Any Major Dude With Half A Heart

 

More 1970s hits were covers than one might think. Here are 25 more lesser-known originals, after the 23 tracks in the 1970s Volume 1.

 

Popcorn
German-born and US-based composer Gershon Kingsley (still alive at 97) wrote classical music and scores for TV and movies, arranged and conducted Broadway musicals — and pioneered electronic music, particularly through the Moog synth. As half of the electronic music duo Perrey and Kingsley, he wrote avant garde music. And part of that synth experimentation was his catchy tune Popcorn, which he recorded for his 1969 album Music to Moog By.

Kingsley re-recorded it in 1971 with his First Moog Quartet. One of the members was Stan Free, himself an accomplished jazz musician, composer, conductor and arranger. He in turn recorded Popcorn with his own band of musicians, named Hot Butter. It was their superior version that became a mega hit all over the world in 1972.

To truly appreciate Popcorn, it has to be experienced in this video from French TV.

 

Mama Told Me Not To Come
The 1970 hit for Three Dog Night was written by Randy Newman — already in the habit of writing lyrics from a character’s point of view — for Eric Burdon and The Animals, who recorded it in 1966 with the intention of releasing as a single. That idea was abandoned, but the song appeared on their 1967 album Eric Is Here.

Three Dog Night picked the song up in 1970, the same year Newman finally recorded it, and had a huge hit with it. US chart fans may be interested to know that it was at #1 when Casey Kasem presented his first Top 40 countdown show on 4 July 1970.

 

Mamy Blue
In the early 1970s you couldn’t move in Europe for versions of Mamy Blue. The most famous of these was the English recording by the Spanish group Pop-Tops. It will get more international yet — a lot. Mamy Blue was written in a traffic jam in Paris by French composer Hubert Giraud (who featured in In Memoriam – January 2016). The first recording was by Italian singer Ivana Spagna, the first record for the then 16-year-old. She later dropped her first name and as Spagna had several dance hits in the 1980s, including the 1987 UK #2 hit Call Me.

The Pop-Tops’ version (recorded by Swiss producer Alain Milhaud with lyrics by Trinidad-born singer Phil Trimm) reached #4 in the UK in 1971; in the US a version by The Stories charted in 1973. Roger Whittaker took his version in French to #2 on Canada’s French charts, while French singer Joël Daydé had a hit with an English take of it in Australia (it was arranged by Wally Stott, who features in his own right on this mix). Whitacker’s English version was also a Top 10 hit in Denmark and Finland (where local-language versions also were Top 10 hits). In France it was hit in French for Nicoletta. In West-Germany, it was a huge hit in German for French singer Ricky Shayne, who also reached the French Top 10 with his English version of the song (in the land of its origin, Mamy Blue was a hit for Nicoletta, Ricky Shayne, Pop-Tops and Daydé). Shayne’s German version was also a hit in the French-speaking regions of Belgium. In South Africa, Mamy Blue topped the charts in a truly terrible version by Charisma.

And Italy, where Ivana Spagna sang the song in Italian? The only hit was the Pop-Tops version.

 

These Foolish Things
It would be a stretch to call These Foolish Things an obscurity made famous in Bryan Ferry’s 1973 cover, but for a certain generation, that is the best-known version; for many the first they’d heard. Before Ferry got his greasy hair all over it, the song had been recorded to good effect by the likes of Billie Holliday and Ella Fitzgerald.

But Ferry took These Foolish Things home: it was written in the mid-1930s for the BBC in England, with the lyrics by Eric Maschwitz, who went on to write A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square, and was married to actress Hermione Gingold. His lyrics for These Foolish Things might be about Gingold, though the more widely accepted version suggests it was about cabaret singer Jean Ross, with whom Maschwitz had had a fling (Ross inspired the character of Cabaret’s Sally Knowles).

The song was unloved. Maschwitz couldn’t even get a publisher (so, luckily, he retained the copyrights). In 1936, Grenada-born singer-pianist Leslie Hutchinson, a big star on Britain’s music scene at the time, discovered the sheet music for These Foolish Things on a piano at the BBC. He recorded it, and the song quickly became popular. The same year, it crossed the Atlantic, with Benny Goodman recording it.

It was covered by many big names afterwards, including Sinatra, Crosby and Cole — and James Brown, who recorded it three times. Ferry based is affected take on a version by English actress-singer Dorothy Dickson.

 

Sorrow
It is a vaguely amusing coincidence that albums of cover versions by David Bowie and Bryan Ferry — icons of cool both at the time — entered the British charts on the same day in November 1973. Proof, if any was needed, that the covers project is not a recent phenomenon in pop music.

David Bowie scored only one hit from the Pin Ups album, Sorrow, which had been made popular in the UK seven years earlier by The Merseys. The original version of it, however, was by The McCoys, the US group better known for their big hit Hang On Sloopy (which, in turn, they had covered) that also provided the title for the 1965 album which featured Sorrow.

 

My Ding-a-Ling
Perhaps it is fitting for the unpleasant Chuck Berry that his biggest hit worldwide should have been a novelty number he covered from the guy who wrote hits for Fats Domino. A UK #1 for Berry in 1972, My Ding-a-Ling was first recorded 20 years by Dave Bartholomew, whom we lost in June at 100.

Its tune based on the 19^th-century folk song Little Brown Jug, Bartholomew recorded it again as Little Girl Sing Ting-a-Ling, and soon after The Bees recorded it as Toy Bell, though the lyrics were Bartholomew’s. They earned themselves a radio ban for it.

Chuck Berry recorded it as My Tambourine in 1968 (giving himself sole writing credit), though on stage in England he performed Bartholomew’s My Ding-a-Ling. That’s what he did on stage in Coventry when his hit version, with the crowd interaction, was recorded (apparently with The Specials’ Jerry Dammers in the audience; a song covered by The Specials also features here). It became a #1 in the UK, US, Canada and Ireland. Unsurprisingly, the song, which depends on wordplay, fared less well in European countries where audiences were less likely to understand the puns.

 

Could This Be Magic
Several songs here are covered by acts who also recorded the original. So it was with Could This Be Magic. The act that first recorded it in 1971 was Featherbed, which was Barry Manilow and a bunch of session musicians. Written by Manilow with lyrics by producer Tony Orlando, it has the production you’d associate with its producer. It was a flop.

In 1973, Manilow re-recorded the song, with lyrical contributions by Adrienne Anderson. It remained an album track until a remixed version of it was released in 1975.

 

One Love
As the mainman of the Wailers, Bob Marley resurrected an old track from the times when he was a Wailer with Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer. The first version of One Love was released by The Wailers in 1965, in rocksteady style with all three members providing vocals.

When Marley revived his composition for 1977’s Exodus album, he slowed the song down, added bits of The Impression’s People Get Ready — initially uncredited, until that seemed to be a bad idea — and a reggae classic was born, after a 12-year gestation.

 

Danny’s Song
Also re-recorded by its first singer to good effect was the Loggins & Messina hit Danny’s Boy. Kenny Loggins wrote it for his brother Danny, who had just written him a letter about becoming a father, and recorded it in 1971 with his band Gator Creek, which was — echoes of Manilow’s Featherbed here — Ken and a bunch of session musicians. These included Wrecking Crew regulars such as the great Larry Knechtel (on guitar rather than keys) and Mike Deasy. After one LP Gator Creek was done and Loggins teamed up with Poco alumnus Jim Messina.

 

Saturday Night
Written and produced by Bill Martin and Phil Coulter, who created a series of hits for the Bay City Rollers, Saturday Night was first recorded by the band in 1973, with singer Nobby Clark on vocals. The record went nowhere, and Clark soon went his own way — just as follow-up single Remember (Sha-La-La-La) shot up the charts to reach #6.

Saturday Night was re-recorded it in 1974 with new lead singer Les McKeown. In Britain it remained an album track, but in the US, Saturday Night became a #1 hit in 1975 — and inspired the Ramones’ “Hey! Ho! Let’s Go” chant in Blitzkrieg Bop. It also was a huge hit throughout Europe. The McKeown vocals version featured on Any Major Glam Vol. 2.

 

Rock And Roll Love Letter
Another Bay City Rollers classic which evaded the UK charts was Rock And Roll Love Letter, which was huge in Europe and Australia, and reached #28 in the US.

The song was originally recorded by Tim Harris, a musician less loved by fans than he was admired by some big names in music, including Frank Zappa, Donald Fagen, Darryl Hall (with whom Harris worked as a staff songwriter), Michael McDonald, Jeff Porcaro and Timothy B. Schmit. Keith Richards loved Harris guitar work so much that they became friends.

Another admirer was the legendary record executive Clive Davis, who headed the Bay City Rollers’ label Arista. When he heard Rock And Roll Love Letter, he decided that the Scottish band should record it.

Harris never had a big hit but continues to write music. He is also a psychologist and an artist.

 

Come Back My Love
British doo wop/rock & roll revivalists Darts had a knack for picking great but forgotten songs and turning them into late-‘70s hits. So it was with Come Back My Love, a UK #2 hit for the group in early 1978. It was originally recorded in 1954 by The Wrens, a Bronx doo wop trio that never hit the big time. Come Back My Love should have been a massive hit, but (like their other six singles) never was.

The original of the other great Darts cover of the time, Daddy Cool, featured in Any Major Originals: 1970s Vol. 1. The Darts version of Come Back My Love, as the famous cover of the next song, featured on A Life In Vinyl 1978.

 

Davy’s On The Road Again
John Simon had made an inedible mark on popular music as the producer of such classic albums as The Band’s Music from Big Pink and The Band (and later The Last Waltz); Big Brother & the Holding Company’s Cheap Thrills, Songs of Leonard Cohen, Blood, Sweat & Tears’ Child Is Father to the Man, and tracks by the likes of Simon & Garfunkel, Gordon Lightfoot, Seals & Croft and Mama Cass.

Then in the early 1970s, encouraged by his brother, he released as couple of albums of his own. They did not set the world on fire, and Simon’s pedestrian version of Davy’s On The Road Again from 1971’s  John Simon’s Album seems to indicate why that was so.

Seven years later, Manfred Mann’s Earth Band gave the song, which was written by Simon with The Band’s Robbie Robertson, the treatment it deserved, and had a big hit with it.

 

Love Will Keep Us Together
Forever associated with Captain & Tenille, Love Will Keep Us Together had two previous recordings before Daryl Dragon (the captain’s real name) got his hands on it; playing all instruments on it except the drums, which were played by Hal Blaine. In the fade-out, the song’s co-writer and original performer, Neil Sedaka, gets a shout-out.

The first version of the song, written with Sedaka’s old Brill Building partner Howard Greenfield (the last song they wrote together), appeared on Sedaka’s 1973 The Tra-La Days Are Over album, which was recorded in England, with 10cc backing him. That album was not even released in the US.

Soon after Love Will Keep Us Together was recorded and issued as a single by the West Indian, England-based soul duo Mac and Katie Kissoon. Their version did little business anywhere, except in the Netherlands where it was a hit. It wasn’t the first time that the Kissoons covered an obscure song and soon after see another act score a big hit with it, as we’ll see in the story of the next original.

 

Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep
Our old friend Bono, lead singer of Dublin combo U2, likes to tell the story of how seeing Middle of the Road performing Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep on Top of the Pops as a 11-year-old persuaded him that anyone, even little Paul Hewson, could become a pop star. It’s easy, even for Bono, to take a dig at a song called Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep, of course. But I submit that, lyrics apart, it is a fine pop song.

Middle of the Road, who thought of themselves more as a folk group than the bubblegum pop combo they are usually remembered as, didn’t want to record the song. It had been a hit in Italy (with the subtitle Cirpi cirpi, cip cip) and Australia for its composer, Liverpudlian Lally (Harold) Stott, and even dented the US charts at #92. The song had greater success there, reaching #20, in a version by Mac and Katie Kissoon (included as a bonus track).

Despite Stott’s success in Italy and Australia, his label, Philips, evidently had little confidence in the recording, so Stott farmed it out to the Middle of the Road, who had just abandoned their previous moniker, Los Caracas, to take up an engagement in Italy.

The band recorded the song reluctantly at singer Sally Carr’s insistence. Bandleader Ken Andrews was initially dismissive: “We were as disgusted with the thought of recording it as most people were at the thought of buying it. But at the end of the day, we liked it.”

Their version, produced by Giacomo Tosti, became a massive hit throughout Europe in early 1971 and was imported to Britain by holidaymakers. At first it seemed that the Kissoons’ version would be a hit there, but influential radio DJ Tony Blackburn championed the Middle of the Road version on his BBC breakfast show, and it eventually reached #1 in June ’71.

Stott went on to work with Middle of the Road, writing their hit Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum. He died in 1977 in an accident while riding his Harley-Davidson — said to have been bought with the royalties of Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep.

 

Son Of My Father
Chicory Tip’s Son Of My Father, one of the big hits of the 1970s, had its roots in the collaboration between a future disco legend and a German schlager singer. It was written in 1971 by Giorgio Moroder and singer Michael Holm, who had many hits with German versions of English songs.

Holm recorded his collaboration with Moroder as Nachts scheint die Sonne (The sun shines at night) and released it in 1971. The following year Moroder recorded a version of his own, with English lyrics by Pete Bellotte, who later added words to Moroder-written tunes such as Donna Summer’s I Feel Love, Love to Love You Baby and Hot Stuff.

Released under the name of Giorgio, Son Of My Father did moderate business, reaching #47 in Germany (where Holm’s German original stalled at #29); and #46 in the US. It is included as a bonus track.

The song was discovered by British producer Roger Easterby, who got the previously unsuccessful Chicory Tip to record it. It was one of the first UK pop hits to use a Moog synth (as did the Holm and Giorgio versions).

While Giorgio’s modest return in the US was still higher there than that of the Chicory Tip version, also released in 1972, the British band had a huge with it throughout Europe. It topped the charts in the UK, Belgium and Spain, and also was #1 in South Africa and Argentina. But in West-Germany, where the song was born, it got no higher than #18 — though that was still higher than Holm and Moroder.

Holm featured before in The Originals, as the singer of the first vocal version of When A Child Is Born on the Christmas Originals. Moroder has also featured before, as the originator of a schlager hit in Any Major Originals: Schlager Edition.

As ever, CD-R length, home-covered covers, PW in comments.

 

1. Moon Martin – Bad Case Of Lovin’ You (1978)
The Usurper: Robert Palmer (1979)

2. Eric Burdon & Animals – Mama Told Me Not To Come (1967)
The Usurper: Three Dog Night (1970), Tom Jones & The Stereophonics (2000)

3. The McCoys – Sorrow (1965)
The Usurpers: The Merseys (1966), David Bowie (1973)

4. Alex Harvey – Delta Dawn (1971)
The Usurpers: Tanya Tucker (1972), Helen Reddy (1973), Bette Midler (1973)

5. Crazy Horse – I Don’t Want To Talk About It (1971)
The Usurpers: Rod Stewart (1977), Everything But The Girl (1988)

6. Gator Greek – Danny’s Song (1970)
The Usurpers: Loggins & Messina (1971), Anne Murray (1972)

7. Don Williams – Tulsa Time (1978)
The Usurper: Eric Clapton (1978)

8. John Simon – Davy’s On The Road Again (1971)
The Usurper: Manfred Mann’s Earth Band (1978)

9. Michael Holm – Nachts scheint die Sonne [Son Of My Father] (1971)
The Usurper: Chickory Tip (1972, as Son Of The Father)

10. Ivana Spagna – Mamy Blue (1971)
The Usurpers: The Pop Tops (1971) and maby others

11. Lally Stott – Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep (1971)
The Usurpers: Mac and Katie Kissoon (1971), Middle Of The Road (1972)

12. Tim Moore – Rock And Roll Love Letter (1975)
The Usurper: Bay City Rollers (1976)

13. Bay City Rollers – Saturday Night (1973)
The Usurper: Bay City Rollers (1975)

14. Featherbed – Could It Be Magic (1971)
The Usurper: Barry Manilow (1973/1975), Take That (1992)

15. Neil Sedaka – Love Will Keep Us Together (1974)
The Usurper: Captain & Tennille (1975)

16. Paul Anka – She’s A Lady (1970)
The Usurper: Tom Jones (1971)

17. Allen Toussaint – Southern Nights (1975)
The Usurper: Glen Campbell (1977)

18. Gershon Kingsley – Popcorn (1969)
The Usurper: Hot Butter (1972)

19. Dandy Livingstone – Rudy A Message To You (1979)
The Usurper: The Specials (1979)

20. The Melodians – Rivers Of Babylon (1969)
The Usurper: Boney M (1978)

21. The Wailers – One Love (1965)
The Usurper: Bob Marley & The Wailers (1977)

22. The Wrens – Come Back My Love (1955)
The Usurper: Darts (1978)

23. Dave Bartholomew – My Ding-a-ling (1952)
The Usurper: Chuck Berry (1972)

24. Leslie Hutchinson – These Foolish Things (1936)
The Usurper: Bryan Ferry (1973)

25. Red Patterson’s Piedmont Log Rollers – Down On The Banks Of The Ohio (1927)
The Usurpers: Joan Baez (1959/61), Olivia Newton-John (1971)

Bonus Tracks:
Giorgio – Son Of My Father (1971)
Mac and Katie Kissoon – Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep (1971)
Chuck Berry – My Tambourine (1968)

GET IT! or HERE!

 

More Originals:
The Originals: The Classics
The Originals: Soul
The Originals: Motown
The Originals: Country
The Originals: The Rock & Roll Years
The Originals: 1960s Vol. 1
The Originals: 1970s Vol. 1
The Originals: 1970s Vol. 2
The Originals: 1980s Vol. 1
The Originals: 1990s & 2000s
The Originals: Beatles edition
The Originals: Elvis Presley Edition Vol. 1
The Originals:  Elvis Presley Edition Vol. 2
The Originals: : Carpenters Edition
The Originals: Burt Bacharach Edition
The Originals: Schlager Edition
The Originals: Christmas Edition