Articles by John Twang

This is the 1968 single issue of "A Deeper Shade Of Soul" (Ray Barretto) by Grammy winning drummer and bandleader Ray Barretto (Barreto) and vocalist Pete Bonet. This is from the album "Acid". Puerto Rican Pete Bonet also played with Mongo Santamaria, Tito Rodriguez and Tito Puente. The Netherlands natives, Urban Dance Squad (vocalist Patrick Tilon, Rene van Barneveld, Silvano Matadin and Michel Schoots) debut 1990 LP "Mental Floss For The Globe" included obvious samples of "Deeper Shade Of…

The French title was simply "Bolero" (Paul Durand - Henri Contet) and was based on that Maurice Ravel work. Jacqueline François (Guillemautot) recorded the song with composer Paul Durand's Orchestra in 1948. This was the first of many number one records for Patti Page (Clara Ann Fowler) in 1950. "All My Love" (Paul Durand - Mitchell Parish) was on her self-titled album.

Bobby Hebb sings "A Natural Man" (Bobby Hebb - Sandy Baron). Bobby Hebb's parents were both blind musicians in Nashville while Bobby and his brother Harold were a song and dance team. Co-author Sandy Baron (Beresofsky) was a comedian of note who opened for the likes of Neil Diamond, Diana Ross, Steve and Eydie. Sandy co-starred in the television shoe "Hey, Landlord". His songwriting abilities included Adam Wade's "Writing On The Wall". Three time Grammy winner with that silky distinctive voi…

Red (Joe) Hayes recorded the initial version of "A Satisfied Mind" (Red Hayes - Jack Rhodes) for the Starday label in 1954. According to Red "One day my father-in-law asked me who I thought the richest man in the world was, and I mentioned some names. He said, 'You're wrong; it is the man with a satisfied mind." Later that year the man with the nifty suit and pompadour, Porter Wagoner topped the Country charts with "A Satisfied Mind". Dolly Parton wrote "I Will Always Love You" for him and w…

Written and performed in 1927, "I'm Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover" (Mort Dixon - Harry M. Woods) was a number two hit for Nick Lucas (Lucinese). It was Nick who introduced "Tiptoe Through The Tulips". Wikipedia "Lucas became friends with Tiny Tim, who considered him an inspiration and who borrowed "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" as his own theme song. Lucas sang the song with him when he married Miss Vicki on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson on December 17, 1969." It was 1948 when "I'm Look…

This is the first love song by KC and the Sunshine Band and last recording issued before Harry Wayne Casey went solo. "Please Don't Go" (Harry Wayne Casey - Richard Finch) from the 1979 LP "Do You Wanna Go Party" topped the Billboard chart along with hitting number one in Canada and Australia. Britain's K.W.S. (Chris King, Winston Williams and lead singer Delroy St. Joseph) topped the U.K. listing with "Please Don't Go" in 1992. The single from the album of the same name reached number six o…

Billy Montana (Schlappi) sings "Bring On The Rain" (Billy Montana - Helen Darling). This was recorded at Bud & Alley's in Florida during the 30A Songwriters Festival in South Walton. This non-profit and private festival has been successful since 1993. The 2001 Jo Dee Messina LP "Burn" contains "Bring On The Rain". The single included the talents of Tim McGraw and topped the Country chart, went to number six Adult Contemporary and peaked at thirty-six on the Top One Hundred.

At the start of filming "The High And The Mighty" in 1953 Dimitri Tiomkin was commissioned to write the movie's score and a theme. After composing the basic melody Dimitri requested help from veteran Ned Washington. The theme to "The High And The Mighty" (Dimitri Tiomkin - Ned Washington) was a reality. Dimitri won the Academy Award for his score. Warner Brothers brought the tune to pianist, saxophonist, bandleader and singer Les Baxter and his issue of "The High And The Mighty" was released…

In 1963 The Big 3 (Tim Rose, Cass Elliot and Jim Hendricks) issued "The Banjo Song" (Tim Rose) a version of Stephen Foster's "Oh! Susanna". Cass married James Hendricks to help him avoid the U.S. draft. Shocking Blue's (lead vocalist Marika Veres, Cor van der Beek, Klaasje van der Wal and Robbie van Leeuwen) "Venus" (Robbie van Leeuwen) topped the Billboard chart. The single is from the 1969 LP "Scorpio's Dance". The Shocking Blue/Bananarama post was issued earlier on this site.

The original 1935 Broadway George and Ira Gershwin, Dubose Heyward musical soundtrack of "Porgy And Bess" features Anne Brown and Todd Duncan singing "I Loves You, Porgy". The selection is edited here to focus on the lyric. Countless stage productions of the opera exist along with a 1959 motion picture. Other well known works from the original production include "Summertime", "I Got Plenty o' Nuttin'", "It Ain't Necessarily So" and "Bess, You Is My Woman Now". This is the 1957 classic Nina S…

Tommy Dorsey's Orchestra recorded "Once In A While" (Bud Green - Michael Edwards) in 1937 and topped the charts. Co-composer Michael Edwards was an organist, violinist and arranger. Bud Green wrote "Sentimental Journey", "Alabamy Bound" and "Flat Foot Floogie (With A Floy Floy)". Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey's father, Thomas Dorsey, Sr., was a cornet-playing coal miner who also led the Shenandoah town band and gave music lessons on the side. He was his sons' first teacher. Their mother, Tess Dorsey, w…

Here is Dave Crawford conducting the orchestra with his version of the 1976 hit "Young Hearts Run Free" (Dave Crawford). Dave was a seasoned radio disc jockey and also was employed as a producer at Atlantic Records where he worked with The J. Geils Band, Dee Dee Warwick, Jackie Moore and Wilson Pickett. Dave Crawford produced the Candi (Canzetta) Staton recording of "Young Hearts Run Free" on the LP of the same name. The single topped the R&B chart and number eight Dance while peaking on Bil…

Released as a single in 1968 "Stand By Your Man" (Tammy Wynette - Billy Sherrill) became TammyWynette's signature song. The tune was the title of her next album and included the vocal background supplied by The Jordanaires and topped the Country chart, peaked at eleven A.C. and reached number nineteen on the Top One Hundred. This topped the U.K. and Netherlands charts when it was issued there in 1975. In 1970 Candi (Canzetta) Staton covered "Stand By Your Man" as produced by Fame Studio's Ri…

Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart (Harshman) with their interesting demo of their song "Words" for the Monkees. This appears on the LP "Butterfly Effect". On their own, Boyce and Hart hit with "I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight". The Monkees (lead vocals: Mickey Dolenz and Peter Tork, Davy Jones and Mike Nesmith) took "Words" to number eleven on Billboard in 1967. The single was part of the chart topping album "Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd".

In September of 1960 Mickey (Baker) and Sylvia (Robinson) were first to record "It's Going To Work Out Fine" (Rose Marie McCoy - Sylvia McKinney). The recording remained unissued until 1990 when Bear Family released it on the "Love Is Strange" box set. Ike and Tina Turner had a million seller with "It's Gonna Work Out Fine" (Joe Seneca - J. Lee) in 1961 when the song peaked at number two R&B and number fourteen on the Billboard Top One Hundred. The male voice is actually Mickey Baker. The tu…

Tom Douglas sings "The House That Built Me" (Tom Douglas - Allen Shamblin) The song was offered to Blake Shelton but when it was heard by Miranda Lambert she expressed her deep desire to record it. Tom recorded the hit in 20016 for a mixed media collection of four tunes he wrote with Allen Shamblin. "The House That Built Me" was issued as the third single from the 2010 Miranda Lambert LP "Revolution". The result was a number one Country hit and number twenty-eight on the Top One Hundred. Mir…

Co-founder of The Electric Flag, Barry Goldberg was the first to record "(I've Got to Use My) Imagination" (Gerry Goffin - Barry Goldberg) for the 1973 LP "It's Not The Spotlight" produced by Bob Dylan and Jerry Wexler! This is the first I've heard of Barry Goldberg and I must say his talents are striking. Gladys Knight and The Pips (William Guest, Bubba Knight and Edward Patten) covered "I've Got To Use My Imagination" a month after the original. The track on the group's first LP for the Bu…

The 2013 Rock Meets Classics Tour was recorded at The Big Box in Kempten, Germany with composer Eric Bazilian, a founding member of The Hooters, singing his song "One Of Us". Eric has said "I wrote that song one night, the quickest song I ever wrote, to impress a girl. Which worked, because we're married and have two kids." The 1995 Joan Osborne LP "Relish" includes the successful single "One Of Us". The Grammy nominated single reached number four on Billboard on topped the charts in Canada,…