1923 - I know this is difficult to believe, but in Kalamazoo, Michigan, in the land of the free, an ordinance was passed today, forbidding dancers from gazing into the eyes of their partner. This left a lot to be desired. And the art of desire was portrayed more than adequately in this classic rendition of a classic song; Ain't Misbehavin' was recorded by Fats Waller, and written by him in conjunction with Harry Brooks (music) and Andy Razaf. It was the version from Fats Waller that was the original, and also Waller's version in the 1943 movie, Stormy Weather. It has been recorded by countless other performers over the years, including Anita O'Day, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Kay Starr, Frankie Laine, Art Tatum, Sonny Stitt, Johnnie Ray, Sidney Bechet, Ray Charles, Elkie Brooks, Bill Haley & The Comets. In 1960 Tommy Bruce and the Bruisers had a #3 hit in the UK with their version of the song. Leon Redbone performed the song on Saturday Night Live in 1976. It served, too, as the title song of the successful 1978 musical Ain't Misbehavin'. Here's a scene from the 1943 movie, Fats doing the entertaining, with Lena Horne, dancer Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, drummer Zutty Singleton, bassist Slam Stewart, and trumpeter Benny Carter.
1961 - What a one-off was Patsy Cline, certainly amongst my dream boat gals; this was the day Ms. Cline recorded the classic song, Crazy, written by Willie Nelson. Almost two months earlier she'd been involved in a bad head-on motor accident, during which she was robustly thrown against the windscreen. the American country music icon was still on crutches at the recording session. Ms Cline enjoyed pop music crossover success during the era of the Nashville sound in the early 1960s. Since her death in 1963 at age 30 in a private airplane crash at the height of her career, she has been considered one of the most influential, successful, and acclaimed female vocalists of the 20th century. Her singing tone was rich, and emotionally expressive. Her first big crossover success was I Fall to Pieces, and when she needed a follow-up, she heard's Nelson's song but didn't like it at first, allegedly stating it was too difficult to sing. The first session recording was a disaster, she tried to record Crazy like its demo recording, which featured Nelson's idiosyncratic style, but had a tough time recording it not only because of the demo, but also because she found the high notes hard to sing due to injured ribs from her car accident. however, after nearly four hours, they called it a night and saved the best performance of the instrumental track for Cline to overdub her vocal on the song later. In those days, overdubbing was considered a sign of weakness, and an admission that you couldn't do it live. Singers as well as producers wanted to capture the whole performance live in one take. But the next week, Patsy laid down the vocal you hear on the record in one take with no splices or overdubs. Listen carefully at the start of the record, and you'll hear a faint echo of the final note before she actually sings it on the vocal track. This is not a defect, but caused by echoes of her original vocal performance bleeding through the vocal isolation booth onto the musicians' microphones out in the studio.
1965 - It's now 45 years since unknown singer Barry McGuire released his protest song, Eve Of Destruction, and it became a worldwide hit. Here from the American tele show, Hullabaloo, is a video of the original song. The lyrics are even stronger and more pertinent today than they were in 1965. A dead-set classic. There are two version, here; the first, his showbiz TV version, the second a political version with appropriate images of then…and now.
1976 - This is the day when the music industry was booming, as sales figures showed in a record company press release, that Elvis Presley sales alone, had reached 400 million. Four years later, on the same day, truly one of the most versatile and successful singers of our time, Linda Rondstadt, made her stunning debut on Broadway today, 31 years ago. The production was Gilbert & Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance, and here is a video of the full Broadway cast, including, and starring Linda Rondstadt. She has the most amazing, amazing voice, and her presence is second to none here.
1990 - Prince released the soundtrack to Graffiti Bridge today, but he has stopped all broadcast of his videos on youtube, sadly as he is one of our faves, here at *MUSICBACKTRACK*. Five years later, and REM sued Hershey Foods, claiming the company exploited its name when it ran a Kit-Kat - REM Concert sweepstakes in individual Hershey candy bars. The suit was eventually dropped, and in the same year, REM performed Crush Eyeliner in Dallas, Texas, USA.
1997 - At a press conference in the San Francisco Hard Rock Cafe, today, Carlos Santana unveiled a limited-edition t-shirt bearing his own artwork, and autographed 500 of the shirts for distribution to foreign and domestic markets. Around a month prior to the unveiling, Santana performed Oye Como Va at this concert in Lima, Peru.
2005 - The guy who invented the synthesiser, Robert Moog, died today, aged 71, four months after being diagnosed with brain cancer. Dr Moog built his first electronic instrument, a theremin, aged 14 and made the MiniMoog - "the first compact, easy-to-use synthesiser" in 1970. He won the Polar prize, Sweden's "music Nobel prize", in 2001. Wendy Carlos' 1968 Grammy award-winning album, Switched-On Bach, brought Dr Moog to prominence. Here is an extract from a 1980s BBC Micro Live special on electronic music in which Dr Bob Moog demonstrates the Minimoog. Then we have Switched on: Bach Little Fugue G minor with an old, original Synthesizer
1961 - What a one-off was Patsy Cline, certainly amongst my dream boat gals; this was the day Ms. Cline recorded the classic song, Crazy, written by Willie Nelson. Almost two months earlier she'd been involved in a bad head-on motor accident, during which she was robustly thrown against the windscreen. the American country music icon was still on crutches at the recording session. Ms Cline enjoyed pop music crossover success during the era of the Nashville sound in the early 1960s. Since her death in 1963 at age 30 in a private airplane crash at the height of her career, she has been considered one of the most influential, successful, and acclaimed female vocalists of the 20th century. Her singing tone was rich, and emotionally expressive. Her first big crossover success was I Fall to Pieces, and when she needed a follow-up, she heard's Nelson's song but didn't like it at first, allegedly stating it was too difficult to sing. The first session recording was a disaster, she tried to record Crazy like its demo recording, which featured Nelson's idiosyncratic style, but had a tough time recording it not only because of the demo, but also because she found the high notes hard to sing due to injured ribs from her car accident. however, after nearly four hours, they called it a night and saved the best performance of the instrumental track for Cline to overdub her vocal on the song later. In those days, overdubbing was considered a sign of weakness, and an admission that you couldn't do it live. Singers as well as producers wanted to capture the whole performance live in one take. But the next week, Patsy laid down the vocal you hear on the record in one take with no splices or overdubs. Listen carefully at the start of the record, and you'll hear a faint echo of the final note before she actually sings it on the vocal track. This is not a defect, but caused by echoes of her original vocal performance bleeding through the vocal isolation booth onto the musicians' microphones out in the studio.
1965 - It's now 45 years since unknown singer Barry McGuire released his protest song, Eve Of Destruction, and it became a worldwide hit. Here from the American tele show, Hullabaloo, is a video of the original song. The lyrics are even stronger and more pertinent today than they were in 1965. A dead-set classic. There are two version, here; the first, his showbiz TV version, the second a political version with appropriate images of then…and now.
1976 - This is the day when the music industry was booming, as sales figures showed in a record company press release, that Elvis Presley sales alone, had reached 400 million. Four years later, on the same day, truly one of the most versatile and successful singers of our time, Linda Rondstadt, made her stunning debut on Broadway today, 31 years ago. The production was Gilbert & Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance, and here is a video of the full Broadway cast, including, and starring Linda Rondstadt. She has the most amazing, amazing voice, and her presence is second to none here.
1990 - Prince released the soundtrack to Graffiti Bridge today, but he has stopped all broadcast of his videos on youtube, sadly as he is one of our faves, here at *MUSICBACKTRACK*. Five years later, and REM sued Hershey Foods, claiming the company exploited its name when it ran a Kit-Kat - REM Concert sweepstakes in individual Hershey candy bars. The suit was eventually dropped, and in the same year, REM performed Crush Eyeliner in Dallas, Texas, USA.
1997 - At a press conference in the San Francisco Hard Rock Cafe, today, Carlos Santana unveiled a limited-edition t-shirt bearing his own artwork, and autographed 500 of the shirts for distribution to foreign and domestic markets. Around a month prior to the unveiling, Santana performed Oye Como Va at this concert in Lima, Peru.
2005 - The guy who invented the synthesiser, Robert Moog, died today, aged 71, four months after being diagnosed with brain cancer. Dr Moog built his first electronic instrument, a theremin, aged 14 and made the MiniMoog - "the first compact, easy-to-use synthesiser" in 1970. He won the Polar prize, Sweden's "music Nobel prize", in 2001. Wendy Carlos' 1968 Grammy award-winning album, Switched-On Bach, brought Dr Moog to prominence. Here is an extract from a 1980s BBC Micro Live special on electronic music in which Dr Bob Moog demonstrates the Minimoog. Then we have Switched on: Bach Little Fugue G minor with an old, original Synthesizer
