going on in Ukraine. We so need a bridge of love in Ukraine. We all need “to whisper love so loudly, so every heart will understand, that love and only love can join the tribes of man”. Here is from a special night of music with the grandkids. It is Love can Build a Bridge. Enjoy. Love Can Build A Bridge Songwriters: Paul Overstreet / John Jarvis / Naomi Judd I'd gladly walk across the desert with no shoes upon my feet To share with you the last bite of bread I had to eat I would swim out to save you in your sea of broken dreams When all your hopes are sinking, let me show you what love means Love can build a bridge Between your heart and mine Love can build a bridge Don't you think it's time? Don't you think it's time? I would whisper love so loudly, every heart could understand That love and only love can join the tribes of man I would give my hearts' desire so that you might see The first step is to realize that it all begins with you and me Love can build a bridge Between your heart and mine Love can build a bridge Don't you think it's time? Don't you think it's time? When we stand together, it's our finest hour We can do anything (anything) Anything (anything) Keep believing in the power Love can build a bridge Between your heart and mine Love can build a bridge Don't you think it's time? Don't you think it's time? Don't you think it's time? Don't you think it's time? --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/susan-engstr-mcauliffe/message
Episode 125 of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “Here Comes the Night", Them, the early career of Van Morrison, and the continuing success of Bert Berns. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a twenty-minute bonus episode available, on "Dirty Water" by the Standells. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by doing a first-pass edit, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt's irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com/ Resources As usual, I've created a Mixcloud playlist, with full versions of all the songs excerpted in this episode. The information about Bert Berns comes from Here Comes the Night: The Dark Soul of Bert Berns and the Dirty Business of Rhythm and Blues by Joel Selvin. I've used two biographies of Van Morrison. Van Morrison: Into the Music by Ritchie Yorke is so sycophantic towards Morrison that the word "hagiography" would be, if anything, an understatement. Van Morrison: No Surrender by Johnny Rogan, on the other hand, is the kind of book that talks in the introduction about how the author has had to avoid discussing certain topics because of legal threats from the subject. I also used information from the liner notes to The Complete Them 1964-1967, which as the title suggests is a collection of all the recordings the group made while Van Morrison was in the band. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript Today we're going to take a look at a band whose lead singer, sadly, is more controversial now than he was at the period we're looking at. I would normally not want to explicitly talk about current events upfront at the start of an episode, but Van Morrison has been in the headlines in the last few weeks for promoting dangerous conspiracy theories about covid, and has also been accused of perpetuating antisemitic stereotypes with a recent single. So I would like to take this opportunity just to say that no positive comments I make about the Van Morrison of 1965 in this episode should be taken as any kind of approval of the Van Morrison of 2021 -- and this should also be taken as read for one of the similarly-controversial subjects of next week's episode... Anyway, that aside, today we're going to take a look at the first classic rock and roll records made by a band from Northern Ireland, and at the links between the British R&B scene and the American Brill Building. We're going to look at Van Morrison, Bert Berns, and "Here Comes the Night" by Them: [Excerpt: Them, "Here Comes the Night"] When we last looked at Bert Berns, he was just starting to gain some prominence in the East Coast recording scene with his productions for artists like Solomon Burke and the Isley Brothers. We've also, though it wasn't always made explicit, come across several of his productions when talking about other artists -- when Leiber and Stoller stopped working for Atlantic, Berns took over production of their artists, as well as all the other recordings he was making, and so many of the mid-sixties Drifters records we looked at in the episode on "Stand By Me" were Berns productions. But while he was producing soul classics in New York, Berns was also becoming aware of the new music coming from the United Kingdom -- in early 1963 he started receiving large royalty cheques for a cover version of his song "Twist and Shout" by some English band he'd never heard of. He decided that there was a market here for his songs, and made a trip to the UK, where he linked up with Dick Rowe at Decca. While most of the money Berns had been making from "Twist and Shout" had been from the Beatles' version, a big chunk of it had also come from Brian Poole and the Tremeloes, the band that Rowe had signed to Decca instead of the Beatles. After the Beatles became big, the Tremeloes used the Beatles' arrangement of "Twist and Shout", which had been released on an album and an EP but not a single, and had a top ten hit with their own version of it: [Excerpt: Brian Poole and the Tremeloes, "Twist and Shout"] Rowe was someone who kept an eye on the American market, and saw that Berns was a great source of potential hits. He brought Berns over to the UK, and linked him up with Larry Page, the manager who gave Rowe an endless supply of teen idols, and with Phil Solomon, an Irish manager who had been the publicist for the crooner Ruby Murray, and had recently brought Rowe the group The Bachelors, who had had a string of hits like "Charmaine": [Excerpt: The Bachelors, "Charmaine"] Page, Solomon, and Rowe were currently trying to promote something called "Brum Beat", as a Birmingham rival to Mersey beat, and so all the acts Berns worked with were from Birmingham. The most notable of these acts was one called Gerry Levene and the Avengers. Berns wrote and produced the B-side of that group's only single, with Levene backed by session musicians, but I've been unable to find a copy of that B-side anywhere in the digital domain. However, the A-side, which does exist and wasn't produced by Berns, is of some interest: [Excerpt: Gerry Levene and the Avengers, "Dr. Feelgood"] The lineup of the band playing on that included guitarist Roy Wood, who would go on to be one of the most important and interesting British musicians of the later sixties and early seventies, and drummer Graeme Edge, who went on to join the Moody Blues. Apparently at another point, their drummer was John Bonham. None of the tracks Berns recorded for Decca in 1963 had any real success, but Berns had made some useful contacts with Rowe and Solomon, and most importantly had met a British arranger, Mike Leander, who came over to the US to continue working with Berns, including providing the string arrangements for Berns' production of "Under the Boardwalk" for the Drifters: [Excerpt: The Drifters, "Under the Boardwalk"] In May 1964, the month when that track was recorded, Berns was about the only person keeping Atlantic Records afloat -- we've already seen that they were having little success in the mid sixties, but in mid-May, even given the British Invasion taking over the charts, Berns had five records in the Hot One Hundred as either writer or producer -- the Beatles' version of "Twist and Shout" was the highest charting, but he also had hits with "One Way Love" by the Drifters: [Excerpt: The Drifters, "One Way Love"] "That's When it Hurts" by Ben E. King: [Excerpt: Ben E. King, "That's When it Hurts"] "Goodbye Baby (Baby Goodbye)" by Solomon Burke: [Excerpt: Solomon Burke, "Goodbye Baby (Baby Goodbye)"] And "My Girl Sloopy" by the Vibrations: [Excerpt: The Vibrations, "My Girl Sloopy"] And a week after the production of "Under the Boardwalk", Berns was back in the studio with Solomon Burke, producing Burke's classic "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love", though that track would lead to a major falling-out with Burke, as Berns and Atlantic executive Jerry Wexler took co-writing credit they hadn't earned on Burke's song -- Berns was finally at the point in his career where he was big enough that he could start stealing Black men's credits rather than having to earn them for himself: [Excerpt: Solomon Burke, "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love"] Not everything was a hit, of course -- he wrote a dance track with Mike Leander, "Show Me Your Monkey", which was definitely not a big hit -- but he had a strike rate that most other producers and writers would have killed for. And he was also having hits in the UK with the new British Invasion bands -- the Animals had made a big hit from "Baby Let Me Take You Home", the old folk tune that Berns had rewritten for Hoagy Lands. And he was still in touch with Phil Solomon and Dick Rowe, both of whom came over to New York for Berns' wedding in July. It might have been while they were at the wedding that they first suggested to Berns that he might be interested in producing a new band that Solomon was managing, named Them, and in particular their lead singer, Van Morrison. Van Morrison was always a misfit, from his earliest days. He grew up in Belfast, a city that is notoriously divided along sectarian lines between a Catholic minority who (for the most part) want a united Ireland, and a Presbyterian majority who want Northern Ireland to remain part of the UK. But in a city where the joke goes that a Jewish person would be asked "but are you a Catholic Jew or a Protestant Jew?", Morrison was raised as a Jehovah's Witness, and for the rest of his life he would be resistant to fitting into any of the categories anyone tried to put him in, both for good and ill. While most of the musicians from the UK we've looked at so far have been from middle-class backgrounds, and generally attended art school, Morrison had gone to a secondary modern school, and left at fourteen to become a window cleaner. But he had an advantage that many of his contemporaries didn't -- he had relatives living in America and Canada, and his father had once spent a big chunk of time working in Detroit, where at one point the Morrison family planned to move. This exposed Morrison senior to all sorts of music that would not normally be heard in the UK, and he returned with a fascination for country and blues music, and built up a huge record collection. Young Van Morrison was brought up listening to Hank Williams, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Jimmie Rodgers, Louis Jordan, Jelly Roll Morton, and his particular favourite, Lead Belly. The first record he bought with his own money was "Hootin' Blues" by the Sonny Terry Trio: [Excerpt: The Sonny Terry Trio, "Hootin' Blues"] Like everyone, Van Morrison joined a skiffle group, but he became vastly more ambitious in 1959 when he visited a relative in Canada. His aunt smuggled him into a nightclub where an actual American rock and roll group were playing -- Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks: [Excerpt: Ronnie Hawkins, "Mary Lou"] Hawkins had been inspired to get into the music business by his uncle Delmar, a fiddle player whose son, Dale Hawkins, we looked at back in episode sixty-three. His band, the Hawks, had a reputation as the hottest band in Canada -- at this point they were still all Americans, but other than their drummer Levon Helm they would soon be replaced one by one with Canadian musicians, starting with bass player Robbie Robertson. Morrison was enthused and decided he was going to become a professional musician. He already played a bit of guitar, but started playing the saxophone too, as that was an instrument that would be more likely to get him work at this point. He joined a showband called the Monarchs, as saxophone player and occasional vocalist. Showbands were a uniquely Irish phenomenon -- they were eight- or nine-piece groups, rhythm sections with a small horn section and usually a couple of different singers, who would play every kind of music for dancing, ranging from traditional pop to country and western to rock and roll, and would also perform choreographed dance routines and comedy sketches. The Monarchs were never a successful band, but they managed to scrape a living playing the Irish showband circuit, and in the early sixties they travelled to Germany, where audiences of Black American servicemen wanted them to play more soulful music like songs by Ray Charles, an opportunity Morrison eagerly grabbed. It was also a Black American soldier who introduced Morrison to the music of Bobby Bland, whose "Turn on Your Love Light" was soon introduced to the band's set: [Excerpt Bobby "Blue" Bland, "Turn on Your Love Light"] But they were still mostly having to play chart hits by Billy J Kramer or Gerry and the Pacemakers, and Morrison was getting frustrated. The Monarchs did get a chance to record a single in Germany, as Georgie and the Monarchs, with another member, George Jones (not the famous country singer) singing lead, but the results were not impressive: [Excerpt: Georgie and the Monarchs, "O Twingy Baby"] Morrison moved between several different showbands, but became increasingly dissatisfied with what he was doing. Then another showband he was in, the Manhattan Showband, briefly visited London, and Morrison and several of his bandmates went to a club called Studio 51, run by Ken Colyer. There they saw a band called The Downliners Sect, who had hair so long that the Manhattan members at first thought they were a girl group, until their lead singer came on stage wearing a deerstalker hat. The Downliners Sect played exactly the kind of aggressive R&B that Morrison thought he should be playing: [Excerpt: The Downliners Sect, "Be a Sect Maniac"] Morrison asked if he could sit in with the group on harmonica, but was refused -- and this was rather a pattern with the Downliners Sect, who had a habit of attracting harmonica players who wanted to be frontmen. Both Rod Stewart and Steve Marriott did play harmonica with the group for a while, and wanted to join full-time, but were refused as they clearly wanted to be lead singers and the group didn't need another one of them. On returning to Belfast, Morrison decided that he needed to start his own R&B band, and his own R&B club night. At first he tried to put together a sort of supergroup of showband regulars, but most of the musicians he approached weren't interested in leaving their steady gigs. Eventually, he joined a band called the Gamblers, led by guitarist and vocalist Billy Harrison. The Gamblers had started out as an instrumental group, playing rock and roll in the style of Johnny and the Hurricanes, but they'd slowly been moving in a more R&B direction, and playing Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley material. Morrison joined the group on saxophone and vocals -- trading off leads with Harrison -- and the group renamed themselves after a monster movie from a few years before: [Excerpt: THEM! trailer] The newly renamed Them took up a regular gig at the Maritime Hotel, a venue which had previously attracted a trad jazz crowd, and quickly grew a substantial local following. Van Morrison later often said that their residency at the Maritime was the only time Them were any good, but that period was remarkably short -- three months after their first gig, the group had been signed to a management, publishing, and production deal with Philip Solomon, who called in Dick Rowe to see them in Belfast. Rowe agreed to the same kind of licensing deal with Solomon that Andrew Oldham had already got from him for the Stones -- Them would record for Solomon's company, and Decca would license the recordings. This also led to the first of the many, many, lineup changes that would bedevil the group for its short existence -- between 1964 and 1966 there were eighteen different members of the group. Eric Wrixon, the keyboard player, was still at school, and his parents didn't think he should become a musician, so while he came along to the first recording session, he didn't sign the contract because he wasn't allowed to stay with the group once his next term at school started. However, he wasn't needed -- while Them's guitarist and bass player were allowed to play on the records, Dick Rowe brought in session keyboard player Arthur Greenslade and drummer Bobby Graham -- the same musicians who had augmented the Kinks on their early singles -- to play with them. The first single, a cover version of Slim Harpo's "Don't Start Crying Now", did precisely nothing commercially: [Excerpt: Them, "Don't Start Crying Now"] The group started touring the UK, now as Decca recording artistes, but they almost immediately started to have clashes with their management. Phil Solomon was not used to aggressive teenage R&B musicians, and didn't appreciate things like them just not turning up for one gig they were booked for, saying to them "The Bachelors never missed a date in their lives. One of them even had an accident on their way to do a pantomime in Bristol and went on with his leg in plaster and twenty-one stitches in his head." Them were not particularly interested in performing in pantomimes in Bristol, or anywhere else, but the British music scene was still intimately tied in with the older showbiz tradition, and Solomon had connections throughout that industry -- as well as owning a publishing and production company he was also a major shareholder in Radio Caroline, one of the pirate radio stations that broadcast from ships anchored just outside British territorial waters to avoid broadcasting regulations, and his father was a major shareholder in Decca itself. Given Solomon's connections, it wasn't surprising that Them were chosen to be one of the Decca acts produced by Bert Berns on his next UK trip in August 1964. The track earmarked for their next single was their rearrangement of "Baby Please Don't Go", a Delta blues song that had originally been recorded in 1935 by Big Joe Williams and included on the Harry Smith Anthology: [Excerpt: Big Joe Williams' Washboard Blues Singers , "Baby Please Don't Go"] though it's likely that Them had learned it from Muddy Waters' version, which is much closer to theirs: [Excerpt: Muddy Waters, "Baby Please Don't Go"] Bert Berns helped the group tighten up their arrangement, which featured a new riff thought up by Billy Harrison, and he also brought in a session guitarist, Jimmy Page, to play rhythm guitar. Again he used a session drummer, this time Andy White who had played on "Love Me Do". Everyone agreed that the result was a surefire hit: [Excerpt: Them, "Baby Please Don't Go"] At the session with Berns, Them cut several other songs, including some written by Berns, but it was eventually decided that the B-side should be a song of Morrison's, written in tribute to his dead cousin Gloria, which they'd recorded at their first session with Dick Rowe: [Excerpt: Them, "Gloria"] "Baby Please Don't Go" backed with "Gloria" was one of the great double-sided singles of the sixties, but it initially did nothing on the charts, and the group were getting depressed at their lack of success, Morrison and Harrison were constantly arguing as each thought of himself as the leader of the group, and the group's drummer quit in frustration. Pat McAuley, the group's new keyboard player, switched to drums, and brought in his brother Jackie to replace him on keyboards. To make matters worse, while "Baby Please Don't Go" had flopped, the group had hoped that their next single would be one of the songs they'd recorded with Berns, a Berns song called "Here Comes the Night". Unfortunately for them, Berns had also recorded another version of it for Decca, this one with Lulu, a Scottish singer who had recently had a hit with a cover of the Isley Brothers' "Shout!", and her version was released as a single: [Excerpt: Lulu, "Here Comes the Night"] Luckily for Them, though unluckily for Lulu, her record didn't make the top forty, so there was still the potential for Them to release their version of it. Phil Solomon hadn't given up on "Baby Please Don't Go", though, and he began a media campaign for the record. He moved the group into the same London hotel where Jimmy Savile was staying -- Savile is now best known for his monstrous crimes, which I won't go into here except to say that you shouldn't google him if you don't know about them, but at the time he was Britain's most popular DJ, the presenter of Top of the Pops, the BBC's major TV pop show, and a columnist in a major newspaper. Savile started promoting Them, and they would later credit him with a big part of their success. But Solomon was doing a lot of other things to promote the group as well. He part-owned Radio Caroline, and so "Baby Please Don't Go" went into regular rotation on the station. He called in a favour with the makers of Ready Steady Go! and got "Baby Please Don't Go" made into the show's new theme tune for two months, and soon the record, which had been a flop on its first release, crawled its way up into the top ten. For the group's next single, Decca put out their version of "Here Comes the Night", and that was even more successful, making it all the way to number two on the charts, and making the American top thirty: [Excerpt: Them, "Here Comes the Night"] As that was at its chart peak, the group also performed at the NME Poll-Winners' Party at Wembley Stadium, a show hosted by Savile and featuring The Moody Blues, Freddie and the Dreamers, Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames, Herman's Hermits, Cilla Black, Donovan, The Searchers, Dusty Springfield, The Animals,The Kinks, the Rolling Stones, and the Beatles, among others. Even on that bill, reviewers singled out Them's seven-minute performance of Bobby Bland's "Turn on Your Love Light" for special praise, though watching the video of it it seems a relatively sloppy performance. But the group were already starting to fall apart. Jackie McAuley was sacked from the group shortly after that Wembley show -- according to some of the group, because of his use of amphetamines, but it's telling that when the Protestant bass player Alan Henderson told the Catholic McAuley he was out of the group, he felt the need to emphasise that "I've got nothing against" -- and then use a term that's often regarded as an anti-Catholic slur... On top of this, the group were also starting to get a bad reputation among the press -- they would simply refuse to answer questions, or answer them in monosyllables, or just swear at journalists. Where groups like the Rolling Stones carefully cultivated a "bad boy" image, but were doing so knowingly and within carefully delineated limits, Them were just unpleasant and rude because that's who they were. Bert Berns came back to the UK to produce a couple of tracks for the group's first album, but he soon had to go back to America, as he had work to do there -- he'd just started up his own label, a rival to Red Bird, called BANG, which stood for Bert, Ahmet, Neshui, Gerald -- Berns had co-founded it with the Ertegun brothers and Jerry Wexler, though he soon took total control over it. BANG had just scored a big hit with "I Want Candy" by the Strangeloves, a song Berns had co-written: [Excerpt: The Strangeloves, "I Want Candy"] And the Strangeloves in turn had discovered a singer called Rick Derringer, and Bang put out a single by him under the name "The McCoys", using a backing track Berns had produced as a Strangeloves album track, their version of his earlier hit "My Girl Sloopy". The retitled "Hang on Sloopy" went to number one: [Excerpt: The McCoys, "Hang on Sloopy"] Berns was also getting interested in signing a young Brill Building songwriter named Neil Diamond... The upshot was that rather than continuing to work with Berns, Them were instead handed over to Tommy Scott, an associate of Solomon's who'd sung backing vocals on "Here Comes the Night", but who was best known for having produced "Terry" by Twinkle: [Excerpt: Twinkle, "Terry"] The group were not impressed with Scott's productions, and their next two singles flopped badly, not making the charts at all. Billy Harrison and Morrison were becoming less and less able to tolerate each other, and eventually Morrison and Henderson forced Harrison out. Pat McAuley quit two weeks later, The McAuley brothers formed their own rival lineup of Them, which initially also featured Billy Harrison, though he soon left, and they got signed to a management contract with Reg Calvert, a rival of Solomon's who as well as managing several pop groups also owned Radio City, a pirate station that was in competition with Radio Caroline. Calvert registered the trademark in the name Them, something that Solomon had never done for the group, and suddenly there was a legal dispute over the name. Solomon retaliated by registering trademarks for the names "The Fortunes" and "Pinkerton's Assorted Colours" -- two groups Calvert managed -- and putting together rival versions of those groups. However the problem soon resolved itself, albeit tragically -- Calvert got into a huge row with Major Oliver Smedley, a failed right-libertarian politician who, when not co-founding the Institute for Economic Affairs and quitting the Liberal Party for their pro-European stance and left-wing economics, was one of Solomon's co-directors of Radio Caroline. Smedley shot Calvert, killing him, and successfully pled self-defence at his subsequent trial. The jury let Smedley off after only a minute of deliberation, and awarded Smedley two hundred and fifty guineas to pay for his costs. The McAuley brothers' group renamed themselves to Them Belfast -- and the word beginning with g that some Romany people regard as a slur for their ethnic group -- and made some records, mostly only released in Sweden, produced by Kim Fowley, who would always look for any way to cash in on a hit record, and wrote "Gloria's Dream" for them: [Excerpt: Them Belfast G***ies, "Gloria's Dream"] Morrison and Henderson continued their group, and had a surprise hit in the US when Decca issued "Mystic Eyes", an album track they'd recorded for their first album, as a single in the US, and it made the top forty: [Excerpt: Them, "Mystic Eyes"] On the back of that, Them toured the US, and got a long residency at the Whisky a Go-Go in LA, where they were supported by a whole string of the Sunset Strip's most exciting new bands -- Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band, The Association, Buffalo Springfield, and the Doors. The group became particularly friendly with the Doors, with the group's new guitarist getting thrown out of clubs with Jim Morrison for shouting "Johnny Rivers is a wanker!" at Rivers while Rivers was on stage, and Jim Morrison joining them on stage for duets, though the Doors were staggered at how much the Belfast group could drink -- their drink bill for their first week at the Whisky A Go-Go was $5400. And those expenses caused problems, because Van Morrison agreed before the tour started that he would be on a fixed salary, paid by Phil Solomon, and Solomon would get all the money from the promoters. But then Morrison found out how much Solomon was making, and decided that it wasn't fair that Solomon would get all that money when Morrison was only getting the comparatively small amount he'd agreed to. When Tommy Scott, who Solomon had sent over to look after the group on tour, tried to collect the takings from the promoters, he was told "Van Morrison's already taken the money". Solomon naturally dropped the group, who continued touring the US without any management, and sued them. Various Mafia types offered to take up the group's management contract, and even to have Solomon murdered, but the group ended up just falling apart. Van Morrison quit the group, and Alan Henderson struggled on for another five years with various different lineups of session men, recording albums as Them which nobody bought. He finally stopped performing as Them in 1972. He reunited with Billy Harrison and Eric Wrixon, the group's original keyboardist, in 1979, and they recorded another album and toured briefly. Wrixon later formed another lineup of Them, which for a while included Billy Harrison, and toured with that group, billed as Them The Belfast Blues Band, until Wrixon's death in 2015. Morrison, meanwhile, had other plans. Now that Them's two-year contract with Solomon was over, he wanted to have the solo career people had been telling him he deserved. And he knew how he was going to do it. All along, he'd thought that Bert Berns had been the only person in the music industry who understood him as an artist, and now of course Berns had his own record label. Van Morrison was going to sign to BANG Records, and he was going to work again with Bert Berns, the man who was making hits for everyone he worked with. But the story of "Brown-Eyed Girl", and Van Morrison going solo, and the death of Bert Berns, is a story for another time...
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