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Post by Kapitan on Aug 7, 2023 19:12:41 GMT
while the melody does stick with you, it's not much of a song.
This could be in part because--as I only just learned this morning--Bagdasarian/Seville wasn't really much of a musician. He couldn't read or write music and he apparently didn't play any instruments. He got songwriting credits, so he must have been able to at least figure out some basics, or tell them to someone else who could figure them out for him. But I guess you're not likely to get particularly complex music from someone in that situation.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Aug 7, 2023 19:34:50 GMT
while the melody does stick with you, it's not much of a song.
This could be in part because--as I only just learned this morning--Bagdasarian/Seville wasn't really much of a musician. He couldn't read or write music and he apparently didn't play any instruments. He got songwriting credits, so he must have been able to at least figure out some basics, or tell them to someone else who could figure them out for him. But I guess you're not likely to get particularly complex music from someone in that situation. I had no idea Ross Bagdasarian/David Seville co-wrote "Come On-A My House". That song was #1 for six weeks! Who knows what the songwriting split was between Seville and his cousin, William Sorayan. The song's melody was based on an old, Armenian folk song.
A funny, personal sideline to "Witch Doctor" - another #1 song (for three weeks) for Seville and written entirely by him...I have a Beach Boys' buddy who I still attend concerts with, and he thought that Brian Wilson's inspiration for "Ding Dang" came from "Witch Doctor". 
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Post by kds on Aug 7, 2023 19:38:16 GMT
I knew this one my whole life, too. As a kid, I really, really loved it. I'm not sure why, exactly, but specifically I loved Alvin singing he wanted a hula-hoop. I just think there was something funny in the sound of the word: hula-hoop. I also loved the little fictional slice of reality as Dave yells at Alvin, which of course was a theme throughout Chipmunks material. That said, I can't say I particularly like the song now. Nothing against it, either. It's just not on my mind and I don't seek it out. I can't say I'm a huge fan of it, and I will admit I get tired of it fairly quickly if I hear it while I'm out and about doing Christmasey things, but it wouldn't feel like Christmastime if I didn't listen to it at least once.
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Post by lonelysummer on Aug 8, 2023 0:47:42 GMT
I have the 45 and also the EP "Let's All Sing with the Chipmunks" and several albums of theirs/his, including their Beatles album.
When I turned 16, mom and dad threw out all my children's albums, except for the Chipmunks.
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Post by jk on Aug 8, 2023 8:34:33 GMT
"Ragtime Cowboy Joe" is my go-to Chipmunks song:
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Aug 8, 2023 18:17:52 GMT
I'm posting some photos of Ross Bagdasarian, Sr./David Seville and his son, Ross, Jr. who took over Bagdasarian Productions and owns the rights to all the Chipmunks' characters with his wife, Janice Karman.
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Post by kds on Aug 8, 2023 18:36:04 GMT
It's a shame that the Chipmunks Saturday Morning cartoon show is somewhat lost in the mists of TV history. I suspect because they often used Chipmunks versions of copyrighted contemporary music, but very few episodes are available to purchase or stream.
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Post by Kapitan on Aug 8, 2023 18:43:08 GMT
"Ragtime Cowboy Joe" is my go-to Chipmunks song: How many people on this Earth would say they have a go-to Chipmunks song? I'm guessing you are one of very few.
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Post by kds on Aug 8, 2023 18:46:42 GMT
This could be in part because--as I only just learned this morning--Bagdasarian/Seville wasn't really much of a musician. He couldn't read or write music and he apparently didn't play any instruments. He got songwriting credits, so he must have been able to at least figure out some basics, or tell them to someone else who could figure them out for him. But I guess you're not likely to get particularly complex music from someone in that situation. I had no idea Ross Bagdasarian/David Seville co-wrote "Come On-A My House". That song was #1 for six weeks! Who knows what the songwriting split was between Seville and his cousin, William Sorayan. The song's melody was based on an old, Armenian folk song.
A funny, personal sideline to "Witch Doctor" - another #1 song (for three weeks) for Seville and written entirely by him...I have a Beach Boys' buddy who I still attend concerts with, and he thought that Brian Wilson's inspiration for "Ding Dang" came from "Witch Doctor".
Took me a bit for my brain to make this connection, but there's a scene in the 1987 movie The Chipmunk Adventure where the character - Ms. Miller - is singing this song. Now, I wonder if that was an intentional Easter Egg.
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Post by kds on Aug 8, 2023 18:50:49 GMT
"Ragtime Cowboy Joe" is my go-to Chipmunks song: How many people on this Earth would say they have a go-to Chipmunks song? I'm guessing you are one of very few. Witch Doctor was probably mine when I was four or five.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Aug 8, 2023 18:54:02 GMT
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Aug 8, 2023 19:03:15 GMT
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Post by Kapitan on Aug 10, 2023 13:28:23 GMT
"Smoke Gets In Your Eyes," the Platters
Jan. 19 through Feb. 2 (3 weeks)
In November 1933, the musical Roberta (starring future stars Bob Hope, Fred MacMurray, and others) opened on Broadway. It ran for eight months and was revived numerous times, including as films and TV movies. The show included music by the legendary Jerome Kern and lyrics/book by Otto Harbach.
One of the songs from the show, "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes," was actually recorded the month before the show's debut. In October 1933, Ray Sinatra (Frank's cousin) directed the orchestra on Gertrude Niessen's version. The following year, Paul Whiteman's orchestra with Bob Lawrence on vocal releaed their version, and the song became a #1 hit for the first time. It became a standard, being recorded and released by numerous performers through the years: Nat King Cole, Harry Belafonte, the Glen Miller Orchestra, the Benny Goodman Orchestra, jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker, Dinah Washington, Eartha Kitt, Sarah Vaughan...
On the other side of the country, in 1952 Los Angeles, a quartet of singers named their group after a slang term for the disc spinning on their turntables: thus, the Platters. The group underwent numerous personnel changes and put itself under the guidance of songwriter, producer, and entrepreneur Buck Ram, who made additional personnel changes--notably including the addition of a woman as a fifth singer.
The Platters began recording songs--often Ram's songs, often originally recorded and released by other artists--in 1955. Their first (minor, regional) hit was "Only You," a Ram composition written for the Ink Spots. Their next hit was Ram's "The Great Pretender." In the latter half of the '50s, the Platters went on to record a number of hit, sometimes chart-topping singles, often updates to standards or other previously released songs.
In 1958, the Platters recorded the old showtune "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" (produced by Ram) for their album Remember When? Kern's widow considered legal action to block its release, as she was concerned about her late husband's song being done in a rock and roll arrangement. Harbach, however, reportedly praised the group for "reviving his song with taste."
This version of "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" peaked at #3 on the R&B charts, but topped the Hot 100 for three weeks in early 1959. It also topped the UK charts for one week in March 1959.
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Post by kds on Aug 10, 2023 16:25:29 GMT
That only Platters song I'm really familiar with is Only You. Smoke Gets In Your Eyes would've been a pretty appropriate song for the first half of this summer.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Aug 10, 2023 17:37:59 GMT
The Platters were important. They were huge. In the 1950s, if you wanted a vocal group to play on your radio station, on your jukebox, to slow dance to, or to play on your record player...The Platters were your group! They somehow bridged the gap from Tin Pan Alley through Doo Wop into early Rock & Roll. And, being an all-black group, that road was not always a smooth one. The Platters had over 40 charting singles between 1955-1967. Check out these singles on the Billboard Singles Chart:
1955 - Only You (And You Alone) - #5 1955 - The Great Pretender - #1 1956 - (You've Got) The Magic Touch - #4 1956 - My Prayer - #1 1956 - You'll Never Never Know - #11 1957 - I'm Sorry - #11 1958 - Twilight Time - #1 1958 - Smoke Gets In Your Eyes - #1 1959 - Enchanted - #12 1960 - Harbor Lights - #8
I knew "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" was a cover but I didn't know it went all the back to 1933. The song is a classic tear-jerker, and the lyrics are effective if dated. They DO sound like something out of a 1930s musical. But, like a lot of these 1950s ballads, the opening line and melody is instantly familiar, and you know right where you're going - back to the 50s.  They asked me how I knew...
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They asked me how I knew...
Sept 30, 2024 19:53:42 GMT
Sept 30, 2024 19:53:42 GMT
