Author: Goylake Publishing

Categories
Favourite Record

Favourite Song of the 1950s/1960s #4

When the qualifying process is complete, in just over a week, on Mastodon we will start voting on our top twenty favourite records of the 1950s/1960s, placing them in order. Through 190 match-ups, we will create a unique chart, every song a classic.

Here is some background on one of the qualifiers, Summer in the City by The Lovin’ Spoonful.

Summer in the City was written by John Sebastian, Mark Sebastian and Steve Boone. John Sebastian reworked the lyrics and melody from a song written by his brother, Mark. Boone contributed the bridge.

The song was recorded in two sessions at Columbia Records Studios, New York in March 1966 and featured an early example of sound effects – car horns and a pneumatic drill.

John Sebastian was aiming for a song that built up the tension. He explained: “I was going for the scary, minor chord, Hit the Road Jack (which also features in our top twenty) sequence that doesn’t warn you of what’s coming in the chorus.”

John Sebastian compared the results to Mussorgsky’s Night on Bare Mountain. For the bridge, bassist Steve Boone suggested a jazzy figure akin to the compositions of George Gershwin.

I Can’t Get No Satisfaction by The Rolling Stones

I Can’t Get No Satisfaction was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, and released in America in 1965. Initially, the song was only played on pirate radio stations because the lyrics were considered too suggestive. Music critic Paul Gambaccini stated: “The lyrics to this were truly threatening to an older audience. This song was perceived as an attack on the status quo.”

Keith Richards wrote the music for Satisfaction in his sleep and recorded it on cassette, which included acoustic guitar, the main riff, and snoring. Mick Jagger wrote the lyrics by a swimming pool in Clearwater, Florida , four days before the band went into the studio.

My Generation by The Who

My Generation was written by Pete Townshend, and released as a single on 29 October 1965. Apparently, Townshend wrote the song on a train, inspired by the Queen Mother, who allegedly insisted that Townshend’s 1935 Packard hearse should be towed off a street in Belgravia because it offended her.

In 1985, Townshend told Rolling Stone that “My Generation was very much about trying to find a place in society.” Four years later, he explained that, to him, the line “I hope I die before I get old” meant “before I get very rich.”

Paint it Black by The Rolling Stones

Paint it Black was released as a single in May 1966. The song, about grief and loss, featured Indian, Middle Eastern and European influences.

The first chart-topping single to feature the sitar, Paint it Black widened the instrument’s audience. Also, the song was influential to the development of psychedelic music in the mid-1960s.

Paint it Black was credited to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. However, the melody originated from a series of improvisations played by Brian Jones on the sitar. Bill Wyman felt that Paint it Black should have been credited to all the band members because the song’s final arrangement originated from a studio improvisation by Brian Jones, Charlie Watts and himself.

Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever by The Beatles

Credited to the John Lennon-Paul McCartney songwriting partnership, Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever were released as a double A-side in February 1967. The songs were intended for Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, but because the record company insisted on releasing a single, and the Beatles’ policy to omit previously released singles from their albums, Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever didn’t feature on Sgt Pepper, a decision producer George Martin later described as “a mistake”.

In 2009, McCartney stated, “Penny Lane was kind of nostalgic, but it was really [about] a place that John and I knew … I’d get a bus to his house and I’d have to change at Penny Lane, or the same with him to me, so we often hung out at that terminus, like a roundabout. It was a place that we both knew, and so we both knew the things that turned up in the story.”

Strawberry Fields was the name of a Salvation Army children’s home near John Lennox’s home in Woolton, Liverpool. Lennon’s aunt Mimi Smith recalled: “There was something about the place that always fascinated John. He could see it from his window … He used to hear the Salvation Army band [playing at the garden party], and he would pull me along, saying, ‘Hurry up, Mimi – we’re going to be late.'”

Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever is included as a double A-side in our chart poll to match the buying choices and charts of the time.

Book News

Two items brought to my attention this week, in relation to Eve’s Peace, my Heroines of SOE sequel. One, the proof copy of the paperback version. Two, this wonderful review. “Love, distrust, trust, & secrets galore. Woven superbly by the author makes for wonderous reading, hard to put down book. Rating the book a 9 1/2 only because now I must look for sequels & prequels for this wonderful series…”

For Authors

#1 for value with 565,000 readers, The Fussy Librarian has helped my books to reach #1 on 36 occasions.

A special offer from my publisher and the Fussy Librarian. https://authors.thefussylibrarian.com/?ref=goylake

Don’t forget to use the code goylake20 to claim your discount 🙂

Categories
Favourite Record

Favourite Song of the 1950s/1960s #3

When the qualifying process is complete, in sixteen days, on Mastodon we will start voting on our top twenty favourite records of the 1950s/1960s, placing them in order. Through 190 match-ups, we will create a unique chart, every song a classic.

Here is some background on one of the qualifiers, Son of a Preacher Man by Dusty Springfield.

Son of a Preacher Man was written by John Hurley and Ronnie Wilkins, and released by Dusty Springfield on 8 November 1968. Aretha Franklin also released a version of the song, in 1969.

Son of a Preacher Man was a top ten hit in Britain and America. However, the song achieved even greater success internationally with high chart positions in Austria, Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. Furthermore, it topped the charts in Singapore and Iceland.

Dusty Springfield

I Say a Little Prayer by Aretha Franklin

I Say a Little Prayer was written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, and originally recorded by Dionne Warwick, in 1967. Hal David’s lyrics conveyed a woman’s concern for her man, who was serving in the Vietnam War.

In 1968, Aretha Franklin and her background vocalists were singing I Say a Little Prayer between rehearsals for her album, Aretha Now. It soon became apparent that they should record the song as a single. 

In comparison to Dionne Warwick’s version, Clayton Ivey’s piano played a prominent role while the bridge was rearranged and Aretha Franklin transposed the original G major to A major.

Aretha Franklin

Da Do Ron Ron by The Crystals

Da Doo Ron Ron was written by Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich (pictured) and Phil Spector, and released in 1963 by The Crystals with Dolores “LaLa” Brooks providing the lead vocals and Cher adding her voice to the backing vocals. Amongst many others, Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich also recorded the song, as The Raindrops.

Da Doo Ron Ron was written within two days in Phil Spector’s New York office. The lines Da Doo Ron Ron were just nonsense syllables, guide vocals. This is a technique many writers and songwriters use (I use it myself). The idea was that “sensible” lyrics would replace Da Doo Ron Ron. However, Spector liked the simplicity of the words and decided to keep them.

Bill in the lyric was inspired by Bill Walsh, a friend of Spector’s who happened to drop into Spector’s office while the three songwriters were writing the song.

I Want to Hold Your Hand by The Beatles

I Want to Hold Your Hand was written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. The song was recorded on 17 October 1963 and released on 29 November 1963. It was the first Beatles record made using four-track recording equipment.

With advance orders exceeding one million copies in Britain, I Want to Hold Your Hand should have gone straight to number one, only there was a problem: The Beatles’ She Loves You occupied that position. After two weeks, I Want to Hold Your Hand dislodged She Loves You and remained at number one for five weeks.

In September 1980, John Lennon told Playboy magazine: “We wrote a lot of stuff together, one on one, eyeball to eyeball. Like in ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand,’ I remember when we got the chord that made the song. We were in Jane Asher’s house (McCartney’s girlfriend at the time), downstairs in the cellar playing on the piano at the same time. And we had, ‘Oh you-u-u/ got that something …’ And Paul hits this chord and I turn to him and say, ‘That’s it!’ I said, ‘Do that again!’ In those days, we really used to absolutely write like that – both playing into each other’s noses.”

Good Vibrations by The Beach Boys

Good Vibrations was written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love, and released as a single on 10 October 1966. At the time, it was said to be the most expensive single ever recorded.

From February to September 1966, Brian Wilson recorded a surplus of short, interchangeable musical fragments. Band publicist Derek Taylor called the recording a “pocket symphony”, while engineer Chuck Britz said that Wilson considered the song to be “his whole life performance in one track.”

Wilson said that Good Vibrations was inspired by his mother: “[She] used to tell me about vibrations. I didn’t really understand too much of what it meant when I was just a boy. It scared me, the word ‘vibrations.’ She told me about dogs that would bark at people and then not bark at others, that a dog would pick up vibrations from these people that you can’t see, but you can feel.”

My latest Golden Age of Hollywood article for the Seaside News appears on page 43 of the magazine

For Authors

#1 for value with 565,000 readers, The Fussy Librarian has helped my books to reach #1 on 36 occasions.

A special offer from my publisher and the Fussy Librarian. https://authors.thefussylibrarian.com/?ref=goylake

Don’t forget to use the code goylake20 to claim your discount 🙂

Categories
Favourite Record

Favourite Song of the 1950s/1960s #2

When the qualifying process is complete, in about a month, on Mastodon we will start voting on our top twenty favourite records of the 1950s/1960s, placing them in order. Through 190 match-ups, we will create a unique chart, every song a classic.

Here is some background on one of the qualifiers, Hey Jude by the Beatles.

Hey Jude, written by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon-McCartney partnership, was released in August 1968. The song was the first Beatles release on their Apple record label.

John Lennon said in 1980, “If you think about it … Yoko’s just come into the picture. He’s saying. ‘Hey, Jude – Hey, John.’ I know I’m sounding like one of those fans who reads things into it, but you can hear it as a song to me. The words ‘Go out and get her’ – subconsciously he was saying, Go ahead, leave me. On a conscious level, he didn’t want me to go ahead.”

Paul McCartney added in 1997, “I started with the idea “Hey Jules,” which was Julian (Lennon), don’t make it bad, take a sad song and make it better. Hey, try and deal with this terrible thing. I knew it was not going to be easy for him. I always feel sorry for kids in divorces.”

The Beatles performing Hey Jude

Another qualifier, Then He Kissed Me by The Crystals

Then He Kissed Me was written by Phil Spector, Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry. The song, recorded by The Crystals, was released in July 1963 and quickly became an international hit. The lead vocal was sung by Dolores “LaLa” Brooks, while Jack Nitzsche provided the Wall of Sound arrangement. 

Dolores “LaLa” Brooks, the second youngest of eleven children, enjoyed a long career in music, writing, recording and performing with a number of leading artists including Bobby Womack and Isaac Hayes. Now aged 76, she is still performing.

The Dock of the Bay by Otis Redding

The Dock of the Bay was co-written by Otis Redding and guitarist Steve Cropper. Redding recorded the song twice in 1967, including just three days before his death in a plane crash on December 10, 1967. The Dock of the Bay was released in 1968 and became the first posthumous #1 single in America.

In a September 1990 interview Steve Cropper said, “Otis was one of those guys who had 100 ideas. He had been in San Francisco doing The Fillmore. And the story that I got, he was renting a boathouse, or stayed at a boathouse or something, and that’s where he got the idea of the ships coming in the bay there. And that’s about all he had: ‘I watch the ships come in and I watch them roll away again.’ I just took that… and I finished the lyrics. If you listen to the songs I collaborated on with Otis, most of the lyrics are about him. Dock of the Bay was exactly that: ‘I left my home in Georgia, headed for the Frisco Bay’ was all about him going out to San Francisco to perform.”

Hit the Road Jack by Ray Charles

Hit the Road Jack was written by Percy Mayfield and recorded by Ray Charles with Margie Hendrix providing the female vocals. Initially, Mayfield sent an a cappella demo to music executive Art Rupe who played it to Charles. 

Ray Charles’ recording reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on Monday, October 9, 1961. The song also resided at top of the R&B chart for five weeks becoming Charles’ sixth number one on that chart.

The Chantels released an answer song, Well, I Told You, which also entered the charts.

A Hard Day’s Night by the Beatles

A Hard Day’s Night, credited to Lennon-McCartney, was primarily written by John Lennon. The song was released on the film soundtrack of the same name in 1964.

The origins of A Hard Day’s Night as a title vary according to your source. In 1964, Ringo Starr said, “We went to do a job, and we’d worked all day and we happened to work all night. I came up still thinking it was day I suppose, and I said, ‘It’s been a hard day …’ and I looked around and saw it was dark so I said, ‘… night!’

In 1980, John Lennon said, “I was going home in the car and Dick Lester (director of the movie) suggested the title, ‘Hard Day’s Night’ from something Ringo had said. I had used it in ‘In His Own Write’ (a book Lennon was writing) but it was an off-the-cuff remark by Ringo. You know, one of those malapropisms. A Ringo-ism, where he said it not to be funny … just said it. So Dick Lester said, ‘We are going to use that title.’”

In 1994, Paul McCartney said, “The title was Ringo’s. We’d almost finished making the film, and this fun bit arrived that we’d not known about before, which was naming the film. So we were sitting around at Twickenham studios having a little brain-storming session … and we said, ‘Well, there was something Ringo said the other day.’ Ringo would do these little malapropisms, he would say things slightly wrong, like people do, but his were always wonderful, very lyrical … they were sort of magic even though he was just getting it wrong. And he said after a concert, ‘Phew, it’s been a hard day’s night.’”

Book News

I’m delighted that Eve’s Peace, my sequel to Eve’s War, Heroines of SOE, is a top ten hot new release on Amazon’s genre charts, and even more pleased that readers are enjoying the book 🙂

For Authors

#1 for value with 565,000 readers, The Fussy Librarian has helped my books to reach #1 on 36 occasions.

A special offer from my publisher and the Fussy Librarian. https://authors.thefussylibrarian.com/?ref=goylake

Don’t forget to use the code goylake20 to claim your discount 🙂

Categories
Favourite Record

Favourite Song of the 1950s/1960s

When the qualifying process is complete, in about a month, on Mastodon we will start voting on our top twenty favourite records of the 1950s/1960s, placing them in order. Through 190 match-ups, we will create a unique chart, every song a classic.

Here is some background on one of the qualifiers, Fever by Peggy Lee.

Peggy Lee recorded her version of Fever in May 1958 in Hollywood. She significantly altered the lyrics adding historical invocations, including the verses beginning “Romeo loved Juliet,” and “Captain Smith and Pocahontas”. 

With Jack Marshall, Peggy Lee arranged a slow, sultry version of the song. Her vocal was accompanied by bass, limited drums, and finger snaps, Lee adding some of the finger snaps.

Fever became Peggy Lee’s signature song and most successful hit. It remains one of the most sensual songs ever committed to vinyl.

Peggy Lee

Here is some background on the second qualifier, Space Oddity by David Bowie.

Space Oddity was rush-released on 11 July 1969 to capitalise on the Apollo 11 Moon landing. Indeed, the BBC used the song as background music during its coverage of the event.

After a slow start, Space Oddity reached number five on the British charts. The song was re-released in 1972; adapted and cover versions followed in later years.

“Space Oddity came from a feeling of sadness about this aspect (dehumanisation) of the space thing, so I wrote a song-farce about it, to try and relate science and human emotion. I suppose it’s an antidote to space fever, really.”  – David Bowie, 1969.

The third qualifier, Runaway by Del Shannon

Runaway was written by Del Shannon (pictured) and keyboardist Max Crook. Crook invented a clavioline-based keyboard called a Musitron, which he played on the record’s central break. The song was recorded in A minor, then sped up to just below B-flat minor. 

Genesis included the lyric and melody line “my little runaway” in their song “In the Cage”, from the album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.

The fourth qualifier, Respect by Aretha Franklin

Respect was originally recorded by Otis Redding and released in 1965. In 1967 Aretha Franklin rearranged the song, which resulted in a bigger hit. The music in the two versions is significantly different, while the lyrics, centred on dignity, also display changes.

Initially a ballad, Respect is shrouded in mystery in that no one is certain who wrote the song. Bandleader Percy Welch said it was written by a guitarist at Bobby Smith’s recording studio in Macon. The record label credits Otis Redding, but it seems he adapted a song brought to him by Earl “Speedo” Sims, who obtained it from the mystery guitarist.

The fifth qualifier, The Loco-Motion by Little Eva

The Loco-Motion was written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin, then a married couple. They wrote the song for Dee Dee Sharp, but she rejected it. Meanwhile, Goffin and King’s babysitter, Eva Boyd, recorded the demo. Then, as Little Eva, she released the song in 1962.

The Loco-Motion is notable for making three appearances in the American top three, each in a different decade: the 1962 version by Little Eva (#1), a 1974 version by Grand Funk Railroad (#1), and a 1988 version by Kylie Minogue (#3).

The book that started my writing career. Sam’s Song has received over 3,000 reviews and ten years after publication was #2 on Amazon’s private detective chart again this week https://www.amazon.com/Sams-Song-Smith-Mystery-Book-ebook/dp/B00OHZ151W

For Authors

#1 for value with 565,000 readers, The Fussy Librarian has helped my books to reach #1 on 36 occasions.

A special offer from my publisher and the Fussy Librarian. https://authors.thefussylibrarian.com/?ref=goylake

Don’t forget to use the code goylake20 to claim your discount 🙂

Categories
Lilac Cottage

Lilac Cottage #3

Continuing the story of the Howe family, the occupants of Lilac Cottage, 1939-45.

Lilac Cottage

Born on 4 July 1885 to my 2 x great grandparents William Howe and Ann Jones, Evan Howe lived in one half of Lilac Cottage with his sister Mary Ann Howe. Like so many of the male members of the family, Evan worked in the local limestone quarry. 

Working in the dusty quarry, Evan liked a drink in the evening. Indeed, on one occasion he featured in the local newspapers for drinking “shandy gaff” after hours.

Evan never married. A boxer in his youth, he was prominent in local social circles. In 1918 he was a member of a committee that presented an honour to a returning First World War soldier. Aged 54 in 1939, Evan knew that he was unlikely to be called up, and therefore would have to serve his country on the home front.

Sketch of Evan Howe, c1960, by Gail Kennard

Mary Ann Howe sister of Evan Howe was born on 2 September 1879 in South Cornelly. She was sixty when war broke out on 3 September 1939 and helped with the domestic duties at Lilac Cottage. A dressmaker in her youth, she remained unmarried throughout her life.

A possible reason for Mary Ann’s spinster status was that she lost a leg during her childhood. Family legend states that she injured her leg falling from a tree, and the surgeon amputated it on the kitchen table. This legend stems from contemporaries of Mary Ann, her brothers and sisters, so it may well contain the essence of the truth.

Mary Ann was partial to snuff and refused to touch coins. Maybe she believed that coins transmitted disease. Whatever, she insisted on paying for her goods with paper money.

In the spring of 1937, Priscilla Doreen Howe – granddaughter of my 2 x great grandfather William Howe – married Handel Edwards and the couple lived adjacent to Lilac Cottage in South Cornelly. Priscilla was a talented artist and painted the picture of Lilac Cottage featured on this page.

Priscilla was named after her aunt Priscilla, a teenager who sadly died in 1913 during an operation. 

Priscilla’s husband, Handel Edwards, was a lorry driver at the local quarry. His parents ran the New House, a popular public house in the village.

The locals gathered outside the New House, early twentieth century (Gail Kennard)

Living in Wood View, my 2 x great grandfather William Howe’s old house, and next door to Priscilla and Handel Edwards, were Christiana Howe – sister of Evan and Mary Ann Howe – her husband David T David, and their two children, Hopkin and Enid. 

Born on 27 August 1881, Christiana married David T David in the autumn of 1899. She was heavily pregnant at the time, and gave birth to her first child, of nine, Thomas David on 10 February 1900. 

When David T David, a strict no-nonsense man, married Christiana, he was a plate layer on the railways. Later, he became a coal hewer. By the time war broke out, David T David had improved his working status considerably – he was the foreman at a sand and gravel company that extracted sand from nearby Morfa Beach.

Christiana was noted for her kind and placid manner, and for her prefect skin, which reminded flawless even into old age.

Christiana Howe, David T David and one of their children, early twentieth century (Howe family archive)

On 4 September 1939, the day after war had been declared against Hitler’s Germany, in the local newspapers the first wedding mentioned was a Howe wedding – Hilda Maud Howe married Philip Phillips in the local chapel. Hilda was descended from my 4 x great grandparents John Howe and Christiana John.

Hilda Howe (Ancestry website)

The newspapers also featured items related to the announcement that Britain was at war with Germany – a furniture store asked its customers to call in during daylight hours, because it would close at dusk; the Bedwellty Dog and Agricultural Show was cancelled; and recruits were urgently needed for the Women’s Land Army. People went about their daily routines, but even in the first week of September 1939 those routines were changing.

For Authors

#1 for value with 565,000 readers, The Fussy Librarian has helped my books to reach #1 on 36 occasions.

A special offer from my publisher and the Fussy Librarian. https://authors.thefussylibrarian.com/?ref=goylake

Don’t forget to use the code goylake20 to claim your discount 🙂