Michael Part 5: The Cover

To wrap things up, here's a cover of "Michael, Row The Boat Ashore," happily done by the Beach Boys:

Michael Part 4: The Label

(image provided by discogs.com)

United Artists Media was a subsidiary of United Artists, the film studio. It was first organized to release the soundtracks of movies, but quickly made the transition to pop and rock music. In fact, this same year, they released the soundtrack to Exodus, which won an Academy Award for best music.

The label had a lot of money to throw into promoting artists. They took out full page ads in Billboard Magazine to promote the Highwaymen, the same kind of promotion that was common for media related to movies. Although the quality of recording and production may not have been the highest, the level of music marketing put forth by the label was extraordinary.

UAR was eventually the label for Johnny Rivers, Ike & Tina Turner, Whitesnake, and the Electric Light Orchestra, among many others. The last album they ever released was, fittingly, the soundtrack for Karate Kid Part II.

Michael Part 3: The Spiritual

(image courtesy of unc.edu)

There are books written about books on the topic of the Negro Spiritual and its influence on American Music, so I won't even attempt to rehash all of that information, except to say that the Call and Response element so common in Gospel and in early Rock and Roll is indebted to the Spiritual, more than any other genre. What strikes me, though, is the connection that the Spirituals made with Folk music in the '60s. 

Take this song, for example. The text of the song is about death, and passing over to the other side. Michael, the archangel, in this context acts as Anubis of the Egyptian mythology or Hermes of the Greeks, being the agent who ushers souls into the afterlife. The song is a prayer that Michael will come quickly and take away the tortured souls, the broken slaves who felt they must surely already be in hell, and take them on to Paradise.

For whatever reason, the lyrics of this song stuck with the grassroots sensibilities of the Folk artists. Although I don't have any research to back this up, I can only imagine that their connection with this song was similar to the connection with so many others, a connection to the longing for change. Whereas the slaves sought freedom through death, the Folk artist sought change through a return to the simple sensibilities and organic lifestyle that their fathers and grandfathers had clung to. With the space-age looming overhead, singing about rowing a boat ashore felt safe.

Then, of course, the poignancy of the song was lost, to some extent. It became a pop icon, a slow dance tune, something to pay a nickel in a jukebox to hear. The cry of the oppressed was lost, and the echoes gave rhythm for the teenagers of 1961 to dance to.

Michael Part 2: The Singer(s)

(image courtesy of wesfiles.wesleyan.edu)

Coming straight out of the frat scene at Wesleyan University, The Highwaymen didn't make sense to the record industry. Their first album was released in 1960 and did very poorly, considered by most a failure. There was one song that didn't make it on to the original album, though, that the label decided to release in '61 as a single, "Michael." That song touched a nerve with America, and it drove The Highwaymen to incomprehensible super-stardom.

The Highwaymen first started playing together in college, and they fell in love with the old spiritual, "Michael, Row The Boat Ashore" performed by Pete Seeger at an all school assembly. When they decided to seek out a manager, and then a label, they recorded "Michael" with their own panache and confused the musical elite. (Seriously, starting a single with a recorder solo? Who does that?)

Their dizzying success was helped largely by an inexplicable ban on the song by the Irish Republic. As usual, when a song is banned, everybody wants to know why, and the single flew off the shelves. (I still haven't found out why it was banned, so anyone with insight can let me know.)

The Highwaymen did appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show and the Tonight Show, then dissolved in 1964. They are back together now, touring and, one can only assume, rowing many boats ashore.

Michael Part 1: The Song

This week, I'm going to be looking at "Michael" by The Highwaymen, Number 3 on the Top One Hundred list for 1961. Here's the song:

I Fall To Pieces Part 5: The Cover

To wrap things up, here's a cover of I Fall To Pieces, done by Garbage.

I Fall To Pieces Part 4:The Label

(image courtesy of discogs.com)

Oh sure, they infamously turned away the Beatles in 1962 by saying that, “Guitar music is on the way out.” But don’t let that taint their legacy. Decca Records was a behemoth of hits and music innovation, and “I Fall To Pieces” is just one example of their fortitude.

They started as a company selling Gramophones, specifically, the “Decca Dulcephone.” They made the obvious transition to selling records very easily, and after several minor hits they put out the best selling single of all time, “White Christmas” by Bing Crosby.

Decca also was the first to put out a full cast soundtrack, “Oklahoma,” and they would continue to put out the albums for “Carousel” and “Annie Get Your Gun.”

In 1954, they made their entrance into Rock and Roll with, “Rock Around the Clock” by Bill Haley & His Comets. They distributed Elvis Presley’s recordings in the UK, as well.

They’re the label for Robert Plant, Sting, and Paul Simon, among many others, and they were perhaps the best thing that happened to Patsy Cline.

I Fall To Pieces Part 3: The Studio

(image courtesy of patsified.com)

When you consider how many big names were associated with the creation of “I Fall To Pieces,” it’s almost insulting that the song wasn’t the number one hit of 1961.

First off, it was the first song written by the duo of Hank Cochran and Harlan Howard. It was Cochran’s debut song, which launched him into a career of number one hits, included more for Patsy Cline, Burl Ives, George Strait, and Mickey Gilley. Howard was already an established songwriter who would go on to write for Ray Charles, Johnny Cash, and the Kingston Trio, and would eventually be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1997.

Then there was the team that surrounded Patsy  in the studio November 16, 1960. The Pianist that played for Patsy was Hargus "Pig" Robbins, a blind pianist who was one of the most sought after session players in Nashville, playing for Bob Dylan and Conway Twitty. Her backup singers were none other than The Jordanaires, the Gospel Quartet originally founded by the sons of an Assemblies of God evangelist in Springfield, MO (which just so happens to be where I live). They would eventually catch the eye of Elvis Presley, and they helped create his signature sound, singing on every one of his recordings for 14 years, starting with “Heartbreak Hotel.”

It almost makes me wonder, was the label trying to create a female Elvis? Maybe, but regardless, they did create a musical sensation with this song.

I Fall To Pieces Part 2: The Singer

(image from patsified.com)

Before Beyonce or Whitney Houston turned a church choir singing career into a pop music career, before Taylor Swift or Shania Twain dominated the charts as crossover country artists, there was Patsy Cline.

She was born as Virginia Patterson Hensley in Winchester, Virginia in 1932 to a poor, humble family. She sang in church growing up, as well as in bars and local talent shows. She wore the cowgirl outfits her mother made for her every time she performed, up until a fateful day in 1957, when she donned a cocktail dress and wowed the world on the CBS Show “Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts” with her rendition of “Walkin’ After Midnight.”

“I Fall To Pieces” was a major turning point in Patsy’s career. It was her first major hit since “Walkin’”, a span of four years in which she’d gotten married to her second husband and had a baby. It was her first recording away from her original label, Four Star Records, and on her new label, Decca Records (which I’ll talk  about later). It was a whole new sound for her, not firmly bound to the jangly instrumentation of Country-Western  music, but instead establishing herself as a pop superstar.

She wasn’t sure how the song would come across, or how it would be accepted, but she did like the way it sounded. Apparently, so did everybody else.

I Fall To Pieces Part 1: The Song

This week we'll be looking at the song that came in at Number Two for 1961, "I Fall To Pieces" by Patsy Cline. Here's the song:


Just for grins and giggles, here's a live performance by Patsy on "The Glenn Reeves Show" on February 23, 1963. It's worth noting that this was recorded just two weeks before her death by plane crash.

Tossin' and Turnin' Part 5: The Cover

Here you go, to round it all out, Tossin' and Turnin' as performed by KISS. Enjoy!

See you next week, to start looking at I Fall To Pieces by Patsy Cline

The Little Label that Could: Tossin' and Turnin' Part 4

(image via rateyourmusic.com)

Beltone Records. A brief little, wildly influential record label. Sure they didn't have a long discography, and they dissolved in 1963, but their little time gave us the gem we all love, Tossin' and Turnin'.

Beltone Records started out as Beltone Recording Corporation in 1946, and they first gained great notoriety by developing a functional stereo recording system with Design Records in 1959. 

They began their record label in 1960, spearheaded by company president Les Cahan, well known for discovering the Jive Five. Their focus was on Rhythm and Blues, and their A&R representative was composer  Joe Rene, the conductor whose wife was one of the songwriters behind Tossin' and Turnin'. 

Beltone Records was distributed by King Records, which would later be responsible inadvertently of launching James Brown's career. At one point, Beltone had a subsidiary label named Lescay Records, largely a forgettable label, but they were also the publishing company for the song, Tossin' and Turnin'

Most of the above information came from back-issues of Billboard Magazine.

How Payola Put the Tiniest Track on Top in '61: Tossin' and Turnin' Part 3

(image via mobilitysite.com)

So, how in the world did a song recorded in a basement and put out on a rinky-dink label become the #1 hit song of 1961? It was all just another happy benefit of the Payola scandal.

The term Payola refers to the practice by Record Labels to pay off the biggest, most influential DJ's to play their biggest, most important singles. It insured that the label's investment gained a return, and generally succeeded in keeping the smaller labels who couldn't afford to throw their money around out of the limelight.

But then the roof fell in on the industry. The government came sniffing around the questionable practices of the labels, and they had their sights on the DJ's. They specifically targeted Alan Freed and Dick Clark. Alan got fired and eventually drank himself to death in '66, and Dick unloaded his investments and focused on his TV career.

And every DJ in America was terrified of being the next big target.

So they started looking around for singles to play that wouldn't get them accused of participating in Payola. And they found a song they could believe in with Tossin' and Turnin'. It started in Philly, moved on to Boston and the other big markets, except New York, the hardest market to crack.

And then Dick Clark, hoping to clear his own name, featured Tossin' and Turnin' on American Bandstand, and the rest, as they say, is history. The song shot to number one for seven weeks, and Bobby Lewis was able to join the ranks of Elvis and the Beatles as having a #1 hit single.

Tossin' and Turnin' Pt 2: Bobby Lewis, Deconstructed

(Image from last.fm)

Bobby Lewis released Tossin' and Turnin' in 1961, his first hit from his first recording. He was born in 1925, apparently, and started playing piano at age five.

He ran away from home at 14 and began working in the music industry early on, connecting with greats like Duke Ellington, and started performing at the Apollo Theater in 1960. Tossin' and Turnin' was selected by the songwriters for their good friend to perform as a favor, but nobody had a clue just how big of a favor it would be.

Since Bobby had one more hit with the song, "One Track Mind," he can't really be called a One Hit Wonder, but honestly, there's no way he would have ever topped the success of Tossin' and Turnin'. The circumstances were too perfect, which we'll examine on another day.

Bobby Lewis is completely blind now, but he still performs occasionally and grants interviews when asked. Seems like a top shelf guy to me. It's worth noting that he's the first African American since The Drifters to land a number one spot, and the first of the '60s.

See you next time for more inspection of the song!

Tossin' and Turnin' Pt. 1: The Song

The #1 Hit single of 1961 was the song "Tossin' and Turnin'" by Bobby Lewis, released early in the year. I'm going to be dissecting the song for the next few days. Check it out below:

See you tomorrow with our first angle!