Articles by John Twang

Prior to the sixties it was normal to have many artists having success with versions of hit songs. Such was the case with Burl Ives who sang "Lavender Blue" (Ives) in the 1948 Disney movie "So Dear To My Heart". Dinah Shore recorded "Lavender Blue" (Morey - Daniel) the same year at almost the same time. It's based on the old British folk song "Lavender's Blue". In 1959 Sammy Turner's (Black) cover of "Lavender Blue" (Larry Morey - Eliot Daniel) hit the top ten with this Jerry Leiber and Mi…

The Sharps once featured vocalist Thurston Harris. When he left the group they became The Rivingtons of "Papa Oom Mow Mow" fame. Thurston went on to his own success but "Hey Little Girl" (Otis Blackwell - Bobby Stevenson) didn't mean anything for his career when he recorded the song in 1959. Later that same year, Delecta "Dee" Clark took "(Hey) Little Girl" into the top twenty pop chart and top ten R&B.

Dallas Frazier was discovered by Ferlin Husky and became one of those few truly prolific composers. His hits include "Alley Oop", "There Goes My Everything", Mohair Sam", "Johnny One Time", Elvira", "Timber, I'm Falling" and "The Son of Hickory Holler's Tramp". The first to record the tune was Johnny Darrell in 1967 when it reached the top forty on the country charts. His album titled "The Son of Hickory Holler's Tramp" charted even higher. Once a vocalist for Count Basie, Ocie "O.C." Smit…

Born on the island of Corfu, Vicky Leandross (Vassiliki Papathanasiou) sang the beautiful "L'amour est Bleu" (Love is Blue) (Andre Popp) French lyrics by Pierre Cour, English lyrics by Brian Blackburn for the 1967 Eurovision Song Contest. Despite finishing poorly in the competition it became a world-wide hit. The Baroness von Ruffin, once known as simply "Vicky", achieved her greatest success in Europe, Japan and Canada. In 1968 Paul Mauriat's instrumental cover became the only number one Bi…

Musicologist Alan Lomax found the 1939 record with Zulu musician Solomon Linda's (Ntsele) Original Evening Birds (Gilbert Madondo, Boy Sibiya, Gideon Mkhize, Owen Sikhakhane and Samuel Mlangeni) "M'Bube". Mr. Lomax gave the vinyl to Pete Seeger of the Weavers (Pete Seeger, Ronnie Gilbert, Lee Hays and Fred Hellerman) who heard the title as "Wimoweh". In 1952 the group and the Gordon Jenkins Orchestra hit the top twenty. Hugo and Luigi produced the multi-talented Tokens (Jay Siegal, Hank Me…

The original "Red Roses For a Blue Lady" includes an opening verse unknown to me. Actor, singer John Laurenz gave us the original in 1948 but it did not chart. The best selling version of "Red Roses For a Blue Lady" (Sid Tepper - Roy Bennett) was the top ten hit by Vaughn Monroe and the Moon Men released later in 1948. In 1965 an instrumental version by Bert Kaempfert hit the top twenty. At almost the same time Mr. Las Vegas, Wayne Newton's vocal cover reached number twenty-four. A v…

Metropolitan Opera star Ezio Pinza and Mary Martin first sang "Some Enchanted Evening" on the Broadway stage in the original production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "South Pacific" in 1949. But the first recording was probably by Frank Sinatra & Rosemary Clooney. "Some Enchanted Evening" was released in the same year it hit New York City. The Jay & the Americans (Jay Black aka David Blatt, Howard "Kane" Kirchenbaum, Kenny "Vance" Rosenberg and Sandy "Deanne" Yaguda) top twenty cover was a…

Harland Howard was a mainstay in country music for forty years. One of the reasons was his song "Too Many Rivers". Brenda Lee's 1965 top twenty cover was again produced by the smooth magic of Owen Bradley.

Harland Howard once said "country music is three chords and the truth" but it's sometimes just good fun too. Harland and Buck Owens composed "Tiger by the Tail" when they were inspired by the Esso gas company slogan "put a tiger in your tank". Buck Owens and the Buckaroos (Don Rich, Willie Cantu and Tom Brumley) 1965 hit from the album of the same name reached the top of the country chart and became the groups only top thirty hit on the pop chart. It was Merle Haggard who suggested the group'…

In 1961 Harland Howard had a total of 15 songs on the country chart. "Mr. In-Between" is just one of his many successful ventures. Accomplished stage/movie/television actor and balladeer Burl Ives hit the top twenty in 1962 with his cover featuring the Nashville production talents of Own Bradley.

Paul McCartney wrote "On the Wings of a Nightingale" and this demo comes from "Judy W" at the Oldiesboard. The Everlys 1984 album "EB84" produced by Dave Edmunds contains this superior production. The single made it into the top fifty.

The prolific Harland Howard wrote "Heartaches by the Number" in 1959 and the success of the song brought him to Nashville the next year. Guy Mitchell topped the charts with the pop hit the same year and this was his last top forty success. But it was Ray Price issue that hit number two earlier in the year and remained charted for forty weeks! Ray's band "The Cherokee Cowboys" at one time or another consisted of noted country personalities like Roger Miller, Willie Nelson, Johnny Paycheck and…

While living in Los Angeles Harland Howard was once signed to a song publishing company owned by Tex Ritter and Johnny Bond. It was he who wrote "Everglades". The Kingston Trio "Everglades" comes from the 1960 album "String Along", their fifth consecutive studio album to hit number one! Listen near the end of the tune for the reference to Don and Phil. Why is the Everly Brothers hit "Bird Dog" (Boudleaux Bryant) here? Just listen to the opening guitar riff from 1958. It should sound very fam…

Harlan Howard composed "I Fall to Pieces" with the other country "Hank" legend, Hank Cochran. After Brenda Lee and Roy Drusky turned the song down, Patsy Cline recorded the Owen Bradley produced album "Showcase" in 1961 and, from it, came her first country chart topper! Obviously it crossed over to the pop charts where it hit the top twenty.

Popular Italian singer/actress and also known for posing nude in the Italian edition of Playboy, Ornella Vanoni recorded "Senza Fine" (Gino Paoli) in 1961. Studio musician/sax and clarinet player Phil Boder worked with such jazz notables as Miles Davis, Benny Goodman and Bill Evans along with the likes of Frank Sinatra, Mel Torme and Ella Fitzgerald. His group, The Brass Ring version of "Senza Fine" was used in the movie "The Flight of the Phoenix" and became known to many as "Phoenix Love Th…

The 1937 motion picture "Feather Your Nest" contains talented British entertainer George Formby (Booth) signing "Leaning on a Lamp Post" (Noel Gay). The clean-cut Herman's Hermits cover hit the top ten in 1966. Lead singer Peter Noone was already well known in England for his role on the still running British soap opera "Coronation Street". The U.K. album "Both Sides" contains the hit while it's featured on the U.S. album "Hold On"!

Pete Seeger composed "Where Have All the Flowers Gone" (Seeger - Hickerson) to the tune of an old Russian folksong in 1955. It's part of a medley on the Folkways 1960 release "The Rainbow Quest". Director of the Archive of Folk Songs at the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress, Joe Hickerson had completed the tune in 1960. The Kingston Trio recorded the cover for the album "College Concert" and the hit version in 1961 with the single reaching number 21 even though it was releas…

Philadelphia group The Top Notes recorded the Phil Spector production "Twist and Shout" (Phil Medley - Bert Russell) originally titled "Shake It Up Baby" in 1961 but the issue went nowhere. There were two groups with the same moniker so membership is unclear. One year later the Isley Brothers (Ronald, O'Kelly and Rudolph) had success with composer Bert Russell (Berns) producing the top twenty hit. King Curtis is featured on sax along with incredible guitarist Eric Gale. The Beatles one-ta…