This may resonate with a few Baby Boomers out there.
I was looking at Todd Rundgren's discography and to my surprise, his hit song, "Hello It's Me," only reached #66 on the charts.
But that seemed way wrong to me since you couldn't turn on the radio in the early 70s without hearing this song -- it played 24/7!
Well, turns out there's more to it! Back in the late 60's Todd Rundgren and his group Nazz first released this song. Here is the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmLnDL_pNZQ
All I can say is that the 1969 version ain;t too pretty! Why? Because it's too damn slow. Way too slow.
So, four years later, Todd Rundgren sped it up and scored a huge hit that reached #5 in 1973. (link at bottom)
Off the top of my head, I can think of at least two other covers that sped the original version up and into stardom:
(1) Harry Nilsson's "Everybody's Talking," original written and sung by Fred Neil;
(2) Glenn Campbell's "Gentle On My Mind," original written and sung by John Hartford.
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Link below. Sounds pretty much the same until about 40 seconds in.
IIRC the original was released on one of their albums in addition to the "hit" version.
Sound of Silence original version - ( New Window )
Link below. Sounds pretty much the same until about 40 seconds in.
IIRC the original was released on one of their albums in addition to the "hit" version. Sound of Silence original version - ( New Window )
Interesting! I wonder if it was Hal Blaine on the drums? I'm pretty sure he backed Simon & Garfunkel on "Mrs. Robinson."
Originally written in the 1930s for Jean Harlow to sing as a slow lament in a movie, it was never used in the flick. So it just sat for a while.
First released months later by Connie Boswell (one of the popular Boswell Sisters act), again as a slow song, it became a serious hit for her. (She's quite a story in her own right.)
After being recorded by a who's who of popular singers, it was finally done at the end of the 1950's as a do-wop number by the Marcells. That became a huge hit despite a great deal of controversy over the change of tempo and re-working into a rock and roll number. To this day it is one of my favorite do-wop records.
There's really a whole lot more intersting stuff to the history of this great number, including multiple wording re-writes that were not exactly voluntary by lyricist Lorenz Hart, but it shows that the re-record slow to fast thing is not new by any means.
I'll also point out that fast to slow also works. Neil Sadaka had a huge hit with "Breakin' Up Is Hard To Do" in the early 60's, and redid the song a decade later in a slow version that was also a hit as listeners recalled how great the first version was and how well it translated into the slower version.
Originally written in the 1930s for Jean Harlow to sing as a slow lament in a movie, it was never used in the flick. So it just sat for a while.
First released months later by Connie Boswell (one of the popular Boswell Sisters act), again as a slow song, it became a serious hit for her. (She's quite a story in her own right.)
After being recorded by a who's who of popular singers, it was finally done at the end of the 1950's as a do-wop number by the Marcells. That became a huge hit despite a great deal of controversy over the change of tempo and re-working into a rock and roll number. To this day it is one of my favorite do-wop records.
There's really a whole lot more intersting stuff to the history of this great number, including multiple wording re-writes that were not exactly voluntary by lyricist Lorenz Hart, but it shows that the re-record slow to fast thing is not new by any means.
I'll also point out that fast to slow also works. Neil Sadaka had a huge hit with "Breakin' Up Is Hard To Do" in the early 60's, and redid the song a decade later in a slow version that was also a hit as listeners recalled how great the first version was and how well it translated into the slower version.
"Blue Moon": From Rogers and Hart in 1934 to The Marcels in 1961! Wow... how that song evolved!
I saw Todd do a 1 man concert years ago, in Philly. Talented guy.
I can think of a lot great covers that sped the song up and were great (like every Ramones cover) but not many where the cover was a bigger hit.
CSNY's cover of Joni Mitchell's Woodstock for sure. I think Blondie's version of Hanging on the Telephone is a little faster then original by The Nerves.
In 1963, songwriter-producer Perry Botkin Jr. hired Jackie Ward to make a demo recording of "Wonderful Summer", a song he wrote with co-writer and co-producer Gil Garfield.[3] The purpose of a demo is to persuade "name" singers to record a song by demonstrating how it might be done. After recording Ward's vocal at Gold Star Studios in Los Angeles, Botkin thought it might sound better if her voice was higher-pitched, so he sped up the recording by wrapping splicing tape around the capstan of the machine. Botkin realized the finished recording, with bird and surf sound effects added, was good enough to release as a pop music single. But because the sped-up singing sounded younger than 21-year-old Jackie Ward, she suggested using her daughter's first name Robin on the record label. That fall, "Wonderful Summer" was released by Dot Records as a 45rpm single. Sales exceeded one million copies in the United States, propelling the record to No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Jackie (Robin) Ward went on to have a long career in the recording industry, though few have ever heard of her.
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The slower version by Gary Jules is much more of a haunting type song and a damn good music vid
Slowed down Mad World - ( New Window )
And I do have that record in my collection.
a tad (not to mention infused with some dramatic soul) before it became a real hit!
The original by the Top Notes had a Latin rhythm to it and was produced by Phil Spector. Here it is (and IMHO just ain't that good):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cmmap4L8-oM
Then, of course, there was The Isley Brothers version (link at bottom) which I still feel -- 50+ years later -- tops The Beatles rendition. Then, again, both are head and shoulders above the original.
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had to be slowed down a tad (not to mention infused with some dramatic soul) before it became a real hit!
The original by the Top Notes had a Latin rhythm to it and was produced by Phil Spector. Here it is (and IMHO just ain't that good):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cmmap4L8-oM
Then, of course, there was The Isley Brothers version (link at bottom) which I still feel -- 50+ years later -- tops The Beatles rendition. Then, again, both are head and shoulders above the original.
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made it all the way to #8 in 1961. Here it is, although I gotta say I'm not a fan of their version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKgkDxnG9Z8
It took a white girl, Gayle McCormick, fronting a band called SMITH, to propel this song to new heights in 1969 (see link at bottom) with a blues/soul version that can't be found in either The Shirelles' (or Beatles') version.
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That reminds me of when I saw Ron Wood in a pretty small venue in Philly. The most memorable part was a guy in front of me jumping up and down yelling "I've got a woody!".
It was amusing, the first time..
Stupid drunk philthadelphians.
had to be slowed down a tad (not to mention infused with some dramatic soul)
Then, of course, there was The Isley Brothers version (link at bottom) which I still feel -- 50+ years later -- tops The Beatles rendition. Then, again, both are head and shoulders above the original.
Link - ( New Window )
Interesting, I wrongly assumed the Isley Brothers version was the orig. I agree that's the best. I want to listen to it today!
Quote:
had to be slowed down a tad (not to mention infused with some dramatic soul)
Then, of course, there was The Isley Brothers version (link at bottom) which I still feel -- 50+ years later -- tops The Beatles rendition. Then, again, both are head and shoulders above the original.
Link - ( New Window )
Interesting, I wrongly assumed the Isley Brothers version was the orig. I agree that's the best. I want to listen to it today!
I'm in your boat. It took decades before I realized it wasn't the Isley Brothers who did Twist and Shout first. A good buddy of mine tipped me off to Phil Spector and the Top Notes. You could have knocked me over with a feather when I heard the original. I was like, "What the...."
And I do have that record in my collection.
Yup, that was a classic little song that sold well and was popular for a short time and then just fell by the wayside.
It gets resurrected every now and then during the summer.
Here's the link below.
I'm a huge Isley Brothers fan... "Shout"; "Twist and Shout"; "This Old Heart Of Mine"; "It's Your Thing"; "Who's That Lady"; "Fight The Power".
But I mostly stayed away from their slow stuff.
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I grew up on Manfred Mann's, "Doo Wah Diddy Diddy." It's a classic and still sounds great today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43vOAw2sAFU
But wait a minute! The Exciters did the original one year before in 1963. Who knew? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KzRY2ando4
And in 1979, the incomparable Linda Ronstadt belted out "Just One Look": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOjCPXtlBac
But 16 years earlier, Doris Troy scored a Top 10 with the original version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GI3OYR_XM0w
Quote:
Sing Hello It’s Me
Here's the link below.
I'm a huge Isley Brothers fan... "Shout"; "Twist and Shout"; "This Old Heart Of Mine"; "It's Your Thing"; "Who's That Lady"; "Fight The Power".
But I mostly stayed away from their slow stuff. Link - ( New Window )
That version is great. Isley Brothers were amazing.