I just realised that all these songs from the late fifties are all found back in the movie Lemon Popsicle.
The Fleetwoods "Come Softly To Me" is a truly magical song and their whole sound was just something incredible that has never really been duplicated. I can't help but wonder if the whole vibe of Twin Peaks wasn't wasn't inspired by those Fleetwoods singles.
I just realised, there are not a lot of women in this Super Group, now aren't there? Rock 'n Roll in 1981 was still very much a guys thing so it seems. I counted exactly 0 women in that band.
Oddly enough, I like The Witch Doctor, too. Isn't there a Psy on this forum to explain this kind of thing?
The 95 “dums” and remaining lyrics to Come Softly To Me were penned by all three members of this trio as high school students in Washington state. Bob Reisdorff, owner of newly launched Seattle-based Dolphin Records (later changed to Dolton due to copyright conflict), loved the a capella song and brought in producer Bonnie Guitar (of Dark Moon fame) to overdub sparse instrumentation (listen closely for group member Gary Troxel’s rattling key ring and Bonnie’s own gut-string guitar) onto the trio's vocals. Reisdorff also extended the original title (Come Softly) because he thought it too suggestive. The single was released in January 1959 and through Reisdorff’s local connections it started gathering airplay on KING and other radio stations in the Seattle market. From there the tune’s popularity spread – first stateside, then down the West Coast. Billboard took note of the action in making Come Softly To Me a Spotlight Pick in its February 16, 1959 issue, three weeks before the song made its debut on the Hot 100: The publicity helped the tiny Dolphin/Dolton label attract interest from larger labels for national distribution. The Dot and Era labels were the first to express interest in distributing Come Softly To Me but Reisdorff was wary because of those labels’ shady promotional practices so Dolton handled the single’s promotion until a distribution deal was eventually reached with Liberty Records. As retaliation, Era flooded the radio market with a hastily recorded remake of Come Softly To Me by Ronnie Height on its Dore imprint (linked here) in an attempt to confuse the marketplace, and the Height version started receiving airplay in several markets, including Chicago: Meanwhile, Gone Records issued yet another cover version of Come Softly To Me by Richard Barrett with The Chantels (linked here), which started receiving airplay on New York City radio stations. Reisdorff’s concern about the negative impact of these cover versions increased further when he learned that Dick Clark was considering airing the Richard Barrett version on ABC-TV’s American Bandstand. Reisdorff put pressure on Clark by having NBC affiliates throughout the Northwest, radio station managers in Los Angeles, and Washington’s then-governor remind Clark that Come Softly To Me was already a regional hit for The Fleetwoods. Clark relented and featured The Fleetwoods’ original version of Come Softly To Me on American Bandstand. On April 11, 1959, The Fleetwoods appeared on Dick Clark’s Saturday Beech-Nut Show and sang their hit:
s The stereo 45s from this era would turn out to be a short-lived experiment. Most record labels began releasing stereo LPs around 1958, and for about the next ten years would market LP titles in parallel mono and stereo versions, with the latter at a higher price point. Having had some initial success with stereo LPs in that arrangement, record labels got the idea of doing the same thing with 45s. They soon found that the stereo 45s sold very poorly, however, with the overwhelming majority of sales going to the mono versions. Stereo LPs' early success was mostly with an older/more affluent/audiophile audience, who listened to things like "adult pop", jazz and classical. As it turned out, these people didn't buy a lot of 45s (or to the extent that they did, weren't willing to pay a premium to get 45s in stereo the way they were with LPs), while the people who bought the bulk of 45s had no interest in stereo (being unwilling or unable to make the necessary investment to be early adopters of stereo). By 1961 most record labels had stopped issuing stereo 45s.
Thank you for this thread @alphanguy and thanks for the wealth of information being posted by posters like @tim_neely and @I Love Music (among many others). Already learned so much. Please don't derail this thread. Ever.
"Come Softly to Me" is a song that had been in the background of my life for most of it. In 1973 or 1974, I got a copy of Lillian Roxon's Rock Encyclopedia, the 1971 paperback edition, and one of the appendices was a list of every #1 single on Billboard from 1950 to the end of 1967. (The #1 from the Best Seller list was used before August 4, 1958.) As a budding collector of 45s, I thought it would be a fun list to try to complete. (Believe it or not, there are still two #1s from that list that have eluded me on original 45s, all these years later.) When I bought "Come Softly to Me," I thought it would be new to me, but once I spun it, I instantly recognized it. It's a charming little song. The Dolphin/Dolton label had a distribution deal with Liberty from pretty close to the beginning. Indeed, some copies of "Come Softly to Me" were released on the Liberty label with the catalog number F-55188. This was because the new label immediately found itself the subject of a lawsuit from a record store, Dolphin's of Hollywood. As a result of the legal action, Dolphin changed its name to Dolton, but it kept a dolphin as part of its label design until 1966. You can find "Come Softly to Me" on both the green and early-1960s black Liberty labels, which leads me to believe that, once the huge supply of early Dolphin pressings was exhausted, it stayed on Liberty. (I've never seen a copy of "Come Softly to Me" on Dolton.) Liberty also released a stereo 45 on S-77188, but the stereo version has an extra overdub of bongos that isn't on the mono hit version. Looking at the seemingly countless variations of the label, both on Dolphin and Liberty, my guess is that Dolphin 45s without BMI on the label, but instead with the word "Copyrighted" in parentheses, are closest to the true first pressing. Most Dolphin singles mention the Liberty distribution, but some don't. Confusingly, one variation of those that don't has BMI rather than "Copyrighted" on the label.
WOW! I can't thank you enough for your informative post! I reckon then that early stereo pop 45s are scarce and very collectible!
Just wanted to say that this period of music sounds fantastic on period equipment if it is well recorded.Especially speakers.
The first stereo Jukeboxes came out around '59 correct? I suppose those early stereo 45's were meant for them? But - as you say, they stopped around '61.
The original stereo version of Come Softly To Me was released in May 1959 on Liberty (S-77188) and appeared later in the year on the stereo Mr. Blue LP (Dolton BST 2001), and again on the stereo Greatest Hits LP (Dolton BST 8018) in 1962. Come Softly To Me was first released in mono on Dolphin 1 45 in January 1959 and then later on the Liberty 45 (F-55188) in April 1959, and subsequently appeared on mono pressings of the Mr. Blue (Dolton BLP 2001, 1959) and Greatest Hits (Dolton BLP 8018, 1962) LPs. The original mono hit mix can be heard in post #193. Both the original mono and stereo versions of Come Softly To Me are available on CD. An a cappella version of the song (linked here) in stereo can be found on the Come Softly To Me: Very Best Of CD.
Did you ever see this thread I started some years ago? http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threa...-panic-from-the-fleetwoods-circa-1961.239661/
Nice! To me "Outside My Window" is their greatest single and would be a great title track to a David Lynch soundtrack!
According to Doug Moody, who was the sales and promotions manager for Clock Records and is the son of label co-founder Wally Moody, The Happy Organ was recorded in the fall of 1958 in Allegro Recording Studios in New York City. The studio was in the basement of the building that housed Aldon Music, and the building’s elevator served as an echo chamber. Dave Cortez Clowney, known as Dave “Baby” Cortez since recording his Okeh single You Give Me Heebie Jeebies (linked here), had lost his voice and the recording session was about to end when Dave suggested trying an instrumental. He started banging away on the piano and the session musicians joined in. Recording engineer Charlie Brave asked Dave to play an old Hammond B-3 organ, which was sitting in the corner of the studio, instead of the piano. Dave could only play the organ in the key of C and what he started playing resembled a jumpin’ version of the old tune Shortnin’ Bread: Charlie recorded the entire improvisation, which became sloppier and filled with sour notes the longer Dave played. This organ solo was subsequently overdubbed onto the rhythm track which Dave and the session musicians had recorded earlier. Charlie faded the song when he did, just as Wild Jimmy Spruill was going into his guitar solo, to avoid including Dave’s clunky notes on the organ. [Interesting side note: Jimmy Spruill also played guitar on the song that replaced The Happy Organ atop the Billboard Hot 100]. Wally Moody took the acetate home and listened to it repeatedly, captivated by the catchy melody. After Christmas 1958, he took the acetate to a friend, disc jockey Bobby Joyce at WLLY, a small radio station in Richmond, Virginia, and asked him to play The Happy Organ. Joyce did so, listener response was tremendous, and eventually other radio stations in Richmond, including the larger WLEE, began receiving requests for the song. WLEE was irate that The Happy Organ was serviced only to WLLY and they contacted Clock Records to request a copy. Wally Moody had an acetate delivered to WLEE. WLEE, whose strong signal reached Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, Maryland, started playing The Happy Organ and soon listeners in those areas requested radio play the song. More importantly, those same listeners wanted to buy the record. Orders for the song started pouring into the Clock offices but there was a problem . . . the label did not have a B-side to release a 45! Love Me As I Love You became the B-side of The Happy Organ, a 45 was pressed and released, and Billboard made it a Spotlight Pick in the February 16, 1959 issue:
The Happy Organ 45 (Clock C-1009, mono) bears an interesting songwriting credit. . Dave “Baby” Cortez is acknowledged by his real last name (Clowney). “Wood” is Ken Wood who co-wrote an earlier instrumental recorded by Dave “Baby” Cortez as Dave Clowney on the Paris label, Hoot Owl. The song features King Curtis on saxophone: But here’s the interesting thing: Ken Wood is a pseudonym for Wally Moody, co-founder of Clock Records! “Kriegsmann” is the late James Kriegsmann, the famous New York City theatrical photographer whose studio took publicity photos for celebrities (his photos can be identified by the distinct “K” logo in the corner). Here’s someone whose #1 record will appear later in this thread who was photographed by Kriegsmann: Kriegsmann infused capital into the promotional budget of Clock Records. He was not initially credited as a songwriter on The Happy Organ but his name was added later when the copyright for the recording was registered.
I first had this song as a track on a United Artists various-artists set called Golden Treasure Chest, which was released in 1963. With no point of reference, I didn't know this was a re-recording until I got a copy of the Clock 45. The other thing I remember is that people who didn't know the song thought the title was funny.
Kansas City was Wilbert Harrison’s infectious adaptation of Little Willie Littlefield’s 1952 original K.C. Loving (linked here) using songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller’s original title of the song. Harrison, who was signed to the Savoy label and had a small hit with Don’t Drop It (linked here), had been singing his interpretation of the song for years in nightclubs and wanted to record it but Savoy, on the verge of dropping him from their roster, was not interested. Harrison’s reading of Kansas City came to the attention of New York City-based independent record producer Bobby Robinson who invited Harrison to record a demo at Bell Sound Studios in early March 1959. Harrison was late getting to the studio because he had a flat tire on the New Jersey Turnpike and by the time he arrived the allotted session time had expired. Robinson secured the permission of the studio engineer and a white doo-wop act (scheduled to record next) for an additional 20 minutes of studio time. Harrison recorded Kansas City and Listen My Darling, the eventual flip side on the 45, each in one take over 15 minutes. Robinson thought Harrison’s demo was good but he was not fully convinced it had hit potential so he and his staff took acetates of the disc on a promotional tour to select radio stations in New York state, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, and Missouri. When they returned to New York City in late March 1959, they discovered hundreds of telegrams from radio stations requesting 45s of Kansas City. They also learned three cover versions of Kansas City had recently been recorded! In response, Robinson hastily pressed 45s of Harrison’s demo and released it under his Fury imprint. Billboard reported on the flood of Kansas City covers in its March 30, 1959 issue: In the same issue, Billboard listed five different versions of Kansas City, including a reissue of Littlefield’s original (with overdubbed guitars and drums to modernize the sound, linked here), as Spotlight Picks, with Harrison’s version given top billing: The following week Billboard added a sixth version by Little Richard (this is one of two versions of the song he recorded in 1955): Harrison’s cover of Kansas City made its debut on the Hot 100 on April 13, 1959 but shortly thereafter a lawsuit was filed by Savoy Records claiming that Harrison was still under contract. The litigation sought, among other things, to enjoin Fury from pressing and selling further copies of Kansas City. From the April 20 issue of Billboard: The judge hearing the case ordered Fury to open an account in escrow in return for temporary rights to manufacture and release the recording until the case could be heard in full. Meanwhile, Harrison’s rendition of Kansas City was besting other charting versions by Rocky Olson, Hank Ballard & The Midnighters and Little Richard on the Hot 100. Dick Clark noted this when introducing Harrison on his Saturday Night Beech-Nut Show on May 2, 1959: Approximately two weeks after his appearance on Dick Clark’s show, Harrison had the #1 record on the Billboard Hot 100.
The Little Richard version holds a place in Beatles history, as it served as the direct template for their rendition, not only in live performance but also for the studio version on the Beatles VI album in the U.S. (I presume it was on Beatles for Sale in the U.K.; I grew up with the American LPs, so they are my point of reference.) When Little Richard came up with the "hey, hey, hey, hey" section, there was not yet a song by that name. Only in 1976, with the publication of Harry Castleman and Wally Podrazik's pioneering Beatles discography book All Together Now: The First Complete Beatles Discography 1961-1975, did the Beatles' version of "Kansas City" become a "medley." That declaration, which had not been made before by anyone, helped Venice Music earn a lot of royalty money! Years later, Paul McCartney recorded "Kansas City" for his Soviet Union oldies LP using the Wilbert Harrison version as the basis.
While Fury Records was defending the lawsuit with Savoy Records I mentioned in my previous post, Armo Music which represented the publishing for songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller also sued Fury over the song, insisting that, despite some lyrical changes by Harrison, Kansas City was an infringement of their earlier song K.C. Loving. As Billboard reported in its May 11, 1959 edition: According to Stoller, he and Leiber became aware of the Harrison recording of Kansas City through tenor saxophonist King Curtis. Curtis had been the session leader on the recording, even though he didn’t play on it. Leiber and Stoller appreciated that Fury used their original title (Kansas City) but were upset that the 45 did not credit them: Fury, not surprisingly, lost the lawsuit and the songwriting credit was fixed on subsequent pressings of the 45: As for the legal dispute with Savoy Records, that would eventually be settled out of court, after almost a year of negotiations, for an estimated $13,500, with Fury owner Robinson maintaining that at the time of the Kansas City recording, he was unaware of any contractual obligation Harrison had to Savoy.
