Articles by John Twang

Marlon Brando sings "A Woman In Love" (Frank Loesser) from the 1955 film of "Guys And Dolls". This song was added to the movie and not in the original 1950 stage musical. Academy, Tony and Grammy Award winner Frank Loesser also wrote for the Broadway musicals "The Most Happy Fella", "How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying" and "Where's Charley". The Four Aces featuring Al Alberts (Al Alberts, Dave Mahoney, Lou Silvestri and Rosario Vaccaro) had the hit version of "A Woman In Love"…

The first single from Roxy Music's (Bryan Ferry, Andy MacKay and Phil Manzanera) final LP "Avalon" was "More Than This" (Bryan Ferry). The 1982 single with a number of session musicians peaked in the U.K., Australian and European top ten but didn't enter Billboard's Top One Hundred. 10,000 Maniacs (lead vocalist Mary Ramsey, Jerry Agustyniak, Rob Buck, Dennis Drew, Steve Gustafson and John Lombardo) successfully covered "More Than This" in 1997 and reached number twenty-five on Billboard. Th…

Johnny Mathis recorded "I'm Coming Home" (Linda Creed - Thomas Bell) for the Thom Bell produced album of the same name in 1973 and topped the Easy Listening chart while reaching only number seventy-five on the pop side. The (Detroit) Spinners (Henry Fambrough, Billy Henderson, Pervis Jackson, Bobby Smith and Philippe Wynne) peaked in the top twenty, number three on the Hot Soul Singles Chart with their very different reading on this cover of "I'm Coming Home" in 1974. This is one of three to…

Ethel Merman (Zimmermann) and Russell Nype sang "You're Just In Love" (Irving Berlin) in the original 1950 Tony Award winning production of "Call Me Madam". Wikipedia: "Theatre lore has it that Berlin wrote the song one night after Call Me Madam was not doing well in tryouts. The second act of the show was lacking. "What I'd like to do is a song with the kid (Russell Nype)," Merman said. So, Berlin went to his room and later produced the counterpoint song. When Berlin played the song for Merman,…

Here comes another dance. This time it's Dyke and the Blazers' (Arlester Christian, Alvin Battle Bernard Williams, Rich Cason, Rodney Brown and Alvester Jacobs), "Funky Broadway Part 1" written by Arlester "Dyke" Christian. Wikipedia: " The "Broadway" referred to in the title in the original Dyke and the Blazers song is Broadway in Buffalo, New York as well as Broadway Street in Phoenix, Arizona, not the famous Broadway in New York City." The single peaked at number seventeen on the R&B chart an…

Black face minstrel Emmett Miller recorded "Lovesick Blues" (Cliff Friend - Irving Mills) from the 1922 musical "Oh, Ernest". The song was first titled "I've Got The Lovesick Blues". Emmett's backing band, "The Georgia Crackers" included Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey and Gene Krupa. Ignoring his producers and his bands poor reaction Hank (Hiram) Williams decided to issue "Lovesick Blues" in 1949. This became the top Country release of the year and Hank's first number one! The 1962 U.K. charts w…

Little Jimmy Dickens "Be Careful Of Stones That You Throw" (Bonnie Dodd) was released in 1949. The song was not issued until 1964. It was Hank Williams who gave him the nickname "Tater". Hank (Hiram) Williams used the alias Luke The Drifter to record the first released single of "Be Careful Of Stones That You Throw" in 1952. Hank used the moniker on many tunes where he narrated the lyric. This is on the 1953 album "Beyond The Sunset: Hank Williams as Luke The Drifter". Dion (Di Mucci) co…

The Spencer Davis (Davies) Group (lead vocalist Steve Winwood, Spencer Davis, Muff Winwood and Pete York) introduced the number ten Billboard single "I'm A Man" (Steve Winwood - Jimmy Miller) in 1967. Soon after this issue Steve Winwood left the group to form Traffic. From their 1972 debut double LP "The Chicago Transit Authority" Chicago (three lead vocalists: Peter Cetera, Terry Kath, Robert Lamm with Lee Loughnane, Jimmy Pankow, Walt Parazaider and Danny Seraphine, ) released "I'm A Man"…

Junior Magli (Luigi Pazzaglini) introduced "Fine Della Strada" (Pace - Panzeri - Pilat) at the 1969 San Remo Music Festival. The song was eliminated fairly early in the running. Grammy and Golden Globe winner Sir Tom Jones (Woodward) released "Love Me Tonight" (Mason - Panzeri - Pilat) as a single in 1969. The song peaked at thirteen on Billboard and reached number two in the U.K. As a child in Wales Tom overcame tuberculosis.

The Beach Boys demo of "In My Room" (Brian Wilson - Gary Usher) was released on the set "Good Vibrations: 30 Years of The Beach Boys" . According to the co-author of the lyric, Gary Usher the tune was written in less than an hour. This is a Brian Wilson quote from Wikipedia: "I also enjoyed producing 'In My Room'. There is a story behind this song. When Dennis, Carl and I lived in Hawthorne as kids, we all slept in the same room. One night I sang the song 'Ivory Tower' to them and they liked it.…

In 1961 Tony Orlando (Cassavitis) was first to issue "Halfway To Paradise" (G. Goffin - C. King). Note the "J. Goffin" on the original label is "G"erry Goffin. Tony peaked at number thirty-nine on Billboard and a decade later lead the successful group Dawn. In between time Tony was a producer and vice-president of CBS Records. Bobby Vinton covered "Halfway To Paradise" in 1968 and got to number twenty-three on the Top One Hundred. The single was on next year's LP "I Love How You Love Me". If…

"Dream Merchant" (Larry Weiss - Jerry Ross) was recorded in 1967 by Jerry Butler as "Mr. Dream Merchant". The single from the album of the same name peaked at thirty-eight on the Top One Hundred and number twenty-three on the Soul Chart. Jerry sang in the same church choir and the quartet Northern Jubilee Gospel Singers with Curtis Mayfield. New Birth covered "Dream Merchant" in 1975 and topped the Soul chart while reaching thirty-six pop. At the time there were eleven members in the group.…

Walter Egan originated "Hot Summer Nights"(W. Egan) in 1978. This was the final track from the LP "Not Shy" that included "Magnet And Steel". One of the album's producers is Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac. From the album "Night" the group Night (Stevie Lange, Chris Thompson and sessions musicians Pete Baron, Nicky Hopkins and Robbie McIntosh) peaked at number eighteen with "Hot Summer Nights" in 1979. Stevie Lange (van Kerken) was once married to Mutt Lange and is a noted studio singer…

Tony Dallara (Lardera) and "Come Prima" (Vincenzo DiPaola - Mario Panzeri - SandroTaccani) topped the charts in Italy and several European countries while it hit the Canadian top ten in 1957. The English translation is "As Before". Manager of the Platters, songwriter, producer and arranger Buck (Samuel) Ram added an English lyric while Broadway and motion picture actress, singer and Emmy winner Polly Bergen (Burgin) recorded "For The First Time" on the LP "My Heart Sings" and hit Billboard's…

It took Even (Gail) Stevens about five minutes to write "When You're In Love With A Beautiful Woman" after his reaction to seeing men hit on his girlfriend. This clip is from a Bart Herbison interview. Dr. Hook (lead vocals Dennis Locorrier, Ray Sawyer, Rik Elswit, Billy Francis, Jance Garfat, Bob Henke and John Wolters) recorded "When You're In Love With A Beautiful Woman" in 1978 for the LP "Pleasure & Pain" and hit number six on the Top One Hundred with the single.

In 1976 Arthur Alexander issued the original "Sharing The Night Together" (Ava Aldridge - Eddie Struzick). The tune by Muscle Shoals songwriters barely got onto the R&B chart. Later that year Dr. Hook (Dennis Locorriere, Ray Sawyer, Rik Elswit, Billy Francis, Jance Garfat, Bob Henke and John Wolters) covered "Sharing The Night Together" on the 1978 album "Pleasure And Pain". The single charted at number six on The Top One Hundred, eighteen on the A.C. chart and even hit the Country list.

Mr. Jeannie Seely, Hank (Garland) Cochran wrote hits such as "Make the World Go Away", "He's Got You", "I Fall To Pieces" and "Funny Way of Laughin'" . This is from his 1965 album "Hits From the Heart". Although they weren't related he and future rocker Eddie Cochran formed the Cochran Brothers as teenagers. Star of radio, recordings, screen and stage Burl Ives had hits written by Hank including "A Little Bitty Tear" and "Funny Way Of Laughin'" . This won the 1962 Grammy for Best Country Wes…

This is The Human League (lead vocalists Philip Oakley and Susan Ann Sulley, Ian Burden, Jo Callis, Joanne Campbell, and Philip Adrian Wright) demo of "Don't You Want Me" recorded for the 1981 LP "Dare". The Human League's leader was Philip Oakley who openly showed displeasure at the song being released as a single. In the summer of 1982 "Don't You Want Me" topped the Billboard pop chart. This was the last track issued from the album.