[klaatumail] Re: klaatumail Digest V1 #124
- From: Jaimie Vernon <bullseyecanada@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <klaatumail@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 13 Dec 2009 13:38:53 -0500
At Sun, 13 Dec 2009 09:35:35 Bob Reid wrote:
> >It was originally "Love is a Highway" ... and yes, had been around for quite
> >a while.
> >
> >I was at a songwriters' forum last night and Andy Kim was among the
> >participants (along with Dan Hill, Emm Gryner and Paul Quarrington, plus
> >hosted by the stellar Blair Packham) ... and I thought about Tom's
> >then-and-now success with "Life is a Highway" as Andy was talking about the
> >legs that "Sugar, Sugar" turned out to have - not only being covered back in
> >the day by the likes of Wilson Pickett, Ike & Tina Turner and even Bob
> >Marley(!), but then (he didn't talk about this but I thought about it) how
> >it was given the full-length feature treatment in Jerry Seinfeld's "Bee
> >Movie" much like Cars did with "Highway."
> >
Does he ever mention that HE never sang the song originally? There's still
errors all over the internet that it's his voice on the Archies' track. Or does
he not bother anymore as he and the song remain tied together? I'm sure he's
probably just tired of having to explain it to people...
To have just ONE song as big as that or "Life Is A Highway" or "Calling
Occupants" in one's lifetime...sigh...
> >Andy also told how EVERYBODY told him that "Rock Me Gently" didn't have
> >anything to it. He says he knew it was a hit from the get-go ... and had to
> >establish his own label to get it released. Billboard #1, 6 million sold,
> >and John Lennon presented him with his gold record for it.
> >
"Rock Me Gently" is still an awesome, well crafted track which, ironically, has
a better arrangement than "Sugar Sugar". The music industry is full of
short-sighted people with personal agendas that have nothing to do with music.
I'm sure Andy had a lot of battles each and everytime he cranked out another
HIT for them. I guess the question comes down to how much does one have to
prove themselves in the music industry? Every song? Or just everytime the staff
changes at a label?
Sidenote: Bob and I are friends with Canadian songwriter Blair Packham who was
in a rather successful pop act in the '80s called The Jitters. He told me that
the front cover of the first Jitters album has FIVE band members on it because
the Artist & Repertoire department at Capitol Records told them that ALL bands
had to have 5 members because four member bands were so, like, 1981. They
grabbed the non-musical brother of one of the band members, dressed him up and
used him in the photo shoot.
Sidenote 2: In an interview conducted by list member Mark Hershberger,
"Endangered Species" producer Christopher Bond said the reason that Capitol
Records sent the album directly into the delete bins was that the A & R guy at
Capitol US was into astrology (or was it numerology?) and had the band's
'charts' read. He then had artwork commissioned based on the results. When
John, Dee and Terry shot this down and then went with a tried and true Ted
Jones cover -- the A & R guy threw a temper tantrum and issued an internal memo
to have the album torpedoed.
Jaimie
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