@edgarblythe,
edgar, you read my mind, buddy. You showed all the wonderful songs written by Sammy and Jule, and I have come up with a delightful site where you can hear Around The World. If the world won't come to us, we'll go to the world.
Wonderful, y'all.
http://jv.gilead.org.il/around.html
All of the versions are wonderful
No, Rocky. It's music appreciation, not homework.
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - If Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller had not become two of the most influential songwriters in pop music, they could have earned a decent living as a stand-up comedy duo.
Almost 60 years after an awkward first meeting that set them on the road to vast fame and fortune through such tunes as "Hound Dog," "Jailhouse Rock," "Stand By Me" and "Poison Ivy," the pair have developed a finely honed routine.
Stoller supplies the anecdotes, and Leiber, the lyricist, injects the spicy wit. The system worked well for their new memoir, "Hound Dog: The Leiber and Stoller Autobiography," in which the boogie-woogie boys trade old war stories.
In a recent conversation with Reuters, the 76-year-old Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees were asked if the project exposed divergent, Rashomon-style memories of the same event.
"Constantly, all the time," said Stoller. "That's because I have a very good memory. And he doesn't."
"But I have a very fertile imagination," countered Leiber.
"You bet," replied Stoller.
"And that makes up for what I cannot remember," Leiber concluded.
The back-and-forth goes on for 300 pages in their book, with collaborator David Ritz playing referee.
"They're like Catskill comics. I didn't have to do much," said Ritz, who has previously co-authored memoirs for the likes of Marvin Gaye and Aretha Franklin. "They're used to arguing, so I got in there and began arguing with them. The arguments, for the most part, were positive."
ELVIS, BEATLES
The sparks that have flown between Leiber and Stoller also ignited the career of the Coasters, for whom they wrote and produced all of the doo-wop act's hits, including "Yakety Yak," "Charlie Brown" and "Along Came Jones."
Elvis Presley, the Drifters, Ben E. King and Peggy Lee were also among their many satisfied clients. Their 200-plus tunes have also been covered by everyone from the Beatles and the Rolling Stones to Joni Mitchell and Liza Minnelli.
Raised on the East Coast, Leiber and Stoller came to Los Angeles with their families during the 1940s. They met in 1950 when they were 17. Leiber phoned Stoller and suggested they work together. Stoller was reluctant, but was inadvertently mesmerized when Leiber showed up at his doorstep.
"He had one blue eye and one brown eye," Stoller said. "I'd never seen that before ... I forgot to say anything for a long time. I was just staring at him."
"I said to myself, he's one of those," joked Leiber.
"Hound Dog" was their breakthrough, originally recorded by Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton in 1952. It came together when Leiber started beating a jungle rhythm on the roof of Stoller's '37 Plymouth with his right hand and tapped on the dashboard with his left.
"I kinda liked the beat and it felt good," Leiber recalled. "I started yelling, 'You ain't nothing but a hound dog!' Mike said, 'I like that.'"
They sped to Stoller's house, and made a beeline for the upright piano where Stoller pounded out a groove.
Presley released a defanged version in 1956, and eventually recorded more than 20 Leiber and Stoller songs, including "Jailhouse Rock," "Loving You" and "Trouble." But "Hound Dog" is probably their least favorite Presley song, Stoller said.
"It's a woman's song and she's singing about a freeloader, a gigolo. And Elvis is singing to a dog," he said. "After it sold 7 or 8 million the first week, we began to see some merit in it."
"STAND BY ME" DISPUTE
Leiber and Stoller have fond memories of Presley, who shared the duo's passion for African-American culture.
"He was two years younger than we were and he addressed us as 'sir,'" Stoller said. "We finally got him to call us by our names, but it took a while."
"Stand By Me," a No. 4 hit for former Drifters singer Ben E. King in 1961, was covered by John Lennon in 1975, and resurfaced in the 1986 movie of the same name. Leiber, Stoller and King share credit, although King has said it was largely written before the duo got on board. The book glosses over that issue, earning a rebuke in a recent New York Times review.
"We all worked on it," Stoller said. "Benny and Jerry were writing the lyrics when I walked in, and Benny started singing it and I started playing it, harmonizing it. Then I came up with the bass pattern to be known as the song." (King has 50 percent of the writer's share, while Leiber and Stoller have 25 percent each.)
These days, Leiber and Stoller are keeping busy with various collaborations, including a musical about Oscar Wilde for which they are seeking an English playwright.
"It's an endless argument," Stoller said of their winning formula. "It's still going on. It's been going on for almost 60 years, and out of all that something good happens. So we've managed to stay together, waiting for the next thing that's good that happens."
And I did go to that site and listen to Around the World letty. I love the song, but am tepid toward the movie.
@edgarblythe,
First, edgar, let me say that I love Brooke Benton's version of Call me Irresposible. I remember that one from Papa's Delicate Condition with Jackie Gleason.
Next, I was in awe of your facts about Liber and Stroller. Never knew them, buddy, so I found a picture to help my memory.
Didn't help, however, but I most certainly know the songs that they did. Thanks, Texas. Glad you listened to the versions of Around the World and I hope Ragman did, cause they had a Hebrew version as well. I barely remember the movie, so I watched a trailer. It was exotic.
Today is Jeannette McDonald's birthday, so in memory of my mom, who loved them. Here is one by her and Nelson.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpAmYH0PJzs&feature=related
@Letty,
Hey Letty, Edgar, Bazza et al WA2K
I've missed you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
it's been a busy busy week... few weeks.....
but that's good!
Flying Without Wings
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVVxXwbJasc
@Izzie,
Welcome back, Izzie. Loved the "Flying Without Wings" song, and Delta and Brian did a great job.
(well, edgar, at least we got the British Isles with our song Around the World)
Had to smile at Barry the Brit's observation about the gangplank.
Our listeners and contributors are still waiting for those photos from London Town, hun.
Here's another wing song, y'all. My daughter sent me this one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDURv8fj9dk
Makes me cry a little
@Letty,
Ah Letty - yep, makes me cry too - it's beautiful. How is son doing?
Oh no no no, I thought I'd put the London pics up... mmmmm....... planet zong I'm on at nite time
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/izzielzzie454
London and other trips over the last few weeks are all there.
Will go an find a FREDDY and BAZZA photo!
yep - Bazza's gangplank ..... love him!
He's in for a shock next weekend - has me and FQ rocking at a concert with him - poor chap - it's going to be a loud day for him
@Izzie,
Saw those, Izzie. Would love to see Freddy and Bazza.
When I left the hospital this time, I sang a few bars of the Child Inside song to Dave, because he has been to Sea World and this is the song they sang behind Shamu, etc. There is a child inside of all of us, hun(another salute to satt fs)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LzrkWfZJdA
@Letty,
Okeydokey - here they are - both, true gents and wonderful company to be in. <well, not so much the alien - but hey
>
he's just a big kid.... tall kid!
Audrey.... and Bazza is in the reflection!
Marilyn - so gorgeous
Izziana Jones
We'll no doubt get a lot at next week (soooooooooooooooooooooooo excited) - Baz is as bad as I am at having a pic taken - but he did say it was k to post these.
Truly blessed to have this fella's friendship. He's a good cockney boy - such a love.
@Izzie,
Izzie, you are one beautiful lady. Love the hat, gal. The first thing that I noticed about Barry the Brit is his hands. They are most definitely piano playing hands. What wonderful photos, hun. Thanks so much. I am assuming that Feddy is the cat.
Here's one by the Beatles for all of us potential movie stars.
I love this song, y'all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zetbxcgUdeU&feature=related
letty, that Beatles song is a cover of a Buck Owens record. Not to diminish it. I like it also. Izzie, all those pictures are fantastic.
Jeanette and Nelson still getting it right, after all these years.
Listened to the Child Inside and Wind Beneath My Wings.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fQyvG6KK0Q&feature=related
Here is another Beatles song, which I dedicate to my brother Sam.
@edgarblythe,
edgar, thanks for the acknowledgements. We never forget a face, do we. We don't need photos to remind us, right? I can still see my mamma sitting at the upright Kimball piano playing and singing, and my daddy trout fishing in hip boots. Perfect Beatles song for Sam. Incidentally, Texas, I knew that was Buck Owens' song, but the Fab Four was perfect for the Brits.
Well, Time for me to say goodnight, and I'm thinking about Andy and Faith(seaglass) and the yitwails(M.D. and J.M) in Hawaii.
So this is my goodnight song to them, y'all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9h0K81XCQaM
To all of you,
From Letty with love
Hawaiian music is always nice. I visited Honolulu while in the Navy. Guess I should have stopped in to say "Hey" to Don Ho, but I didn't think about it.
Good morning Ms Letty,Izzie,Ed and all WA2K peeps and welcome to another Feel-Good Friday.
My second fave version of this song....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93S_l0qZrXA&feature=related
C C R
After last weeks embarrassing cock-up,will deffo sing along with these guys tonight at the O2....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ik2YF05iX2w&feature=channel
Down and gone
Woosh
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sb-SVPJM4L4
Good velvet morning, all. Hope the weather is more pleasant where you are.
