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psychicdeath

Member
Jan 21, 2015
955
1,521
Dave's Song of the Day

All the Things She Said – t.A.T.u.

Tuesday song of the day: Today’s song was a cynical – but successful – effort to create a hit based on shock value.




In 1999, Russian record producer Ivan Shapovalov came up with a concept for an act consisting of two teenage lesbians. He held auditions and finally settled on two 14-year old girls, Lena Katina and Julia Volkova. They had both previously been a part of the children’s singing group Neposedi. He called the pair t.A.T.u., which was an acronym for the Russian phrase meaning “This girl loves that girl.” Never mind that Lena and Julia were not lesbians. They had the right look and the lesbian angle would gain notoriety.

In 2000 t.A.T.u. recorded their first album, in Russian. The first single off the album was Ya Soshla S Uma (English translation: I’ve Lost My Mind), released in December 2000. The song was later reworked into English as All the Things She Said. Both versions, of course, were based on the two underage girls in love theme, as were the videos for the songs (The videos were essentially identical except one used the Russian song and one used the English version). The shock value worked, first in Russia where Ya Soshla S Uma was a hit, and then in the rest of the world when All the Things She Said was released in 2002. The song charted at #1 in several European countries, and when released in the United States, it peaked at #20 on the Billboard Hot 100, aided by heavy airplay of the video, and t.A.T.u. appearing on several television shows to perform.

Eventually the fact that the girls were playing the role set up for them by Shapovalov became common knowledge. t.A.T.u. remained popular in Russia and much of Europe and released six studio albums before breaking up in 2011. In the United States, they are mostly remembered as fake lesbians who had a single hit based on that false premise.


View: https://youtu.be/8mGBaXPlri8


Ya Soshla S Uma


View: https://youtu.be/-F-JfWqMG6g


Tomorrow: In all my dark despair
 

psychicdeath

Member
Jan 21, 2015
955
1,521
Dave's Song of the Day

Killing Me Softly with His Song – Lori Lieberman

Wednesday song of the day: Today’s song won Grammys in two different decades, the 1970s and the 1990s.




Nineteen-year-old Lori Lieberman attended a Don McLean show at The Troubadour in Los Angeles in 1971. At the time, McLean’s hit American Pie was just starting to take off. It was another song, however, that grabbed Lieberman’s attention. When McLean started performing Empty Chairs, it struck a chord with Lieberman, who felt that it encapsulated many of the things she felt. As she puts it, “I didn’t know who he was, but from the moment he walked on stage, I was spellbound. I felt as if he knew me and his songs were about my life. I felt like he sang into my soul.” She started scribbling notes on a napkin for a song about how McLean’s performance affected her.

Unlike most nineteen-year-olds, however, Lieberman was a legitimate songwriter and singer. She had recently been signed to a management contract by the famous songwriting team of Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel. After the concert, she went to Fox and Gimbel with the idea for a song. Gimbel had previously come up with the line “killing me softly with his blues” as the seed of an idea for a song that he hadn’t yet fleshed out and decided that the line fit perfectly with Lieberman’s idea. Lieberman insisted on changing the word “blues” simply to “song” as an improvement. Once the lyrics were completed, Fox supplied the music. While Fox and Gimbel were listed as the songwriters for Killing Me Softly with His Song and Lieberman was not credited, they freely admitted that the concept and theme originated with Lori Lieberman and her reaction to the Don McLean performance.

In late 1971, Lieberman recorded her first album, titled simply Lori Lieberman. It was released in early 1972, and the first single from the album was Killing Me Softly with His Song. The single failed to chart. This was understandable, as the first effort from a young, unknown artist. Also, while the song was very good, honestly there was nothing very special about Lieberman’s recording.

The song did get the attention of Roberta Flack, however. She heard the Lieberman original on an airplane. She liked Killing Me Softly with His Song and recorded a cover version. Flack was an established singer who had recently had a #1 hit with The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face. Her record was released in January 1973 and became a huge hit. It rose to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and stayed in the top spot for five weeks. Later it won two Grammy awards, for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female and Record of the Year.

In 1996 The Fugees released a version, with Lauren Hill singing in the style of the Roberta Flack cover, and rap interludes added. The Fugees cover used the shortened title Killing Me Softly. It peaked at #2 on the U.S. Airplay chart and won a Grammy for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.

Lieberman mostly retired from music in the 1980s to raise a family, but she restarted her career in the mid-1990s. She was no longer associated with Fox and Gimbel, and for some reason in the 2000s they began to refute the story that she had been much involved in the creation of Killing Me Softly with His Song. They even took issue with Don McLean’s web site repeating the story of Lieberman being inspired to write the song by his Troubadour performance. The dispute was settled when McLean’s lawyers presented articles from the 1970s showing that Fox and Gimbel themselves acknowledged Lieberman’s contribution. For example, in a 1973 article in the New York Daily News, Gimbel said “Lori is only 20 and she really is a very private person. She told us about this strong experience she had listening to McLean (“I felt all flushed with fever / Embarrassed by the crowd / I felt he had found my letters / And read each one out loud / I prayed that he would finish / But he kept just right on…”) I had a notion this might make a good song so the three of us discussed it. We talked it over several times, just as we did with the rest of the numbers we wrote for the album and we all felt it had possibilities.”

Lori Lieberman, 1972


View: https://youtu.be/ua4n_sTa9f4


Roberta Flack, 1973


View: https://youtu.be/DEbi_YjpA-Y


Fugees, 1996


View: https://youtu.be/H-RBJNqdnoM


Tomorrow: Get the cameras rolling
 

psychicdeath

Member
Jan 21, 2015
955
1,521
Dave's Song of the Day

More, More, More – Andrea True Connection

Thursday song of the day: Today’s song was recorded by a porn star trying to launder her money.




Andrea Marie Truden had a career in pornographic films from the late 1960s to the early 1980s, appearing in over fifty films under the name Andrea True. In 1975 she was in Jamaica filming some commercials for a real estate developer when the Jamaican government prohibited transferring money out of the country in response to U.S. sanctions. What this meant for True was that she couldn’t leave Jamaica with the wages she had earned. Her options were to return to the United States without her money or to spend it in Jamaica before going home. As a way of converting the cash into something of value that she could take back to the States, she decided to record some music. She had a background in music and was considering a professional singing career anyway, so she hoped that master tapes that she recorded in Jamaica would have some value in the United States.

She called producer Greg Diamond to come to Jamaica to assist her, and he wrote the disco song More, More, More in about an hour. Naturally, it was a barely disguised song about sex, with the exhortation to “get the cameras rolling” in keeping with True’s porn background. More, More, More was recorded using local studio musicians and credited to the Andrea True Connection. Upon returning to the States, the song was released by Buddah Records. Initially, it was released only to discos in late 1975 and early 1976, and not to the general public. When it turned out to be popular in clubs, Buddah decided to release it to stores as a single in February 1976. The 12-inch disco version was a longer six-minute edit, while the 7-inch single was divided into two three-minute parts, with Part 1 on the A side of the record and Part 2 on the B side. It sold well, and More, More, More (Part 1) rose to #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

The gambit of using music to get her money out of Jamaica worked, and Andrea True’s investment in recording More, More, More paid back much more than what she spent, and created a second career for her as well. She had another disco hit, N.Y., You Got Me Dancing, in 1977. That song made it to #27 on the Hot 100. She continued recording with diminishing success until 1980, when a vocal cord surgery affected her voice and she retired from the music business. Andrea True died in November 2011 of heart failure at the age of 68.

Full-length version


View: https://youtu.be/73RYirgeLV4


Single version


View: https://youtu.be/G9y7iglijMQ


Tomorrow: Another bride, another groom
 

psychicdeath

Member
Jan 21, 2015
955
1,521
Dave's Song of the Day

Makin’ Whoopee! – Eddie Cantor

Friday song of the day: Today’s song is based on an old time euphemism for sex.




Risqué subject matter in popular music is nothing new. A popular song of the late 1920s tells men that while sex is fun, not to jump into marriage just because you find a girl attractive. In 1928, a musical called Whoopee! opened on Broadway, and included in the play was a song called Makin’ Whoopee!. The title was slang for having sex, or more mildly, any sort of romantic activity. The lyrics told that the singer felt sorry for other men who jumped into marriage too soon just because they found an attractive girl, and then detailed how the initial lust gave way after time and the marriage became strained, making the husband miserable. The song was sung in the play by Eddie Cantor.

In January 1929, Cantor released a recording of the song and it became a popular hit. Based on the success of the musical in the theater and the sales of the Makin’ Whoopee! record, in 1930 Samuel Goldwyn made a movie based on the play. Whoopee! was filmed in color at a time when most motion pictures were still in black and white. Once again, Eddie Cantor starred. Cantor had been a popular performer on Broadway for a few years, but the film version of Whoopee! made him a movie star as well. The rendition of Makin’ Whoopee! in the film expanded on the lyrics used for the earlier record.

Despite feeling distinctly outdated to modern listeners, Makin’ Whoopee! has remained a popular song over the years. Close to 300 cover versions have been recorded to date, by artists including Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Ray Charles, and many others. In 1989, Dr. John and Rickie Lee Jones recorded a duet of Makin’ Whoopee! that won a Grammy award for Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Duo or Group. This version was later used in the soundtrack of the 1993 film Sleepless in Seattle.

Eddie Cantor, 1929


View: https://youtu.be/GcrggtH-j7k


Eddie Cantor, from the 1930 film Whoopee!


View: https://youtu.be/ANRPmTZRqkg


Dr. John and Rickie Lee Jones, 1989


View: https://youtu.be/AcK9h08B0xI


Tomorrow: Feeling like I ought to sleep
 

psychicdeath

Member
Jan 21, 2015
955
1,521
Dave's Song of the Day

25 or 6 to 4 – Chicago

Saturday song of the day: The title of today’s song confuses a lot of people, but it’s actually pretty straightforward.




Chicago was one of the biggest bands of the 1970s. The group was formed in 1967 as The Big Thing. They played shows at clubs in the Chicago area, and were signed to Columbia Records in 1968. Along with the record deal came a move to Los Angeles and a change in the band’s name. The Big Thing became Chicago Transit Authority. They released their first album, Chicago Transit Authority, in 1969. The double album contained several hits, including Beginnings and Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? and was certified Platinum for selling over a million albums.

Thus, it was as an established success that the band began working on a follow-up. Along the way, the band shortened its name from Chicago Transit Authority to simply Chicagobecause the actual Chicago Transit Authority that ran the bus and train services in the city threatened to sue the band over using their name. This second release – also a double album – performed just as well. It too went Platinum, and garnered three Grammy nominations, including one for Album of the Year. The album was titled Chicago (although it is informally known as “Chicago II” since Chicago Transit Authority was their first album) and was released in January 1970. It spawned three Top 10 singles, the #9 Make Me Smile, #7 Colour My World, and #4 25 or 6 to 4.

It is this third song that concerns us today. The lyrics of 25 or 6 to 4 don’t make much sense to a casual listener, but once the basic premise is explained, they make perfect sense. Some theorized that it was a reference to LSD-25, but the truth is more mundane. The problem likely stems from the odd phrasing of the title, with the phrase “25 or 6 to 4” repeated several times during the song. Once one knows that the song refers to a late-night songwriting session, and that the writer Robert Lamb was using a shortened version of “twenty-five or twenty-six minutes to four AM,” it all falls into place. The singer is very tired and struggling to write a worthwhile song at 3:34 or 3:35 in the morning. Lamm explains that he actually did look at a clock and that was the time when he looked. It was an older clock, which explains the imprecise time. “I couldn’t quite tell where the hands of the clock were pointing. It was 25 or 26 minutes before 4 a.m. I didn’t expect to keep those words. I expected to replace them with some actual lyrics. But it ended up working out okay.”

The single version of 25 or 6 to 4 was released in June 1970, and as mentioned it peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song became one of the signature works of Chicago, and the band included it in the three songs they performed at their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016.

An indication of the song’s enduring popularity over fifty years after its debut was the recent remix by rapper realnamejames along with the current members of Chicago to promote the U.S. Army. The 25 OR 6 TO 4 (GoArmy Remix) was released online just a week ago, on July 26th 2020.


View: https://youtu.be/iUAYeN3Rp2E


July 2020 remix


View: https://youtu.be/LGCs4CS6ENA


Tomorrow: You’ve been starring in my dreams
 

psychicdeath

Member
Jan 21, 2015
955
1,521
Dave's Song of the Day

Miss You – The Rolling Stones

Sunday song of the day: One of the greatest rock bands went disco with today’s song.




The Rolling Stones had been established as a legendary rock band since the 1960s, and in 1978 they released their sixteenth studio album, Some Girls. Disco music had been popular for a year or two by then, and lead singer Mick Jagger had been known to spend a lot of time at Studio 54 and other trendy nightclubs. The influence of beat-driven disco music is very apparent on one of the songs on the album, Miss You.

Miss You was conceived by Jagger while jamming with famed keyboardist Billy Preston in 1977. The writing was primarily done by Mick Jagger, with other members of the band contributing during the rehearsals prior to recording the song. Like the vast majority of Rolling Stones songs, it was credited to the band’s songwriting team of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. This was a normal procedure for the pair. Generally, they worked together, but on occasion Richards or Jagger would write a song without much input from the other. Regardless, in these cases the songs were credited to both.

Having spent so much time in discos, Jagger was developing a fondness for music designed for dancing. While he claims that Miss You was not intended as a disco song, the influence of music popular in dance clubs is obvious in the arrangement.

Several versions of the song were released. The mix that appears on the Some Girls album has a length of 4:48. The single version was a shorter edit, at 3:35, and a special dance club version, remixed by Bob Clearmountain, runs for 8:36. These are the three most commonly found versions, but there are a few others.

Lyrically, the song is based on the failing relationship between Jagger and his wife Bianca. They had been having troubles, and although still married, Jagger had started a relationship with model Jerry Hall in 1977. While never officially married, Jagger and Hall were together for over twenty years and had four children. Mick and Bianca divorced in 1978.

Miss You was released as a single in May 1978 and was a big hit despite its departure from the Rolling Stones’ usual rock style. It rose to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and sold over a million copies in the United States alone, and another 250,000 in the United Kingdom.

7-inch single


View: https://youtu.be/PKVXSo9ROpg


12-inch remix


View: https://youtu.be/hPrklRwn1HE


Tomorrow: So darling don’t pretend