Articles by John Twang

Willie Nelson recorded "Hello Walls" in 1962 on his debut album "... And Then I Wrote". This vinyl also contained the writer's versions of "Family Bible", "Crazy" and "Funny How Times Slips Away". Webb Pierce is credited with discovering "The Young Sherriff". "Hello Walls" (Willie Nelson) by Faron Young topped the 1961 Country chart, reached number twelve pop and number thirteen Easy Listening. Faron was once married to Hilda Macon, the great granddaughter of Uncle Dave Macon, an early star…

"Que reste-t-il de nos amours" (Leo Chauliac - Charles Trenet) can be translated as "What Remains Of Our Love", it was recorded initially by Lucienne (Emilienne-Henriette) Boyer in 1942. Co-composer Charles Trenet issued his version in 1943. Charles also composed "La Mer" with Leo Chauliac and other French successes. Keely Smith (Dorothy Keely) introduced English speaking audiences to the tune as her signature song, "I Wish You Love" (Chauliac - Trenet - Beach), on her 1957 debut album o…

Lindsey Buckingham, his finger picking style on the guitar and "Big Love". It was Lindsey's idea to use this on his 1985 solo album but it morphed into a Fleetwood Mac project. The 1987 LP "Tango In The Night" by Fleetwood Mac (Lindsey Buckingham, Christine McVie, John McVie, Mick Fleetwood and Stevie Nicks) includes this track which became the first single from the album and reached number five on the Top One Hundred. After the album was issued Lindsey left the band for a decade. According…

"I'll Be Home" (Washington - Lewis) surfaced in 1955 and was successful for The Flamingos when it peaked at number five on the R&B chart. The single was featured on the "Rock, Rock, Rock" soundtrack. Pat Boone's 1956 cover of "I'll Be Home" sold a million copies and reached number five on Billboard and topped the U.K. singles chart. The B side was the legendary "Tutti Frutti".

It's been said that Fats Waller wrote "On The Sunny Side Of The Street" and sold the rights so now the writers credited are listed as Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields. The first public airing of the song was in Lew Leslie's "International Review" starring Harry Richman and Gertrude Lawrence in 1930. The first recording featured Roger Wolfe Kahn and is here edited to include the vocal. Roger's family was so wealthy that their London home had the largest family garden in the city next to that at Bu…

Brenda Holloway didn't want to record "Every Little Bit Hurts" (Ed Cobb) because she had done it already a few years before signing with Motown. The original recording was released on Bob Keane's label, Del-Fi Records in 1962 when Brenda was sixteen. The piano part is so close to Ketty Lester's "Love Letters". The next year, at seventeen she was signed by Berry Gordy Jr. The Los Angeles produced Motown single with added strings and production reached number thirteen in 1964. An album of the…

The Righteous Brothers (Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield) recorded "(You're My) Soul And Inspiration" (Barry Mann - Cynthia Weill) in 1966 as the title single from the LP of the same name. This topped the Billboard chart as a follow-up to "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'". Donny And Marie Osmond covered "(You're My) Soul And Inspiration" in 1978 for the album 'Winning Combination" and reached thirty-eight on the Top One Hundred, number eighteen on the AC listing. The single was released during…

The initial single The Righteous Brothers (Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield) issued was "Little Latin Lupe Lu" (Bill Medley) in 1963 and it reached the middle of Billboard's pop chart. An augmented Wrecking Crew supplied the instrumentation. It's rumoured that Bill had affairs with Connie Francis. Darlene Love and Mary Wilson. Mitch Ryder (William Levise) and the Detroit Wheels (John Badanjek, John Kubert, Mark Manko, Jim McAllister and Jim McCarty) covered "Little Latin Lupe Lu" in 1966. This…

The Michael English 1991 self-titled album contains the original "Mary, Did You Know" (Lowry - Greene). Michael was a member of the Gaither Vocal Band. Grammy winning a cappella group Pentatonix (Scott Hoying, Mitch Grassi, Avi Kaplan, Kirstin Maldonado and Kevin Olusola) aka PTX, named after the pentatonic scale, sang "Mary, Did You Know" for the chart topping LP "That's Christmas To Me". The single peaked at number twenty-six and increases in popularity every year.

The Mosquitos (lead vocalist Vance Brescia, Tony Millions, Ian Morrison, Steve Prisco and Mitch Towse) recorded "That Was Then, This Is Now" (Vance Brescia) for their lone EP with the same title in 1985. Vance became the musical director for Herman's Hermits. The Monkees (lead vocalist Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork) covered "That Was Then This Is Now" as the perfect title for their 1986 comeback. This hit the Billboard top twenty and twenty-four on the Adult Contemporary chart. The single is o…

Co-writer Marc Beeson performs "When She Cries" (Marc Beeson - Sonny LeMaire) at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville. Restless Heart (lead vocals John Dittrich, Larry Stewart, Paul Gregg, Dave Innis and Greg Jennings) took "When She Cries" to number two Adult Contemporary, number nine Country and number eleven pop on Billboard. This was the first release from their 1992 LP "Big Iron Horses".

El Chicano (lead vocals Jerry Salas, Bobby Espinosa, Andre Baeza, John De Luna, Mickey Lespron, Rudy Regalado and founder Freddie Sanchez) supplied the original theme from the Stephen J. Cannell produced detective television series Baretta, "Keep Your Eye On The Sparrow" (Baretta's Theme) (Dave Grusin - Morgan Ames). The series starred Robert Blake. In later episodes the theme was sung by Sammy Davis Jr. Rhythm Heritage (Michael Omartian and session musicians) hit the Billboard top twenty wi…

This may not have been a giant hit but the story is worth the post. "Put A Ring On Her Finger" (Robert Duke) was not a hit in the U.K. for England's Eddie Silver. The composer was aka Joe Meek! The end result following the Les Paul and Mary Ford release was Joe starting to fund his own studio that brought the hits like "Telstar" and "Have I The Right". Eddie Silver played in a band with both Bruce Welch and Hank Marvin but Eddie's career was "overshadowed". Les Paul changed the title to "Put…

"I Go Blind" (Neil Osborne - Phil Campbell - Brad Merritt - Matt Johnson) is from the self titled 1986 album aka "the Green Album" by Vancouver, Canada's 54-40. This original written by the group members did not chart. Hootie And The Blowfish (Darius Drucker, Mark Bryan, Dean Felber and Jim Sonefeld) covered "I Go Blind" for the soundtrack of the television hit "Friends". In 1996 this peaked at twenty-two on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart and was part of the 2000 album "Scattered, Smot…

The Carter Family's (A. P. Carter, wife Sara and sister-in-law Maybelline) 1930 recording of "Worried Man Blues" (traditional) is the oldest on record. Pun intended. They are related to President Jimmy Carter and the family tree includes Johnny Cash. The Kingston Trio's (Dave Guard, Nick Reynolds and Bob Shane) 1959 version of "A Worried Man" (Tom Glazer - Dave Garner) hit the Billboard top twenty and is the final track but first single release from the chart topping LP "Here We Go Again". T…

One half of the duo Boy Meets Girl, George Merrill wrote "How Will I Know" (George Merrill - Shannon Rubicam) with his wife at the time and the other member of Boy Meets Girl, Shannon Rubicam. They intended it for Janet Jackson but it was thought to be too weak when compared to her other recordings. From her 1985 self titled album Whitney Houston's "How Will I Know" had amended lyrics by producer Narada Michael Walden. This happened after much compromising between the composers. The single t…

Former Miss New York State Linda Clifford's "All The Man I Need" (Dean Pitchford - Michael Gore) was written especially for her, arranged by Luther Vandross and released in 1981 as a non-charting single. The next year it was on her album "I'll Keep On Loving You". Whitney Houston added to her hit catalogue when she issued "All The Man That I Need" from the 1990 album "I'm Your Baby Tonight". The single with Kenny G on sax topped the pop, Adult Contemporary and R&B charts.

From the 1973 album "Sladest" it's Slade (lead vocalist Noddy Holder, Dave Hill, Jim Lea and Don Powell) with the original single "Cum On Feel The Noize" (Noddy Holder - Jim Lea). This topped the U.K. charts, in the U.S. it barely got onto the Top One Hundred at ninety-eight. Quiet Riot's (lead vocalist Kevin DuBrow, Frankie Banali, Carlos Cavazo and Rudy Sarzo) 1983 cover of "Cum On Feel The Noize" peaked at number five on Billboard. The single is on the chart topping LP "Metal Health". Thi…