Rockin' Remnants
Rockin' Remnants is broadcast from WVBR-FM Ithaca. Check out our webpage, like us on Facebook, and tune in to 93.5 or stream the show every Saturday night from 6-9pm! (Or download the WVBR+ app now available for iOS and Android!)
Date: 5/13/17
Host: John Simon & Kim Vaughan
Feature: Spotlight on Burt Bacharach
Question:
What do these players have in common: Aretha, The Beatles, Dusty
Springfield, Jerry Butler, Stevie Wonder, Isaac Hayes and Manfred Mann?
Answer at 6 p.m. Eastern time on wvbr.com
Answer at 6 p.m. Eastern time on wvbr.com
Birthday Calendar
May 7 – Teresa Brewer –born in 1931
– Jimmy Ruffin – born in1940
May 8 – Rick Nelson – born in 1940
May 9 – Sonny Curtis (Crickets) – age 80
– Tommy Roe – age 75
– Dave Prater (Sam & Dave) – born in 1937
May 10 – Donovan – age 71
– Dave Mason – age 71
– Graham Gouldman (10cc) – age 71
May 11 – Eric Burdon (Animals) – age 76
May 12 – Burt Bacharach – age 89
May 13 – Stevie Wonder – age 67
Playlist
[songs in bold are from the spotlight date of DATE; yellow song titles are YouTube links; songs with * were requests; all chart information comes from the Billboard Top 100 (for chart dates before/during July 1958) or Billboard Hot 100 (for chart dates during/after Aug 1958) unless otherwise noted]
6-7pm
OPENING THEME: Good Old Rock ‘n’ Roll – Cat Mother & the All-Night Newsboys (1969, #29, produced by Jimi Hendrix)
We open tonight with a hodgepodge of leftover requests and loose ends, as follows:
Suspicion - Terry Stafford (4/64; #3 - when the British Invasion was overwhelming all American records, this Elvis cover managed to work its way to #3. Here it is waiting to break its way in to the Top 5 in early April!)
Just My Style - Gary Lewis & Playboys (12/65; #3 for four weeks - The group's first seven singles reached the Top Ten. This one was co-written and produced by session pianist Leon Russell, who also played the guitar break in the middle.)
* She Knows Me Too Well - Beach Boys (9/64; #101 - buried on a Beach Boys' b-side, this was apparently written as "a tribute to Burt Bacharach" by Brian Wilson, a fan and admirer.)
* Walk On By - Leroy Van Dyke (10/61; #5 Pop, #1 C&W (for 19 weeks!!!)
* Walk On By - Dionne Warwick (4/64; #6 - Same title, different song. Rolling Stone Magazine ranks this at #70 in their list of the 500 Greatest Singles of All-Time!)
* I'll Just Walk On By - Margie Singleton (11/61; dnc - recorded using the same production team and players as the Leroy Van Dyke song, but it couldn't capitalize on the success of the original)
* I (Who Have Nothing) - Terry Knight & The Pack (11/66; #46 - the song with the shortest title of any charting record, requested by a listener who used to hear it on her radio back in the day)
Over & Over - Dave Clark 5 (11/65; #1 - this blistering cover of Bobby Day's b-side was the band's sole US #1 in the heart of the British Invasion)
Dizzy - Tommy Roe (2/69; #1 for four weeks - another great single backed by LA's famed "Wrecking Crew." Check out Hal Blaine's thundering drums - and the dizzying number of key changes!)
* Never My Love - Association (9/67; #2 - JS recently celebrated a wedding anniversary, and dedicates this - the song of their first dance - to his sweetheart Lynne. "You ask me if there'll come a time that I grow tired of you....never, my love.")
* Hot Rod Lincoln - Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen (3/72; #9 - a record in the hot rotation here on your local request Oldies show!)
* Because - Dave Clark 5 (8/64; #3 - one of the most beautiful ballads of the British Invasion, going out by request)
Wah-Watusi - The Orlons (6/62; #2 - one of a string of Teen Dance records from the Philly area. Next week you'll get even more!)
As Long As There Is L-O-V-E Love - Jimmy Ruffin (1/66; #120 - Smokey Robinson wrote and produced this little gem and it should've been a hit. A true mystery....)
She Belongs to Me - Rick Nelson & The Stone Canyon Band (10/69; #33 - a tasty treatment of the Bob Dylan composition featuring a gentle pedal steel guitar and some tasty flourishes, as the former teen idol began to branch off into a new direction)
(The Lights Went Out In) Massachusetts - Tommy Roe (7/78; dnc - according to the liner notes, the Bee Gees had written this to be a Country-flavored song. Tommy Roe recorded it as such, but it fell on deaf ears - until this evening!)
I Fought The Law - Bobby Fuller Four (1/66; #9 - this gem was written by Sonny Curtis and was one of four excellent singles released by the Texas band leader before his mysterious and grisly death, purportedly at the hands of The Mob.)
When Something Is Wrong With My Baby - Sam & Dave (2/67; #42 Pop, #2 R&B - co-written by Isaac Hayes and featuring the stunning support of Booker T & The M.G.s, Stax Records' house band)
* Yakety Yak - Coasters (6/58; #1 - "Take out the papers and the trash!" A bouncy teen novelty featuring the blistering saxophone licks of one King Curtis.)
* Cry To Me - Solomon Burke (2/62; #44 Pop, #5 R&B - this one was used to great effect in the film "Dirty Dancing.")
The Trip - Donovan (8/66; dnc - the b-side of Donovan's summertime #1smash here in the States. KV thinks it should've been a double-sided smash. Caller Chip agreed: it's his favorite track on the LP)
Feelin' Alright? - Traffic (10/68; #123 - penned by band member Dave Mason, this would go on to become a smash hit for Joe Cocker a few years later.)
No Milk Today - Herman's Hermits 92/67; #35 Pop, #7 UK - relegated to an afterthought b-side here in the States, this Graham Gouldman tune was a bonafide hit in England. He also wrote hits for the Yardbirds and Hollies and other British bands.)
Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood - Animals (2/65; #15 - Nina Simone cut it first, but the Animals had the big hit with it. Happy birthday to lead singer Eric Burdon.)
8-9pm
SPOTLIGHT ON THE SONGS OF BURT BACHARACH
Burt Bacharach is an Oscar-winning, Grammy-winning, Tony-winning Hall of Fame composer who, along with lyricist Hal David, has written some of the most enduring Pop hits of the Twentieth Century. Tonight we shine a spotlight on a fraction of his body of work, and hope you'll join us in saying "You mean he wrote that one, too???"
By the way....in addition to writing the music for all of these (and so many more), Burt Bacharach also played piano on many of the sessions. Hear that tinkling ivory?
Alfie - Eivets Rednow (10/68; #66 Pop - this is one of BB's signature tunes with hit versions by Dionne Warwick in the States and Cilla Black in the UK. Stevie Wonder released an instrumental version with his harmonica under a thinly-disguised pseudonym)
(Don't Go) Please Stay - The Drifters (2/61; #14 - Burt started to get involved as an arranger on his compositions at about the time this one came out, and he never stopped.)
Moon Guitar - Rangoons (3/61; dnc - a twangy guitar instrumental recorded by a group of session players. Burt gave Hal David a co-writer credit even though there were no lyrics written for this one)
Baby It's You - The Beatles (6/63; LP track - this was first a hit for the Shirelles in 1962 and later a hit for Smith [see below]. The Beatles would chart with a live version in 1995 when a BBC recording was released as a single. Composers: Burt B, Mack David [Hal's brother] and "Barney Williams" [a pseudonym for Luther Dixon])
It's Love That Really Counts - Shirelles (9/62; #102 - a lovely lilting single that just missed the Hot 100)
Any Day Now (My Wild Beautiful Bird) - Chuck Jackson (4/62; #23, #2 R&B for three weeks - attributed to Burt Bacharach and Bob Hilliard, and considered to be a smooth Soul 'standard' at this point)
Only Love Can Break a Heart - Gene Pitney (9/62; #2 - Pitney was convinced that this one would never chart, but he was soundly proven wrong)
* The Story Of My Life - Marty Robbins (11/57; #15 Pop, #1 C&W for 4 weeks - called in by a listener who pointed out that this was the first charting single for the Bacharach/David team)
Little Betty Falling Star - Cascades (3/64; dnc - after a nice string of singles on the small Valiant Records label, the San Diego boys went to RCA. This was from the pen of you-know-who)
Reach Out For Me - Lou Johnson (10/63; #74 - one year before Dionne Warwick scored a Top 20 hit with this one, she sang background vocals on Lou Johnson's original on the Big Top label)
Don't Make Me Over - Swingin' Blue Jeans (3/66; #116 - this was the very first song Dionne got to release with her name on the label, after she famously demanded that the writing team stop stringing her along. British bands regularly mined the US "girl group" catalogs for potential hit material. This one fell short)
Make It Easy On Yourself - Jerry Butler (7/62; #20 - England's Walker Brothers - who were actually Americans - took this to #1 in the UK and #15 in the States three years later)
* Are You There (With Another Girl) - Dionne Warwick (12/65; #39 - a request from listener Tom...atmospheric and paranoid and melodically dramatic!)
* Do You Know The Way To San Jose - Dionne Warwick (4/68; #10 - from a period in her career where every record sailed to the upper reaches of the charts. This was the first request that came in when we announced our theme for the evening. Well chosen!)
45 Corner: Twenty-Four Hours From Tulsa - O'Kaysions (4/69; dnc - released as an A-side on Dunhill Records, this one is a soulful horn-driven rocker that never went anywhere.)
Baby It's You - Smith (9/69; #5 - a lot of people recorded this one - including Shirelles, Beatles, Elvis Costello/Nick Lowe - but none matched the chart success of this version, featuring the tuff vocalizing of singer Gayle McCormick.)
Close To You - Carpenters (8/70; #1 for four weeks - Burt Bacharach wrote this for Herb Alpert, who thought it wasn't "manly" enough for him to record. As co-owner of A&M Records, he assigned it to the young brother/sister duo and it became their signature song.)
Congratulations to Mike from Ithaca, who was caller #5 and won a pair of Tasting Tickets to the Brew & Bar-B-Q Fest at Tag's!
Host Next Week (5/20/17): Jan Hunsinger with a spotlight on Dance Crazes of the Remnants Era
Thanks for tuning in! You can listen to Rockin' Remnants every Saturday night from 6-9pm on WVBR (93.5 FM in Ithaca, NY) or at wvbr.com/listen.
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