Friday, May 20, 2011

HELPING OUT OUR READERS


Walk A Mile In My Shoes - 1970
Any idea where it was recorded? I mean, type of building? Auditorium? You know who the drummer was?
Thanks!
Best,
JJ
I'm sure it was recorded in a recording studio ... but I've written to Joe South to see if he can fill us in on any of the details.  Nothing back from him yet ... but stay tuned.  (kk)

The reason I asked (e-mailed Joe, too) about "Walk A Mile In My Shoes", is that on a Toshiba - EMI Japan CD, I heard a run-on ending, with the drummer. Nothing exciting, but strange. But it LOOKS like, since I have a slightly shorter version, when it was remastered in 2002, I guess the let the tape roll. I thought I found a rare gem! LOL! Great song; wish it was recorded with a bit more professionalism!
Best,
John
I think Joe captured the "feel" he was looking for on this song.  A prolific songwriter (he also wrote "Down In The Boondocks", "Hush" and "I Knew You When" for Billy Joe Royal, "Birds of a Feather" for Paul Revere and the Raiders, "Rose Garden" for Lynn Anderson and "Yo Yo" for The Osmonds), he managed three significant hits under his own name ... "Games People Play" reached #10 in 1969, "Don't It Make You Want To Go Home" hit #41 in 1969 and "Walk A Mile In My Shoes" was a #12 Hit in 1970.  (kk)
Unlike my last visit to this song, I guess this is the LP version, but the lonesome drummer at the very end sounds funny and strange!!! New to my ears! It's like this recording didn't happen at one single time; things were later added. It may be why some complain about the strange
out of phase sound!!!
The music of Joe South conjures up one particularly fond memory.  Whenever I hear "Games People Play" ... which, let's face it, isn't all that often anymore quite honestly ... I immediately flash back and think of my father ... he LOVED that song.  He didn't buy many 45's (that was MY job!!! lol) ... but he bought this one ... and he played the HECK out of it.  Whenever it came on the radio, he always cranked it up.  For me, this song will always be connected with my father ... who's been gone now for almost 34 years!  (Sadly, I don't have a lot of great, special memories of my Dad ... we seemed to always have some sort of conflict going on between us ... sort of the "poster family" for Generation Gap, I think ... but this song stirs up one of the few really good ones ... to see him take such joy in hearing a song that he loved.)  Again, that's the magic of music ... it can take you back to a special place and time when all seemed right in the world.  With Father's Day right around the corner, this one's for you, Dad!  (kk)
Hi Kent,
I really appreciate that you posted my Coke jingle plea.  Have you received any feedback? 
I know that no one has contacted me about it or about me sharing those nearly 500 jingles.
Such is life, I guess.
Thanks again!
Brad
Nothing yet on this end either ... but be patient ... we've got an awful lot of readers out there (and, apparently, an awful lot of Coke Jingles Collectors, too, based on the response to the last time we featured this topic.)  While we're not batting 1000, I'll bet we're hitting well over 900 when it comes to these finds ... so hang in there and let's see what comes back.  (For anyone who hasn't heard the jingle that Brad is referring to, simply scroll back to Monday, May 2nd.)  kk

We also got verification (and validation) from our Czech FH friend regarding the three mysteries we solved for his old reel-to-reel tape recordings ...

Hallo Kent,
Absolutely perfect!  Wonderful, thank you, thank you very much ... it has no mistake, you are gold American boys!  You made me really very, very happy ... all three songs are perfectly identified.  I read your email in the morning, you wrote there that you were able to identify three of the songs, but there on the Forgotten Hits web page was nothing, so I didn't understand you.  This  problem was in time moving ... I have ten hours less than you!
My greatest thanks to Tim Kiley, Scott Schultz and Mc Henry for identifying.
I believe maybe we shall find still some ones more. 
Really, thank you very much!
Yours sincerely,
Kroupa FrantiĊĦek

>>>Just wonderin' if anyone out there has an mp3 of the song by former major leaguer Tony Conigliaro called Little Red Scooter????  I tried lookin' for it but no luck ... Thanks! 
(Joe / I Love the DC5)
Someone asked for this song. If he doesn't have it already thought I would pass it along.
Keep up the nice job you are doing Kent.
Carrie

Actually, it's not that bad of a song!!!  Thanks, Carrie ... happy to pass this along!  (kk)
Thank you very much!   And keep up the good work with Forgotten Hits.
I Love The DC5  (Joe)
Tony Conigliaro actually released several 45's in the 60's. Here are the songs I have. I am missing one.  The copy of "Little Red Scooter" on You Tube is actually pretty good.
LIMITED MAN - 1964 - Penn Tone 25
PLAYING THE FIELD - 1965 - RCA 47-8523
WHY DON'T THEY UNDERSTAND - 1965 - RCA 47-8523
I CAN'T GET OVER YOU - 1965 - RCA 47-8577
LITTLE RED SCOOTER - 1965 - RCA 47-8577
I WAS THERE - 1966 - RCA 47-8793
WHEN YOU TAKE MORE THAN YOU GIVE - RCA 47-8793
Rich
I was pleasantly surprised by how good "Little Red Scooter" actually was ... had never heard it before.  For those who may not know, Tony Conigliaro is BEST known as an outfielder for The Boston Red Sox, where he carved out a pretty impressive major league career.  (166 lifetime home runs, 516 RBI's and a .264 lifetime batting average.)  But he ALSO dabbled as a singer and, as this track shows, not a bad one!  After his baseball career was over, he became a television sports reporter / anchor.  In 1982, he suffered a heart attack, followed by a stroke.  It put him into a vegetative-state coma ... where he stayed for the next eight years before finally passing away in 1990.  For a short time, Fenway Park designated a section of seats as "Conigliaro's Corner", marketing them for "family seating".  (kk)
Mr. Ko-TAL,
I seem to remember watching a television show called "Rollin'", which showcased rock and other musical acts.  I think it was syndicated.  this was back in the 70's when I lived in Lake Tahoe.  I'm sure it existed.  Over to you ...
Later.
Ed Pond
You remember correctly ... we used to watch it all the time, too.  Hosted by Kenny Rogers and The First Edition, I believe it was broadcast out of Canada ... but they had some pretty good musical guests on there as I recall.  (This was Kenny's "in-between" period ... the hits for The First Edition had pretty much stopped by now and he was still a few years away from relaunching his career into the stratosphere as a solo country artist.)  I think it had a steamboat setting, too ... and was probably based on (or took its name from) the popular Creedence Clearwater Revival song "Proud Mary" aka "Rollin' On The River".
Check it out!  We found a DVD compilation (called Volume 2 ... which means there MUST be a Volume 1 out there somewhere, too!)
Cheap, too ... and a great way to see Kenny, Jim Croce, Bo Diddley and Ronnie Hawkins!  (kk)
Yep ... THERE it is!!!  With Ike and Tina Turner and Gladys Knight and the Pips!  (kk)

Thanks to Clark from Lincoln for more info on the Battle Of The Bands on WCFL. And also for the interesting stories, especially about Ron Riley's Sunday Preview show. One question for Clark - the WLS Sunday shows for a long time were taped, allowing the jocks one day a week off, even though they they would still be heard on Sunday, it wasn't live. I think maybe the only exceptions might have been Clark Weber's morning show, for Sunday mornings would be religious or public affair shows, and the East of Midnight show, for at the time WLS signed off Sunday night / Monday morning. Everyone else had a taped Sunday show.  I was wondering when the taped Sunday shows stopped. It would seem odd on the clip you played of Ron Riley introducing a song as the wrong one was being played, that if it was taped they could not have gone back and "fixed" it before it aired. I thought John Rook had stepped in at some point in 1967. But apparently the taped Sunday shows must have continued for a short while into the Rook era. Any idea when they stopped?

Ken Durkel

Maybe a better question for Clark Weber than Clark Besch since he was actually THERE at the time!  (lol)  Let's see if he comes back with anything.  (kk)

KK;

Boy, that question taxes my brain. My Saturday morning show was live. I’ve forwarded this question on to Ron Riley ... however I believe that all of the Sunday night shows were taped on Friday or Saturday. Once in a great while Art Roberts would do his Sunday night “Hootey Sapperticker” folk music show live. The station did go off the air at 11:59 Sunday night until 5 am on Monday morning for transmitter maintenance. It seems those 50 KW final amplifier tubes required a lot of care and feeding. The Sunday religious shows made huge amounts of money for LS as the airtime was very much in demand and the station got premium rates for it. That’s the reason they held on to those Sunday programs for so many years.

Clark Weber

PS: Ask John Rook if he continued the Sunday night taping because I believe it was still going on when I left in 1970.

From the sounds of things, it was ... not really that uncommon by today's standards when MOST of what we hear seems to be pre-recorded for broadcast later!  Let us know if you hear anything back from Ron Riley on this ... we'd LOVE to hear from him!  (kk)


My favorite movie is "Lords of Flatbush" which "introduced" several actors including Perry King, Sylvester Stallone, Susan Blakely and pre-Fonzie prototype Henry Winkler. At the end of the movie during the wedding scene a beautiful ballad was sung. I never could find the song or who sang it nor could I find any soundtracks from the movie. Can you help?

Steve Davidson
Definitely NOT one of MY favorite movies ... I remember all the hype when this first came out in theaters ... it was essentially a re-release trying to cash in on Sylvester Stallone's new-found fame and the fact that Henry Winkler was now a Pop Culture Icon for playing "The Fonz" on TV's "Happy Days".
According to IMDB, these are the songs featured in the film:
I can't say for sure that the song you're looking for is on this list ... and I was actually going to rent the movie to watch the ending just to see which song you were referring to ... 'cause I don't think I could make it through the whole thing again!!!  (lol)  But to each his own ... I consider Woody Harrelson's "Kingpin" to be a classic!  (kk)

Enjoyed your comments on The Shangri-Las.  Hoping that one day TJ Lubinsky can get them together to be on one of his shows.

How about some comments on the late Chicago singer Major Lance. They have been featuring his  song " Um Um Um" (if that is  spelled correctly!!!) on a TV commercial. I think he had at least two or three hits in the sixties.

When in doubt ask the master ...

Carolyn

I'm open to anything anyone might like to contribute in the way of Major Lance information. 

(I personally am not all that familiar with his stuff other than the obvious hit, which I do hear quite a bit nowadays thanks to the tv commercial you're referring to.)  Johnny Rivers cut a cover version in the '70's that he retitled "A Curious Mind".  Johnny's version reached #34 on the Cash Box Chart ... not even CLOSE to the #4 showing Major Lance enjoyed with his original version.  For the record, Major Lance had six National Top 40 Hits ... "Um Um Um Um Um Um" was definitely the biggest ... "The Monkey Time" also reached The Top Ten in 1963.  (It peaked at #7).  Others included "Hey Little Girl" (#13, 1963); "The Matador (#20, 1964), "Rhythm (#23, 1964) and "Come See" (#40, 1965).  kk






OK, Kent,
I've got a question for FH:
Jimmy Dean - Big Bad John (1961)
Elsewhere, it is written the song lyrics were changed to remove the "Hell"; eg "One Hell Of A Man" to "One Big, Big Man", or similar, because a version of The Battle Of New Orleans had a previous problems (objections) using the "Hell" word.
Thought the 45 single was issued as such, tamed. But on his Singles collection, marketed by Collector's Choice Music, it contains the same common "Hell" version, with matching 45 single matrix number!! So, what was actually issued as the "hit"?
Why was LP version changed? I mean, I guess, they had to get rid of the word "Hell"?
Seems the single version contains that! Trying to track down both versions! I may have heard both!!!
Thanks!
Best, 
(Big Nice) John 
This is one of those songs we covered recently when discussing "censored versions" of hit singles.  ("Brown Eyed Girl" and "Rhapsody In The Rain" were a couple of the others.)  Saying "hell" on record ... or in ANY publicly broadcast media ... was strictly taboo back in 1961 ... but Jimmy Dean still managed to top Billboard's Hot 100 Pop Singles Chart for five weeks with this classic tune.  (Of course by then he had re-recorded that last line to say "At the bottom of this mine lies a big, big man ... Big John.")
I've told you all before how disappointing it was a few months back to hear, during one of those "all request" shows, that the station in question DIDN'T have a copy of this song to fulfill a listener's request. Now that's just WRONG!!!!!  A record that topped the charts for FIVE WEEKS?!?!?  And has gone on to become a pop classic???




How do you know when you've created pop culture icon-status song?  When the parodies kick in!!!  (Some would say it's the sincerest form of flattery!)  "Big Bad John" spawned a bunch of them ... most notably "Small Sad Sam", a #20 Hit just a few weeks after Dean's classic topped the charts.  (There were numerous others, too, including a pretty racy gay parody called "Big Bruce" that Dr. Demento used to play ... if you crossed THIS guy, he was likely to hit you with his purse!!!  (kk)