Thursday November 18th, 2010 C O U N T R Y M U S I C C L A S S I C S

 

 

C O U N T R Y    M U S I C    C L A S S I C S

 

 

Doug Davis
Owner/Publisher/Manager/Editor/

Writer/Gopher/Chief Cook & Bottle Washer 

 

Thursday  November 18th, 2010

 

 

 

                     CHECK OUT OUR WEBSITE AT   www.countrymusicclassics.com

 

 

                           

                                     STORY   BEHIND   THE   SONG

 

 

As most songwriters will tell you, some songs take time and changes before they’re recorded and according to John Schweers, Charley Pride’s 1973 hit, “Amazing Love” was one of those tunes!

 

Schweers said he actually wrote the song in 1972 but under another title. And when he took to his publisher, Tom Collins, Collins didn’t like the song but did suggest that John write a song about “Amazing Love.”

 

John commented, “I wrote the song that Tom had suggested , and although I wrote it as a positive song, but in the song the man was leaving for good. I worked on re-writes for over a month and Tom Collins finally approved it.”

 

Charley Pride recorded “Amazing Love” on April 17^th, 1973 but  RCA Victor then decided not to release it as a single.  It was then decided to offer the song to Ray Price. But during all of this, producer Jack Clement went back into the studio with the master tape, stripped everything off except Charley Pride’s vocal track and the drum track and recorded a whole new arrangement. That version of  “Amazing Love” was released as a single on September 18^th, 1973 and made the country music charts on October 13^th, 1973 and was at the top of the country music charts the week of  December 15^th.

 

It was Pride’s 23^rd charted song and his 13^th number one.

 

 

 

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A T  T  E  N T I O N:     R A D I O     S T A T I O N S:

Our short form daily radio features, “Classic Country First” and “Story Behind The Song” are now available to radio stations.

Both features are available  at  no charge  thru  barter.

For information, email me at classics@countrymusicclassics.com

 

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                                  QUESTIONS    AND    ANSWERS

 

QUESTION:  Do you know of something going on in Hawaii about Elvis? My daughter heard it on TV news.

ANSWER:     The Las Vegas revue "Legends" will stage a show in residence in Waikiki. The show features tributes to a number of big name stars, including Elvis Presley. During his lifetime Presley spent a lot of time on the islands. He played many concerts and shot three of his movies in Hawaii.

QUESTION:  My son says the radio folks mentioned Hank Jr. being in the “moonshine business.” What is that all about?

ANSWER:    Hank Williams Jr.  has reportedly been entrusted with the secret recipe of the late whiskey maker Marvin "Popcorn" Sutton, and he's now making it available to the public as the first "white whiskey" to be sold legally. Williams launched his new business with an event last week.

QUESTION:  You recently mailed out a thing about Ferlin Husky being hospitalized. How is he doing?

ANSWER:     At last report, Ferlin was out of the hospital and recuperating at home.

 

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“Country Music Classics”  is made possible only by donations from subscribers like you. If you enjoy receiving this newsletter, please support us by sending a check payable to “Country Music Classics”  for any amount to:

Doug Davis—Country Music Classics—3702 Pleasant Grove Road-Texarkana, Texas 75503.  Or use   PAYPAL  ( http://www.paypal.com ) and donate (via your account or their secure credit card site) directly thru our email address (classics@countrymusicclassics.com). Thank you.

 

If you wish to make a contribution but do not have a Pay Pal account, you may use any major credit card and donate thru our secure Pro Pay account.

 

 

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QUESTION:   My uncle fancies himself a country music historian and I sometimes think he makes up more information than he actually knows. He says that Ronnie Milsap recorded “Please Don’t Tell Me How The Story Ends” twice. Our local radio station says that is not true. I would like to hear it from you.

ANSWER:      Your uncle is right and your radio station is wrong!  “Please Don’t Tell Me How The Story Ends” was the “B” side of Ronnie’s “A Rose by Any Other Name”  on Warner Records. He re-recorded the song for RCA Victor and it went to the top of the country charts and also scored on the pop charts.

QUESTION:     My mom says that Buck Owens recorded with Dottie West. Is that true?

ANSWER:        Mom is usually always right but not this time! Buck did not record with Dottie but did record with Rose Maddox and later with Susan Raye.

QUESTION:     My brother in law is convinced that he lived next door to Marty Robbins as a kid. They lived in New Jersey next door to a family whose last name was Robbins and they had a little boy who sang in church. Is that possible?

ANSWER:         Not likely. Marty’s last name was actually Robinson and he grew up in Arizona….a long way from New Jersey.

 

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Your comments, suggestions, gripes, etc. concerning this newsletter---are welcome. Email to:Classics@countrymusicclassics.com

 

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NUMBER  ONE  ON  THIS  DATE:

 

 

1949
Slipping Around - Margaret Whiting & Jimmy Wakely

1957
Wake Up Little Susie - The Everly Brothers

1965
Hello Vietnam - Johnny Wright

1973
Paper Roses - Marie Osmond

1981
My Baby Thinks He’s a Train - Rosanne Cash

1989
Bayou Boys - Eddy Raven

 

 

 

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EULOGY FOR WARREN FINGERBIRD

    By: Jack Blanchard

 

 

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Jack Blanchard's MUSIC HOSPITAL can make your old records sound new,

and your new recordings sound better.

Contact Jack Blanchard's MUSIC HOSPITAL restoration & mastering studio.

 

Email: musichospital@jackandmisty.com

Telephone: 407 330 1611.

 

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"Ahem.
Our dear departed friend, Warren Fingerbird,
retired from his government career as a Chicken Interrogator,
and decided to become a famous songwriter.
He had a minuscule talent, a generous ego,
and enough first-class ignorance to be a success.

"He flooded the market with his music.
He was the world's fastest songwriter writing over a dozen songs a day.
They weren't bad songs...just not good songs.
Warren had mediocrity down to a fine art.

"With about five hundred songs a month being recorded,
the odds were in his favor that somebody would buy one,
listen to it once, and then re-gift it to a friend at Christmas.

"He took other people's old hits and cleverly changed them around,
like 'Just a Kosher Waltz with Thee',  and 'Crab Diver'.

"Although his songs weren't very good they began making him a profit,
which he enjoyed boasting about to other songwriters, just to make them cry.

"He hired young singers and musicians to try to make his music modern,
but even with all the new technology,  it still felt like The Lawrence Welk Show blew up.
Warren loved that sound.

"He had not the slightest doubt of his musical genius,
and maybe that was his secret of happiness.

"Warren was not crazy except for occasionally thinking he was a penguin,
and he was not a bad person, but there were musicians who dreamed of the sweetest ways to kill him. One of them was to take him down to the river and baptize him to death.
They called this "Holy Boarding".

"Warren received insults with as much manic glee as he dished them out,
and that is why we are grateful to him for making this evening possible."

(A woman among the mourners whispered "I thought I just saw Warren move."
Her husband said "Shhhh.")

Jack Blanchard        

Jack Blanchard & Misty Morgan...

Grammy Nominees. 

Billboard's Country Duet of the Year.

ASCAP and BMI Awards.

 

 

 

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TODAY IN COUNTRY MUSIC HISTORY

                           compiled by Bill Morrison

 

Jimmy Swan born Colman, CO 1912.

 

Jacky Ward born Groveton, TX 1946.

 

The Louvin Brothers recorded their first sides for Apollo Records 1947.

 

John McFee, "Southern Pacific," born Santa Cruz, CA 1953.

 

Capitol Records released Merle Haggard's "Sing Me Back Home" 1968.

 

Glen Campbell's album "Wichita Lineman" was certified gold 1968.

 

Conway Twitty recorded his #1 hit "Hello Darlin'," 1969.

 

Jerry Lee Lewis and wife Myra were divorced 1970.

 

June Petrie "Elviry" Weaver, age 86, of "The Weaver Bros. & Elviry" died 1977.

 

Barbara Mandrell presented her first Network Television special 1980.

 

Esco Hankins died 1990.

 

BMG released "Legendary Eddy Arnold" 1997.

 

Doug Sham, age 58, of the "Texas Tornado's" died 1999.

 

 Courtesy Bill Morrison: http://www.talentondisplay.com/countrycalMAR.html

 

 

 

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The following information is from a  newsletter commemorating the lives of Faron Young and Marty Robbins. Live Fast, Love Hard: The Faron Young Story was published in 2007 by the University of Illinois Press, and the publication goal for Twentieth Century Drifter: The Life of Marty Robbins is 2012.

 

MILITARY VETERANS, MARTY ROBBINS AND FARON YOUNG

Seaman Second Class Martin David Robinson stayed on Bougainville after the November 1943 Allied invasion of the Solomon Islands. He advanced to U.S. Navy seaman 1st class, celebrated his 19th birthday, and was still on the island in November 1944. Ten years later, he had become Marty Robbins and was building a singing career in Nashville. When Sergeant Faron Young was discharged from the U.S. Army this week in 1954, he returned to Nashville after spending almost two years recruiting for the Army as Faron Young and the Circle "A" Wranglers. Faron and Marty probably met when Faron's manager, Hubert Long, booked them on the same tour. They were also both members of the Grand Ole Opry.

 
Twentieth Century Drifter: The Life of Marty Robbins  book contract: I ve submitted the manuscript to the University of Illinois Press. The copyedited version will come back to me in several months for my review. A few people have sent me photos, and the photo spread is close to completion. I'm in the process of sending new permission forms to some of my interviewees to include electronic publishing.

 

LETTERS

Randall Bart in Hendersonville, Tennessee, requests, "Please add me to your mailing list for your newsletter. I look forward to reading them and your Marty Robbins book!"   Jean Earle writes from the United Kingdom, "We enjoyed the latest newsletter...thank you. We hope you will be very happy in your new home. Autumn has arrived here..very colourful..and a bit chilly. We shall look forward to Marty's book...well done for getting things organised so well."

 

SIDEMAN SIDEBAR

When Wayne Jackson quit playing trumpet in a rock 'n' roll band and moved to Nashville in 1977, he joined a group of songwriters in what they called the Equal Opportunity Unemployment Band. Marty's band members saw him playing piano and trumpet one night, and Marty called the next day to offer him a job. He insisted he was a trumpet player, not a piano player, and Marty assured him he'd do fine. After several months on piano and several years on the trumpet, Wayne left Marty's band to build his own career. "Every show I did with Marty Robbins was like I had the best seat in the house, because he was so wonderful," he says. A good description of what Wayne's been doing lately can be found at: http://www.sweetmedicinemusic.com/Welcome.html.

 

Diane Diekman
Sioux Falls, South Dakota, USA
diane@dianediekman.com

 

 

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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

 

PRAYER

 

If the truth were known, and we could see with eyes into tomorrow,

Our prayers of yesterday were heard in the midst of all our sorrow.

 

Without prayers, some foot may slip from the path that leads to life.

Without prayers, some precious friend would fight alone the strife.

 

Without talking with God of plans and hopes, how could I face the day?

Without His counsel and His care, who else would guide my way?

 

Prayer is the call for the cleansing wave in the heart of a down-trodden soul.

Prayer is the first step to bring one to God, the Savior is waiting to make that life whole.

 

                                     Elaine Fowsen

 

 

 

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