ASPIRING SONGWRITERS, AD-JINGLE ADVOCATES, RECORD PRODUCERS, and MUSICIANS—INSIDE INFO: GUARANTEED SUCCESS
How To Create A Hit Song. Mixed Tapes BEFORE Mix Tapes.
Here is a storehouse of hit songs with appropriated classic melodies: For your labors of love, check out this heaviest-of-weight list of tunes that successfully borrowed from the classics to make chart-smashing, hits records.1
By what authority? I came to NYC directly out of college, (in fact, the day of my last exam), overly ambitious: to be a writer, journalist, songwriter and more. I wanted everything! For what seemed the longest of time, (forever!), I struggled. I had a hard time of it. However, alas, ergo, hi-ho, and hold the cellphone, when I approached 30, as an independent record producer, I signed a promising musical actress-singer to a 4-year record contract. About the same time, I applied for a job at Columbia Records in their Premium Division, called “Special Products Division.” As producers, we compiled LPs/ albums for businesses to offer clients a mixed bag of big name cuts culled from Columbia Records’ world-famous catalog—hence, a Mixed Tape before there were mix tapes. Honest here, I was told later I was hired over 26 applicants. So, I knew a little about recorded music back then, and pray now, I know a little bit more. So listen up, all of you aspirants, wanna’ be hit makers take heed!
THE CHART-MAKING CULPRITS:
BBB: "Black Sabbath" Black Sabbath borrows Gustav Holst's "Mars: Bringer of War."
BBB: "Blackbird" by The Beatles takes from Bach's "Bourrée in E Minor."
BBB: "Bourrée" by Jethro Tull is based on Bach's Bourrée in E minor7.
BBB: Brahms: “St Matthew’s Passion,” Brahms and Handel: this Requiem” with tip of the hat to “Hallelujah” chorus.
BBB2: PICTURE BOOKS, later, and worth a perusal if you prefer photos to sound.
CCC: “Ciribiribin" [tʃiribiriˈbin] — a merry Piedmontese ballad, originally in three-quarter time, composed by Alberto Pestalozza in 1898, lyrics by Carlo Tiochet. Instantly popular then, and since, recorded by multiple artists. Decades later, the melody enjoyed popularity with swing and jazz bands, in 3/4 time. In 1963, a rock 'n' roll adaptation, titled "Gotta Lotta Love," by Steve Alaimo, peaked at Number 74.
CCC: "Could It Be Magic?” Barry Manilow, from Chopin's Prelude in C Minor No. 20.
DDD: "Don't Look Back in Anger." by Oasis borrows from Pachelbel's Canon.
DDD: DEEE-LITE’S 1990 dance hit “Groove Is In The Heart,” borrowed the electric hook from “Love” from genius vibraphonist Roy Ayers first Polydor album “Ubiquity.” Attention must be paid to Ayers. He was a vibraphone master who lead in a movement that added electric instruments, rock, and R&B rhythms that introduced a more soulful sound to jazz. In his lifetime, Ayers released four dozen albums and spent 149 weeks on Billboard’s 200 Charts. His instrumental work remained loyal to the era’s post-bop. Ayers recording of Laura Nyro’s “Stone Soul Picnic” used electric bass and horns which resulted in emulating the sound of a church choir. Roy Ayers LP “guest appeared” on Rich James, Whitney Houston, George Benson, and rapper Guru; and has been credited as “touchstone for many artists who followed—and given credit as one of the most sampled musicians by hip-hop artists.”
EEE: "Exit Music (For a Film)," by Radiohead is based on Chopin's Prelude No. 4.
FFF: "Fanfare for the Common Man" by Emerson, Lake and Palmer — based on the awesome Aaron Copland composition of the same name.
GGG: "Go West," by Pet Shop Boys incorporates Pachelbel's Canon.
GGG: "The Great Gates of Kiev" by Emerson, Lake and Palmer is based on Mussorgsky's composition of the same title.
HHH: "House of the Rising Sun," the 16th-century ballad "The Unfortunate Rake."
III: Grey Lake’s "I Believe in Father Christmas" quotes the "Troika" from Prokofiev's “Lieutenant Kijé Suite.”
III: "If I Had You" by The Korgis is based on Variation 18 from Rachmaninov's “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.” Not chopped liver.
LLL: Beach Boys’ "Lady Lynda" incorporated Bach’s, "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring."
LLL: The Doors’ "Light My Fire" is based on Johann Sebastian Bach's “Two and Three Part Inventions.” Surprise!
LLL: “La Belle Dame Sans Regrets,” by Sting and Dominic Miller - Classic music organs, still searching this one. Pending.
NNN: “Noontide,” Nocturne in E, “Reverie-Nocturne,” Chopin — Pending,
PPP: “Plastic Jim” by Sly Stone borrows from the Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby,” to decry an untrustworthy square who “will take a blind man’s glasses.”
PPP: The Beatles’ “Penny Lane" incorporates a catchy brass sections inspired by Bach.
PPP: “Pulcinella,” from Stravinsky’s “Le Baser de la Fee.” Pending
PPP: Petula Clark?! “Who Am I?” Note: composer Kelly-Marie Murphy’s “Curiosity Genius and the Search for Petula Clark.”
RRR: "Russians" by Sting (that foxy, former front man of “The Police”) borrows from Sergei Prokofiev's "Romance" from “The Lieutenant Kijé Suite.”
RRR: Double Award Winner Lou Reed, songwriter-musician, formerly of The Velvet Underground—one of the most influential bands in the history of underground alternative rock music—who wrote “Walk on the Wild Side,” one of the greatest songs of all time. After leaving the Velvet Underground, Reed went on to a more commercial and successful solo career, releasing twenty studio albums. His second, Transformer (1972), was produced by David Bowie and arranged by Mick Ronson that cemented his mainstream recognition. The album is considered a landmark of the glam rock genre, anchored by Reed's most successful single, "Walk on the Wild Side." A surprising to everyone, the cut received heavy radio play and became Reed's biggest hit plus signature song while touching on taboo topics such as transgender people, drugs, male prostitution, and oral sex. In 2013, The New York Times described "Walk on the Wild Side" as a "ballad of misfits and oddballs" that was to "became an unlikely cultural anthem, a siren song luring generations of characters ... to a New York so long forgotten as to seem imaginary." In 2010, Rolling Stone ranked "Walk on the Wild Side" Number 223 in its list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. The tune's lyric describes a collection of mavericks and their sojourns to New York City. The non- conformists turn out to be regular "superstars" at Andy Warhol's New York Studio, The Factory: Holly Woodlawn, Candy Darling, Joe Dalessandro, Jackie Curtis and Joe Campbell, referred to in the song by his nickname "Sugar Plum Fairy." In 2013, Lou Reed died of liver disease; that same year inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame—twice: as a member of Velvet Underground in 1996 and as a solo in 2015. That same year, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. The Lou Reed revered “Walk on the Wild Side,” has an iconic bass line that was appropriated or leased or “sampled,” by Rap group A Tribe Called Quest with their song, “Can I Kick It?” I hear it often in the background at the health club. I suspect, pretty hard to miss.
SSS: White Stripes,’ "Seven Nation Army"‘s melody, Bruckner's Fifth Symphony.
SSS: Strawberry Switchblade: "Since Yesterday" uses Sibelius' Symphony No. 5’s notes.
SSS: SCHUBERT: “Ganymed;” and “Litanei auf das Fest Allerseelen.” Pending
SSS: Shostakovich’s “Symphony No, 15,” Bits of Rossini, Wagner, piercing dissonances and invocation, the fate motif from Wagner’s “Ring,” quietly intense… devastating. Pending.
TTT: "This Night" by Billy Joel, borrows the from Beethoven's "Pathétique" Sonata.
TTT: “Time to Say Goodbye,” English version of Andrea Bocelli's "Con te partirò," with Sarah Brightman; "Natsu no Yuu-utsu” (“Time to Say Good-bye”), a 1995 song by L'Arc-en-Ciel. "Time to Say Goodbye," was included in an episode of the 2018 Indian TV series Karenjit Kaur – The Untold Story of Sunny Leone. All that, and I’m told Andrea Bocelli is classical music’s best-selling artist. WOW!
VVV: “Variation on a Theme by Eric Satie” intrigues me. I like listening to the simple sound of it and picking it out on the piano. Satie himself is fascinating. In 1971, he wrote Parade, a ballet by Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, sets and costumes by Pablo Picasso—choreography by Léonide Massine — a succès de scandale, with jazz rhythms and instrumentation including parts for typewriter, steamship whistle and siren. It firmly established Satie's name before the public. Thereafter, his career centered on the theatre, writing mainly to commission. I don’t have a specific reference where his music was appropriated, maybe you can find one or two. Worth a look.
WWW: "A Whiter Shade of Pale" by Procol Harum appropriates elements from both J.S. Bach's "Air on a G String" as well as "Ich steh mit einem Fuß im Grabe."
OH, LA, LAS.
For 20 other Hits from The Classics, see February’s article below. And after that, know this: THE BEST IS YET TO COME
PART II: The Wrecking Crew
In my opinion, unfair, I tell you, downright unconscionable, the G. D. Wrecking Crew. Allow me some overwrought-ness! A not so sweet Tweet-storm.
(Sour Grapes Alert.) Me, innocent, naïve guy, new in New York, a working stiff, from Clarksburg, West Virginia, plunking down blood-sweat-tears-hard-earned-cash to make expensive studio demonstration records of the songs I wrote. Sometimes, it took every penny I had to make “demos.” Young, I naively longed to produce music that would make the world sing, at least, hum. Other friends were investing in stocks, bonds, and property. As its turned out, many times, I was pissing in the wind.
These go-to sessions musicians, first call players were versatile, sight-reading experts, who could simulate every type of recording: advertising jingles, film scores, theme songs–all genres of American Popular Music. Synthesizers, it turned out, could approximate the sound of most instruments. Drum machines, often used.
In an early account, they were cavalierly called “The First Call Gang”— a previous rendition of the group featuring some of the same musicians, headed by Ray Pohlman, later to be called “The Wrecking Crew,” sometimes a disparaging term. Back then, guitarist/bassist Carol Kaye claimed a group called “The Clique,” who made thousands of studio recordings—hits of the day. These players were the most requested session musicians in Los Angeles. Where were they and how could I find them? Nobody would tell me. Later, I learned the “loosely affiliated” assembly of admittedly accomplished, experienced, as The New Yorker called them “highly trained,” musicians were playing together at Los Angeles’ Gold Star Studios—making hit music for the prominent American pop performers, name recording acts, sotto voce, at the time.
The A-listers: Niall O’Driscoll, Sean Carroll, Joe Harrison, Cameron Kline, Darcy Smash, keyboardist Leon Russell, Glen Campbell (“Wichita Lineman”); later a popular solo act; Dr. John, Jim Gordon (later drummer for Derek and the Dominos); Joe Osborn, Larry Carlton, Earl Palmer (New Orleans had already played R&B behind Fats Domino), Fred Carter, Jr., Barney Kessel, Billy Strange, Don Randi, Al De Lory, Carol Kaye, Bill Pitman, Irving Rubins, Roy Caton, Jay Migliori, Steve Douglas, James Burton, Earl Palmer, Larry Knechtel, Jack Nitzsche; drummer Hal Blaine, he passed March 11, 2019, at 90; previously acknowledged, Ray Pohlman. Though not included, I often wondered if Captain Daryl Dragon, (Mr. Toni Tennille) was, at times, included.
EVEN MORE PLAYERS: Jackie Kelso, Gene Cipriano, Bill Green, Allan Beutler, Richard Hyde, Lew McCreary, Dick Nash, Bud Brisbois, Roy Caton, Chuck Findly, Ollie Mitchen, Tony Terran, Tommy Morgan; Joe Osbon, Earl Palmer, saxophonist Steve Douglas, guitarist Tommy Tedesco, keyboardist Larry Knechtel, (who later joined hit-maker “Bread.” FYI, “Bread’s” hits: Billboard Hot 100, Number One: “Make It with You;” “It don’t Matter To Me;” and, “Baby, I’m-a Want You.”) By the way, when a song called for back-up vocals, The Ron Hicklin Singers were called in.
Unfair, I tell you. Downright unconscionable. Here’s why: many of these players associated with what would eventually be dubbed “The Wrecking Crew” had formal classical and jazz backgrounds. Fair enough. But these guys, with no official name in their early years of working together, were not available to everyone, particularly me.
The story
In the 1960s and early 1970s, “The Wrecking Crew” was / were hired to play in thousands of studio recordings–hundreds of Top 40 hits for big names—released under well-known, established name performers. Though these studio musicians were not publicly recognized, they were viewed with reverence by industry insiders.
In retrospect, now openly admitting to being the most successful and prolific session recording units in record-waxing-vinyl-burning history–playing behind and in front of hit recording artists Frank and Nancy Sinatra (“Strangers in the Night,” and “These Boots Are Made for Walkin;’”); Sonny and Cher, “Bang Bang;” “The Beat Goes On;” Cher’s Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves,” The Partridge Family, “I Think I Love You.” The “Batman” theme, The “Mission: Impossible Theme, The “Hawaii Five-O” Theme, The “Born Free” Theme; M*A*S*H* Theme; The “Pink Panther” Theme; The Fifth Dimension, on both “Up, Up, and Away,” and “One Less Bell to Answer;” Mamas & the Papas, Simon and Garfunkel (“Bridge Over Troubled Water;”), The Byrds’ “Mr. Tambourine Man,”—even Jan and Dean (in case, the duo slipped your mind, “The Little Old Lady [from Pasadena],” “Surf City.”). Tina Turner (“River Deep- Mountain High”); Everly Brothers; Mason Williams (“Classical Gas”). Incidental music, backing for: Chuck Berry, The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, and Lesley Gore. Jeezy-Frickin’-Peezy.
To further salt my wounds, these “ghost players” strummed behind on the Byrds’ debut rendition of Bob Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man;” the first two Monkees’ albums, and, not chopped or fried liver, the Beach Boys’ LP “Pet Sounds.” If that’s not bad-good enough, the recording unit was house band for legendary Phil Spector, contributing heavily to his “original,” infamous, chart busting, bulls-eye Wall of Sound record-producing approach. There’s more…
Crystals, “He’s a Rebel,” Paul Revere and the Raiders, “Kicks,” The Association “Windy,” “Califonia Dreamin’; The Monkees,“Last Train to Clarksville,” Herb Alpert, “A Taste of Honey.” The Champs’ “Limbo Rock” “Gentle On My Mind,” written by John Hardford, a hit for Glen Campbell; Richard Harris’ “MacArthur Park.”
Blowing the lid off and on: the future Hall of Fame-ers: the musicians who formed the group’s rank and file (huh!) — were drummer Hal Blaine who, in his 1990 Memoir, blew their covers and popularized the name–Hal Blaine and the Wrecking Crew: The Story of the World’s Most Recorded Musicians—attributing the term to established musicians who knew the group’s contributions to rock and roll was going to “wreck” the music industry and did. Blaine himself is reputed to have played on more than 140 top ten hits, including 40 Number-One hits. (I ask again: How can that be fair?)
Did it wreck the music industry?
(I would say, it did, but I have a hefty hatchet to grind.)
Ergo, “The Wrecking Crew’s” “contributions” to hit recordings went largely unnoticed until the publication of Blaine’s memoir. (Scuttlebutt, once the memoir was out, Blaine’s colleagues corroborated his personal account.)
In a January 21, 2019, New York Times obituary of “Music Industry Trailblazer Bonnie Guitar,” who passed at 95 in Soap Lake, Washington, credit is given to a 1959 album “Ms. Guitar,” recorded for RCA Records as, “Candy Apple Red,” with fellow guitarists Billy Strange and Tommy Tedesco, and other future members, the Times added, of the famed Los Angles studio entourage known as “The Wrecking Crew.” Note, this musician/producer commanded obituary space in the New York Times. Not every tom, dick, and bonnie does. Ms. Guitar had supervised and played on a Dolton recording session the Number Two Chart Hit of “Walk—Don’t Run,” a 1960’s instrumental, combo surf-rock-classic-pop hit, with the group known as The Ventures.” Back home in Clarksburg, West Virginia, as a teen, I paid 99 cents for a 45 r.p.m copy, danced to, played it over and over again, until it was worn. As teenagers, my sisters and I would bop to the repetitive melody-line in our house on College Street and Dennison Lane. Loved “Walk—Don’t Run,” and could hum it to you right now.
Lightning flash finish: Blaine and Palmer were among the “sidemen” inductees into the 2000 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2007, the entire Wrecking Crew was brought into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum. Exhale.
To wrap, rap, cap, tap, sap: You don’t have to believe this, but compiling this record of making records made me want to cry, downright weep. Ahhh-men, man.
MORE! Some other sessions drummer Hal Blaine played on: “He’s a Rebel,” the Crystals, 1962. “Be My Baby,” Ronettes, 1963. “Another Saturday Night,” Sam Cooke, 1963. “Mr. Tambourine Man,” The Byrd’s, 1965. “A Taste of Honey,” Herb Alpert’s Tijuana Brass, 1965. “Good Vibrations,” Beach Boys, 1966. “The Poor Side of Town,” Johnny Rivers, 1966. “A Hazy Shade of Winter,” Simon & Garfunkel, 1966. “Drummer Man,” Nancy Sinatra, 1969.” Mary, Mary,” The Monkeys, 1967. “Medley: Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In,” 5th Dimension, 1969. “Lizzie and the Rain-man,” Tanya Tucker, 1975.
In 2008, The Wrecking Crew was a subject of an oft-re-aired, hard-to-miss, one-hour-forty-one-minute documentary. (Tommy Tedesco passed in 1997). Loose collective, indeed. The documentary, periodically trotted out on Public Television, one can see why. We were informed that most of the documentary could be viewed online. The final cut, we’re told included more than a hundred and thirty (130) excerpts of pop songs. Question: what song are you now humming?
I’m whistling Roberta Flack. Roberta Flack, who recently passed (a big loss to music lovers), was the first artist to win Grammy’s “Record of the Year” two consecutive years with “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” in 1973 and “Killing Me Softly With His Song,” 1974. If you don’t know her, familiarize yourself with Roberta Flack, one of the all-time greats.3
Books
Step into the literary world of Jim Fragale — a realm where every page unravels a tapestry of intricate narratives, deep insights, and captivating tales from Clarksburg, West Virginia to New York City.
In 1970, I wrote an article, “How To Write A Hit Song,” and ran it by New York Post friend, widely-syndicated columnist Liz Smith, who suggested sending it to “Skippy.” At the time, Skippy was a powerful editor at Cincinnati’s The Writer’s Digest, Stewart Weiner. Weiner accepted and ran the piece, my first major work in print. Only problem is, I can’t find a copy of it anywhere — and Weiner has gone on to do bigger and better things in Palm Springs. (Sigh.)
Books, five picture books, for those who prefer visuals: See “Agnostic Front,” Roger Miret with Todd Huber, ‘Agnostic Front’—With time”: The Roger Miret Archives”; “Aphex Twin: A Disco Pogo Tribute,” photographs, even including Philip Glass”; “Eduard Taberner Perez’s, ‘Sosa Archive,’” an amateur archivist and professional graphic designer compiled”Sosa archive,” a fun art book, as one reviewer said, “how to created yourself as a superhero”; “Sagan Lockhart, ‘I Don’t Play,” 2010-2017 —L.A.’s Fairfax Avenue, festivals and television shows, and hanging out with Leonardo DiCaprio”; ‘Liquid Sky’ …Chloe Sevigny, Larry Clark, Harmony Korine’s ‘Kids’, Moby, culminating in the sound and silhouette of downtown New York.
Some of the above “Wrecking Crew” diatribe appeared with my byline as a loan to Ariana Huffington’s “Thrive Global,” (sans compensation), in 2020. Though older and I pray, wiser now—re-reading this article still smarts (hurts).