I post a weekly diary of historical notes, arts & science items, foreign news (often receiving little notice in the US) and whimsical pieces from the outside world that I often feature in "Cheers & Jeers".
OK, you've been warned - here is this week's tomfoolery material that I posted.
CHEERS to Bill and Michael in PWM, our Laramie, Wyoming-based friend Irish Patti and ...... well, each of you at Cheers and Jeers. Have a fabulous long Memorial Day weekend .... and week ahead.
ART NOTES — a major survey of international glass art entitled New Glass Now— featuring 100 artists of 32 nationalities (and its first such survey in forty years) — will be at the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, New York through January 5th.
“Liquid Sunshine” from JapanSPORTING NOTES — while the European soccer leagues have completed their regular seasons (or will by this Sunday) there are still two pan-European championship games to be played … both involving English teams. The first of which will take place on Wednesday of next week, in the Europa League final (a second-tier tournament). It will feature two cross-town rivals from London (Chelsea vs. Arsenal) and will be broadcast on TNT (basic cable) at 3 PM Eastern.
The second game — the Champions League final, considered to be the pro team champions of all Europe — will take place next Saturday (June 1st) also on TNT at 3:00 PM Eastern, featuring Liverpool versus Tottenham Hotspur of London.
THURSDAY's CHILD is named Storm the Cat— a California kitteh who survived three weeks trapped in a camper (without food or water) …. whose meowing led to his being returned to a returned Navy vet who depends on him.
Storm the CatTRANSPORTATION NOTES — the capital city of Estonia had enormous traffic problems in 2013 (and still had not recovered from the 2008 financial collapse). The solution? Public transportation in Tallinn was made free for city residents — and it has proven so successful, buses are now free of charge in 11 of its 15 counties, with hopes that extending it to rural areas will halt de-population.
FRIDAY's CHILD is named Darby the Hero Cat— an Alabama kitteh who awoke a family to a raging house fire, and who was believed lost in the blaze …. discovered two weeks later (although the family’s other cat, alas, did perish).
Darby the Hero CatTIME MARCHES ON — to show how difficult the competition for the National Spelling Bee (which begins tomorrow) has become: the winning word in 1951 was “insouciant”. Last year a contestant had to spell “bewusstseinslage”, which means “a state of consciousness or feeling devoid of sensory components” — something adults experience when these young wizards hold them spellbound.
BRAIN TEASER - try this Quiz of the Week's News from the BBC.
SEPARATED at BIRTH — State Rep. (and anti-vaxxer) Jonathan Stickland (R-TX) and film star Jack Black.
Rep. Jonathan Stickland Film star Jack Black...... and finally, for a song of the week ...........................… one of the greatest songwriting teams of the 20th Century are the married couple Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil— whose songs have collectively sold 200 million copies and who have written (mostly together, but sometime individually or with other partners) 700 songs apiece. Notably, their songs have been recorded by musicians of different genres: rock, pop, R&B and country music … and one song of theirs was declared by recording rights organization BMI as the most radio-played song of the century. Nearly sixty years after they began collaborating, here’s their story.
Both were NYC natives, who came into songwriting individually. Barry Imberman (later changed to Mann) had visions of a singing career (releasing some early hits in the late 50’s — early 60’s) and both wound up working in Tin Pan Alley — the two Brill Buildings on Broadway, for the firm Aldon Music (co-founded by Don Kirshner of “Rock Concert” fame).
Tin Pan Alley had several noted composer/lyricist pairings: Jerry Lieber/Mike Stoller plus Neil Sedaka/Howie Greenfield for starters. Then there were couples who eventually married (and later divorced): Jeff Barry/Ellie Greenwich and most famously Carole King/Gerry Goffin (with his bipolar condition noted in the Broadway production of Carole King’s life entitled Beautiful).
Both Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil worked with other partners until the day when Cynthia Weil had a scheduled meeting with a songwriting partner Teddy Randazzo (who co-composed “Going Out of My Head” and “Hurt So Bad”). Barry Mann walked in the room …. and Cynthia Weill to-this-day is glad that her meeting with Randazzo was on that date: as she and Barry might not have met, otherwise.
They married in August 1961 and is the one marriage from Aldon Music that has survived …. although it appears they divorced for a few years before re-marrying.
While Barry Mann (due to his own early recordings) felt comfortable on Tin Pan Alley, Cynthia did not (as a non-musician). But what she brought-to-the-table in the early-to-late 1960’s (along with standard pop lyrics) were song lyrics of considerable social consciousness. Oh, their songs? Well, just in the 1960’s …..
(For the Crystals) He’s Sure the Boy I Love as well as Uptown— about the indignities a black man endures at this job. (For Paul Revere and the Raiders) Kicks — about substance abuse. (For the Ronettes) Walking in the Rain, (for The Drifters) On Broadway— which George Benson had an even bigger hit with in the 1970’s. (For The Animals) — We Gotta Get Out of This Place— which Adrian Cronauer (upon whom the movie Good Morning Vietnam was based on) said was the most requested song on Armed Forces Radio when he was in Vietnam.
Their biggest hits were two songs for the Righteous Brothers: Soul & Inspiration plus You’ve Lost that Loving Feeling— which the performing rights organization BMI says was its #1 radio-played song of the 20th Century. Moving to the 1970’s …
In 1977, they had hits for Leo Sayer (How Much Love), Barry wrote just the music for Dan Hill (Sometimes When We Touch) and the pop music break-out song for Dolly Parton, Here You Come Again. In the 1980’s, they wrote the 1981 break-out hit Just Once sung by the (recently deceased) R&B singer James Ingram and a song that Barry Mann recorded on his own in 1980, Don’t Know Much— became a hit for Aaron Neville/Linda Ronstadt in 1989.
There were also two hits in the 1990’s: I Will Come to You for Hanson in 1997 and Cynthia Weil wrote just the lyrics for Wrong Again— a 1998 country hit for Martina McBride.
They have two Grammy Awards from 1987 for their work on the animated musical film An American Tail — their song Somewhere Out There (recorded by Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram) not only won best song written specifically for a film/TV show, but also Song of the Year. And these are only their biggest hits.
In this century, Barry Mann recorded his first album in years (released in 2000), the couple were the focus of a 2004 musical theater revue of their works, Cynthia wrote a 2018 novel entitled 806 and — as noted earlier — the Carole King revue Beautiful features Mann/Weil as part of the Brill Buildings story.
The couple were inducted into the SongwritersHall of Fame in 1987, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2010 and won the 2015 Grammy Trustees Award as well. And at ages 80 and 78 respectively, are still composing (although more for TV, now).
Cynthia-Barry (circa 1965) .. ….. and much more recentlyIn mentioning the social consciousness of Cynthia Weil: never was this more apparent than on the 1963 song she and Barry wrote called Only in America— intended for the R&B group The Drifters. In the original lyrics, she had these lines:
Only in America, land of opportunity Can they save a seat in the back of the bus just for me Only in America, where they preach the Golden Rule Will they start to march when my kids go to schoolBut at this time of civil rights, Atlantic Records felt that those lyrics — sung by African-Americans — would not be accepted. And so, the songwriter partnership of Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller wrote some alternative lyrics that The Drifters felt did not truly represent their experience in that era. They recorded the song anyway (with Rudy Lewis singing the vocals) but Atlantic Records veep Jerry Wexler was still unhappy, noting the song was recorded on the day that Martin Luther King was arrested in Alabama, and expected the song to be boycotted. He offered to sell Lieber/Stoller the Drifters’ master tapes (which were unreleased until years later).
Meanwhile, a white group with the radio-appealing name of Jay and the Americans were eager to record the song … and it reached #25 in 1963. Below you can hear both versions of the (re-worked) song.
Only in America Can a guy from anywhere Go to sleep a pauper and wake up a millionaireOnly in America Can a kid without a cent Get a break and maybe grow up to be President
Only in America Can a kid who's washing cars Take a giant step and reach right up and touch the stars
Only in America Could a dream like this come true Could a guy like me start with nothing and end up with you
Only in America Land of opportunity, yeah Would a classy girl like you fall for a poor boy like me
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