I recently noticed a newspaper article wherein singer Lenny Welch recounted being told that Paul McCartney had based the Beatles' version of A Taste of Honey on Welch's 1962 recording of the song.
Welch is best remembered for his hit Since I Fell For You, but I had never heard his version of A Taste of Honey.
A Taste of Honey served as the instrumental theme of the 1961 film and the 1960 Broadway production of the same name. The Welch version was the first to have lyrics. Along with Look Back in Anger and Room at the Top, A Taste of Honey was one of the realistic "kitchen sink" style of British films from the late '50s and early 60s. It tells the story of a working class girl from the north of England who refuses to conform to societal expectations. Tony Richardson directed both A Taste of Honey and Look Back in Anger.
Fun Fact: A photo of A Taste of Honey playwright Shelagh Delaney was used for the cover of the Smiths' Louder Than Bombs compilation and their 1987 single Girlfriend in a Coma. NOt coindidentally, the Smiths and Delaney both hail from Manchester.
Take a listen and see if you agree that the Fabs' arrangement of the song is closely based on Welch's record:
The Lenny Welch - Beatles Connection
For Your Listening Pleasure: Los Bravos - Going Nowhere
This song is from an obscure 1967 Spanish movie and was issued on Rhino's Nuggets II box set. Here's Los Bravos with one of the great lost hits of the '60s:
R.I.P., Captain Lou
We lost one of the greats yesterday, Captain Lou Albano.
If you followed wrestling in the 1970s or 80s, you'll remember his outrageous ringside antics. "The Guiding Light' managed no less than 15 WWF tag team champions including The Valiant Bros. ("Handsome" Jimmy and "Luscious" John), the Moondogs (Spot and Rex) and the Wild Samoans (Afa and Seka). He also managed Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka and George "The Animal" Steele among many others.
He may be best know for playing Cyndi Lauper's father in the video for Girls Just Want to Have Fun.
These were among his more famous insults:
"If you put his brain inside a parakeet it would fly backwards!"
"He's often constipated, rarely imitated."
In retrospect, Albano and his contemporary wrestling managers The Grand Wizard of Wrestling and "Classy" Freddie Blassie were performance artists by another name. This was something Andy Kaufman picked up on as he enjoyed antagonizing audiences in the mid-South back in the early '80s. The Captain could make you laugh more than 100 comedians.
Thanks for the laughs, Captain Lou.
Here's NRBQ's tribute to Albano featuring the vocal stylings of the man himself:
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Michael Jackson's New Song is an Old Song
Paul Anka has been award 50 of the publishing of the just-released Michael Jackson song, the much hyped "This Is It." It seems Anka was working with Michael back in 1983 but this song never saw the light of day until Safire recorded it in 1991 under the title "I Never Heard."
Read the full story here.
This is probably a case of lack of competance among the folks trolling thru Michael's archive unreleased material. It reminds me of the time one of Paul McCartney's PR people announced prior to the release of the Yellow Submarine Songtrack that an unreleased Fabs track had been unearthed - "a real rocker." Turns out he was referring to "Hey Bulldog," a song that had been on the original album released over thirty years earlier!
Here's the You Tube mash-up of "This Is It" and "I Never Heard":
Time for a 'Soundcheck'
I will be appearing on WNYC's always excellent excellent Soundcheck with John Schaefer on Monday 10/5 at 2 pm EDT. We'll be discussing recent cases of musical plagiarism and some technological advances that might help combat it. You can listen live or check out their amazing show archive (which includes everyone from Thurston Moore to Judy Collins) here:
http://www.wnyc.org/shows/soundcheck
Coldplay/Satriani Case Settled
Coldplay and Joe Satriani have reached an out of court settlement in Satriani's copyright infringement case over the song Vida La Vida. Given Vida La Vida's strong melodic similarities to Satriani's 2004 track If I Could Fly, Coldplay was well-advised not to let this case get in front of a jury.
The issue here was never whether Coldplay had knowingly copied Satriani's work, it was whether they had COULD have heard If I Could Fly (a slam-dunk) and whether the songs were close enough that Satriani's copyright had been infringed.
These out of court settlements typically include a gag order preventing either side from discussing the case but we can assume that Satch will receive a payoff while Coldplay will not have to admit any wrongdoing and will avoid the hassle of a court trial. Chris Martin was probably sincere in claiming that the similarities here were conicidnetal and not intentional.
So everyone's happy. Now the ball's in Cat Stevens' court.
Here's the Billboard article:
http://www.billboard.com/#/news/coldplay-satriani-copyright-lawsuit-dismissed-1004012280.story
Any Major Dude Will Tell You...
If there's a better music blog than Any Major Dude Dude, I sure haven't found it. They consistently feature great music along with informative stories on the artists who created it. That's why I'm proud that they just posted an extensive entry on the Beatles-related material in Sounds Like Teen Spirit. Once you've visited their site, I can guarantee that you'll be returning again and again. Check it out here:
http://halfhearteddude.wordpress.com/
And as a special tip of the hat, here's Wilco's excellent rendition of their namesake song: